I don't know if it's our fireplace
or what it is, but my nose will not quit running, so bear with
me tonight, please. Proverbs chapter four. I mentioned
to us last week that I believe the Lord had given me a couple
more messages on this, the final three verses here, and that's
certainly true for tonight and perhaps for next week as well,
we'll see. We went through Hebrews pretty quick compared to Proverbs.
We're still in chapter four of Proverbs, but there's a lot in
that. We're not in a hurry, that's the good news, right? Plenty
of time, unless the Lord chooses to come back, we'll keep looking,
hoping we see him. Proverbs chapter four, there's
one fearful thing that every believer has in common, one thing
that they are afraid of, one thing that they are concerned
with more than anything else. It's not their finances, it's
not even their health. It's Lord, don't leave me to
myself. Is that not true? Don't leave
me. To myself, don't forsake me. For if you forsake me, I I know
I'm Peter. My fear is that I would be Judas.
If you leave me to myself, I would be Judas. I would kiss your face.
In complete unbelief, Lord, don't leave us to ourself. Did you
know only the Lord's people fear that? People that's never heard
of the gospel, they're not afraid of that. They've made a covenant
with death, and with hell, they're in agreement. They've made their
covenant with God, and they think they're good to go. Only the
Lord's people are the ones that pray, Lord, don't leave me to
myself. Don't forsake me, don't cast
me off. That's why I've titled this message
Turn Us, O Lord, Turn Us, O Lord. All that the Lord has to do in
order for a man or a woman to die in their sin, to go to eternal
darkness, separation from God, all that the Lord has to do is
just leave them to themselves. Just leave them to themselves,
never pass by, never call them by name, never speak to them,
never reveal his truth, never breathe the breath of life into
them, just leave them to their self and their own devices. That's
all he has to do, nothing. But the only way for a man or
a woman to be saved is for God to do something. And that something
was done on the cross of Calvary 2,000 something years ago when
our Lord, the substitute surety of his people, put away their
sin on the cross, thereby guaranteeing all those whom the Father had
given him were eternally cleansed, eternally saved, and therefore
will be called in time. He won't leave them to it ourself.
He won't leave us to ourself if we're in Christ. Matter of
fact, he said, I'll never leave you. Even when you think he's
left you, he hasn't left you. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake
you. I'll go with you all the way, even to the end. Because he's the author and finisher
of faith, because he's the only one that can bring spiritual
life, if he leaves us to ourself, we're doomed and we're damned. And it's that simple. But I'm
glad for the gospel, aren't you? Where it says, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. The Lord said, I will have mercy.
He didn't say, I might have mercy. He said, I will have mercy. That's good news. The other portion
of that good news is that he said, I delight in showing mercy. He didn't say, I delight in showing
wrath. He didn't say, I delight in punishing sin. He didn't say,
I delight in eternal separation. For me, he didn't say that. He
said, I delight in showing mercy. And he also said, I am the Lord,
I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob.
That's the Lord's people, isn't it? The elect. Therefore, you're
not consumed. You're not consumed. The Lord died for us. We're saved
and then called according to his purpose at his appointed
time. Now here in our text, we have some instructional, instructional
decree is what I wrote down. We have an instructional decree.
And you can call it a command if you want to, but it's good.
