Turn with me in your Bibles to
2 Corinthians chapter four tonight. 2 Corinthians chapter four. I intentionally had us look at
Job because it goes hand in hand with what we're gonna be looking
at in 2 Corinthians four tonight. Now Paul begins his letter in
greetings and exhortation. In the first chapter he says,
blessed be God. Even the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, the
God of all comfort. He doesn't say the God of some
comfort. He doesn't say the God of a comfort. He says the God
of all comfort. If we're going to have comfort
tonight, it's going to have to come through and by the Lord,
through and by the Lord, because he is our comforter. Christ told the disciples, if
I go not away, the comforter, the comforter cannot, will not
come. He shall not come. It's expedient
that I go away from you. That's what he said, wasn't it?
So he sent his comforter to comfort his people. And that's our hope
tonight is that the Lord would comfort us. Paul tells them throughout
this book, look to Christ. Look to Christ. Now, Job was
a good example of somebody, he had it pretty bad. He had it
pretty bad. As far as physical ailment, there
wasn't very many in the scripture that we see that had it as bad
as Job. I mean, he lost his 10 children, he lost his cattle,
he lost everything that he had in one day. In one day, he lost
everything. And yet it says that he, did
no wrong in the sight of God in all of that. Talk about grace.
Talk about mercy. His wife even told him, Job,
why don't you just curse God and die? Job said, you speak
as a foolish woman. He's all my hope. The Lord gave
him a hope. That's amazing grace, isn't it? That's what that's called. It's
amazing grace. Well, most today have a I have it worse than anybody
else mentality. Or at least I have a worse than
most mentality. And all of it's based on our
perspective, our little reality in time. Now our place in time
is our reality, but our reality is based upon our perspective.
What I mean by that is, is everything that we know we have learned,
or we have been taught, and we have experienced, this is what
we know to be right, what to be wrong. And looking around,
The flesh always draws attention to self and says, I have it worse
than so-and-so, or I have it worse than so-and-so, or I have
it worse than you. I have it worse than you. Just
ask people, how was your day? How was your day? Man, my day
was rough. I had this happen and that happen. A guy was doing this, and a guy
was doing that. My job was just, it's just this
I'm dealing with. And you know, I don't have to
give examples. You know what I'm talking about. We're all the same. We're
all the same. How about our health? Boy, my
sciatica's acting up again. You ever heard that before? Oh,
I have a headache today. Oh, we don't look to comfort
one another often, do we? We should. How was your day? How about right on time, right
on time, purposed, ordained of God before the foundation of
the world. I would remind us that he's still
seated and everything has been ordered according to his will,
according to his purpose. How's your health? Exactly as
it's supposed to be. How is your wealth? Exactly how
it's supposed to be. How is our day? This is the day
the Lord hath made. Now, are we going to be as Job? If you look at Job, he did complain. Oh, don't misunderstand. What
about the children of Israel? Did they not get manna from heaven
and God never let their shoes run? You know, their clothes
never waxed old. Their shoes never gave out. How
can that be? All by grace. He gave them everything
they needed. They got manna out of the rock.
He provided them the way across the Red Sea. He kept them safe,
drowned the entire army that was chasing them. It's a picture
of our sin, everything about it. We have all this, don't we,
in the fullness of Christ, spiritually speaking. We have everything
they had, and yet, just like them, we murmur, we complain,
we grow weary, we grow tired. And that's why we have to come
in here. We have to be reminded it is finished. We grow, as soon
as we leave, we're thinking about the next day, the work day, the
workplace, or thinking about family, thinking about obligations,
and all of us have obligations. No matter your age, your obligations
never change. We still have to wake up every
morning, whatever it may be. It's just how life is, isn't
it? Men will talk about their circumstances. It's human nature. Human nature
screams, look at me. Human nature says look at self,
look at self. I can give you some great examples,
Facebook, my Facebook page, Instagram, my Instagram page, my Snapchat. Facebook's look at me and Instagram's
look at me now, Snapchat's look at me fast, and now TikTok's
look at me dance. It's all about looking at me,
isn't it? That's the truth, isn't it? That's what people want to
do, look at me, look at me. What about when the Lord says
to his people, where were you when I laid the foundations of
the world? Where were you when I hung the stars in the sky?
