There we go. Psalm 90. Psalm
90 this evening. I'm entitling the message from
the words found in verse 12. Teach us to number our days. Teach us to number our days. Not our years, not even our months,
our days, our days. But notice this word here in
the beginning of verse 12. So, so teach us, so teach us. Seeing and knowing the frailties
of the flesh, the sinfulness of the flesh, knowing something
of the brevity, the shortness of our life, of our days, So,
teach us. So, teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, teach us Thy way. Teach
us Thy gospel. Reveal the Lord Jesus Christ
unto us. Isn't that our prayer? For the
Lord to be our teacher. To reveal Himself unto us. Now
notice in Psalm 90, The subtitle there says, A Prayer
of Moses. Moses was a special servant of
the Lord, wasn't he? A special man that God raised
up for a special time, for a special purpose, to deliver God's people
from that 400-year Egyptian bondage. Moses, the Prayer of Moses, known
as the Moses believed God. Now this psalm was given to Moses,
who was known as God's servant. It says in Exodus 33 that the
Lord, the Lord spake to Moses as a man speaketh to his friend. They had a special, intimate
relationship. It is my desire for you and for
me, for all of us, to be known as Man or as a believer who believes
God just not believes in God, but who really? believes God
One who is blessed of God chosen of God our Lord Jesus Christ
said of Moses in John chapter 5 that Moses wrote about the
Lord Jesus Christ and all those writings of Moses from Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, what we call the first four books
of the Bible, they're all about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we
see a lot of historical facts about Israel, but all that was
given not just to teach us history of an ancient people, it was
given us and blessed of God to teach us who He is, who we are. And then to point us to the Lord
Jesus Christ. We see the Lord described all
the way back in the book of Genesis, don't we? In Genesis chapter
3, the woman seed that would crush the serpent's dominion,
that would crush sin's dominion. Now who's the woman seed? Well,
it's the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? The Lord Jesus. So certainly
it is true that Moses wrote As he was moved and inspired of
God, and he wrote about the Lord Jesus Christ in type, picture,
and pattern. Moses, like all believers, had
only one hope of salvation. His one hope of salvation wasn't
in the law that thundered from Sinai. His one hope of salvation
is the same exact hope that we have today. It's in the person
and in the work of the blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Every believer has a good hope through grace and grace alone. It's the grace of God that teaches
us the way of salvation. Now, if I could remember this,
I didn't write this down. I'm gonna pull this out of my
head if I can. My memory's not like it used to be. But did you
ever consider the word G-R-A-C-E, grace? G-R-A-C-E, grace. And then think about what each
letter in that word, what it really means. The letters in
that word really defines what the grace of God is. Grace, gee,
is what? The gift of God. Salvation is
a gift of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation's a gift. Then we think about the letter
R. Now immediately I think of one thing, don't you? Redemption
through the blood. The Lord Jesus Christ obtained
for us eternal redemption. When we think about G-R-A, what
do you think of when you think of that letter A? Well, atonement,
the one thing. But we are accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1, 6. And then we think
about the letter C. What do we think about? Well,
I think about this, being complete in Christ. In Him dwells all
the fullness of a Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete. G-R-A-C-E. What would that stand for? Well,
I could think of several things, but what comes to my mind is
this. The salvation that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, he
saves us with an everlasting salvation. You see how just taking
the letters of that blessed word, grace, grace. Grace, oh to grace,
how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness,
like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Now most of the
commentators that I read after, John Gill, Robert Hawker, Spurgeon,
and others, believe that God gave this inspired prayer unto
Moses while spending 40 years in the wilderness. And most of
the time they were years, 40 years of hardship, heartache. The people rebelled against him.
