2 Timothy 4, I see no reason why we cannot
fulfill our responsibilities as fathers
and husbands and leaders and followers and teachers and students
and pastor and people and still contemplate and consider the
fact that this may be the last day that we'll be fulfilling
that responsibility. I don't think the wagon has to
stop just because some day it's going to stop. It's like Joe
said in his prayer, impress upon us the fact that this could be
our last worship service. Well, let's not stop the worship
service because it's the last one. Let's keep her going. I think the fine Gillenwater
family, dear friends and faithful, loyal believers will testify
to this fact. Their father was in the service
just a few weeks ago on Sunday night and the next morning before
noon he was gone to be with God. And yet he went right on about
the duties of being a good father. He was out in the yard with his
grandchildren when God took him. He was about to climb a ladder,
go to the top of the house to fix an antenna when he fell dead,
but he was fulfilling his responsibilities. I don't mean when I consider
the subject of death that you must stop and sit down, think
of nothing else, and get in the state of despair and despondent
sin and brood about it. Actually, you may think me a
fool, and you may have some things to say about this, and I've weighed
this statement over and over again now for two days, and I'm
going to make it because I believe I can say this and say it in
honesty and truth. I believe I can. I look forward
to death. I really do. I look forward to
dying. The main reason is this. I believe
God. I believe God. And I believe
that God's promises regarding death are just as certain as
His promises regarding life. And I have no more difficulty
trusting God in death than I do in life. A religion that will
not do to die by, my friend, will not do to live by. You see
that? A religion, a faith, if what you've
got does not give you strength and comfort for death, how can
it give you any help for life? How can you find any certain
place for your feet, or any resting place for your soul, or any place
of confidence for your heart, if he cannot keep you in that
hour of death? So teach me, David said, to number
my days, that I may apply my heart to wisdom. I was watching
the late news last night. They were talking about the number
of people that had been killed on the West Virginia turnpike
this year. Twenty-four. And I'm driving
that turnpike this afternoon. I have no real fear of driving
that turnpike anymore than driving 13th Street. But I just, the
thought went through my mind last night, and I think it should.
I may be number 25. Who knows? God knows. I don't know. So shouldn't this
day be spent giving some consideration to that journey? Dick, if I'm
going to take it this afternoon, I ought to think about it. If I'm going to meet God this
afternoon, I ought to think about it. I ought to consider it. I
ought to give diligence to make my calling and election sure.
I ought to examine myself, whether I'm in the faith. I'm not playing
games. You're not playing games. We're
not hoop-de-doo religionists that are just here to show what
a big splash we can make and how many folks we can get and
how much noise we can make and how religious we can act and
how pious we can appear to be or holier than thou. I want to
know God. I want to worship the living
God. I want to walk with the living
God. God's promise is regarding death. or just as certain as his promises
regarding life. Listen to some of them. Yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll
fear no evil. Thou art with me. Thy rod and
thy staff, they comfort me. I don't need to be afraid. I'm
his and he's mine. I care about you. I believe you
care about me, but God cares a whole lot about me than you
do. I'd be safe in your hands, wouldn't I? Well, I'm safer in
his hands. Huh? You'd be safe and I would
do nothing to hurt or harm you. Well, how much more would my
father protect me, who gave his son to die for me? I fear no
evil. Psalm 49, 15, God will redeem
my soul from the power of the grave. He'll receive me. Psalm
116, 15, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
saints. Homecoming. If I go to prepare
a place for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there you may be. My Lord loves me, and He loves
you. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes
7, the day of our death is better than the day of one's birth.
Better. It must be something. Boy, we
had a time around our house a few weeks ago when the new one came. Well, the day of my death, you
reckon you could find it in your heart to rejoice over that? We ought to be able to, because
it's better. That's what he said. That's what
the Word says. In Romans 14, he says, None of us live it to
himself, and no man dieth to himself. Whether we live or die,
we live unto the Lord. We die unto the Lord. Whether
we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. We belong to
Him. We're His property. I belong to Him. He bought me.
He chose me. He made me. And He bought me. I'm His in a threefold manner. In 1 Corinthians 3.21, he says,
all things are yours. Listen to this. Whether Paul
or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death is yours. You don't belong to death, it
belongs to you. Or things present or things to
come, all are yours and you're Christ and Christ is God. In 1 Corinthians 15, this is a scripture we need to
all look at together, 1 Corinthians 15.53, and what I'm saying is
the promises of our Lord regarding death are as dependable as those
regarding life. For this corruptible, 1 Corinthians
15.53, this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal
must put on immortality. It must. And I want it to. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting?
Grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us The victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Already the victory
is won. It's already ours. Philippians. This is a scripture that I want
you to look at also. Philippians 1, verse 20. In Philippians
1, 20 through 24, listen to what Paul says here. And weigh these
words carefully. according to my earnest expectation
and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that
with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified
in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For me to live is Christ and
to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this
is the fruit of my labor, yet what I shall choose I know not
whether to die or to live, I don't know, for I'm in a strait betwixt
the two. I have a desire to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to abide
in the flesh is more needful for you." Paul knew that he was nearing
the time of his departure from the earth when he wrote 2 Timothy
chapter 4, verse 6 through 8, and he welcomed it. He really
did. He knew that he was needed in
the church. He knew that there were people
here that needed his ministry. He knew there were people who
needed his encouragement and fellowship. But he desired, he
said, I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far
better, to be absent from this body and to be present with the
Lord. What is it for a believer to die? What is it for a believer to
die that we the thought should fear? Tis but to pass the heavenly
sky and leave all this pollution here. True, death's cold stream
is wondrous deep and heaven's walls are high, but he that loves
us never sleeps and he'll receive us when we die. If my sin be
pardoned, I am secure. Death hath no sting beside. The law gives sin condemning
power, but Christ my Lord has died. It's pleasant to believe
His grace, but I had rather see. I'd rather be absent from this
flesh and present Lord with thee. I had rather. And I really believe we ought
to covet Paul's very experience when he said that, I have a desire
to depart and be with Christ. I think we ought to covet that
experience. I think we ought to cultivate
that experience. I believe we should. I believe we should hold so lightly
to the things of this world that they lose their attractiveness
and we become dedicated and consecrated and separated undividedly unto
Christ, to walk with Him, to know Him. You say, I've got to
make a living. I don't like to word it that
way. I've got to make a... No, you've got to meet God. That's
for sure. You have a privilege of making
a living. You have a responsibility to
make a living and so forth. But you've got to die. You've
got to meet God. A man doesn't have to live, but
a man does have to die. Now look at three things here.
First of all, Paul said in verse 6, 2 Timothy 4, let's look at the
death of a believer. He said in verse 6, For I am
now ready to be offered. And the amplified version gives
a better translation. What Paul is saying is this,
he says, I am already about to be sacrificed. My life is about
to be poured out as a drink offering. That's what that's saying. You
see verse 6, I am now ready to be offered. He's saying, I am,
my life is about to be poured out as a drink offering. Now,
most of you, including this preacher until recently, most of you don't
know what a drink offering is. And this really means nothing
to you. Every Jew knew what Paul meant. Not us, because we're
not familiar with the various sacrifices and offerings, but
I can make you familiar with the drink offering and you'll
appreciate what Paul's saying here. The drink offering is mentioned
many times, many times in the Old Testament. If you write down
Numbers 28, 7 through 8, let's just look at that one a minute,
Numbers 28, 7 through 8, the drink offering. The drink offering,
Numbers 28, 7 and 8. Now, as I say, this is mentioned
several times in the Old Testament. Jacob offered a drink offering,
the high priest and so forth, it's mentioned several times.
But here especially, Numbers 28, 7, and the drink offering
thereof shall be the fourth part of an hen for one lamb. In the holy place shalt thou
cause the strong wine to be poured unto the Lord for a drink offering. Okay, let's look at it now. This
makes this verse mean something. When there was a lamb sacrificed,
they took a lamb, slew the lamb, and they put its blood on the
altar and burnt the lamb's body, a burnt offering. There was a
lamb offered for a sin offering before the Lord. The lamb and
its blood and its burned body was the main part of the sacrifice.
That was the sacrifice. God said, you take a lamb and
sacrifice it as a sin offering, burn its body and pour out its
blood. That was the sin offering. It revealed Christ, the Lamb
of God, whose body was bruised and broken, who made his soul
an offering for sin, who shed his blood on the cross. John
the Baptist said, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world. But when the Jews brought that
lamb and put its body on the altar and burned it and shed
its blood, they would take precious oil, or the best and the strong
and the most expensive wine, and they wouldn't drink it. They'd
take a whole quart, a quart and a little more. And they would,
out of thanksgiving and gratitude, pour it out on their altar. They
wouldn't drink it. They wouldn't sit around at a
feast and enjoy it, pour it out. And Mr. Spurgeon said this, the
lamb was the sin offering before the Lord. The lamb's blood was
the main part of the sacrifice. But sometimes, not all the time,
sometimes, there was a little, and I might say unimportant,
offering which was given out of gratitude and thanksgiving,
added to the sacrifice poured out on the altar. This is what
Paul is saying about himself. My Lord has died. My Lord is
the sacrifice. He's the sin offering. He's the
ultimate. He's the efficacious, He's the
sufficient. We're redeemed in Him, and by
Him, and through Him, and nothing needs be added. But this little
insignificant and unimportant part of His body, the body of
Christ, part of the kingdom of Christ, part of the glory of
Christ, part of the person of Christ, is willing and ready
to be poured out on His sacrifice, on His altar, and to die as a
thank-offering, and as a drink-offering, and as gratitude to the Lord,
in identification with Christ. Now, Paul doesn't call himself
a sacrifice. He doesn't call himself a sin-offering.
