If you'll take your Bibles now
and open them to the fourth Psalm and just leave them open there
before you, I want to speak to you on the subject plain directions
to seekers. In the first place, it is good
to get our directions from one who truly knows the way. It's good to get our directions
from one who truly knows the way. What a comfort, what an
assurance to listen to and to place yourself in the hands of
one who's not only been there, but who lives there. Several years ago, I went to
France on a preaching mission. And I crossed the English Channel
on a ferry, landed at that place, Dunkirk, where the Allies evacuated
in World War II, and drove on a little red car
all the way across France up to the German border nearly,
and then all the way down to Marseilles. I couldn't read their
language, write their language, speak their language, or understand
their language. I couldn't order a cup of coffee.
But I felt totally relaxed and comfortable because driving the
car, showing me the way, giving me directions, and caring for
me, was Brother Bill Clark, who not only had been there, but
Paul, he lived there. That was his home. And then I
went on down into Spain and left the French border and went all
the way down into several towns, Valencia, Tarragona, Barcelona,
preached in different places. Couldn't speak their language,
didn't know where I was, could not have gotten out if I wanted
to. But sitting right beside me was David Estrada, who was
born there and who lived there. And when I go down to Mexico,
down to the Yucatan, I can't communicate with those people.
It's the most helpless feeling in the world to stand and look
at folks and grin and shake hands and not know what they're saying
and them not know what you're saying, not have the faintest
idea what's on the menu. But Walter Gruber, that's his
home, and I get my directions from him. So when I thought about
preaching on the subject, playing directions to seekers, in trying
to help someone who wants to know the way to God, I thought
about listening to somebody whom I know knows the way to God,
who's been there and who dwells there. And who would you suggest
more than David? More than David. After all, the
Lord said in 1 Samuel 13, I have found David the son of Jesse
to be a man after my own heart. Those are pretty good credentials.
That's a pretty good recommendation. That's a pretty good brochure.
In fact, it's repeated again in Acts 13 when the apostle was
preaching. He said, And God said, I have
found David the son of Jesse. to be a man after my own heart,
after the heart of God. So that would be a good man to
listen to. If I can find comfort and assurance and place myself
in the hands of Bill Clark and David Estrada and Walter Gruber
in their countries, it seems wise for me to place myself in
the hands of David when he talks about God. He's in his country.
When he gives directions to God, he's on familiar territory. David's
been there. I know David's been there because
God said he'd been there. God said he's a man after my
own heart. Well, let's look at it in Psalm
4. Before David speaks to men, he
speaks to God. Now, that's good advice. The
man who dares to speak often to God, will not tremble before
men. That's right, David, before he
speaks to men, he speaks to God. And the man who knows that he
has an audience with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, that he
has an audience with the King through the Lord Jesus Christ,
he'll not tremble before men, and he'll not cut his message
for the favor of men, because he has the favor of God. And
he treasures that favor far above the favor of men. So David starts
out and he says, Hear me when I call, O God. Hear me when I
call, O God. He calls on God before he speaks
to us. Before he calls on us, before
he gives directions to us, he speaks to God. I wish I could
whisper gently into every preacher's ear in this country, don't try
to impress Don't try to win the praise of men. Don't seek the
favor of men. Don't even address men first.
Address God. Be like David. Hear me when I
call, O God. That's the reason he's a man
after God's own heart, because he loved God, because he feared
God, because he was only conscious of God's glory. That's right. Hear me, O God. And he calls
him the God of my righteousness, the God of my righteousness,
because he's the author of my righteousness. I have no righteousness. I have no holiness. My righteousness
is a filthy rag. So are yours. He's the author
of my righteousness. He's the provider of my righteousness. He provided it through His obedience,
not mine, through His submission to the Father's will, not mine.
He's the maintainer of my righteousness. He's the God of my righteousness.
When you say God is the God of creation, what do you mean by
that? That it all came from Him. We understand that the worlds,
by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word
of God. It all came from God. He's the God of creation. Well,
if when David said he's the God of my righteousness, he means
the same thing. It all came out of his bowels.