It's good advice. It's good advice. And only the Lord's people can
obey it. Only the Lord's people can. You know why that is? Because
the Lord keeps his people. That's why we end up obeying
it. The Lord keeps us from turning to our right and turning to our
left ultimately. The Lord keeps us from seeking
after that which is evil, which is a blasphemous gospel, or running
back to the law for salvation. We don't do that anymore. The
Lord keeps us from all these things. Therefore, the only ones
that can keep what the Lord is instructing here is the Lord's
people. Let's read this together. Proverbs 4, verse 25 through
27 says, let thine eyes look right on, let thine eyelids look
straight before thee, Ponder the path of thy feet, and let
all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand, nor
to the left. Remove thy foot from evil. Now how is it that you or I are
not gonna turn to the right hand or to the left hand? We see David
in the scripture, what did David do? Well, he committed adultery,
he was a murderer, he did all these things, and yet the Lord
called him a man after God's own heart. How is that? Grace
alone. Grace alone. What about Peter,
who denied the Lord, or denied affiliation with the Lord, essentially
did the same thing Judas did, just without money. And yet the
Lord loved Peter, and he prayed for Peter that his faith would
fail not, and it didn't fail. How is it that Peter didn't falter
and fail? The Lord loved him, and the Lord loved David, and
that's what, who he sees is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He
saw the blood. That's why they were considered
righteous men, not by the works of righteousness they have done,
but according to the Lord's mercy. So how is it that we don't turn
to the right hand or to the left hand? How is it that the Lord
didn't leave David to himself after that or leave Peter to
himself after that? Because the Lord turns his people. He turns our heart to sing his
praise. He turns our minds to think on
him. He turns our world upside down
when he calls us out of darkness into light. You know what it's
like stumbling through a dark room. We turn out all the lights
in here. We might get some street lights
going a little bit coming in. But we would be staggering and
stumbling around. You wouldn't know where to go. But as soon as the
lights come on, you can see everything. And that's how it is with our
Savior. Whenever he comes on the scene to his people, he turns
the lights on. We're no longer in darkness.
Everything is illuminated. The truth is revealed. And the
Lord's people rejoice because they're no longer in darkness,
no longer wondering in the darkness in the wilderness, but we got,
we have him and his light. Every child of God knows that
if he doesn't turn that light on, if he doesn't do the saving,
if he doesn't do the calling, if he doesn't do the keeping,
there is no one that will be saved. No one. We've been made
to realize that there's nothing we can do, nor do we want to
do anything as any part of our salvation. We have no confidence
in this flesh to do anything. Somebody says that you have to
do this or have to do that. I don't have confidence to do
that adequately enough to please God. You know why? Because the
Lord said only one pleased him, and that's his son. I can't please
him, but he did. He pleased the Father on his
people's behalf. That's why we cry out to him
the title of the message, Turn Us, O Lord. Turn us, O Lord. Turn our thoughts. Turn our heart. Turn everything about us towards
you and cause us to seek after you. Cause us to crave. Cause us to thirst. What did
the scripture say? Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness, they shall be filled. That was the Lord's words
in Matthew. Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? If
you do, it's because the Lord's put that hunger and that thirst
there. Therefore, you're going to cry out, Lord, Lord, turn
me towards you again. And it's the same thing as Lord,
save me. Lord, save me. It's that's that's
how he does. He saves us. He turns us. It's
all the same thing, isn't it, Lord? Turn us. Turn us or we
will be lost. We need to be drawn. We need
to be brought. We need to be made. We need to
be taught. That's why in the Psalm, you'll
see in Psalm 119, he says, teach me, O Lord, the way of thy precepts.
Cause me to go in the way thou hast prepared. Make me to understand.
Lead me, it's all Him. Make me, cause me, show me, teach
me. That's the prayer of the Lord's
people. Lord, turn me. I want to be turned
away from myself, away from my sin, away from my troubles that
I normally create. I'm normally the problem that
creates it. Lord, turn me from that, cause me to see you and
rest in you alone. David shared this same desire.
And tonight I wanna look, and the message comes from verse
27, turn not to the right hand nor to the left. How can one
not turn to the right hand to the left? Well, it begs us, it
begs the thought that says, Lord, turn me. and I'll be turned. It's not an excuse. It's not
me saying, well, if I'm gonna turn, the Lord's gonna have to
do it. There's nothing I can do about it. That's the wrong attitude to have. No,
it's Lord, please turn me because I see that if you don't turn
me, I won't be turned. I need to be turned towards you. I'm going the wrong direction.
You've got to spin me around 180 degrees. I'm walking away
completely in my flesh all the time. Lord, turn me around again.
Cause me to face you. Cause me to come to you. David
had this same desire, and we're going to look in Psalm 80 for
quite a bit of the remainder of our time. Psalm 80, if you'd
like to turn there. There's three different times
in Psalm 80, and there's one time that we've already read
in Psalm 85, which we'll be turning back to in closing. But each
time it's a little bit different when David is calling out unto
the Lord. The first one he says is, turn
us again, O God. And the next one is, turn us
again, O God of hosts. And the next one is, turn us
again, O Lord God of hosts. And the last one is, turn us
again, O God of our salvation. Those are the four, but they
all mean something different. And if we're gonna be turned,
it's gonna have to come through and by the description of those
four, our God in his fullness. And I hope that's what the Lord
allows us to see tonight. So Psalm 80, and let's read verses
one through three. Give ear, O shepherd of Israel.