Christ is our sacrifice. Christ is our lamb. Christ is
our sin-offering. But Paul lackened himself to
that Jewish man. who came up to the altar out
of gratitude and out of thanksgiving. There's the sacrifice, there's
the atonement, there's the acceptance, there's the glory, there's the
life, there's the resurrection. But he came bringing the best
he had, of his oil or his wine, and he came and poured it on
the altar, poured it on the altar, out of thanksgiving and gratitude. And the Apostle Paul is saying
this, I'm willing that my life And my blood should be poured
upon the altar where my Lord and Master is the great sacrifice. And I'm not sad. The great Redeemer
has died and He's perfected us by one offering, but out of thanksgiving
and out of identification with Christ, I'm ready to die too.
In God's eternal covenant of grace and life, I'm willing to
follow my Lord, not only in faith, I'm willing to follow my Lord,
not only in obedience, and I'm willing to
follow my Lord in death. We talk of being identified with
Christ as divine in the branch, as the head and the body, of
being bodily united with Him in God's kingdom and mercy. Well,
Christ died, why shouldn't I die? Christ gave His life, why shouldn't
I give mine? The crown and the cross were
one. Shall I tremble and shall I refuse? Shall I start and tremble at
being a drink offering on the great altar of God's mercy and
grace when Christ has already died? It's identification. It's
association. You see, Christ my Lord has died.
He has redeemed me. He has given his life. He has
gone to the tomb and he has been resurrected. Now that's my life,
that's my hope of heaven, that's my hope of resurrection, that's
my hope of all things. But Paul says, I'm willing and
I'm ready to walk right up to that same altar where he died,
that same grave where he was buried, and cast myself as an
unimportant and insignificant but offering of gratitude and
thanksgiving, Lord, here am I identified with you as a drink offering.
That's what he's saying there. I'm now ready. to be offered,
to be poured out as a drink offering before my Lord. Then the next
statement, and the time of my departure is at hand. There are
three things here I want us to look at. First of all, it's my
departure, the time of my departure. Man is a social creature. And
he's meant to be. God said it's not good for man
to be alone. Didn't he say that? So he made
woman. And through woman gave man a
family. We enjoy and require the companionship
of others. I don't know why any man would
think that a person is spiritual who rejects the companionship
and hospitality and fellowship of other people. That's not spirituality. It's not scriptural. It doesn't
follow the example of our Lord, who was the friend of sinners.
But it's the way that seems right unto men. I don't know where
that started. I do, I guess, out of the evil,
depraved heart of men and women. But man's a social creature. He needs company. He needs companionship. He needs fellowship. God made
him that way. No man liveth unto himself. Our
Lord ordained the church. He ordained fellowship. He ordained
the home. He ordained the church for edification,
for comfort, for joy, for the welfare of His people. We need to be together. Actually,
Christ said, You're the salt of the earth. You don't put salt
somewhere on a shelf. You put it on the meat. You use
it. You're the light of the world. You don't hide the light of the
candle under a bushel. You put it out everywhere to
give light. And when you take yourself away
from people and when you act reserved and cold and don't fellowship
and have the joyful fellowship and relationship and companionship
of edifying one another, you're not spiritual at all. You're
the opposite of spiritual. Because Christ, Charlie, sought
out the people, and had fellowship with them, and communication
with them. And they sought Him out. So was the Apostle Paul.
So this is not a mark of piety, and it's not a mark of spirituality.
Somebody says, well, he's real spiritual, he's a loner, he doesn't
have anything to do with people. No, he's not spiritual. He's
a loner, alright, but he's not spiritual. Because God didn't
create man that way. It's not good for man to be alone.
He needs people, he needs to share, he needs to communicate. When we talk about the requirements
for an elder and a bishop, he's to be a man given to hospitality,
a lover of good things. But, now here's what I'm coming
to. While all that's true, in this matter of three things,
I stand alone. Number one in the matter of repentance,
I stand alone. I must come to the place that
David came to. Oh Lord, be merciful to me. Blot
out my transgressions. Cleanse me from my sins. Have
mercy, forgive my iniquities. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil. In dealing with the living God,
Regarding my sins, I stand alone. You can't help me, and I can't
help you. It's a matter of confessing my
sins. We don't confess our sins. I
confess my sins. We don't repent of our sins.