It all came from him. There's no contribution on my
part to creation nor to righteousness. The God of my redemption, that
means it all came from him. Nothing supplied by me. Hear
me when I call, O God of my righteousness. The author, the provider, the
maintainer, and he is my righteousness. Jeremiah said in Jeremiah chapter
23, listen to this, Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 6, in his days
Judah shall be saved. Talking about David the righteous
branch, talking about David the king. Talking about the one who
executed judgment and justice in the earth, verse 6, Jeremiah
23, "...in his days Judas shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell
safely. And this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord our righteousness." Paul, he's my
righteousness. Nothing lacking because he's
my righteousness. Nothing wanting because he's
my righteousness. Look at the next line. He pleads
present mercies based on past mercies. He said, Thou hast enlarged
me when I was in distress. This is what he's saying. You
freed me when I was hemmed in. When I was hemmed in. When I
was encircled by enemies. You freed me. You enlarged me
when I was in distress. Now have mercy on me again. Have mercy on me again, and again,
and again. I plead God's present mercies,
Mike, based upon His past mercies. I've often said to you, if you
want to know what God will do, find out what God has done, because
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He said, I'm the
Lord, I change not. We talk about a new revelation,
there's no new revelation if it came from God, Cecil. There's
no new revelation. Talk about a new religion, there's
no new religion. If your gospel and your religion
is new, it's not of God. Now, his mercies and his compassions
are new every morning. But the gospel is the same. Redemption
is the same. God is the same. And David pleads
present mercies and future mercies based on past mercies. You freed
me, you enlarged me when I was in distress and I was hemmed
in. Lord, how many times you've been merciful. Oh, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
hast been to me. Now, I plead present mercies
based on past mercies. Hold your place there in Psalm
4 and I ask you to turn with me to Isaiah 49. This is important. Isaiah 49. Listen to this. Isaiah chapter 49, beginning
with verse 13. Isaiah 49, 13. Sing, O heavens,
and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains.
For the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon
his afflicted. He has and he will. But Zion
said, The Lord hath forsaken me. You ever feel that way? The
Lord has forgotten me. David said one time, he's clean
gone. He's clean gone. He's forgotten to be merciful.
Wait a minute. Can a woman forget her sucking
child? We talk about a mother's love.
Talk about how you dear ladies are bound to those little precious
bundles in your bosom. Can a woman forget that sucking
child that she should not have compassion on the son of a womb?
Yes, they may forget without natural affection. They find
little babies in garbage cans. Their mothers put them there. That's right. Yes, she may. Yes, you may, but you don't find
God's children in garbage cans. Now look at that next line. I
will not forget thee. David said one time, my mother
and my father may forsake me, but my God will never forsake
me. Never. Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands. You're tattooed on my hands.
Your walls are continually before me." No. No, sir. God will not forget his own.
Have mercy upon me, Lord, and hear my prayer. Now listen to
me. I would urge you to have confidence
in God's mercies, because they're plenteous. He's plenteous in
mercy, but I would warn you not to presume upon them. All right, here I raise mine
Ebenezer, hither by thy help I am come, and I hope by thy
good pleasure safely to arrive at home. God's future mercies
and present mercies are based upon his past mercies. And then
in verse 2, David addresses the sons of men. Here we come with
the directions now. In verse 2, he's already said,
Hear me, O God, when I call. What's the use of talking to
me until we talk to God? But then he said, O ye sons of
men, O ye sons of men, I have three things to ask you. How
long will you turn my glory into shame? Is David really talking
about his glory? Yes. His glory is God's glory
because he's a man after God's heart. The Apostle Paul called
the gospel, my gospel. My gospel. That's how obsessed
he was with that gospel. He said, it's mine. He called
it God's gospel. And it is God's, in that he planned
it, he executed it, he applied it, he sustains it, and he perfects
it. But it's my gospel in that I've been saved by it. It's been
committed to my trust. And I'm obsessed with it, and
I love it. And it lives within me and it's my gospel. I'm so
associated with it, so identified with it, so obsessed with it,
that it's my gospel. And you'll never be saved by
it until it becomes your gospel. That's right. Until it becomes
your gospel. And that's when David said, O
ye sons of men, how long will you turn my glory, my gospel,
my glory into shame? How long will you make fun of
my glory? My glory is God's glory. That's
what Paul said. Turn to Romans 1.16. Listen to
Romans 1.16. He says in Romans 1.16, I'm not
ashamed. For I'm not ashamed. I'm not
ashamed of the gospel. Romans 1.16. It's the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. Keep that place there. Now, the
world makes fun of the gospel. To those who are being saved,
it's the power of God, it's the glory of God. To those who are
perishing, it's foolishness, sheer nonsense. Sheer nonsense. How long will
you make fun? How long will you put to shame?
