Alright, we're going to go to
Psalm 146. Psalm 146. Praise ye the Lord. Praise the
Lord, O my soul. While I live, will I praise the
Lord. I will sing praises unto my God
while I have any being." Now this psalm and the psalms as
you go on here from 146 on to the end of the book of psalms
all begin with the word, praise the Lord, and end with the word,
praise the Lord. This word actually is hallelujah.
That's what the word is in the original. Now there's a word
that's been around a while and frankly it's been drug through
the mud, used very flippantly by And people do this with the
translation, praise the Lord, they'll say that all the time.
But when we do this, and praising the Lord is something we need
to do constantly, but it should be done with awe, should be done
with a holy awe when you praise God Almighty. You know, you've
got one soul, and if the Lord has redeemed that soul, you and
I are bound forever to thank Him. Matter of fact, the psalmist
here talks about praising the Lord and then saying, while I
live, I will praise the Lord. And notice he says, I will sing
praises unto my God while I have any being. Not only while I'm
here, but as long as I have any being, I'm going to be praising
my Lord. And that's throughout eternity,
singing praises to my Lord. And I like the fact he uses that
word twice. I will, I will, I will. You know,
you can't be too firm in your conviction to praise God. You
just can't. You cannot be too firm in this.
That's what's being spoken of here. Not just with your lips,
but with your innermost soul. Praise ye the Lord, praise the
Lord, O my soul. It's not just something that
He's saying to the people. It's something He's saying to
Himself. O my soul, my innermost being, raise up to the task of
praising God Almighty, our Lord. Verse 3 says, Put not your trust
in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom there is no help.
Now, don't put your faith in princes. That's the great ones
of this earth. That's what's being spoken of.
They're great ones. Look at Psalm 62. Mark this,
but you know, if you have these like I do, you just put this
where you know. Psalm 62. Look at verse 9. Verse 8 says,
You trust in Him at all times, O Lord. You people, pour out
your heart before Him. God's a refuge for us. Surely
men of a low degree of vanity and men of a high degree are
a lie. To be laid in the balances, they are altogether lighter than
vanity." They're lighter than vanity. Men of low degree, like
me, common people, we're nothing. Men of high degree, well, they're
a lie. They're a lie because you think that because they have
wealth or power in this world, that they're different than you,
but you can put them in the same scale with you and the scale
ain't going to move. They're both lighter than vanity. And
so we're not to put our faith in these men. And I'll tell you
something, if you do, you're going to end up, if you trust
men, you're going to end up heart sick over it. You know what I'm
saying? It's going to end up, you're just going to be heart
sick for ever trusting men. Nor in the Son of Man here, He
says, in whom there is no Now, that's two small words, but those
are big words. There's no help. There's no help
in men. Jeremiah 17, 5. Look at this. If you can't turn
there, I'll read it. Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be
the man that trusteth in men. Not only is, should you not do
it, the Bible says there's a curse on you if you do. Cursed be the
man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose
heart departeth from the Lord." You know, that's a great weakness.
When you're going through times of trial and tribulation, you
have a tendency to try to rely on men. You know, you got some
relatives, got some money. Somebody you know has got power
or money or influence, And you're going through a time of trial
and someone says, well, maybe we can go see so-and-so. And
you kind of lighten up. Your heart starts to get a little
hope. I had an incident years and years
ago I won't even tell you about. It was a man that had a lot of
money that I knew was a brother in Christ. And I called him one
night. Boy, I got no help. I got no
help. And you have a tendency to look
to men. And you find yourself hoping
in your heart that they're going to help you. You're hoping that
you can get help from a mortal, and yet you don't trust the immortal
one who has promised help. Look at that in Hebrews 13. You know, I tell you, when you're
going through hard times, Henry used to tell us, you know, you
have a tendency to want to talk to your friends and your neighbors
rather than talk to the Lord about it. Hebrews 13, look at
5 and 6 here. You let your conversation be
without covetousness, and be content with such things as you
have. For He has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee. You know in the original there
that I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. It's doubled
up five times. I will not, not, not, no, never
leave thee. That song you sang, He will not,
He will not, He will not. The guy who wrote that song knew
what was said here. Will not, not, not, not, not
know, never forsake thee. That's what he said. And so you
may boldly say, the Lord's my helper and I'll not fear what
man shall do unto me. So we have this immortal one
who's promised help to us and yet when we go through times
of trouble, it's as if that was just some kind of fable. Well,
it's not a fable. Call on me in the day of trouble.