You notice that the writer doesn't say, I'm speaking, Lord. That's not what he says. He says,
Lord, give ear, O shepherd of Israel. Because if you don't,
If you don't hear me, it's not your fault, it's all my fault.
It's up to you whether you're here or not. I can't make you
here. That's the whole mentality, isn't
it? Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like
a flock, thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and
Manasseh, stir up thy strength and come save us. Turn us, O
God. and cause thy face to shine,
and we shall be saved. We'll stop right there. We have
four descriptions that give us great hope in the God of our
salvation. And the first one is, turn us,
oh God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Did you know seeing Christ is
salvation? If you see Christ, who is salvation,
it's because the Lord saved you. If you see Christ, that's salvation.
It's not complicated. He does not reveal himself to
anyone but his people. If he reveals himself to you,
you're his. Now he will be revealed one day
after everyone dies and they stand before him at the judgment.
That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about revealing by
faith. Right now, if you can see him through the eyes of faith,
if he is your only hope in salvation and righteousness and in truth,
if you have a need that only he can supply, he's the doer
of it. He only does that for his people,
and thank God he does. He does do that for his people.
Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall
be saved. O God, that definition is the
existing one. The eternal, immutable, I am. That's what that means. Turn
us. Eternal, immutable, I am, and
we shall be turned. Turn us, oh God. He is the one
which was, which is, and which is to come. He's the creator
and sustainer of all things. It's interesting when we use
terms like he's self-existing, because we can't fathom that.
Everything that we see is created. Everything that we see has an
end. Everybody dies. Everything around us is decaying.
That's just how it is. When we bought this building,
did we not have to renovate it because of some of the problems
that we were having? And even yet, there's things that needs
to be done. Why is that? Because the longer time goes on, things
decay. Not him. He's self-sustaining. He's self-existing. He doesn't
get older. Can you imagine that? How can
you have a father and a son that's the same age and always has been? Explain that one to me. Can't,
can we? We believe it though. This is
God. This is the I am. This is who we need to turn us
around. We need to forget about ourself and what we think about
things and realize who we're talking about here. Moses said
to him, Lord, I'm going down to Egypt to all these, to the
Hebrews to tell them the God of their fathers had sent me
unto them to deliver them. They're gonna say to me, well,
what's his name? What do I tell them? He said, tell them I am,
that I am. And you know, I find it interesting
that Moses didn't say, well, what does that mean? Because
off the bat, that kind of doesn't make sense, does it? But it does
if you're a believer, because knowing that he is the I am,
it means he's everything. You can't explain him. the way
that he justly deserves. We can't. Our tongue can't articulate
his wonders and his glory and his magnificence like I would
want to. So what do we do? We use the
words that we do know. He's the I am. He's God, and
if he turns us, we will be saved. We will be saved. In him is life. And that life is the light of
men. And that light shines in darkness,
and darkness comprehends it not. But if he doesn't shine that
light in the darkness of our heart, revealing the sin that
we are, and then illuminate his precious son, we have no hope
of salvation. But thank God he does for his
people. That's why we cry out, Lord, turn us. Turn us again,
oh Lord. Without him, there's only darkness
and ruin. Think about that. It's only destruction
and despair. There's only heartache and pain. There's only sorrow and weeping
without him. With him, there's joy unspeakable
and full of glory. There's peace. There's long suffering. There's grace upon grace. There's
mercy, everlasting mercy. There's love. Oh yes, we preach
a message of love. God so loved that he gave his
only begotten son. Why did he do that? To redeem
his people, to save his people from their sin. Lord, turn us.
Calls us to remember these things. Turn us, oh Lord, back to you. Moses said, what is your name?
He said, I am that I am. Turn us, oh God, turn us. Heavenly Father, the eternal
I am and we will be turned and we will be saved. Cause thy face
to shine and we will be saved. Now the second turn us comes
a little bit later on here. So let's read verses three through
seven. Psalm 80 verse 3 says, turn us again, O God, and cause
thy face to shine and we shall be saved. O Lord God of hosts. How long will thou be angry against
the prayer of thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread
of tears and givest them tears to drink in great measure. Thou
markest us astrife unto our neighbors and our enemies laugh among themselves.