How long will you turn God's ultimate glory, his supreme glory,
his redemptive glory, the glory of his Son into foolishness and
shame. How long am I going to make fun
of it? Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
it. Verse 17, For therein is the very holiness and righteousness
of God revealed from one degree of faith to another, as it is
written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth, who hold the truth, his glory in
unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them, God showed it to them. For the invisible
things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
even being understood by the things that are made, even his
eternal power, and God hid so there without excuse. Because
when they knew God, they didn't glorify him as God. They weren't
thankful. They became vain in their imagination. Their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. And they changed the glory of
the uncorruptible God into an image made like the corruptible
man. They changed the glory of God. David said, how long are
you going to turn my glory into shame? How long are you going
to make fun of this only gospel that's saved? How long are you
going to be ashamed of the truth and ashamed of the gospel and
turn the glory of God, His redemptive glory, into corruptible things
such as beast and four-footed beast and all this foolishness?
Second question, how long are you going to turn my glory into
shame? Verse 2, how long are you going to love vanity? How
long are you going to love vanity? What is vanity here? Flesh, materialism,
this world, how long are you going to crave after it, love
it, desire it, and pant after it? Do you mean to sell your
souls for a mess of pottage? Do you mean to sell your souls
for the passing fancies and fashions of this world. Do you mean to
lathe your souls into hell? There's nothing here. Listen
to what Solomon said about this world in Ecclesiastes. You want
to turn over there and see what Solomon, the wisest man who ever
lived, the man, I suppose, who had not only the wealth, but
the power to try anything he wanted to try, and he about tried
it all. But he said in Ecclesiastes 1,
verse 1, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem,
vanity of vanity, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit hath a man in all
his labor which he taketh under the sun? Verse 14, I've seen
all the works that are done under the sun. And behold, all is vanity
and vexation of spirit." How long are we going to turn
God's glory into shame? How long are we going to reject
and resist this gospel of His sovereign love, of His redemptive
grace, of His substitutionary sacrifice? of the sufficiency,
efficaciousness of his precious blood. How long are we going
to set our hearts and affections on the things of this world,
leaving our names engraved in stone, leaving monuments to our
memories, accumulating all these things to leave to our children
so they won't have to work, building a nation and a and a democracy
and trying to make it synonymous with the kingdom of God called
America. How long are we going to see
all this going to be turned over, not one stone left on another?
God's going to burn it all. Walk through your house when
you get home from church and look at all the little mementos
and trophies and things you've built and look at your shrubbery
and your flowers and all the things you've planted and the
trees And remember, God's going to burn it all. He's going to
burn it all. Burn it all. Burn it all. Look at all your degrees on the
walls and all these things that you've saved and all these things
that you take such pleasure in. God's going to burn it all. And
go look in the mirror and see your good looks and your strength
and your health, and God's going to destroy it all. And look at
your children and grandchildren. Remember, not one relationship
shall abide except that with his son, the family of God. He'll
burn it all. He'll burn it all. How long are
you going to give your heart to these things? How long are
you going to give your hands? How long are you going to give
your spirit? How long are you going to let your mind be so
obsessed with the vanities of this world and God going to burn
it all, huh? How long? And then he asked the third question,
how long are you going to seek lies, leasing as lies, and falsehood? Lies and falsehood. How long? And he says, Sela, better pause
and consider this. How long? Our Lord Jesus said,
I come in my Father's name and you won't believe me. Another
comes in his own name and you follow him. Only way they could
get rid of that fellow Mooney, keep people from making him a
billionaire is put him in jail. Isn't that something? Isn't that
a commentary on the United States of America? Talk about a world
of literate people, of educated people, of wise people, a bunch
of babbling idiots is what we got in this country from California
to New York to Florida. A country that will make a man
like Mooney rich is a bunch of fools and the only way to get
him out of circulation, keep more people and make them richer
is to put him in jail. The same thing is true of these
healers. The only way to get them out
of circulation is to put them in jail. We are the country that
gives birth to men like Ainsley, is that his name? And Roberts
and the rest of these con men that are lying on God. How long
are you going to keep loving these lies? How long are you
going to keep following these lies? We're intent on listening to
everybody but God Almighty. Isn't that strength? Turn to
John chapter 5. Let me show you that this is
condemnation. Light is coming to this world,
but men still love darkness rather than light because their deeds
are evil. Their deeds are evil. And I want you to look at this
verse over here in John 5 verse 42. Our Lord said, I know you.