We no longer murmur, do we? Job didn't say, Lord, I thought
this and I thought that. No, he said, I'm going to put
my hands over my mouth. I'm going to answer you because
you've made me answer you, but I'm not going to talk anymore.
It's not about me. All about you. That's what Job said, wasn't
it? How soon we forget the Lord's promises. Our human nature causes
us to look at self, to circumstance. Faith doesn't do that. Faith
looks to Him. Faith rests in Him regardless
of what's going on in our reality, our little blip of time. How microscopic is it compared
to all of time? How microscopic is it compared
to eternity? And yet we get so caught up in the things of the
world and the things of the flesh because we're in the flesh. And
yet the Lord's given us a new man. that hungers and thirsts
after righteousness. Oh, I want to be fed tonight,
don't you? I want to be revitalized again. I need another drink. I'm thirsty again. I'm hungry.
I need another piece of Christ, the bread of life. How soon we
forget his promises that it is finished, everything is ordered,
and everything he has already, he's already provided everything
for us. before we were in the womb, before
time ever began, before he spoke the words, let there be light.
It's all been ordered and ordained of him, all of it. He promised that he would never
leave his elect and he cannot forsake his elect. Do you know
why? Because he cannot deny himself. That's what the scripture tells
us. He cannot deny himself, therefore he cannot forsake them. He cannot
deny them. Paul is addressing the selfish
mentality I mentioned about looking at me, look at my circumstances.
He also addresses their immorality. They had all manner of different
immoralities. I remember in false religion
preachers would pick out the one specifically that they weren't
doing and they would really hound on that one. But most of the
time they weren't guilty of it anyways. But you get what I'm
saying. We're not going to do that. I'm not interested. The
Lord's given us his word to teach us how we should conduct ourselves
in this world, conduct ourselves in worship. And if the Lord will
be merciful, I want to correct all immorality and all by doing
one thing, preaching the gospel. That's what'll do it. That's
what'll do it. You wanna motivate somebody, tell them of the love
of God. If they're a believer, that's
all the motivation you need. We don't need the law to motivate
us. No, tell them it's finished, that Christ put away their sin.
Boy, that motivates me, don't it, you? It's finished? I'm his
and he is mine? He loved me with an everlasting
love, he loves this? Lord, what could I do to be of service to
you? Is that not the response that it warrants every time? Paul's addressing their, these
Corinthians, some of them are boasting in their afflictions.
Oh, look, we're, we're, you know, we know where he is because we're
going through this and you're not going through that. You know,
they're boasting in afflictions. How silly is that? I would encourage us to do this,
though. Next time somebody asks, how was your day? Say with confidence,
right on time. Right on time. If you're a brother,
now you're, somebody looks at you in the workplace and you're
surviving, then you say whatever you feel necessary at the time.
You're not gonna have, what do you mean right on time? It's
just, you know, they're not gonna understand what you said. We're
talking to a brother or sister, I would encourage us, whatever's
about to come out of our mouth, point them to Christ. Because
that's what they need, and that's what I need. And that's what
you need. Is that not true? Point me to Christ. Point each
other to Christ. How do you do that? Well, Christ
is still seated on the throne. How's your day? You know, my
flesh is upset about a few things, but God is still seated on the
throne and he is making me look to him. So I'm having a really
good day. It's hard to say whenever you're
going through it though, isn't it? I'm not telling you I've got it down
pat. No, no, no, no, no. I get frustrated just as you
do, but say with confidence, he do with all things will point
each other to Christ. You want to see somebody that
loves you, they point you to Christ. They point you to Christ.
