Brother Henry is sorry that he's
not able to be here. He's got a bad cold. He's had
it most of the week and just can't seem to shake it. But he
did promise he'll go to the doctor on Monday. We'll see. Turn in your Bibles to Romans
chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. I'm going to begin with what
may seem to some of you like an unusual or a strange question. But it's a question that the
Scriptures plainly answers. My question is, how many of us
this morning realize what the whole creation is doing? What
all of nature is doing this morning? That's an unusual thought even,
isn't it? But it's not unusual because
the Word of God deals with that. If you look in Romans 8, chapter
19, we read that the earnest expectation of the... and this
word is properly translated, creation. The earnest expectation
of the creation, it's waiting. All the creation and all nature
this morning is waiting. It's waiting for the manifestation
of the sons of God. The whole creation is waiting
until God calls out His last child. When the last son of God
is called, then the creation will stop waiting and something
else is going to happen. It says in verse 24, the creation
was made subject to vanity, not willingly. by reason of him who
has subjected the same in hope. Because the creation itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation,
it groans and travails in pain together until now. The whole
creation is just waiting. It's just waiting. until the
Lord Jesus Christ comes back. That's what it's doing. Now, if you turn to Psalm 40, I might ask the same question,
but the answer is probably already obvious. Do you know what every
believer in the world is doing at this very moment? And I realize
some may be in a worship service like us, and some may be asleep
on the other side of the world. It doesn't really matter where
they are or what time it is. I know what they're doing too.
You know what we're doing? We're waiting. We're just waiting,
aren't we? Just waiting. We're waiting to
be physically delivered from the conflict and the turmoil
and the sin of this world. And that's how David begins Psalm
40. He says, I waited patiently for the Lord. Even back then.
David was waiting. He was just physically waiting.
Waiting. And God's people wait to one
day, either in death or at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to finally physically be delivered from this present world of sin
and death. And I can understand why the translators interpreted
this, I waited patiently for the Lord. I travel a lot. Anytime I'm in
an airport and a plane is late, I can sit back and it's as predictable
as the sun coming up what's going to happen. You can start watching
people do this. And groaning and carrying on
and looking at their watches over and over. And finally somebody
stands up and goes up to that attendant and starts railing
on them in an unpleasant voice. Where's that plane? What's going
on? Because folks don't like to wait.
Don't like to wait. But I'll ask you this question.
By what right should a person get upset in that circumstance?
And I understand they bought a ticket. But all that entitles
them to do is to get on the plane. You see, they don't own the plane.
They didn't build the plane. They don't know how to fly the
plane. They don't know what direction to take off and they don't know
how to put it back on the ground, why don't they just sit down
and be patient and wait? That's the only choice, really,
isn't it? Don't let waiting be a burden.
It ought not be a burden. You see, we didn't create this
world. We don't control this world. We don't own this world. We don't even know what's best
for this world. Our only contribution to this
world is sin, which is the cause of all that's wrong with this
world. Wouldn't it seem wise if we'd just patiently wait for
the return of the Lord of this world? Shall not the Judge of
all the earth do right? Well, of course He will. Would
we want Him to hurry? Because of us? And exclude someone
else? I mean, would you mind when you're
sitting there waiting on the plane, if you found out that
the plane put down up in Cincinnati and picked up a heart for one
of your children, which was in the hospital, and that made it
late, would you mind? Would you mind waiting on that?
Well, you know, maybe you ought not to mind if the Lord is going
to tarry a little longer and go down into Canaan and pass
by someone else and give them a new heart and bring them to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't let waiting be a burden.
Turn just a few pages back to Psalm 27. David, he can't possibly have
been as impatient as I am, but he knew something about this.
Because he said in verse 13, he said, I would have fainted
unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living. I saw a man one time get almost
apoplectic in the waiting area of an airline. Thought he was
going to keel over on the floor. He was so upset about that plane.
And David, you see, he said, I would have just fainted
had I not seen The goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
You can be sure He's tarrying to do good. And David says, wait
on the Lord. Be of good courage. And He'll
strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Now,
that's just clear, isn't it? That's clear. And I can understand
why the translators back in Psalm 40 translated this, interpreted
this, I waited patiently for the Lord. But at the center reference of
your Bible, does it not have a different interpretation? Man
reads. In waiting, I waited. Now, that may not be obvious
to you what that means, let me see if I can help you turn over
to Psalm 62. We are physically waiting, aren't
we? for the return of our Lord. I
mean, we're looking forward to the day, the hour, the moment.