You have not the love of God in you. You don't have the love
of God in you. You have the love of self and
sin and the world. You love that. I've come in my
Father's name and you don't receive me. You let another come in his
own name and him you will receive. How can you believe? How can
you believe? Which receive honor one of another.
A bunch of worms bragging on other worms. That's what we are.
And you seek not the honor that comes from God only. How long? How much longer? He says, oh,
you sons of men, how much longer are you going to turn the glory
of God? And what is His glory? Moses
says, show me your glory. He said, I'll be merciful. That's
my glory. I'll be gracious to whom I will.
That's my glory. And we laugh at that. We laugh
at that. We make fun of that. We make
fun of what they call sovereign grace. We make fun of elective grace.
We make fun of God's redemptive purpose in Christ. How long are
you going to turn it into shame? How long before the pulpits are
going to ring with God's glory, man's ruin, Christ's redemption? How long before they will? I
don't know whether they ever will or not. How long are you
going to seek out love vanity, the world? How long are you going
to seek out the lies? Well, know this, verse 3, let
me tell you something. You got a minute? I'll let you
know something that the Lord has set apart. God Almighty has
not left himself without a witness, without a church, without a family,
without a kingdom. He has elected some people. And
he has set apart, he has set apart him that's godly. There's
nobody godly, none good, no, not one. They're godly in Christ.
They're righteous in Christ. They're holy in Christ. They're
justified in Christ. He set them apart. Set him apart! You know this, he said. Fools
will not learn, so they have to be told again and again. His
word will not return void. He shall not fail. The pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He said, Many shall
come from the east and the west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob in the kingdom of God. Many shall come from the east
and the west, he said. Not ought to, might. They will. Because God has set apart him
that's godly for himself. And he'll hear that man when
he calls, and he'll call. He'll call, and God will hear
him when he calls. He has a people. Our God has
a people. He has a people from every tribe,
kindred, nation, and tongue unto heaven. He set them apart. He
sanctified them. And there he is, and he'll hear
them when they call. Would you be among those who
will come? Would you be among those who will sit down with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Would you be a son in the kingdom
of God? Would you be free from your burden
of sin? Would your evil of victory win? Would you escape the wrath to
come? Well, David says, let me give you some directions. Verse
4. Tell you where to start. You
see, in verse 2, he says, sons of men, how long are you going
to turn my globe into shame? How long are you going to love
this world and its vanity? How long are you going to seek
lies? Now, I'm telling you something, God has a people. He set them
apart. He's going to hear it. Now, would
you be one of them? Well, I'll give you four directions,
four or five. Shut your big mouth. That's exactly
what he said. Stand in awe. That's what he
said. Stand in awe. Stand in awe. I'm telling you
now, the pride and haughtiness and arrogancy of this generation
is an abomination to God. We're doing too much talking
and not enough listening. The scripture says, let every
mouth be stopped. Let the whole world become guilty
before God. God gives grace to the humble. God resisteth the proud. Let
me tell you something. The first work of the Spirit
of God in bringing a sinner to faith in Christ is to break that
center and strip that center and reveal sin to him and shut
his mouth and convince him before God that he's guilty, guilty,
guilty, guilty. What is awe? Fear, reverence. That's what's standing awe. God has a people. going to populate
heaven someday. He's going to populate heaven,
the new heaven and the new earth. There are people going to be
washed in the blood and cleansed from their sins and regenerated
and given a new nature and made holy. But where did it start?