If they love you in the gospel, they point you to Christ. Somebody
says they're a believer, they're going to talk about Him. They're
going to tell you about His finished work. I can't help but brag on
Him. Can you? What's the first thing you want
to talk about? to a brother or sister. That's why we enjoy coming
together. That's why it's necessary to shed the dirt of this world
by coming together, the Lord washing us and our minds be focused
on the same subject, Him. And we talk about Him with each
other. It's edifying, isn't it? It's what the scripture calls
it. We need to be reminded every minute of every day has been
ordered of the Lord. Every minute detail of our life
has been ordered. Whether it's the spider that
was under the laundry whenever you picked it up and it made
you jump and hit your toe and smack your head, it's ordered
by the Lord. It was ordered by the Lord. Think about every blade
of grass, not just in this field, but on every square inch of this
entire world, every blade of grass has been ordered by the
Lord. Every one of them. And whenever your feet touch
a blade of grass, that was purposed by God. He put that grass there.
Who'd he do it for? For his glory. But he did it
for you, his people. Think about that. Sunshine that
rises, it rises for God's glory and for his people. Every hair
on our head is exactly the right number that it's supposed to
be. Not one too many and not one too less. I can take comfort
in that. I'm losing mine. Not too many, not too less. It's
the exact number, exact number it's supposed to be. Everything
is by the determinate counsel of God. You remember The Lord
gave David the grace to do what I'm describing and pointing each
other to Christ, that David was the king over Israel. He had
all power. As far as the king, as far as
his position went, he had all power to do whatsoever he would.
And this one man named Shimei comes out. He's a descendant
of Saul and he's angry that David's king. And he starts calling David
a bloody man. He starts slinging rocks at him.
He starts cussing him. I know how me and you would handle
that, not like David did, unless the Lord gives us grace to do
so. And that's the point, isn't it? The Lord gets all the glory
in this account of David's life. We know that if David was left
to himself, that whenever the servant looked at David and said,
Lord, who is this dog that's saying these things to you? Let
me go over there and chop his head off. Let me draw my sword
and take his head off. Let me kill him. He don't need
to speak to the king that way. Now, if David would have had
the arrogant spirit that we have sometimes, and David obviously
had it too. I mean, he committed adultery. He was a murderer.
Don't think David's some great guy. The Lord gave him a little
bit of grace right here to say these words. Let him curse because
the Lord has said unto him, curse David, curse David. That's why
he's doing it. Would it be nice the next time
somebody's rude to us? I use driving a lot because people
are crazy on the road. They'll tailgate you, cut you
off, and act like it's your fault. Next time that happens, it'd
be nice to say, thank you, Lord, for not allowing me to wreck.
I know that you did that. You did that. You said to that
man or that woman, tailgate him, cut him off. That's what David's
saying, isn't it? And how contrary to our flesh
is that? No, we're all about self, we're
all about pride. We're all about pride. David said, who shall
then say, wherefore, why? David says, wherefore hast thou
done so? What he's saying is, who can say why is this man cursing
David? He said, I'm going to tell you
why. God said, curse David. Oh, I wish the Lord would give
us grace to just let that replay in our mind every second of every
day, no matter what we face. Every single second, the Lord
said that. The Lord made him do that. The
Lord's doing this. The Lord's done. It's because
it's all finished. It's going to come to pass. I would love
to live life like that, wouldn't you? I wish the Lord would cause
us more to ever seek after the grace Not to see the cup half
full, but to see our cup runneth over. Our cup runneth over with
grace and mercy because of what the Lord's done for his people.
Constantly. Our cup never runs out. We don't
see it that way with the flesh, do we? You know why? The flesh
is enmity against God. We have pride. Everything in
life comes down to pride, doesn't it? May the Lord remind us he's
still seated. May he stop us from looking at
self. Stop us from looking at circumstance.
Stop us from looking at our position in our life in this world. Stop
looking at the world. May the Lord keep us from that. How distracting is the world?
How distracting is just this flesh? There's no rest in any
of that. May he cause us to bow to him.