and I will deliver them." That's Psalm 50, verse 15. I love that
verse, my goodness. We have a God that's sufficient
for the task and men aren't. And you see that in the very
next verse here in Psalm, back in Psalm 146, verse 4. Look. His breath goeth forth. That's
talking about men. He returneth to his earth. His
breath goeth forth. You know a man's life is in his
nose. You talk about building castles
on the clouds and in the air. To have your hope based on what
a man is saying to you and your confidence in a man is to have
your hope based on the air that's in his nostrils. See what I'm
saying? It just goes forth. His life
goes forth from his nostrils. In a moment, in a twinkling of
an eye, he's gone. And he returneth to his earth.
His earth. That word there, earth, is red
earth. It's the exact same word used
in Genesis for the name of Adam. He was taken out of the ground.
They named him Adam. God did, which means red earth.
And there comes a day when you return to the red earth. And
it doesn't matter what you have or the princes had or the people
you were trusting had. They could have had millions
in the bank and a thousand acre farm. But when it's all said
and done, they got a six foot hole they're going into. And
he returns to his earth. And in that very day, his thoughts
perish with him. That's what that verse says.
The word thoughts there is glitterings. Glitterings, the brilliance of
the person, the wealth, the splendor, the confidence he so exuded that
you put your faith in, and that day it's all gone. It's all gone. There's no hope, no help in such
things. So we're not to put any of our
faith in mortal creatures. They're not to be dependent upon.
All their promises may fail. On the other hand, verse 5, happy
is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his
God. You see that in the text? Happy is he. You want to be happy
in life. I'll tell you what a happy man
in life is. A man who has the God of Jacob, Psalm 146, 5, as
his help. Now you know this is interesting.
In the Bible, you will never see God referred to as the God
of Moses. He's never called the God of Joshua. He never called
the God of Solomon. But there are 14 times He's called
the God of Jacob. We read two of them in that Psalm
a while ago, Psalm 146. The God of Jacob, the God of
Jacob. There are three times He's called the mighty God of
Jacob. Now I'm telling you there's significance
in that. He identifies Himself by Jacob. And I'm going to tell
you a few of the reasons why today. First and foremost is
Jacob. Jacob's God is God of election. Now, if there's anything we know
about Jacob's God is He was a God that elected Jacob. Look at Romans
9. Can't be any controversy over Jacob's God here. There is a
lot of controversy over Him. Most men absolutely hate Him. And if you say what He says about
Himself in His Word, they'll fight you for it. They will now. Look here at Romans 9. Look down
at verse 10. For not only this, but when Rebekah
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the
children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, It was said unto
her, the elder shall serve the younger, for as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Now my friends,
that right there is the God of Jacob. A God of electing grace. He's a God... I'll tell you what
you see clearly when you look at him through Jacob. You see
that he is a God who unconditionally elects men. He does not do his
electing as a base of anything that he perceived in the creature.
Not anything that was actually in Jacob or anything that he
foresaw in Jacob. That's one thing you learn about
the God of the Bible when you study the life of Jacob. There's
no worthiness in him. It was an unconditional election.
Jacob's God chooses one man and passes by another." Did you notice
that in the text? Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. And not only that, the elder
is going to serve the younger. You say, I don't see that. I don't
understand that. How did Esau ever serve Jacob?
Well, I'll tell you. The fear of Esau made Jacob, made him a different man. You
know what I'm saying? He was of use. Esau was of use
to Jacob. He was serving Jacob. It was
the fear of Esau that ran Jacob off. And you know what I'm saying?