They started by standing in awe and recognizing the power and
glory and might of God Almighty. Standing in awe. and sin not,
be delivered from the sin of pride, the sin of haughtiness,
the sin of arrogance before God, stand in awe. And what's his
next direction? Well, I'll tell you what to do.
If God can ever stop your mouth, if God Almighty can ever stop
your mouth, my mouth, and shut us up and bring us down into
the dust, break us before his throne, and let us surrender
our ancestry and our heritage and our works and our deeds and
our traditions and our professions and our decisions and what we've
done and what somebody else did and what we're going to do and
just shut up, just shut up. You're standing all in breathless
silence, in wonder, in reverence and Maybe God will, maybe God will
do something for us. Maybe God won't send us to hell. Maybe, maybe God won't speak
to us in judgment and wrath. Depart from me, I never knew
you. Stand in awe, tremble. That's
what it says, tremble and sin not with your mouth. That's what
it says. That's the way one man interpreted
Tremble and sin not with your mouth. Now if you get going down the
highway about 75 miles an hour and that siren sounds and that
flashing blue and red light and he says pull over, you know the
best thing to do? The best thing is to shut up.
Isn't that right? That's the best advice I can
give you. Don't say, well I wasn't going too fast. My speedometer
is wrong. Are you sure that radar's right?
Brother, you got your ticket. But the man that shuts his mouth
and trembles before God. Lord, your law's not wrong. I'm
wrong. I'm wrong. Lord, you didn't make
a mistake. You got the right guy. I'm the
one in the blue and white board. I'm the one. I'm the guy. It's
me. I don't have any alibi. I wasn't
going to a fire. My son's not dying in the hospital.
I'm just flat guilty. Tremble in sin, not with your
big mouth. But I made a profession, but
I've done the best I can, but I'm good as anybody else in the
church. My brother was a preacher. Tremble in sin, not with your
mouth. God's in heaven. Let your words
be few. I tell you, the only words a
sinner needs to speak is, Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Look at the next direction. Commune
with your heart, your own heart, your own heart. That's where
your problem is. My heart's not bothering you,
it's your heart upon your bed. You know what David's saying
here? Go to a quiet place and get away from the babbling voices
of men and think upon God and think upon sin, and think upon
death, and think upon judgment, and think upon eternity, and
think upon your inability, and think upon God's grace. That's
the thing to do. We live in a mad world. We live
in a world where people can't stand to be alone. We live in a world where we have
to have something going on around us all the time. We have to have
something silly, something foolish. People get up in the morning,
turn the television on, it goes all day long. Or they turn on
these silly religious stations, they blare all day long, that
terrible music. Or they always got to be in a
crowd. That's the reason women talk on the phone for two hours,
they can't stand to be alone. But he said, you need to spend
some time alone. You need to commune with God
in your heart, on your bed. You need to commune with God. You need to think. We don't want
to think. We get upset when we think. But
he said, come let us reason together. Though your sins be a scarlet,
reason together. Who? You and God. That's who. You and God. Come
let's reason together. Commune with your own heart,
think, question your heart on your own bed. Listen, sinner,
is your heart in unrest? Is your bosom full of fear? Are
you not by guilt oppressed? Speaks not your conscience in
your ear? Can this world give you any peace? Can the world
take away your glue? Flattering, false, and vain is
the world, O tremble at your doom. Think, O man, upon your
end, see the judgment day appear, that for the Lord you must stand,
and there your eternal sentence here will wretched, ruined, and
helpless soul to the Savior's blood apply. He alone can make
you whole. Fly to Jesus, sinner, fly. Get by yourself. I know today's
preacher says, come down to the front, get with the crowd. I'm
just almost convinced that if you find Christ, if you find
salvation, you're not going to find him down here surrounded
by 40 or 50 people. I'm just almost convinced of
that. I really am. I tell you where
you're going to find him, in mercy and grace and peace and
assurance to your heart, is back in the closet. between you and
God. Lord, here I am. Nobody knows
me like you do. Guilty, rotten, filthy. And you
don't need me to say, now, repeat this prayer after me. That turns
my stomach. If you don't know what to say
to God, you better wait till you do. If you don't know the
condition of your heart, you better find out. I never heard
of a man drowned and he couldn't say, I never heard of a man in a building
burning. He couldn't say, save me! I'm
dying. I'm burning up. I've never known
of a man in extreme pain that couldn't say to the doctor, I
hurt, and tell him where he hurts, and ask him for help. Give me
a shot! I'm hurting. Where are you hurting?