Turn us again, O God of hosts. Turn us again, O God of hosts,
and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. You see a pattern in David's
prayer here, the begging that he's doing unto the Lord? Cause
thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. I just wanna see him. You remember the story of Abraham
sending his best servant to fetch Isaac, a bride. And I love how
the scripture uses terms like, and it happened that he went
to the well of such and such. And it was like, it happened,
okay, yeah. So God purposed that, that's what happened. But they
use that language and we just accept it and say, okay, whatever.
But we know there's nothing by chance. And who did that servant
run into? He ran into Rebecca, which was
the kinsman that Abraham was wanting him to find, really,
a kinsman. He had to go through the process
of asking questions. And it turns out he found out
who she was. And she said, I'll go with you. I'll marry this
Isaac. Now, my thoughts are, and I did the math a long time
ago, but I can't hardly remember. So if I'm wrong on this, I'll
look it up later and correct it. But I believe it's about
four months journey that they had to do from the place that
Laban was going all the way back to Abraham, going back to Isaac.
And so that's a long time on camels. It's a long, maybe it's
four weeks. Either way, you get what I'm
saying, it's a long time on camels. What do you think the conversation
would have been with Rebecca and that servant? She'd never
seen him before. They didn't have pictures back
then. What do you think the conversation would be? Can you tell me more
about Isaac? What color is his hair? What
color is his eyes? How's his temperament? Is he
lovely? Is he kind? Is he tender? Is
he hateful? No, he's not hateful. Is he loving? Is he patient? Is he understanding?
Does he listen good? The servant said, Oh, he's much
more than that. He's much more than that. When
you and I stand face to face before the king, we'll do exactly
what Rebecca did. We'll cover our face and we'll
say the half has not been told us. Lord, turn us, cause us to
see your face, cause your face to shine, and we'll be saved. Turn us again, oh God of hosts.
God of hosts means he owns everything. He owns everything. Every human being on the face
of the earth belongs to God for him to do whatsoever he will
with it. And all he has to do for one of them to not be in
his presence forever is just leave them to themselves. All
he has to do is for them, people say that, I want to say this
the right way, People talk about God. Why would God send someone
to hell? The Lord just leaves people to themselves and they
go to hell. He doesn't do anything. You don't have to do anything
to send them to hell. You understand what I'm saying there? He says
depart. That's what he says. Depart from me, you worker at
iniquity. I never knew you. No, men will send their own self
to hell by their actions and by their doings, by their sin
and their self-righteousness. That's why we need to be turned.
That's why this message is so important. Lord, you own everything.
You own the breath that I'm breathing. You own everything. He numbered
the sands of the sea. Do you know what that means?
It didn't mean he counted them one at a time. No, he said there's
going to be 22,987,640 grains of sand on this beach. Boom,
there it was. That's God. He didn't even have to count
to do it. desensitizing it a little bit.
I'm not trying to. You understand what I'm saying,
how awesome, how amazing it is for our God to just think something
and it happens like that. The numbers of the hairs of your
head are numbered. It wasn't that he counted them. He didn't
say, okay, you got 32 and that's the way I've purposed it. No,
he knows how many are there because he's purposed them to be there.
He owns everything. Everything's subject to him.
From the fruit trees that yield the fruit to the vegetables in
the ground, for the cattle of a thousand hills and the potatoes
in the hills, everything is His. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. He can do whatever He wants to with anything that
He wants to and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what
doest thou? He's God. And David is recognizing this
by saying, Lord that owns everything, turn us. I'm yours. I admit it. I am not my own. I've been bought with a price.
That's my only hope. I plead the blood alone for salvation. I have no hope in and of myself.
Save me, Lord. Turn me and I'll be turned. Cause thy face to shine and I
will be saved. Lord of hosts also means that
he goes forth fighting in battle. You ever heard of a host? In
the scripture, it's talking about an army. Host was encamped around
about this or that. They're talking about an army.