on countless occasions picked up stone to stone and said, and
then complained, why did you bring us out here to die in the
wilderness? We were doing pretty good back there in Egypt. No,
you were in bondage back there. The Lord has set you free. Watching
Moses experience this those 40 years, he experienced the rebellion
of Israel taking place. And he also saw this, didn't
he? He saw a whole generation of men die in the wilderness. Forty years before they entered
into the land of promise, with the exception of two men, it
says in the book of Numbers chapter 14, those that were twenty years
old and older that came out of Egypt, they wandered forty years
in the wilderness and all of them died with the exception
of Joshua and Caleb. And even those two men is a picture
of the Savior and the dog. Caleb picturing the faithful
dog entering into the promised land. Moses watched a whole generation. You think about that. They say
two or three million people came out of that bondage there in
Egypt and wandered around in the wilderness. How would you
provide water and food out in a desert land for two or three
million people? God rained bread. from heaven,
and yet they complained. God sent quails, and yet they
complained. God split open a rock, and water
gushed out, and said that water followed them both forty years,
and yet they complained against God. And a whole Moses watch,
he preached a lot of funerals. If they preached funerals in
that day, he preached one or two or three or a dozen every
day because they were dropping like flies. On many occasions
he'd kill two or three thousands, God would, for their rebellion
against God. Now one thing is certain when
you read this Psalm, one thing is certain, we see the frailties
and the vanity of sinful flesh compared and contrasted to the
eternality and the holiness of God. We see the sinful frailty
of the flesh, and then we see the eternality and the holiness
of God. All flesh is grass. The Lord our God is eternal,
from everlasting to everlasting. Now, with that introduction,
let's see if we can Go through this song the lord himself is
our refuge in our dwelling place. Look at verse one lord And this
is capital l-o-r-d whenever you see that through the psalms old
testament is talking about jehovah jehovah god our savior thou has
been our dwelling place from generation to generation The
believer has only one refuge, only one hope, only one righteousness,
only one shelter in which to hide. And that is this dwelling
place that's provided of God. And that dwelling place for the
believer to hide in, our refuge, is none other than the God-man
mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a hiding place in him. I'm thinking of a scripture over
here. Turn to Isaiah 32. A man shall
be our hiding place from the covert, a tempest from the tempest
and from the wind, the covering. Isaiah 32, look at verse 2. Isaiah 32, 2. And a man shall
be a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest. Now how can a man be a hiding
place from the wind? All these folks that experienced
these tornadoes, now they weren't looking for a hiding place in
a man. They were looking for a hiding
place in a hole somewhere in the ground. But this man here
is no ordinary man. This man here is the God-man
mediator and we can hide in him from the wrath of God's judgment. You know, oftentimes you look
up the word whirlwind in the scripture and oftentimes it uses
a whirlwind as a symbol of God's coming judgment like a whirlwind. Can you stop those folks that
experienced all those tornadoes You imagine someone trying to
stop one of those? You can't stop a tornado, can
you? But I tell you, by God's grace,
we can hide in the refuge that the Lord has provided, this hiding
place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, rivers of water
in a dry place, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
Christ is our dwelling place. Christ is our hiding place. That's
our comfort, that's our shield, that's our hope in Christ alone. We have no permanent dwelling
place here in this life, do we? In this life, I'm talking about
natural things now. We have houses to live in, but
one day what'll happen to our house? One day it'll be gone,
one day it'll be destroyed. We have this tabernacle of flesh
in which we do live in, but one day what's gonna happen to this
flesh? It's gonna go back to the dust from which it came and
will be no more. But to the believer resting in
the Lord Jesus Christ, he has been our dwelling place from
all eternity. Christ is our dwelling place.
Look right across the page. It's Psalm 91 verse 1. He that
dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty God. Christ is our dwelling place. That's the secret place that
God has provided. All who believe in Christ dwell
in Him, and He in us. We have in Him that vital blessed
union of Christ in us. He said, I in them, thou in me,
that they may be made perfect in one. That eternal blessed
union we have with Christ. How long has He been our dwelling
place? Huh? From everlasting to everlasting,
He's been our dwelling place. His elect have dwelt in Him secretly
from all eternity, according as He chose us in Him before
the foundation of the world. We dwelt in Christ when He was
crucified for us, for we were slain with Him as He dies as
our representative, and we are crucified with Christ. We dwelt
with Him there at Calvary, and we dwell with Him even now in
glory as He's seated in the heavenlies. We're one with Him. It says that
in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 6, when He ascended up on high,
we ascended up With Him, when He sat down at God's right hand,
as the forerunner who has entered in for us, we sat down in Him. You see, He's always been our
dwelling place. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has been
our dwelling place from generation, from generation, from everlasting.
It says that in verse 2, before the mountains were brought forth,
before creation. Wherever thou hast formed the
earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Many times through this scripture,
especially in Isaiah, he said, I am God beside me, there is
no other God, the only just God and Savior. Turn over here to
Isaiah 45 a moment. From everlasting to everlasting. You know, He
saves us not with a temporary amnesty. He saves us with an
everlasting salvation. Look at Isaiah 45. He said, I am the Lord. There
is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, thou hast not
known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun from
the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, there is none
else. I form the light, I create darkness,
I make peace, I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. From everlasting to everlasting.