My heart's hurting. Oh God, I'm a sinner. Guilty
and vile and wretched. No hope. No plea. except Christ
died for me. And I look to his perfect life
and his precious blood. And I want to do business with
you. I don't want to do business with a preacher. A preacher can't
help me. Those soul winners can't. All they can do is upset me.
And I want to do business with Christ. Save me, Lord. Commune with your own heart.
And look at the next direction. He says, be still. Be still. Be still. These are strange words
to those who are used to hearing, do it yourself. These are strange
words to those who are used to hearing so many exhortations
to activity. Do something. Get up and do something. Get up and walk an aisle. Get
up and shake a hand. Get up and pray a prayer. Get
up and do it. Our Lord said, be still. Here's a man that knows
God. His man's been there. He lives
there. And he says, you want to be a part of God's kingdom?
Tremble and sin not with your mouth, and get alone with God
on your bed, and be still. Moses stood at the Red Sea, and
the people were shaking their hands and rubbing their hands
and cringing, and they're saying, there comes Pharaoh, and there's
the sea! And Moses says, stand still! And see the salvation of the
Lord. Watch God pop. Watch God open a way. You just
be still and watch God open the way. Oh, that's hard to learn. Turn
to 2 Chronicles, a minute, let me show you something. 2 Chronicles
chapter 20. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. And this is the way we are, the
way we've been brainwashed in this generation by religious
people. is we do the very opposite of
what we're supposed to do. We're in trouble with God, we're
in sin, we're guilty, and it's us, do something, do something,
and God says, be still, stand still, stand still. The battle's
not yours, it's the Lord's. This accomplishment of righteousness,
and here at Jehoshaphat, boy, the children of Israel outnumbered
tremendously. He didn't know what to do, and
he asked God to help him. And you know what the Lord said?
Verse 15, Harken, and he said, Harken ye, 2 Chronicles 20, verse
15, he said, Harken ye, all Judah and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and you king Jehoshaphat, thus saith the Lord, don't be afraid
now, and don't be dismayed by reason of this great multitude.
The battle's not yours, it's God's. It's God's battle. This
thing of grace and mercy and the forgiveness of sin, this
is God's battle. This is the battle of my Lord. He's undertaken
to win this victory. It's not my battle, it's his.
Mike, it's his battle. I'll read on. Tomorrow, go down
against them. Behold, they come up to the cliff
of Zius. You'll find them at the end of
the brook before the wilderness of Jeruel. And you won't even
need to fight. Stand still. See that, David?
You don't need to fight, set yourself, stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord with you. Now that's, those are strange
directions, but that's still what David says, stand still,
see the salvation of the Lord. You don't need to fight, it's
not your battle, it's God's battle. You couldn't handle Satan anyway,
you couldn't handle sin, sin can't be put away by human effort,
only by the death of God, only by the blood of Christ. And then
verse 5, listen to this. Next he says, "...offer the sacrifices
of righteousness." What's that talking about? Well, when the
Jews offered sacrifices righteously, that is, in a spiritual manner
before the Lord, they brought the blood sacrifice which set
forth the Redeemer, the great Lamb of God. Abel slew a lamb. He offered the sacrifices of
righteousness. The Passover lamb was slain and
the blood put on the door. That was the sacrifice of righteousness. The atonement was brought by
the high priest into the holy place and put on the mercy seat.