And if he does, he's the doer of it. He's the doer. David didn't
get any glory out of that circumstance because you see just it wasn't
too long You see, he was warring with his son, Absalom. So understand
what had already happened. He'd already sinned with Bathsheba.
He'd already become a murderer. He's a murderer and adulterer
just because of what he was. We understand that. But he was
warring with his son because of the wages of that sin. Because of the consequence of
that sin, the sword will never leave your house. The Lord gave
him a moment of grace there at the very end. His son never came
to the knowledge of the truth. He warred with his son, his son
was executed by the enemy. What is my point? My point is
David gets no glory in this, God does. He gets all the glory
in the keeping of his people. He is our provider, he is our
protector. We have Christ as our portion, why should we ever
even become a little bit discouraged. Why should we ever become the
slightest bit discouraged? Because we're just like Peter.
First chance we get, we take our eyes off of Christ and we
notice the storm. We take our eyes off of Christ
and we start looking to our circumstances or ourself. We start to sink. That's how it's been ordained.
And we say, Lord, save me. Does He say, well, I'm getting
tired of saving you? No, He wretches forth outstretched
arms in mercy and in the same everlasting love He always has,
not in condemnation. Not in condemnation, He rescues
us. He rescues His people. God is our Father. Christ is
friend. God is our friend, the friend
that sticketh closer than a brother. What do we have to fear? If God
is our father, what do we have to fear? What would he withhold from us?
What would you withhold from your children? If we had the
ability to give our children anything, what would we withhold
from them? How much more a heavenly father who owns all things? He
only withholds that which is not good for us to have. And
he gives us all good for his glory. I'm gonna just have to start
telling you, preach a pre-message every time I stand. Going through
each of these books, I kind of have to get us caught up to what
everything's happening here just to get to the text. But I'll
say this before we read our text. If we ever feel down or discouraged,
remember, Paul tells us in this book he was beaten five times
with a cat of nine tails. A cat of nine tails was a whip
that had nine tails coming off of it. It had barbs at the end
that intentionally was made to rip flesh off of bone, off of
muscle. He was beaten five times with
that. Forty stripes, save one. Thirty-nine stripes. Thirty-nine
times five. I didn't do the math on that.
You can figure it out. But that's his stripes that he got for the
gospel's sake. He was beaten with a rod three
times. He was stoned to death. They killed him. They literally
stoned Paul to death. And the Lord resurrected him.
The Lord resurrected him. I'm not done with you yet. He
was called up to the third heaven. You remember that account he
tells us here. He said, I heard things that's not lawful from
end to other. And Lord sent him back. He said, no, your work
is not finished yet. If we ever feel discouraged,
remember he was shipwrecked three times. He was shipwrecked three
times, spent a night and a day in the deep. A night and the
day in the deep. He was at sea for a night and
a day. We've never spent a night and a day. What that meant was
in the deep means that was in the water. I'm not sure if he
was treading water or he had a board to hang on to or what
it was, but it was still a night and a day. I mean, that's, and
he did it for the gospel. And the amazing part is, is the
Lord put that on him so that you and I can have this right
here. This is the man that wrote this by God's inspiration. He
gets no glory. The man gets no glory. It's God that did it.
But you understand what I'm saying? It was for the gospel sake. Tells
us in this chapter that he was in perils, which is great danger.
Not just of his enemies, but his countrymen, the heathen,
robbers. He was in great danger in the
wilderness, at sea. The false brethren told lies
on him, tried to get him in trouble. He was put in prison. He was
often wearied. He was hungry, he said often.
He was thirsty often. He was naked often. He was cold
often. If we ever get discouraged, remember
that our brother Paul went through all of that. for the gospel's
sake, for the gospel's sake. Moreover, brethren, remember
what Christ did for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Remember what Christ endured
so that you and I could be set free of the bonds of sin and
death that we were guilty of and deserved. Remember the law
that he endured because we could not. Remember the sin that he
put away for his people and let that be your strength. Let that
be your encouragement. He didn't try. He successfully
redeemed. Don't be discouraged. Don't look at self. Look to Christ.