How long has he been the eternal sovereign God? From everlasting
to everlasting. Turn over here to Isaiah 57. Isaiah 57, look at verse 15. I like this verse. Isaiah 57,
15, for thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity. whose name is holy. I dwell in
a high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and
humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, to revive
the heart of the contrite ones. The high and lofty one, God inhabits
eternity. He's not in eternity, eternity's
in him. God's not in the universe, the
universe is in him. From everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God, God alone. Before creation, when there was
nothing but God, he dwelt alone in the splendor of his sovereign
person. Before creation, when there was
nothing but God, he loved his own with an everlasting love.
And with loving kindness, he does draw us to himself. Before
creation, when there was nothing but God, He determined to save sinners.
When? Before Adam ever fell. The Lord
Jesus Christ stood as a surety of the everlasting covenant.
He's the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. When
there was nothing but God, the Lord Jesus Christ stood as a
surety of that everlasting covenant of grace that we talked about
in Psalm 89 last week. Unchanging in His person, He
said, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob,
you're not consumed. Unchanging in his eternal purpose
of redemption. It says in Hebrews 13, 8 of the
Lord Jesus Christ, it speaks of Him, the same yesterday, today,
and forever. His eternal purpose does not
change. It always gets back to the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a comfort then, what a security
the believer has resting in the dwelling place of the everlasting
God, the one He's provided for us. You know, He's called Jehovah
Jireh. The Lord will provide. Y'all
learned something a long time ago? Only that which God provides
will God accept. We're accepted in the beloved,
nowhere else. We're blessed in the beloved
with all spiritual blessings and nowhere else, only in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now in verse three down through
verse 10, Taking out verse 7 and 8, and
we'll come back to that, verse 4, 5, 6, and 9, and verse 3. We have a contrast here in these
verses. God is holy and eternal. The flesh is sinful and temporary. That's the message here. Look
at verse 3. Thou, who is the everlasting,
eternal God, turnest man to destruction. Man's days are determined of
the Lord. God says, return, you children
of men. Now, if man's will is free, as
some folks say it is, when God calls by the way of death, just
say no. And see how well that goes over.
Not gonna fly, is it? God calls, and that call will
be answered. When he says, return to the dust,
We are going to return back to the dust. Man's days, it says
in Job 14, 5, man's days are determined of the Lord. In Deuteronomy
32, 39, this is recorded. The Lord says, I kill, I make
alive. I wound, and I heal. He brings down, and he raises
up. I, the Lord, do all these things. Last week, on Friday evening,
when the tornadoes ripped through the hills of Kentucky, 19 people
died. Who appointed that? Was that
an accident? Who sent the wind? Who appointed
the time, the place, the event? I kill, I make alive, I wound,
I heal. The Lord determines man's days. Thou turnest man to destruction
and says, return, return. Now look at verse four. He's
contrasting here the everlasting God to the frailties of the flesh
for a thousand years in thy sight. A thousand years are but 24 hours,
yesterday. When it is past and as a watch
in the night. A thousand years with God is
but just a short period of time, a day. Known unto God are all
of his works from the beginning. You see, he's saying here, our
God's eternal. Yesterday has come and it's gone. How many folk died in the last
24 hours all over this world? A lot of folks. The Lord is still
on the throne from everlasting to everlasting. Man's days are
determined of the Lord. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. Man's days are like a flower
that blooms and it soon withers away. James says, like a vapor. What is your life? It's just
a vapor. It's just a vapor that appears for a little while and
it, the place to rub knows it no more. My friend, I speak to
you as a dying man. I speak to you as one who may
never preach again, but I speak to you also who were dying men
as well. It's appointed unto men once
to die. It's appointed. Who makes that
appointment? God Almighty. And after that
day, a day of judgment, a day to face Almighty God. Now look at verse five. Thou
carryest them away. as with a flood, the yesterdays,
the years gone by. They are so sleep, they are,
excuse me, they are as a sleep. When you go to bed at night and
you sleep a sound sleep, seem like you just lay your head down,
and when you have a good night's sleep, now I know when you get
older, that's almost impossible. But like a child, when a child
lays down, they just, I mean, they're out. And they're out
all night long. When you have a good night's
sleep, you just lay down and before you know it, it's time
to get up. It just goes by so quickly, doesn't it? Thou carry'st
them away as with a flood. They are as asleep in the morning.