Even though we don't know when it is, we're waiting. We're waiting
for Him to come back. And we wait for His return for
the final deliverance from sin in this world. And we wait for
the actual occurrence as we're promised in the Word
of God that it will take place. And while we physically wait
We wait spiritually for the completion of the work that's begun in you.
Waiting we await. There's two kinds of waitings
here, and it's in Psalm 62.1. The second one's revealed. Physically,
we all know what waiting is, don't you? You children know
when you're ready to go to the amusement park and your folks
say, wait, wait, wait, sit still, wait a minute. You know what
that means, don't you? It's hard to wait, isn't it?
But you see, there may be something else more important going on
that you have to wait physically. And there's something more important
going on in this waiting. Psalm 62 says, Truly my soul. There's a soul. There's a spiritual
waiting. Truly my soul waits upon God. From Him cometh my salvation. You don't want to rush this.
You don't want to rush this. You don't want to leave before
your time. You don't want to be in a hurry. And don't let
waiting be a burden. Turn over to 1 John 3. 1 John 3. There will be a lot of physical
changes that will occur when our Lord returns. And we're waiting
on those, aren't we? We're anxious for them. I mean,
I'm ready to be done with this whole body. Some of you young
ones are feeling pretty peppy this morning. Let me tell you,
the further past 60 I get, Every time I sit in the car too long,
I think, can I get out of it? Get up in the morning and think,
can I get my feet over the side of the bed? Physically waiting. I'm waiting for a new body. This
one's about worn out. And, you know, there'll be a
new heaven and a new earth and all evidence of sin physically
will be gone. All the physical changes that
occur They'll seem small compared to the spiritual changes. But
we do look for the physical changes. Do you know that there'll be
no more blemishes? You young people, there'll be
no more zits. Isn't that a good thing? You won't have to worry
about that anymore. It won't be any scars. None at
all. Do you know nobody's going to
limp? Nobody's going to tremor and shake? Nobody's going to
get that. You fellas, you're getting old
enough, you get that pain, you go, I hope that's pleurisy. I
hope that's a pulled muscle. Huh? Won't you be glad when there
just won't be any more pain? No, none at all. Nobody's going
to be too fat. Nobody's going to be too thin. There'll be nobody blind, nobody
deaf, nobody confused, nobody sick, nobody sad. And nobody
did. I'm looking forward to that.
I'm waiting for it. I'm waiting for that. And it's real and it's
promised according to God's Word. It's going to happen. We're not
waiting without hope. We're waiting for that physically
to occur. And we can get our minds loosely
around some of those concepts, can't we? But spiritual perfection
is so foreign to us. We can only begin to grasp the
concept, much less the reality. Look at 1 John 3 with me in verse
2. Beloved, now, right now, you
may be waiting on a lot of things, but you don't have to wait on
this. If you're one of His, right now, you are the son or the daughter
of God. And it does not yet appear what
you will be. We don't look like we're going to look in glory.
And we're patiently waiting on those physical changes. It does
not appear yet what we shall be, but that physical part is
just the tiniest part of the change that's going to occur.
Because you see, we know that when He shall appear,
we'll be like Him. We're not only going to see Christ
as He is, we're going to be like Him. And I tell you what, that's
not talking about physically. We're going to have a perfect
righteousness. John, we're going to be holy.
I can't even begin to grasp that concept. We're going to really
be holy. I believe it by the grace of
God. I believe it and I'm waiting
for it. You see, while I'm physically waiting, I'm waiting spiritually.
I'm waiting while I'm waiting. And that's what David was talking
about here. Turn back a little to John chapter 14. What evidence do we have that
this will actually come to pass? Why ought we to hopefully wait
while we're waiting? Well, every believer has this
promise in the Word of God. And what God promises, He brings
to pass. And the Word of God is the surest
thing in the world. And the Word of God has contained
all the information and the facts and everything we need to know,
and that's the final Word. And what God promises, He brings
to pass. It remains only for God's people
to wait on things to come to pass which will fulfill His promise. And look at John 14. And listen,
it's not just you and I that have ever had any problem with
this. Do you get tired of waiting? Do you ever do what Paul did?