Look to Christ. Now Paul doesn't say all this
to brag. He's very clear. He says, I'm not doing this to
draw attention to my flesh. He said, I've tell, he said everything,
that I have in the flesh, he said, I have no confidence in
whatsoever. He said, I've counted it all but done that I may win
Christ. He's very clear. He's not doing this to brag.
He's trying to tell them that it's not about your circumstances.
It's not about what you do. It's about what Christ has done. And he's telling them that your
only hope, your only hope, is that when you're troubled, look
to Christ. When you're afflicted, look to Christ. When you're in
distress, look to Christ. That's why he tells them everything
that he tells them. Christ told us in the world, you shall have
tribulation, you shall have affliction, you shall have distress, but
be of good cheer, because I've overcome the world. He overcame
that which we could not. Paul's telling them the same
thing I wanna tell us. Stop looking at stealth, look to Christ. Look to Christ. Every time we
get angry, we get angry at God. Every time we get angry. We get
angry at our circumstances. We get angry at our peers. We
get angry at the person on the road that I just mentioned. We're
angry at God. We're angry at God. If everything's ordered
by Him, we're angry at God. It's God that does all things
well. Every time we get discouraged,
it's because we're not looking to Christ, it's unbelief, we're
looking to self. If you're ever discouraged, it's
not because you're looking to Christ, it's because, not because
I'm looking to Christ, it's because we're looking to self. We think we got it hard everywhere
Paul went, he had a death sentence on his head. Every time he walked
through a city gate, they'd be like, is that him? Kill him. Kill him. Everywhere he went,
he had a death sentence on his head. He made a lot of enemies.
We see they tried to do that to Christ, didn't they? But it
wasn't his time. Gospel's not popular, is it? Paul was made to have no confidence
in the flesh. God's grace must do that. God's
grace must do that. What I'm telling us, encouraging
us, is it's going to be God that does it, and he gets all the
glory for it. But make no excuse not to look to Christ. Look to
Christ. Well, I can't. Well, try. If you can, you will. Try to look. How do I look to
him? Cry out from the heart, Lord, have mercy. Cause me to
see your face. Cry out, Lord. Lord, save me. This is how we attempt. And you know good and well we
can't unless he does it. We know that. We know that. Paul was writing to them to stop
looking at everything else and look to Christ. That is how and
that is why God's people do not faint. And that was a long intro,
but that's what I've titled the message. Why, why we faint not. And I look with me in second
Corinthians four, therefore seeing We have this
ministry as we have received mercy, we think not, but have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness
nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation
of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in
the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus our Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. Why does the Lord's people not
faint? Because they've been given Christ. They've been given the light
of the gospel. They've been given faith that
looks to him. That faith can only look to him.
It can't help but look to him. This was all done by mercy. Look
in verse one again. Therefore seeing we have this
ministry as we have received mercy, we faint not. Paul then elaborates to them
that it's all by faith. It's all by faith we have. We
have no strength in and of ourself. It's by his power. It's by his
power. Now, the word faint here means
having no strength or a sudden loss of consciousness. No strength
or a sudden loss of consciousness. Why is Paul saying we faint not?
Because the source of our strength is not ourself. The source of
our strength is Christ. The source of our strength is
His gospel. The source of our strength is His faith. It's not
our strength. It's not our faith. It's not
our will. It's not our choice. It's God's.
That's why we faint not, because we're kept by His power, not
our power. We faint not because the source
of the believer's strength is Christ. And you know when our
strength, you know when the source of our strength is Christ? To
the believer, always, always. Somebody might say, well, I don't
always look to Christ. Faith does. No, this flesh can't
look to Christ. And there's the warfare. So we
started out by talking about looking to self, but he goes
on to tell us about the new man, the new man. And I don't know
if we'll get there tonight, but that's found in Ephesians. I
was going to have his turn there. But it's a warfare, isn't it?