They are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourishes,
it grows up. In the evening it's cut down
and it's withered. A short period of time. He's
contrasting here the frailty of the flesh. to the eternality
of God, like grass. All flesh is grass. The grass
withers. The glory of the grass, it fadeth.
Surely, man is grass. Turn just a few pages over to
Psalm 103. From everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God. Aren't you glad we have a dwelling
place in Him? In our soul, in our spirit, because
this flesh is grass. Look over here at Psalm 103.
Look at verse four, I mean 14. Psalm 103 verse 14. For he knoweth
our frame, he remembers that we are but dust. Back to the
dust. Dust thou art, dust thou shalt
return. As for man, his days are as grass
as the flower of the field. So it flourishes, the wind passes
over it and it's gone. The place thereof shall know
it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his
righteousness under the children's children. All flesh is grass. The glory of the Lord, the mercy
of the Lord shall endure forever. Look at verse nine in our text.
All our days are passed away in thy wrath. We spend our years
as a tale that is told. Now how long does it take to
tell a tale or story? It doesn't take very long, does
it? Our years are like a tale that's told. It's told and it's
gone. It's over. Like a short thought or a short
meditation. So short is human life. Don't we see something of the
shortness and frailties of the flesh? How foolish then How foolish
then to trust the deeds of the flesh. You know, the scriptures
teach us this. Cursed is the man that trusteth
in man. We read this scripture this morning
from 2 Corinthians chapter 10, I think it's verse 12, where
it says that they that compare themselves among themselves and
commend themselves among themselves, they're not wise. We don't commend
ourselves and recommend ourselves, among ourselves do we? No, we
point sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, trusting our
own sinful flesh and trusting our own sinful deeds to justify
us is the same as trusting our sin to save us. All of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rag. Would you trust the flesh? Would
you go about to establish a righteousness of your own? Would you go about
to justify yourself by the deeds of the law? How many does the
scripture say will be justified by the deeds of the law? One,
two, three, four, five, zero. None. By the deeds of the law
shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. That's right. Look at verse 10. The days of
our years, if by God's purpose would be three score and 10,
70 years, if by reason of strength God would give us four score,
80 years, Yet is there enlargement of labor and sorrow, for it is
soon cut off. What if we did live to be 80
years old? What is 80 years old in the light
of eternity? It's nothing, is it? It is soon
cut off. It is soon cut off. Now, you
don't have to be 80 years old to die. You can be 80 minutes
old. It is soon cut off and we fly
away. We used to sing that song back
years ago, I'll fly away, you remember? You know, there's some
truth to that. The believer does, you see, death
is a separation. Death is a separation. When we
die as believers, our soul and spirit is separated from this
body. The body goes back to the dust,
but the spirit goes back to God, it says in that same chapter
of Ecclesiastes, who gave it. That's what happens when a believer
dies. He goes to be with the Lord, to be absent from the bodies,
to be present with the Lord, is it not? Surely it is. Surely it is. This scripture
over here, In Isaiah 57, I've got this jotted down here. Let
me see if I can find it. Isaiah 57. Look at Isaiah 57, verse one
and two. You know, when our dear friend
Lonnie, brother and uncle and friend of this congregation,
Lonnie Moody, was taken from us, Now, I was studying this
portion of Isaiah, and I thought about this verse when I thought
about him being with the Lord. Isaiah 57. The righteous perish,
the believer perishes, the believer will die, and no man lays it
to heart, and the merciful men are taken away, none considering
that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. You know,
death to a believer is a blessing. Taken away from the evil to come?
Blessed are they who die in the Lord. Precious in the sight of
the Lord is the death of the saints. He shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their beds,
each one walking, and it says here in the text, each one walking,
and the marginal reference says here, each one walking before
Him, before the Lord. That's where our blessed brother
is right now. Well, his body, buried in the
ground. But Lonnie's not there. Lonnie
is gone to be with the Lord by God's purpose and grace. The
believer flies away to that eternal rest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Me to live is Christ, the apostle said to die is gain. The unbeliever
also flies away but not to rest, but to eternal
judgment and punishment forever. Lazarus died and was carried
away into the bosom of the Lord. The rich man also died, remember
that parable, and in hell lifted up his eyes, being in torment. What a blessing it is to die
in the Lord. What a horrible thing it is to
die in your sin. Our Lord said this in John chapter
8, if you die in your sin, you cannot come where I am. Think about it. No mercy? You know what? Eternally separated
from God's goodness, his love, his mercy, long suffering. Nothing
but eternal judgment, condemnation, punishment, everlasting punishment. Except you believe that I am
he, you'll die in your sin. What's that in John chapter eight?