That man, Esau, had a purpose. He had a purpose. Though he was
hated of God, he was used. And I tell you, the same way
in the world in which you live, men who are hated of God are
used for the purpose of those who are loved of them. He singles out unworthy, unlikely
ones and makes them vessels. Look at that in Romans 9. Look
at just a few verses over. Verses 21 through 23. Hath not
the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one
vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? Here's one lump. You've got a lump of clay and
all men are in that lump. He makes one to honor and one
to dishonor. What if God willing to show His
wrath and make his power known, endured with much longsuffering,
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. There were vessels
of wrath fitted to destruction, that he might make known the
riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had aforeprepared
unto glory." Jacob's God is a God that prepares men for destruction
or glory. He chooses one and passes by
another. Now, that isn't harsh too. I
want to tell you, people think, well that's harsh, Dan. No, it's
not. Did you not read it was the same
lump? We just read that? If God Almighty looked upon any
of us with any merit and did not elect someone to salvation,
every human being would have eternally perished. Election is a merciful provision
of God Almighty. Some are saved when all deserve
to be put away. Simply put, Jacob's God is loved
by Jacob and chose by Him before He ever existed. That's simply put. Remember what
the Lord said to the disciples? You've not chosen Me. I've chosen
you. John 15 verse 16. I've chosen
you. We love Him because He what? First loved us. Why is it Jacob
loved God? Because God loved him. Jacob
hath I loved. Jacob was made willing just like
his people are in the day of the power of the Lord in their
lives. And I'll tell you something else you see about old Jacob.
You see in that man proof that God hath chosen the foolish things
of this world and the things which are despised. That's exactly
what you see in the life of Jacob. Secondly, when God, the God of
Jacob meets a man, he meets him when he's got nothing and deserves
nothing except wrath and gives him everything. Don Fortner said
that. I like Don. Look over here at
Genesis 28. This is a beautiful picture.
This is Genesis 28. You see here man in his natural
state. 28 verse 11. And old Jacob, he's
running for his life. He lied upon a certain place
and tarried there all night because the sun was set. And he took
up the stones of that place and put them up for his pillow and
lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed a dream and behold,
set up from the earth, and the top of it reached to the heaven.
And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God
of Abraham, my father, and the God of Isaac. And the land whereon
thou liest, to thee will I give it, and thy seed. And thy seed
shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad
to the west and the east, the north and to the south. And in
thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed. And behold, I am with thee, I will keep thee in the
places whither thou goest, and I will bring thee again unto
this land, for I'll not leave thee until I've done that which
I've spoken to unto thee." And Jacob waked up out of his sleep
and said, surely the Lord's in this place, and I knew it not.
He was afraid, and how dreadful is this place. There's none other.
It's none other but the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.
Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stones that he'd
put in for his pillar. pillow, and set it up for a pillar,
and poured oil upon the top of it, and named the name of that
place Bethel. The name of that city was called Luz at the first.
Jacob vowed a vow," listening to this, listen to Jacob here,
"'If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that
I go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on,
so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the
Lord be my God.'" Is that right? Yeah. What an idiot. Let's strike
a deal here. No, God Almighty has already
said, I'm going to be your God. I'm bringing you. You see that?
But he's laying there asleep when the Lord reveals Himself.
And that's the way it is with us. He comes to men who've got
nothing and deserve nothing but wrath and reveals Himself to
them. That's the God of Jacob. He's
the God of Jacob. And thirdly, Jacob's God is patient
with slow learners. You know, I just read that to
you. Genesis 28, 20. Here's this guy. He's starting
out. He's just been told that the
God of heaven is going to bless him and protect him and he's
going to bless his seed. And he says, well, you know,
you make sure I've got food and clothes and you can be my God. Look over Genesis 31, verse 3.
I'll show you how slow he was. Genesis 31, 3. This is years
later. And the Lord said unto Jacob,
Now you return to the land of your fathers to your kindred,
and I'll be with thee." Now this is, he's got his wives, he's
got his cattle, he's got everything. This could be 14, 15, 16 years
later. And the Lord says, You return to
your land, and I'm going to be with you. Well, look over at
verse 20 and 21, the same chapter. And Jacob stole away, unaware
as to Laban, the Syrian, and that he told him not that he
fled. And so he fled with all that he had, and he rose up and
passed over the river and set his face toward Mount Gilead."