We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities
and powers. And we have this new man that
constantly is looking to Christ and the old man that constantly
looks to self. That's what the old man looks to. Number one,
me, my problems, my circumstances, my whatever. The only reason
that we don't faint, the only reason that we lose, that we don't lose consciousness
spiritually speaking is because we're kept by God. We're kept
by him and made to look unto him always, always. Limitations 322 said, it is of
the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. because his compassions
fell not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. You see, it's not us that saved
us. It's God that saved us. It's not us that chose God. It
was God that chose us. It's not our faithfulness to
him. It's his faithfulness to us. That's the good news. If
you can relate to anything I was talking about, about looking
to self, take comfort in knowing if the Lord's revealed himself
to you, take comfort in knowing he's not looking at your faithfulness.
He's not looking to see your lifestyle or your choices. I remember hearing that the Lord's
disappointed when we make, boy, that's a statement, isn't it?
I can disappoint him? Boy, if I can disappoint him,
I'm in trouble. I am a disappointment, aren't we? We're a disappointment,
but not to God. Not if we're in Christ. No, we're
the righteousness of God in him. He's not looking to our choices
or us being disappointing or being a disappointment. He's
looking to the faithfulness of Christ. And that's the only reason
we're not consumed. He keeps us. It's the only reason
we don't faint. Christ said, all that the father
give me shall come to me. And all that come to me, I said,
I'm not going to lose a single one of them. I'm not going to
lose one. Not one of them that come to me, that my father's
given me, and Christ didn't, did he? And Christ isn't, is
he? And Christ won't, will he? Why? Because Christ is God. He
keeps his people. We're the sheep of his pasture.
He leads us beside still water. He restores our soul with the
water of life. He feeds us with the bread of
life, and he calls us to rest. When he talks about lying down
in green pasture, that's what he's provided in his gospel.
That's why we don't faint. He's the doer of all of it. He's
the sustainer of the believer's life. He's given us everything
that we need in this life right now, everything. And in eternity,
everything we need in Christ Jesus. That's why we don't faint.
We can't because we're kept by his power. That's the good news
of the gospel. John 10, he said, my sheep shall
never perish. I give unto them eternal life.
My sheep shall never perish. And no man can pluck them out
of my hand. He leads his sheep and he causes
us to rest in his finished work alone. How does he do that? By his gospel. That's our rest. Oh, whenever we see his face
through the light, that's what Paul's talking about here, the
light of the gospel shining. And where does it always shine?
Right in the face of Christ. There's our rest. That's the
only way we can see him, is if the light of the gospel shines
directly on him. There's our rest, there's our
hope, is him, Christ Jesus. How does this light Come to be,
is it something we do? Certainly not. He tells us in
verse six, look, for God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. God did the revealing. God did
the calling. God did the saving. God did it
all. God did it all in this salvation
of his people all by his grace. Now for others, those whom he
passed by, look in verse three. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost. We're not lost anymore. We're
the sheep that have been found by our shepherd. The gospel has
shined forth to his people's heart, but others, it says they're
lost. Why are they lost? The God of
this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light, now here is our only hope, the light of the glorious
gospel of God, who is the image of God, should shine forth. And
that's who we preach, he says. We don't preach ourself, we preach
Christ Jesus. And then he says that light is at God's command.
That light is at his disposal. That light will shine forth when
he says shine. That's hope, isn't it? Because
I can't constrain it, and I can't restrain it. If I could, I would.
And if you could, you would. But God's the one that commands
it. God's the one that owns it. God's the one that created it.
He created light out of darkness. Explain that. I can't, but I
believe it. He spoke light into existence.
Let there be light. And that's exactly what he does
to sinners. Every time it's time for them to hear, he says, let
there be light. And it shines forth and illuminates
the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. To those who are blinded, they
have hope in this world. Do you have any hope in this
world? I mean, I'm not talking about
having Christ as our hope, and I'm talking about literally hope
in this world. In this world. None. That's what Paul's talking about
when he said, if we had hope in this world only. He's not talking
about if we believe Christ in this world only. He's saying
if we had hope in this world, we'd be of all men most miserable.