He said, that which I wouldn't do, that's what I'd do. And what I would do, that's what
I don't do. Do you think Paul wasn't waiting
spiritually to become a new man without sin to have a heart that
just sought after God? The disciples had this same problem. They understood. They believed. that they were going to be made
like Christ. And yet, they had their doubts. And I'll show you
why we know that. In John 14, have you got verse
1? He said to his disciples, let
not your heart be troubled. He said, you believe in God?
He said, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
dwelling places. And a dwelling place here means,
Rich, there's a place for you. It doesn't mean mansions like
we're riding up the road here. We see these big fine homes.
That's not what it's talking about. It's talking about a spiritual
dwelling place. There's one for every child of
God reserved. And the Lord is telling His disciples,
I've made a place for you. There's a dwelling place I've
made for you. And He said, if it weren't so,
I would have told you. If this was a lie, Christ never
would have promised it. But it's not. He said, if it
weren't so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I'll come again. Listen, it doesn't matter when.
It's that He is coming back. We just have to wait. I will
come again. Not only that, I will receive
you unto Myself." You know what that means? We're going to be
just like Him. If you're in Christ, if He receives
you, embraces you, you become one with Him, and you're just
like Him. And He said that where I am,
there you may be also. Whether I go, you know, and the
way you know. It's in Christ. Now, back to
Psalm 40. I hope I can make this illustration
come alive for you. Do we realize that for every
disease that exists that's known to man, did you know there's
a cure? You say, well, I don't know about
any cure for cancer. Well, that's just because we haven't found
it yet. And the Lord may return before
all the cures are found for diseases. But vaccinations existed in the
mind of God long before the first case of polio or smallpox existed. Penicillin was in the merciful
heart of God long before He allowed the first bacteria to become
a killer. In God's good time and according
to His merciful grace, God allows men to discover these cures.
Let's not be deceived. One man is not necessarily any
greater than the next. God just being gracious. He lets
these scientists uncover and discover the cure for the diseases. But it was in His mind and heart
before the disease ever came. Proof of that is what grew in
the Garden of Eden? Fruit. Fruit. You know, it took
men, what was it, almost 5,000 years to figure out that all
they had to do was eat fruit to be cured of the terrible disease
called scurvy. The cure was already there. Do
we see that? And the reason I'm going through
all this illustration is that before Adam ever sinned, the
remedy was already in place. God had provided the remedy for
sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, God is not obligated to
reveal the cure to anybody, is He? But by His grace, He does
to some of the sons of Adam who find out they are the sons of
God. They all have a common experience. They find out that they are sick.
That they are sick. They have a sin sickness. They
find out that Christ is the two-fold cure for sin sickness. Did you
know there's a double cure for the sickness of sin? The first
is to be in Christ, to find out. You know, every disease has symptoms,
has things that are going to come on you. And if something
isn't done, every disease will wind up in one thing, in death. And that's what sin sick means.
Folks, we're going to die from it. And you can't do anything
for your children. There's no doctor in this world
physically. There's no one that can help
you send sick children except Christ, the great Physician.
And the way He does it is a two-fold cure. For your children to be
well, to go into the presence of God, they've got to have a
righteousness. They've got to be as if they're perfect. And
I'll tell you where they get that. There's only one man that
ever lived who was perfect. Christ for 33 years was perfect. And I'll tell you what, the sons
of God have that perfection because Christ gave it to them. It's
yours. The other cure for sin sickness
is something's got to be done with the sin we've committed.
And that's what Christ was doing in Calvary. He was putting it
away. So there is a cure. Christ is the cure for sin sickness. And in Psalm 40, look what it
says in verse 1. It begins again. Waiting, I waited
for the Lord. And He inclined unto me and heard
my cry." You know what sick children do? They cry, don't they? When they're sick, they cry.
You know what sick people do when they find out they're sick?