You look at this man. I mean, God's told him twice,
I'm going to be with you. And he's sneaking out on his
father-in-law in the middle of the night. Now, this is a slow
learner. I'm sorry, he's just a slow learner. Look over chapter 32. Now, he's coming into the land,
chapter 32. And Jacob went on his way, and
the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said,
this is God's host, so he named that place Manaheim. Now, he
knows that Esau's coming out to meet him. And God's told him
twice, I'm going to be with you. And as he's going into the place,
can you imagine this? An army of angels comes out. Now, I don't know about you,
but I think that most of us would probably have had some kind of
assurance Next thing you know, you read about Jacob. He starts
planting. You send the cattle on ahead. You split into two
bands. Here's a man that has a real
problem with trust. And even when he meets Esau later,
and Esau hugs him and kisses him, and Esau says, come on up
to my house. He says, you all go on ahead.
We'll be along in a few minutes here. And he says, well, I'll
have some of my men go with you. And he says, no, no, no. The
children are tired and the wife's tired and we've driven the cattle
pretty hard. You go on up there. And they went on ahead. And you
know what Jacob did? He turned off and went to Sukkoth.
He didn't go see his brother who just kissed him on the neck.
And you know what? I can't help but think that he
was still scared that Esau was going to do... What's that? The
Lord said, I'll be with you. Even when years later, When he's
down there, and you remember the story of Joseph and the brethren,
and he says, you bring Benjamin back. You remember what he said?
Here's that old gray-haired man, says, all things are against
me. No, all things aren't against you. All things are working together
for the good of them that love God. Those are called, according
to his purpose, the elect of God. But for all that, this is
still God's man. God's man. Slow, slow learner. I'm thankful that the God of
Jacob is a God of slow learners. And I'll tell you something else
about Jacob's God. Jacob's God wrestles with his people. Look
at Genesis 32. I want you to look at verse 24. Pay close attention to this.
Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until
the breaking of the day. He was left alone. Every one
of Jacob's sons find a time in their lives when they're left
alone. And did you notice here, how
often have you heard it preached that Jacob wrestled with the
angel to get the blessing? No, he didn't. He didn't do it.
I want you to see who started this fight. There wrestled a
man with him. He wasn't wrestling to get the
blessing. The man came to wrestle him to
give him the blessing. You understand? And that's a
picture of what goes on in the life of a believer. God Almighty
wrestles him all the day of his life, all the night of his life.
He wrestled until the breaking of the day, and that's the way
it's going to be for all of God's children. I told a story this
morning that I was thinking about coming in. When I was growing
up in Hobart, Indiana, I went to a pretty tough little high
school, and there was a kid there that kind of looked like the
Pillsbury Doughboy. He looked a little like me now. He was one of these real gentle
souls, and the jocks, the big guys there would just whoop on
him every time they got a chance. They'd push him, knock him down
in the hallway. Well, he lived over in this one
part of town, and there was a guy named Frank. I think his last
name was Barnes or Bates. He was on our wrestling team,
and he was one of the meanest snakes that ever walked the earth.
He was a red-haired boy that was just solid muscle, and he
really got tired because he was a friend of this kid, He got
tired of watching that kid abuse like that. So he set out. The kid wouldn't learn. So Frank
set out. Every time he saw that boy, he'd
jump him. The boy would be in the neighborhood.
He'd be standing down where the bus came to pick him up in the
mornings. He'd be standing there with his books, and Frank would
run up and grab him and wrestle him all over. He'd come to school
filthy. He'd wrestle him all over the ground until that boy
finally got got to where he could wrestle back. Good at it. If
you could pin Frank, you were good. And one day, they had a
fire drill. I'll never forget. They did the
old fire drill, and everybody's going out the front of the...
We're going out, and there's this one old boy named Bill on
the football team, walking along with his girlfriend, and he pushed
old General whatever his name was out of the way. It was one
of the greatest days of my high school life, watching that boy
wrestle that football jock all over the front lawn of that And
the principal of the school was sitting there looking out the
window laughing. He loved it. You see, when you're wrestling,
when you're wrestling, you're putting the person you're wrestling
with completely under your control. You know, if you can get him
down and he can get back up, you ain't whooped him. You have
to break him in the flesh. You have to discourage him. You
have to push him until he can't get up. He's too discouraged. He's absolutely Broken in body
and spirit. Now, that's what wrestling is
really about. And it's what you see on television. And I've never
seen anybody do that, really wrestle hard for more than 10-15
minutes. But I'm telling you, it was an
all-night struggle. And that, my friends, is a picture
of how the Lord wrestles with His people all the days of their
lives, subduing their flesh, pushing them down till they realize
their worthlessness. That's what that's all about.