There's no hope in this world. There's nothing good in this
world except for one thing, God's gospel. That's the good thing
that the Lord's given, and it's good enough for his people. The
Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work. Those that are blinded have hope
in the world, and they have no, think about this, they have no
sorrow of sin. They have no sorrow of sin, they
have a rest, because they believe they're good enough. I just started
out by telling us that everybody's about themselves, but when it
comes to the believers, When it comes to the believers in
God's gospel, it's all about Christ. Can you say amen to that?
It's all about Christ and his finished work. When we're sitting
here hearing the gospel, we're not thinking about drawing attention
to ourself, are we? No, it's all about him. Tell
me about him. Tell me about him. Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. I'm blind, I can't get to you.
You're gonna have to come to me. It's all about him, isn't
it? He gets all the glory and salvation,
and we love it that way. Men have rest, believing they
are good enough for God. A dead man don't know he's dead. I mean, you get what I'm saying
in that. A dead animal don't know they're
dead. They're not conscious anymore, are they? They're not conscious.
But when we became alive, we didn't, but the point I'm making
is if we're spiritually dead, we don't know it until we're
made alive. Is that not right? Once we're
made alive, I was blind and now I see. I was dead, now I'm alive. I was in darkness, now I have
light. You know what I'm talking about. If you've heard the truth
of the gospel, it's, I said this before and I know several of
you agree, the Bible rewrote itself. It became new all over
again. There he is on every page. Why? Because I was dead. was dead
and now we're alive. We're alive forevermore in Christ. In closing, I want to turn to
Psalm 73. David is envious of those that
do not know God. David is envious of those that
do not know God in this chapter. And he tells us that. He tells
us that. He's envious of them. Now the
ones I just described to us who are in darkness, who the light
of the gospel hath not shined forth to, they have a righteousness
of themselves. They believe that they are good
enough for God. They have hope in this world.
They don't sorrow over sin. And David gets to the point,
whether it be of, well, he tells us he was sorrowful, he was discouraged,
and it was everything around him. So everybody else seems
like they had it on easy street. And David got in a place where he
thought, Have I believed in vain? They have it better than I have
it. Why should I have to endure all of this? I love the glorious
chastenings. And I used to think chastening
means whipping. When the scripture says, Then
the Father loveth he chasteneth. I thought it meant you got beat
by God. I mean, he's going to take you up behind the woodshed
and paddle you. That's what I thought. That's not what chastening means.
That means learn, being taught of, being taught of the Lord. He's teaching us. What is he
teaching us? Look to Christ. Look to Christ
in everything that's going on right now in our lives, everything
around us. That's the message. Look to Christ. Don't look at
self. Don't look at circumstances.
We have the light of the glorious gospel. That's why we don't faint.
David lost sight of that for a moment and he was envious.
Now look with me in Psalm 73 verse one. Truly God is good to Israel,
even to such as are of a clean heart. Now understand the interjection
he's saying here. He's good to them of a clean
heart, but as for me, so he's saying, I see now this is written
after he, he's going to tell us why he's writing, but this
is written after he was envious and after the Lord showed him
the truth. And so he says, but as for me,
my feet were almost gone. My step said, well, I slipped.
For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked. For there are no bands in their
death, but their strength is firm. Their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other
men. Neither are they plagued like
other men. Therefore pride can passeth them
about as a chain. Violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more, like look at
this, they have more than heart could wish. David was envious
of their prosperity. David was envious that they had
no fear of death. David was envious that they were
not troubled. David was envious that they had
more than the heart could wish, more than the heart could wish.
David's having a pity party, isn't he? That's what's happening
here. David's having a woe is me pity
party. That's exactly how we started
this with Joe. We're gonna end it with David.