I'm not making this up. That's what he says. A serious
thing, isn't it? Now, go back to verse 7 and 8
for just a moment. And verse 9 mentions the wrath
of the Lord. We are consumed by thine anger,
and by thy wrath we are troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities
before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance,
where all our days are passed away in thy wrath, in thy wrath. Is God indifferent when it comes
to sin? Is he just gonna gloss over sin
and say, well, you know what? Is he gonna lower his standard?
God too holy to look upon sin with favor. He must punish sin,
either in me, eternally, or in my substitute, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Sin must be punished. The Lord our God must punish
sin. The wages of sin is death. The
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I just
imagine that Moses, looking at the dying people because of their
rebellion and sin against God, knowing that the Lord is just
and holy and cannot look upon sin with favor, Nothing but wrath
and consuming anger it do our sin and our iniquity and rebellion
against the Lord That's what you do us I Don't want I don't
want what's coming to us to me. No, I don't Look over here at
Psalm 103. Here's here's what here's our
hope Here's our hope here's the believers hope God dealt with
our sin and our iniquity in our substitute Jesus Christ. That's
our hope. Look over here at Psalm 103.
Psalm 103 verse eight. The Lord is merciful, gracious,
slow to anger, and plentiful in mercy. He will not always
chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt
with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
Now he dealt with somebody. He dealt with our substitute,
Jesus Christ. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgression
from us." Thank God He dealt with our sin in Christ, to bear
our sin in His own body on the tree. The Lord Jesus Christ took
our sin to Himself, taking our sin to Himself, bearing the judgment
and wrath of God, consumed it. consumed the wrath of God for
his people. He drank the cup of wrath and
damnation dry for his covenant people. Christ consumed God's
fierce anger against our sin. God made him to be sin for us. Substitution, who knew no sin,
the Holy Lamb of God, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. That's our hope. Look at verse 11 for a moment.
Who knows the power of God's anger and wrath against our sin? For who knoweth the power of
thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so
is thy wrath. Now who knows the full extent
and power of God's anger and wrath against sin? I don't. But I tell you who does. It's
exactly right. The Lord Jesus Christ experienced
the power and anger of God's holy wrath on Calvary's tree
against our sin. No wonder he cries out, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Who so knows the complete
wrath of God so as to truly fear him as he ought to be feared?
The Lord Jesus Christ certainly does. How unsearchable are his
judgment and his ways past finding out. As his love is beyond measure,
it is unsearchable, it passes knowledge, so is the holy wrath
of God. Now you think about it. The holy
wrath of God. Can we really comprehend what's
all involved there? But I tell you who experienced
the eternal holy wrath of God and consumed it for us, and that
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, there is therefore
now, right now, no condemnation, no judgment, no wrath of those
who are in Christ Jesus. For who can lay anything to the
charge of God the elect? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all? How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Now who can charge us with sin?
If Christ paid my debt, it is God who justified. It is Christ
who was died, yea, rather is risen again, who is even seated
at the right hand of God for us. Look at verse 12. Lord, teach
us, now teach us this lesson. Teach us the frailty of our flesh,
teach us the eternality and the holiness of God, and then teach
us this lesson. How is sin put away? How are
we justified before God? Justified freely, there's one
verse I think answers both those questions. How is sin put away? And how are we justified before
God? Romans 3.24, being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That pretty well
answers it, doesn't it? He suffered once for our sins,
the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. Verse
12, Psalm 90, so teach us to number our days. I wanna learn
this lesson. You know what the scriptures
teach? All those who have heard and learned of the Father, they
skedaddle to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our wisdom. Oh, that we
may apply our heart unto wisdom in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
13. Return, O Lord. How long? How long? Is your mercy clean
gone? Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Remember those Psalms we studied about the believer crying for
the presence of the Lord? Return, O Lord. How long? Let it repent thee concerning
thy servants. Lord, change your heart toward
me. Don't leave me to myself. Lord, bless me for Christ's sake.