And it doesn't stop till the day breaks. You understand? It
ain't going to stop till the day breaks. The spirit lusteth
against the flesh. Is that what Scripture says?
It does. What did Paul say? When I'm weak? When I'm absolutely in the ground,
I've been wrestled down. That's when I'm strong. That's
what the Apostle Paul said. And also, Jacob's God is a God
who makes you ask, Look there at verse 26 and that same, he
said, let me go the day breaketh and he said, I'll not let you
go except you bless me. Now look back at verse 25 and
Genesis 32. When he saw that he prevailed
not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh and the hollow
of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him and he
said, let me go for the day breaketh. He said, I'll not let you go
except you bless me. Jacob could no longer wrestle.
He could no longer wrestle. He was wore out. He had a joint,
somehow out of joint, sinew. All he could do was cling to
that man he'd wrestled with. And he said, I'm not letting
go of you, blasphemy. That, my friends, is what the
God of Jacob does. He reduces men till all they
can do is say, sink or swim, I'm going to him. Other hope
have I none, other refuge have I none, cleanse my helpless soul
to thee." That's Jacob's God. That's Jacob's God. And Jacob's
God changes the name of his people. Now, you know Jacob. You can
read that. I don't have to go through that. You folks know
that. He says, you've been called Jacob. That was a surplanter,
a conman. He said, from this time on, you're
going to be called Israel because you're going to be a prince with
God. You've been a prince with God. And you look into Genesis
47, I won't go there, but when Jacob went down to Egypt, Genesis
47, verses 7 through 9, I believe, Pharaoh was introduced to Jacob,
and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Can you imagine that? That would
be like me being taken before the President of the United States,
and me in front of the most powerful man in the world, and me bestowing
a blessing on him. That's a prince, brother. That's
a prince right there. God Almighty did that for him.
And all these distinctions that have been made in Jacob's life
were all things of grace. And finally, in this section,
I'm going to go on. I'm not going to quit here. Jacob's
God leaves you halting all the way through this world. From
that day on, Jacob didn't walk the same way. Jacob had to lean
on something, had a staff. And that's the way it's going
to be. We're going to lean on Him all the days of our lives.
He sees to that. Well, happy is he that hath the
God of Jacob for his help. Now, let's tell you something
else about the God of Jacob. Go back here. Read a few more things here.
Here's something else about Jacob's God, and this is one of the reasons
that we should trust Him so greatly. Verse 6, He made the heaven and
the earth and the sea and all that therein is. which keepeth
truth forever." He's the God, the Creator of all things. He's
a true God. He's true. He's true. He's faithful. He'll never permit any of His
promises to ever fail. Never permit it. Any promise
He's made is going to be kept. He's the keeper of truth forever.
He's true to His nature. He's true to His covenant. He's
a keeper of everything that's true. And He's faithful. That's
what that's talking about. His faithfulness. And look at verse 7, He executes
judgment for the oppressed. God Almighty executes judgment
for the oppressed. He giveth food to the hungry.
He told Jacob, Jacob said, well, you're going to have to feed
me. Well, He did. He did. And He executes judgment. But look here, there's some interesting
things here. From the end of this verse down through, you'll
notice THE LORD is in capital letters. This is talking about,
these are five titles for the God of Jacob. And as you look
at these things, it's obvious that the God of Jacob being spoken
of here is the one who came in the flesh and did all these things
on the earth. Okay? The God of Jacob. Five
titles. Look at this. The Lord looseth
the prisoners. He's the Lord, the emancipator.
Now, we've had emancipation declarations in this earth and we've Heard
people have been released from their bondage, but He is the
Lord, the Emancipator. He's Jehovah, the Emancipator. The Emancipator. He liberates, man. You think
about, if you come like I have, from false religion, you think
about the doctrines that you had in your head, the errors
that you grew up with, that you were absolutely dogmatic about,
that you would have fought over, and then one day, He liberates
you from that. I'm telling you, He's the Emancipator.