David's saying, they have more than heart. He felt sorry for
himself. He felt sorry for himself. David is corrected by God's grace
the same way you and I are. I want you to skip down to verse
17, or verse 16 rather. When I thought to know this,
as he describes everything that they are. When I thought to know
this, it was too painful for me. Until I went into the sanctuary of God, until
I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their
end. Surely thou did set them in slippery
places. Thou cast them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation,
as in a moment, they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh,
so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. God's gospel reveals what we
are and reveals our end if left to ourself. That's what David
saw. When he entered into the sanctuary,
the Lord made him to know their end. I thought it, I thought
they were good. I thought they had all that art desired. I thought
that I was envious of their prosperity. I was envious that they were
not troubled to die. I was envious of this and that. And then I
saw their end by the gospel of God. I saw my end without Christ
and I saw their end. The Lord gave him faith, didn't
he? And he tells us here that when they awake, as if awaking
from a dream, that means when they die and they awake up, they
won't awake in his likeness. You catch that there? That's
what he's saying when he says, thou shalt despise their image. See, our only hope is being awakened
in his likeness. You remember that verse, right?
We shall be made like him for we shall see him as he is. The
moment that we die, we awaken in his image and the father's
satisfied. The father's satisfied with the
image of Christ. David rejoiced after that. David
no longer was envious. We're not envious of the oppressor
anymore, are we? We're not envious of the circumstances that others
may have, because God has given us the grace to look to Christ
and see He's seated, and it's all well according to His purpose.
Our end is found in Christ. Our end is found in glorious
eternity in the presence of God, being united one with Him, eternal
praise, We'll never be able to look back. And I'm going to say
this, but I hope you understand what I'm saying. If we could,
it would just be a, what would it be in eternity? A blip. I
mean, what would you call it? This is just, we're just going
through the motions of purpose. That should be a song. We're
going through the motions of purpose, his purpose, his purpose, all
by his grace. God had rebuked David. In verse
one and two, I already showed you, but he said, I was almost
completely poured out. You know what that means? He
was almost, well I'll turn back there, I'm sorry, at the beginning.
He says, I was almost gone, but as for me,
my feet were almost gone, my steps had nigh slipped. Almost
gone and nigh slipped. What does that mean? He almost
fainted. He almost fainted. Why didn't he faint? Because
God showed him their end. Those who he was envious of,
he showed him. He said, don't be envious of
them. I'm your portion. I'm your exceeding
great reward. Rest, rest, the work is finished. Look in verse 21. I lost my place here. We'll read the remainder of the
chapter. David said, thus my heart was grieved and I was pricked
in my reins. Can you testify to that? The
Lord revealed your sin and showed you Christ, were you grieved
and pricked in your reins? And he calls himself a fool.
So foolish was I and ignorant. Isn't that what Paul said? Lest
the light of the glorious gospel should shine into the, what does
that mean? We're ignorant, we're foolish until God turns the light
on. We're no longer ignorant, are we? Who's God? He is, Christ
is. I was as a beast before thee.
I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless, I am continually
with thee. Thou hast holden me by my right
hand. Lord, I see the only reason that I'm not consumed, that I
haven't fainted. You're the one holding me. It's not me holding
you. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel. Afterward, receive
me to glory. Who have I in heaven but thee? There is none upon the earth
that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth.
Well, I can testify to that. My heart and my flesh faileth,
but God is the strength of my heart. The rock is what that
word strength means. The rock of my heart and my portion
forever. For lo, they that are far from
thee shall perish. Thou hast destroyed all them
that go a-whoring from thee, but it is good for me to draw
near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare
all thy works. This is exactly What the Lord
gives is a testimony to every single one of his elected sheep. The Lord's my strength. The Lord
is my strong. The Lord is my high tower. He's
my rock. He's on that which I stand as
all my hope of righteousness before God. It's him that keeps
us. It's him that's made us and not we ourself. He's done it
all and he is the only reason. When I look at everything else
around me in life, when I see my un goodness, there's no non
good in us. But if I was to say we see our
goodness, we would weigh it and say, No, it's not good at all.
It's not good at all. But when we look to Christ, we
see he is the reason that we do not faint only by his doing
only by his power.