They cry. They cry. But notice, before they ever
cried, what happened? It says, He inclined unto me. No, we don't cry and then God
answers and says, okay, I hear your cry and I'll make it okay
now. No. No, the cure was already, the
remedy was already in place before we ever cried. He had already
chosen us before the foundation of the world. All that happens is that we find
out we're sick and we cry out. And look, it says in verse 2,
And He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the
miry clay, and set my feet upon the rock, the rock Christ Jesus,
and established my goings. Why is it so important to know
what Christ has done for us already? It helps us to trust Him and
to patiently wait for Christ to do for us what He's promised
that He will yet do. I don't know if I can make this
clear or not, but if you're waiting physically for Christ to come
back, it's going to be hard. Going to be hard. if spiritually
He hasn't already come for you. If we don't realize He's already
done this for me and He'll do that for me. He'll finish what
He starts. Now, what are we to do while
we wait? This may surprise you. I had
to do a lot of study to figure out what this meant. What do
we do while waiting? I waited. You know what David
said? We'll sing. We'll sing? We'll sing while
we're waiting. That's what it says in verse
3. He put a new song in my mouth. He put a new song in my mouth.
Now, I'll tell you what, if you've got a song in your mouth, what
are you going to do? When you open your mouth, it's going to
come out, isn't it? If you've got a song in your mouth. And
why would God put a song in our mouth if we're not going to sing? And this is the new song. We're
going to talk about the new song. in just a minute, but let me
make this point first. If you're singing a new song,
what by implication did you used to be singing? The old song. There's an old song. Did you
know that we're all born with a song? It's an old song. And I hate to... You've probably
heard this illustration three or four times, but my son Luke,
we thought he never was going to talk. His sister did most
of his talking for him. But he was two years old before
I ever heard him say a word. Not even da-da, mama or anything.
It was just nothing. And I came around the corner
one day and looked down the hallway and his sister was standing there
holding a toy. And he stepped up and tore it
out of her hands and said, mine. Mine. And I've got a two-year-old
grandson now and he doesn't say much. But he knows mine. Knows mine. And I'll tell you
what that is. That's the old song. And the
words may vary, but the tune's the same. Mine, mine, mine, mine,
mine. Me, me, me, me, me, me. I, I,
I, I, I. That's the old song. Never changes. No, it doesn't. And I'll tell
you what, unless the Spirit of God comes and makes a change
of heart, we enter this world and leave without ever changing
our tune of self and sin. You say, well, where did your
grandson Sam Henry learn that song? Well, you know who his
other grandfather is, don't you? It's Dale Simpson. No, it's not. No, I'd like to
think it was more Simpson than coffee, but it's not. Dale Simpson's
one of the finest men I ever met. If my grandson be like him,
it'd be good. But the problem is, you see,
Adam started the new song when he said, I might have this man
reign over me. I sing it, Dale sings it. the
sons and the grandsons. We all sing it. You don't have
to spend a bit of time teaching it to them. They all know it.
They all know that song. Is there then nothing we can
do for our children and grandchildren, family and friends? Yeah, there
is. And the good news, the promise is in the rest of verse 3. Do
you see what it says? He put a new song in my mouth,
even praising to our God. And look, many shall see it and
fear. And that word is reverence. and
shall trust in the Lord." It says many, many. Not a few. Not some. Many. If you sing this new song, somebody
is going to hear it. Somebody is going to trust. Somebody
is going to reverence the Lord Jesus Christ. What can we do? There is plenty
we can do. We can do what we are commanded
to do. We can sing the new song. We can do what we desire to do,
and that's sing the new song. We can do what we're unable to
do, which is sing the new song. And we can do what we must do,
and that's sing the new song. Now, you want to know what the
form the song takes in this day and time? You're hearing it right
now. The words may vary. Todd or Henry,
I said I'm pinch-hitting for Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig at one
time. But I tell you what, they don't have a better song than
I do. The Lord Jesus Christ is the title, the subject, and the
tune of every song. How beautiful are the feet of
those who come preaching the gospel of peace, the song of
peace. And it's not because they've
got pretty shoes on or feet. It's because they come bringing
you the good news. And I tell you what, when the
song is sung, when the gospel is preached, what happens is
that many, they hear it. Many. They reverence Christ. Many trust Him. I tell you, while we're waiting,
while we wait, let's sing a song. Let's sing a song. You want to
part in singing a song? You've got to part. You've got
to part in this choir. You're supporting your pastor.
You've got a missionary down in Mexico. I tell you, it's singing
a song. The words are a little different.