And then satisfy us early. Satisfy us early, verse 14. The Lord doesn't repent in the
sense that we do. The Lord is not a man that he
should repent, for he never changes his character. He has nothing
to change or repent about in his work or his decree, but he
does repent in this sense. He does repent in chastening
and afflicting his children when his purpose is accomplished. When God's purpose, whom he loveth,
whom the Father loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. He does repent in the sense in
the chastening and the afflicting toward his children when God's
purpose is accomplished in that trial. When God sends us trials,
how long will that trial last? Until God's purpose is done,
and then the trial will be removed. And it appears from our viewpoint
that the Lord has repented. It appears from our viewpoint
that the Lord has changed. Has he really? No, not at all. Not at all. Look at verse 14. Oh, satisfy us early with thy
mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. What a blessing it would be if
the Lord would show mercy to us in our early days, that we
may have the privilege of serving the Lord all our days. Verse 15, make us glad according
to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us. The Lord does chasten his children
But I tell you, there is a blessedness after that chastening is gone.
He does show us that he loves us. And the years wherein we've seen
these trials, these evil, this trial that you've sent our way,
Lord, make us glad. Verse 16, let thy work appear
unto thy servant and the glory and thy glory unto their children. I want my children to believe
the gospel, don't you? I can't make them believe it.
I can preach the gospel to them, but here's what we need. Let
thy work appear unto them. His work of redemption. His work
of salvation. Let them know that salvation's
of the Lord. Let them know that he redeemed
his people with his own blood. Let them know, our children,
that salvation's all according to his doing, his dying, his
righteousness, his blood, his sacrifice. Let thy work appear
unto thy servants, and Lord, your glory. Moses prayed that
in Psalm, or Exodus, was it 32 or 33? Lord, show me your glory. You know what he said? The Lord
said, I'll make all my goodness to pass before you. And I will
be merciful to whom I will be merciful. Lord, teach us and
teach our children that God is sovereign in salvation. He doesn't
owe us salvation. He owes us the wages of our sin. But I pray the Lord will be merciful
to our children. The best thing we can do for
our children is to bring them up under the sound of the gospel
and the preaching of the gospel. Verse 17, now let the beauty
of the Lord our God be upon us. Let the beauty of the Lord our
God be upon us. This word here, beauty, means
delight, splendor, and grace. Let the beauty of His grace be
upon us. Let the beauty of His love be
upon us. Let the beauty of His mercy be upon us. He is altogether lovely, isn't
He? He is beautiful. To you who believe, He is precious. The words here may be rendered,
let the beauty of the Lord be with us, be upon us. The Lord Jesus Christ is described
in scripture as altogether lovely, wonderful counselor, who is white
and ruddy, the cheapest among 10,000, altogether lovely. The
Song of Solomon, fairer than the children of men. Let him
appear as Emmanuel, God with us. in Christ Jesus. Let the beauty of the Lord our
God be upon us. And then it says here in verse
17, establish thou the work of our hands. What would he be talking
about here? Establish thou the work of our
hands upon us. Yea, the work of our hands establish
thou it. Now, We know that we are not
saved by works of righteousness, which we have done, but it's
strictly according to His mercy, His grace. But I believe what
he's praying for is this. Lord, direct our ministry, our
work, our preaching, our service in the gospel unto God. Lord, direct our works the work
of our hands unto thy glory. Or we can consider it this way.
Establish thou the work of our hand or direct the work of our
hands or bless our efforts in preaching. Wouldn't it be a blessing? that the Lord would be pleased
to use the preaching of the gospel here to be a blessing unto the
Lord's people, and to use the ministry to call out His people
in this area? Isn't that one of the burdens
of our heart, why this work was established here, that the Lord
would be glorified in the preaching of the gospel and be pleased
to call it out? Don't we pray unto the Lord to direct our work
in the ministry? Don't we pray unto the Lord that
the Lord would be pleased to Bless our efforts. I think of this scripture in
closing, 1 Corinthians 15, 9, where it says, therefore, my
beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, Titus, when Paul wrote to Titus, he
said, being zealous of good works, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord. What we're doing here this evening,
preaching his gospel. Now, it may appear to this world
as a vain thing. It may appear to this religious
world as a vain thing. But I assure you it's not. Preaching
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the work of the ministry
is not a vain thing. God has purposed it. It pleased
God through the foolishness of preaching to call out His people. Let us not be discouraged. let
us be encouraged in the work of the Lord. And let us pray
unto the Lord that he would establish it, that he would order it, that
he would ordain it, that he would guide it, that he would bless
it unto his glory and to the good of his covenant people.