You can talk about moral slavery, people that are slaves morally,
people that are spiritually in bondage, in darkness. He's the
Emancipator. Even from the law. Free from
the law, O happy condition, Jesus is bled. There's remission. I'm
telling you, if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free
indeed. He is the Emancipator. And look
down through here, the next thing it says about him, he's the Lord
openeth the blind, the eyes of the blind. Verse 8, see how those
words, the eyes of, are in italics? Those are supplied words. It
says the Lord openeth the blind, literally. So it is the eyes
of the blind. I know the Lord Jesus Christ
did that, but it's not just the eyes of a man. It's parts of
a man that don't have eyes. He openeth the blind. The darkness
that we all have. He's the Lord, the Enlightener.
If you have eyes to see His glory and understand the things concerning
His Son, it's because He's the Lord that openeth the blind. Look here at the next verse.
He's the Lord that raises up them that are bowed down. I think about that widow that
came out of the city of Nain, you remember, who was so troubled. She was on the way to the graveyard
with her son. My Lord walked up there to them.
You know she was bowed down. And you know what? He raised
her up. Mary and Martha, that day when
Lazarus was dead, they'd sit around there for days. They'd
call for the Lord and He hadn't shown up. You can't tell me them
women weren't bowed down. And He comes and says, He's going
to rise again. Oh, we know He's going to rise
on the last day. No, no, you don't understand. You say He's
going to rise in the resurrection. I'm the resurrection. I'm the
life. He raiseth up them that are bowed
down. Raiseth up. People that are bowed down with
the burdens of life, and I think all of us have known something
about that, bowed down with the burdens of life, felt like we
were struggling, face in the dust, He raises us. He's the
one who raises us up. Inward distress, bow down under inward distress.
There's nothing worse for men. And you have no way to explain
what it is that's troubling you. The preacher's got nothing to
say to help you. I mentioned that earlier. Henry used to tell
me the first thing he'd do is talk to the Lord, not necessarily
the preacher. He is the one that raiseth up
them that are bowed down. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden, come unto me." Bowed down under a sense of sin.
You think about that prodigal out there. That day he came to
his senses. I'm telling you, the Lord loves
to take a man off the dunghill and set him among princes. He's
the one who raises up them that are bowed down. And also here,
look at this statement. Back here in the text, loveth
the righteous. He loveth the righteous. The
Lord, the rewarder of the righteous. Can I use that word, rewarder?
When I speak of rewards, I'm not talking about golden crowns. Okay. But the Lord loves the
righteous. He does not have a bone to pick
with a righteous man. Those who are righteous in Christ
don't have a bone to pick between Him and the... Now you think
about that. Jacob, that scoundrel. God Almighty loved that scoundrel.
If you knew him, if you'd have known Jacob and Esau, you'd have
been out there in the hills with your bow and arrow and a pickup
truck, hunting with Esau, talking about that worthless mama's boy
back there at the house. You know what I'm saying? You know, if it was based on
human love, we'd all like Esau better. I think Spurgeon said
one time, it doesn't amaze him that God hated Esau, what amazes
them is that He loved Jacob. That's amazing. That's amazing.
And He is the rewarder of them that are righteous. What do I
mean? Well, Psalm 25, verse 14 says, The secret of the Lord
is with them that fear Him. He rewards us with communion
with Him. We actually have the secret of
the Lord with them that fear Him. And the Scripture also says,
I'll read this to you, No good thing will He withhold from them
that walk upright. He rewards us with all good things. All good things. He loves the
righteous. Loves the righteous. Psalm 37.
Look at Psalm 37. A righteous man in this world
is never going to be appreciated. Now you can just write it down.
Henry said one time, if you honor God in your work and you're a
good employee and you work, In a God-honoring fashion, He says,
they'll never pay you what you're worth. You're never going to
be paid what you're worth if you're living for the glory of
Christ. Psalm 37 verse 5 and 6, it says,
Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall
bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth thy
righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. God Almighty will bring forth
a righteous man's Righteousness as a light. It'll become apparent.
It may take 50, 60, 70 years. You may be dead and in the grave
before somebody finally realizes that you were right and you were
honoring God with what you said. But the Lord loveth the righteous.