And what he's saying, the Lord of hosts. Well, he's Lord over
all hosts, first of all. But there was a time that a battle
took place, and it was on the cross of Calvary. The great war
was fought there. People always talk about, in
Revelation, all these other wars that's gonna take place. The
war's happened already. He's victorious. It's done. It's
finished. As far as the salvation of the
Lord's people, it's finished. That's good news, isn't it? No,
I mean, you don't have to fight the battle. The Lord's fought
them all. Now, I understand we're going to have trials and troubles
and tribulations, but who has us? Who keeps his people? The
Lord does. He's fought all the battles for us. What's my point? My point is, is on that day,
whenever the Lord went to battle for his people, he endured the
wrath of God due us as our substitute, as our surety. He endured The
battle, he beat Satan on the cross of Calvary. He beat the
flesh on the cross of Calvary. He put away sin for his people
forever on the cross of Calvary. He got the victory. That's why
there is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
That's good news. That's good news to sinners.
You hear that you don't have any responsibility now. Your
responsibility is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But
how can you believe if you have not heard? And how shall you
hear except you hear a preacher? And how can you preach except
you be sent? See, it's the Lord that does it all. Turn us, Lord. Turn us to believe you. Cause
your face to shine and we will be saved. And we will be saved. The Lord by himself purged our
sin. He bought our pardon in that
great victory. And it was impossible for him
to fail because he's God. I love the thought that he don't
try to do anything. You know, me and you try to do
things all the time. I tried to, well, I was cooking something
just the other day. I tried to cook and it didn't
turn out too good. I tried. Of course, my loving wife said,
oh, it's wonderful. It's fantastic. I'm like, no,
it's not. You're just being sweet. I tried. God don't try. Everything he does, he's purposed
and it's going to happen. I love that about our God. He
can't fail. You and I fail all the time,
don't we? We don't even mean to fail and we fail. We aren't
even trying to fail. Sometimes you give it your very
best and you fail. It's like, man, nothing's working the way
I was hoping it would work. The Lord's never said that one
time. The Lord never said that one
time. All things work together for good. for them that love
God, for them are thee called according to his purpose. Everything
is gonna be for our good and for his glory, and everything
he's purposed is going to come to pass. It's going to come to
pass. Because the Lord of hosts is
our substitute, his righteousness is imputed to us, to his chosen
people. He got the victory that day,
and the Lord made his people the very righteousness of God
in Christ, the very righteousness of God in Christ. The sin's gone. Sin's gone. That's why he said,
turn us, O Lord of hosts. Turn us, O Lord of hosts. Cause
thy face to shine and we shall be saved. He alone had the ability. He alone had the substance. You
and I didn't have the ability or the substance, did we? Think
about that. People talk about how they made a decision to get
saved. No, you didn't. You can't. He alone had the substance,
and He alone had the ability to obtain salvation, and He obtained
eternal redemption for His people. That's what He did. I love that
about our God. Not only could He not fail, He
can't fail now, nor will He ever be able to fail. He's God. He's
successful, and He redeemed. By himself, he purged our sin
and he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
And he was raised again because of our justification. That's
evidence of our justification. We've been justified. Freely
by his grace, by the Lord of hosts. Turn us again, oh God
of hosts, cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved. Now our
third one is found towards the end of this chapter here. In
verse 14. Verse 14 says, Return, we beseech
thee, O God of hosts. Look down from heaven, behold,
and visit this vine, and the vineyard which thy right hand
hath planted, and the branch that thou made strong, made a
strong for thyself. It is burned with fire, it is
cut down. They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. Let
thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand. Who is that? Let
thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of whom
thou madest strong for thyself. So will not we go back from thee? Quicken us, and we will call
upon thy name. See the utter dependence that
we have towards the Lord, just as David did. Quicken us, and
we will call upon thy name. Turn us again, O Lord God of
hosts. Cause thy face to shine. and
we shall be saved. Oh Lord God of hosts means that
he is sovereign over all. He is sovereign over everything. Not only does he own everything,
not only is he the eternal I am, self-existing one, but he is
sovereign over all things. Everything is subject to him. Everything is under him. There's
nothing above him. He maintains the power to control
anything according to his will, and none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? He's sovereign over all. What
hope would you have in a God that's not sovereign? Think about
that just for a second. A God that's not sovereign, a
God that's done everything that he can to save you, but now you
have to do your part. That's not a sovereign God, is
it? That's not the God of the Bible, is it? No, the God of
Scripture is a sovereign Lord that successfully redeemed his
people. He successfully saved his people
from their sin, and he sat down because his work is done. I can
rest in a sovereign God, the sovereign Lord, can't you? Lord,
turn us. Oh God, oh Lord God of hosts,
oh sovereign, our sovereign God, turn us. Turn us. He's sovereign over everything.