Let's sing the song. Turn over to Revelation chapter
5 and I'll show you what the song is. The content, the words may vary,
but the tune, the purpose never changes. The song must praise
and glorify the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. John was
taken out of body and taken to glory, and he got to see what
it was like in heaven. And a lot was going on there
that I don't understand. But there was something going
on there I do understand. John makes it clear. In Revelation
5, verse 11, have you got that? And behold, I heard a voice of
many angels round about the throne. And the beasts and the elders
and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and 10,000. Well,
what were they doing? Back up here to verse 6. And
look what it says. And behold, low in the midst
of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the
elders stood a lamb. Well, there was a lamb there.
John saw that lamb. And look at verse 9, what they
were doing. And they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy. Worthy is the Lamb. You know
that's what they're singing in glory? Worthy is the Lamb. You know what they're doing in
heaven? They're worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
they're doing. And what we're doing down here
is waiting till we can go and be where He is. And waiting,
we'll wait and sing this song. Revelation 15 calls it the Song
of Moses. You say, well, I don't understand
why it's got so many different names and it's got so many different
words. Well, every tune has the same object. The song of Moses. You know what that is? God sent
Moses down into Egypt where his people were under bondage. And
that's a picture of God sent Christ to us who were in the
bondage of sin. And Moses led the people out
and sin pursued them. The army of Egypt pursued them.
And they got to the Red Sea and they're done for, right? They've
got the army behind them and the sea in front. They're done
for. By rights, we're done for, folks. We're born singing that
song of sin, the old song. And by rights, we'll suffer and
pay for it. But what happened? Moses held
out the rod and the sea opened. The Red Sea opened. And God took
them through on dry ground. And they got to the other side.
And the army rushed in down there after them. And the sea came
back and drowned all the army. Sin pursues us all our days while
we're waiting, doesn't it? But you can be sure where the
sin's going to wind up. It's under the blood of Jesus
Christ. It's what He did at Calvary. And that's the song of Moses.
Do we see? And it doesn't matter who's up
here or when you read. There's a different song on every
page. But it's the same song. It's the new song. One more Scripture. Turn to Ephesians
chapter 3 and I'll close. That's the song of heaven and
it's our new song and all believers know it and sing it. You know why we sing the new
song? I'm going to confide something in you. I heard Henry one time
say something that really bothered him. You know what it was? He
said, folks that don't sing. Now, I understand if you've got
a sore throat and you can't speak, then I understand. But I tell
you what, there's a simple explanation, he said, for why folks don't
sing. They don't know the new song. They don't know it. Because if you know it, you know
why you'll sing it? You can't help but sing it. It's
what's been put in our mouths and it must come out. Praise
Him. Why do we sing it? It makes us happy. It makes us
happy. I'm sorry Henry wasn't here this
morning to hear Kara sing that song. He loves that song. It
makes him happy. Because the song's about the
one who loves us and the one we love. Why do we sing the song? It's our comfort, our peace,
our joy. There's no better thing to do
than praise Christ. And why do we sing it? by the
singing of this song, not some, not a few, but many shall hear,
shall rejoice, shall trust Christ." And you know what? What else
have we got to do? Most of the else we do is get
into trouble and sin. Why don't we just sing this song
some more? Let's concentrate there. Look at Ephesians 3. It's
what we desire, isn't it? Did you ever desire a gift? Especially,
this is the time you kids are all picking out your stuff, right?
What do you want for Christmas? I want this, I want that. I'll
tell you, don't be surprised if the very thing you wanted
more than anything else, when you get it, you go, that wasn't
quite all I thought it was cracked up to be. You may be disappointed. But I'll tell you what, if you're
waiting while you're waiting on the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll
never be disappointed. You see Ephesians 3, look at
verse 20. Now unto Him, the Lord Jesus
Christ, that is able to do... How is He able to do? Exceeding,
abundantly, above all that we ask or even think. I bet if I asked you kids to
make a list, you can make one. But I tell you what, I bet your
parents are going to give you something that wasn't even on the list.
It's more than you asked for. I'll tell you, you sit around.
We can sing the song. We can sit around and think of
how wonderful it's going to be. And we don't know a half of the
whole what it's going to be like when Christ comes for us. But
while we're waiting, let's sing the song. Have you got one picked
out, Rich, for the final song? Alright, you come lead us in
that.