He's a rewarder of them. And back in the text, look at
this. Back in the text, verse 9. The Lord preserveth the strangers. He relieveth the fatherless and
the widows, but the way of the wicked He turneth upside down.
He is the preserver, the Lord the preserver, the preserver. Now here's something you may
not know. The Lord told the Jews when they came into the promised
land on Exodus 22, thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress
him for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. That was a
commandment. You know when they tithe in the
Old Testament, they took the first 10% and it went to the
priest. the first fruits. But did you
know there was actually a second tithe you can find in Deuteronomy
14, 28 and 26, 12? There was a second tithe from
what remained that was for the widows and the fatherless and
the orphans and they would have a feast with it. The priest and
all them would have a big feast with it. Look at Deuteronomy
24 for a second. I want to show you something
here. Deuteronomy Verse 17, you shall not pervert
the judgment of the stranger. This guy is strange in town.
He's not one of the local citizens. You don't pervert judgment against
that man, nor the fatherless, nor take a widow's raiment to
pledge. You know, if a woman needed a
loan, a widow, you know, you could go ask a man for a loan
and you could give him your coat and he'd give you two dollars
or whatever You basically pawned your coat. You were not allowed
to take a widow's garment for a loan. But thou shalt remember
that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed
thee thence. Therefore I command thee to do this. Now when you
cut down thine harvest in the field, and you've forgotten a
sheaf out there in the field, you're not to go back out there
and fetch it. It's going to be for the stranger, and for the
fatherless, and for the widow, that the Lord thy God may bless
thee in all the work of thine hands. And when you beat your
olive tree, you shall not go over the bough again. Go out
there and you're going to shake the olives out of the branch.
Okay? Grab hold of that branch and shake that branch. And when
you let go of that branch, you don't shake it again. You go
out and it's going to be for the stranger and for the fatherless
and for the widow. And when thou gatherest the grapes
of your vineyard, you'll not glean it afterwards. You go out
there and them grapes are all blue and you're starting to pull
them and there's some over here still green. You leave them alone.
And don't you go back after them. Don't you do it. It shall be
for the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, and you'll remember
that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, therefore I command
thee to do these things." That Old Testament God was not like
any God anybody had ever seen. The God of Jacob was a God of
kindness and mercy to the poorest, the fatherless, the orphans,
the widows. What's that all about? He's a
preserver of them. When you got to the place in
your life when you could say, no man careth for my soul, the
God of Jacob did. I love that. You just remember,
Jacob's God is a God who's immeasurably kind. And I'll tell you something
else about Him. The way of the wicked, He turneth
upside down. Payday comes. May not be this
Friday, but payday comes. Pharaoh, getting a little concerned
about all them Jews. They're getting a little too
strong in the land, so we'll let the girls live and we'll
kill the boys. So what do they do? They start
offering those boys to the river. That was their God, the Nile
River, one of them. And they were throwing them little
babies in the river, feeding their God and sacrificing. And
one day, they took a little boy named Moses down there. His name means up from the water.
Indeed, he came up from the water. and they put him in a basket,
and Pharaoh's daughter came down there. About that time, take
a bath, and here's that little old cute boy floating around
in that boat. She picks that boy up, takes him home, and he
is raised under Pharaoh's roof, the very one who was going to
overthrow Pharaoh and bring them people out of there. Now, my
friends, the way of the wicked, he turneth upside down. Think
about Mordecai. He's going to get hung by Haman.
Oh, no, he ain't. Haman's going to build a gallow,
and Haman's going to end up in that gallow. You think about
Joseph, when his brothers sold him down into slavery, they were
done with him, buddy. Put him off down there, years
pass, and he's made second, second only to Pharaoh himself, and
those boys show up in front of him. Talk about a turnaround,
the way of the wicked, he turneth upside down. I tell you, that
last verse says, back here in the text, look at it, and the
Lord, this one I've been talking about, God, the God of Jacob,
He's going to reign forever. Even thy God. Isn't that great? Even thy God. Thy God. Even thy God, O Zion, unto all
generations. This isn't just something for
way back yonder. Dan, this is just some musty
old history you're reading to me. No, sir. All generations,
He's going to reign. Hallelujah. Praise you, the Lord. That's what that says. is he
that hath the God of Jacob." Well, let's sing a song.