From the dew that falls, the snow that we just had, we were
hoping to have a little bit more snow, I'm not gonna lie to you,
but he's sovereign. He didn't allow that, he gave
us exactly what we needed didn't he? Who can argue with that?
It's unbelievable, you can't argue with that. How many inches
were we supposed to get? Exactly what we got, how do you
know? Because that's what we got. That's exactly what we got. He's purposed the rain. He's
sovereign over the rain. He's sovereign over the snow.
He's sovereign over the sun, the rising and the falling of
the sun. He's sovereign over the moon and the sky and all
the stars, all the constellations, all the handiwork of his hands. He spoke them into existence.
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Isn't the dew
that falls in the morning that waters the ground and then is
vaporized back up by the sun again. He's sovereign over that
as well. He's sovereign over the babies crying. He's sovereign
over the birds of the air and the deer of the field. He's sovereign
over everything. He's sovereign over you and He's
sovereign over me. And thank God He's sovereign
over you and He's sovereign over me. You know what that means? I can't do anything against Him. I can't challenge him. I can't
constrain him, and I can't restrain him. I can't force him or make
him to do anything, and I can't obligate him to do anything.
He is God. He is the Lord God of hosts,
the sovereign one. All things bow to his will. He's
supreme, completely in authority over everything. The most amazing
part is that he loved some wretched, vile sinners so much that he
sent his own darling son to die for them, to make them the righteousness
of God, to make them as holy as he is, to save them from themselves. Isn't that amazing? The sovereign
God that I'm talking about made everything, saved his people
from their sins. Every hiccup you ever had, every
sneeze you ever had, purposed. Purposed. Every time you coughed,
purposed. Every time your eyes blinked,
every heartbeat you've had, purposed. He's a God of purpose. He doesn't
make mistakes. All things are ordered and sure
by him, and your salvation is part of that. Our salvation is
part of that, and there is great comfort in knowing that our salvation
hinges completely upon the Lord saying, I will, and you shall. I will, and you shall. I'll save
you, and you shall be saved. I'll call you, and you shall
be called. I'll keep you, and you'll be kept. And I'll turn
you back to me in my loving arms, and you will be turned, and you
will be turned. He's the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the
first and the last. He is salvation to his people. He is salvation,
which brings us to our last point. He is salvation alone to his
people. Turn with me to Psalm 85. Lord thou has been favorable
unto thy land thou has brought back the captivity of Jacob thou
has forgiven the iniquity of thy people thou has covered all
their sin thou has taken away all thy wrath thou has turned
thyself from the fierceness of that anger how can all those
things happen how can he turn away his wrath? Because He laid
on Him the iniquity of us all. Christ Jesus endeared that wrath.
He took that wrath. He was the end of that wrath
for the Lord's people. It's gone. The Lord cannot exact
justice twice for it's unjust. Justice was satisfied that day
on the cross. There's no condemnation for the
Lord's people. There's no justice needing to be served and there's
no wrath remaining for the Lord's people. Turn us, O God, of our salvation.
and cause thine anger towards us to cease. Without being angry
with us forever, will thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
That thou not revive us again? See the dependency he has, he
needs to be revived. That thy people may rejoice in
thee. Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. I
will hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace
to his people and to his saints. But let them not turn again to
folly. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him, that
glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall
spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down
from heaven. That truth was Christ, and we know the righteousness
he's speaking of is the Father, isn't it? Yea, the Lord shall
give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before
him. and shall set us in the way of his steps. Verse four, turn us, oh God of
our salvation, cause on anger towards us to cease. God of our salvation, what does
that mean? There is no salvation in any other name. There is no
salvation in any other person. There's no salvation in any other
God because there is no God other than him. There's no salvation
other than in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 4 says,
neither is there a salvation in any other for there's no other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There is no peace, there is no
hope, there is no rest, there is no comfort outside of the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Outside of his finished work
on the cross, he is the God of your salvation. Turn us, oh God
of our salvation. Cause thy face to shine. cause
that anger towards us to cease, and we will be saved, and we
will be saved. He alone wrought salvation for
his chosen, his elected people. He alone had the power to do
so, and he purchased redemption by his own blood on the cross
of Calvary for his people. And now, even though we can't
see it, we're seated in Christ right now in the heavenlies.