That's the sacrifice of righteousness. And you and I must offer before
the Lord by faith only that precious sacrifice with which he's pleased,
and that's the blood of the Lamb, the blood of Jesus Christ. That's
the sacrifice of righteousness, must be, has to be, can't be
any other. Has to be. Somebody wrote this, my hope
is in his blood, my eye beholds his cross, my ear hearkens to
his word, my soul can never be lost. And then he says in verse
5, put your trust in the Lord. Put your trust in the Lord. Where
else can you put it? Where else can you put it? Who
else can be trusted? Lean not to your own understanding.
Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him. Paul said, I know
whom I have believed. I am persuaded as able to keep
that which I have trusted, committed to His care. I trust His promise. Hath He not promised, shall He
not do it? I trust His word. He cannot lie. I trust His beloved Son, who
said, All that my Father giveth me will come to me. and him that
cometh, I'll in no wise cast out. That soul that on Jesus
hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its
foes. That soul though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, never, never forsake." Trust
Him. Trust Him. Now I close with this. Now there'll be many that say,
David said, who's going to show us some good? They weren't willing
to believe in good, they wanted to see it. Who's going to show
us? That's what the TV evangelists
are saying. You folks want to see that Cadillac
in the garage. You folks want to see that. new
carpet on the floor. You folks want to see that cancer
go away. You folks want to see. Who's
going to show us good? Who's going to fill our tables
with good? Who's going to fill our barns with corn? Who's going
to buy us three automobiles and a motorcycle? Who's going to
buy us a home on the lake and a yacht to ride in? Who's going
to show us some good? Y'all going to believe good? We want to see it. We want to
see it. We want it in our hands. We want
it now. Not in the sweet by and by, in
the blessing now and now. I want it right now. Plant your
seed. Pay. Give me your money. And
you'll go home and find that you suddenly expanded and exploded
into a millionaire. You might win that lottery, whatever
it is and wherever it is. Show us! Who's going to show
us some good? Well, David said, let me tell
you something. Lord, lift up the light of your countenance
on us and put gladness in my heart, and that's better. That's better than increasing
the corn and wine. See it, David? That's more than
in the time that their corn and their wines increased. I'll tell
you this, Christ in the heart is better than corn in the barn. Eat better. Christ in the heart
is a lot better than wine on the shelf. Christ in the heart
is better than money in the bank. Christ in the heart is better
than food on the table. Christ in the heart is better
than health on the bones, because those old bones are going to
crumble pretty soon anyhow, no matter what you do. Christ in
the heart is better than clothes on the back. Christ in the heart
is better than a roof over the head. Huh? There be many that say,
many. Boy, there's lots of them. That's
lots of them. Go on. How long are you going
to follow those fools? Go on following them. I'll show
you good. Something good is going to happen
to you. But I'll tell you this, David said, if the Lord lifts
up the light of His countenance on me, and if He puts His gladness
in my heart, something good has happened to me. And it's better
than corn in the barn and wine on the shelf than money in the
bank. a whole lot better. In verse 8 he says, And I'll
lay me down in peace, and I'll sleep, and I'll sleep. For thou, Lord, only, thou, Lord,
only, only, makest me to dwell in safety. I read one time where
old King Solomon slept Richest man that ever lived,
wisest man in the things of the world. He slept with armed guards
about his bed. Armed guards about his bed. Armed
guards around, down the hall, out in the patio, and out in
the courtyard. Armed guards. He slept in peace
and safety. As long as those guards stayed
on him. As long as they outnumbered the
enemy. man after God's heart, anointed
king of Israel with the present king of Israel and all his armies
after him, and with everybody in Israel just about wanting
his head, he lay down on the ground outside a cave and slept
in perfect safety without an armed guard. because God was
with him. Somebody said one time, better
than boats and bars is the hand of God. Satan cannot touch his
child. There's no enemy too great. There's
no enemies too numerous. There's no enemy so powerful
that he could touch one child of God under the protective hand
of his father. better the Lord Christ and His
gladness in my heart than all these other things. I don't need
a bulletproof vest. I need Christ dwelling in here.
Huh? I believe that. I really believe
that. I wish I believed it more, but
I'm going to believe it more by God's grace.