What can touch us if we're in Christ right now? Think about
that. On this earth as we go through and we're turning here
and there, we're worried about this and that. Remember this,
you're in Christ right now. What can touch you that doesn't
pass through his hand first? What can get to you that he has
not permitted? What can bother you or upset
you that he is not allowed? This is God, the one that we
talked about already, about him being completely sovereign, him
being completely righteous, him being completely true and holy
and just and good. And he said, you being evil know
how to give good gifts unto your kids, unto your children, how
much more? Shall your heavenly father give
unto them? Just ask, just ask. And what is it we ask for? Lord,
I need your spirit. Lord, I need to see your face.
Turn me again, Lord. Turn me again, God of my salvation. Cause thy face to shine. Turn
away from that anger and I will be saved. But you've got to do
it all. You've got to do it all. And the Lord says to every sinner
that's ever came to him, mercy begging for that need. I will
be thou made whole every single time. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. He said, I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. See, he's the God of salvation
to sinners. He's the God of salvation to
sinners. not to the righteous, the self-righteous, the entitled,
the false piety people that you've seen, not to them. The righteous
is not the ones whom he came to save. He came to save the
sinners and give them his righteousness. So we call, cry out with the
psalmist, teach me your ways, oh Lord. Lead me in the paths
of righteousness for your namesake. Prepare a table before me, Lord.
I need fresh manna for today. I need the, The sweet bread of
life. I need to drink from the fountain
of living water again, Lord. I'm thirsty and I'm in a famine
land, in a desert land. I need Christ again. Cause thy
face to shine, oh Lord of my salvation. Teach me your ways. Leave me not. That's how we started
this. Leave me not to myself. Leave
me not to myself. If you do, I'm in trouble. If
he does, we're in trouble, aren't we? Lord, don't leave me to myself. I deserve it. In and of myself
and what I am and the way I think, the sin that I am. Lord, don't
leave me to myself. Give me mercy. Save me by your
grace alone. That's all we can plead. Lord,
the blood alone, nothing in me, nothing in my hands, I bring
simply to Christ. We cling. Well, the first one
was, oh God, turn us, oh God. He's the eternal I am, the self-existing
one. Turn us, eternal I am, the self-existing
one. Cause thy face to shine and we
shall be saved. Turn us, oh God of hosts, who
hath done valiantly and redeemed thy people. Cause thy face to
shine and we shall be saved. Turn us, oh Lord God of hosts,
the one that's sovereign over all things, the creator and sustainer
of all life. The one that purposes and it
happens. The one that can't be thwarted or challenged in any
way. The one who has a 100% success
rate and always will. It's impossible for him to fail.
It's impossible for him to lie. He's sovereign. Cause thy face
to shine. Turn us and we shall be saved. Turn us, O God of our salvation.
For salvation belongs to the Lord. He is the God of salvation.
Salvation's of the Lord. It's not of you and I. When David
prayed in Psalm 51, he said, restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. Not my salvation, thy salvation. It's yours. But he just gives
it to his people freely by his grace. Restore unto me the joy
of thy salvation. God of my salvation, turn us.
Turn us and cause thy face to shine. Cease from thy anger and
we shall be saved. This is the Lord's people's prayer,
isn't it? That's what this is, and it's every day. It's over
and over and over. Turn us again, and we will be saved. Leave us
not to ourselves, cause your face to shine, and we shall be
saved. Don't let me turn to the right
hand. Don't let me turn to the left hand. Let me look straight
on, as we have in our text. Let me look straight on to Christ
and press towards the mark. If I ever begin to deviate, Lord,
turn me again. Turn me again, leave me not to
myself. Let's pray. Lord, we pray that you would
bless this to our understanding for your glory. Turn us, Lord,
we pray in Christ's name, amen.