America will never repent as a nation. Americans may repent,
but not America. This church will never repent
as a church. We may repent individually. And
we may go to God individually and ask mercy for our sins and
forgiveness in eternal life. I stand alone. Secondly, in faith,
I stand alone. If thou shalt believe in thine
heart and confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, thou shalt
be saved. There's no way that husband and
wife are going to believe together. They may both believe, but they
won't believe together. There's no way that a family,
I know it's beautiful and all for a family to come to Christ,
but don't ever, you young people, don't ever, because your daddy
makes a profession of faith and loves Christ, don't you feel
that you must do it too? You must if God deals with you
and God impresses you of your need of Christ. But this is an
individual matter. I stand alone. in repentance
toward God, in faith in Christ Jesus, and then thirdly, I stand
alone in death. I'm not too crazy about that
old colored spiritual, but it's got a lot of truth in it, which
says you've got to walk that lonesome valley. You've got to
go there by yourself. Ain't nobody else can go there
for you. You've got to go there by yourself.
Now Christ goes with me, but as far as the spiritual refers
to other people, we're social creatures. I know
we like company. We like somebody with us. You
know, it made it easier to go to war when everybody went to
war, but just if you've got to go by yourself, it's not too
easy. Crowds beget crowds, you know.
Crowds follow crowds. People do what people do. But
I got to stand alone. He says, the time of my departure. All right, second of the word
departure. Now I want you to listen to this. I think I've
got some good thoughts here. My departure. That's a soft word,
and I think Paul meant it to be soft. It's a soft word. It's not... The word death is a little harder, but he says,
the time of my departure. to depart and be with Christ.
Now let me say this, and I want you to think about this. I know
that we're on spiritual ground when we talk about this evil
world. And I believe you know what I
mean when I talk about this evil world. This is an evil world. It's full of hatred. It's full
of murder. It's full of all kinds of evil. It's just evil all over. And
it's a corrupt world. It's a world of sorrow. It's
a world of sadness. It's a world of corruption. But
I'll tell you, if God takes me away from this world today, I
hope you're able to say this too, if God were to take me away
today, I wouldn't leave this world with a bitter spirit. I
don't believe I would. Because it was in this world
and on this earth I met my Lord. This world, with all of its evil
yet, it's been good for me. Because here I met the Lord.
Here I met you. Here my Lord has given me so
many mercies and so many blessings. Oh, there's sin in this world,
but it's here that I found mercy and forgiveness of sin. And the joy that I'm looking
forward to is to go where there is no sin. There's trial here
on this earth, but in these trials we've found His presence to be
so sweet and so gracious and so wonderful. Well, if I'd not
been here, I'd not met Christ. If I'd not been here, I would
not have had this fellowship. If I had not lived here on this
earth, I would not have known you. If I had not lived here
on this earth, I would have never known Paul, or Becky, or my grandchildren. You see? This world, yes, there
are graves here, but it's through the grave that we're resurrected.
So everything that's here, even with its evil, even with its
corruption, God has ordained on purpose for His glory and
our good. My sins brought me to Christ.
My trials brought me to appreciate and to love Him more, and the
grave God's going to use to bring me to His presence. So when I
depart from this world, I'm not going to leave behind a shudder
of sad remembrance and tremble and say, it's been a bitter experience.
No, it hasn't. No, it hasn't. I believe Paul
is saying right here, the time of my departure is at hand. I'm
bidding farewell. I'm bidding farewell, yes, to
sins and sorrows and trials and all of these things, but I'm
bidding farewell to many joys that I know will continue. I'm
bidding farewell to many precious people that will tarry a little
longer and then they'll one day be with me. And we will together
praise the Lord. So there's a right attitude to
take towards God's world and God's earth. It's still my Father's
world. It's still my Father's world.
And everything, even the wicked, God made for His glory. Even the wicked shall, and the
wrath of man shall praise the Lord. So that my departure is
at hand, the time of my departure is at hand. Let's look at the
time of it. Now, the time, I may live to be 90, I may live
to be 54. The time is unknown to me. David Brainerd died when he was
29. Charles Spurgeon when he was 58, John Gill when he was
70 some-odd. Some of these other preachers,
80 some-odd. But this I know, the time of
my departure is fixed by God. Now turn to Job 14. Let me read this for you. Job
14, the time of my departure. Paul says it's a time. It's an
ordained time. It's a fixed time. It's an unchangeably
fixed time. I believe that. I really believe
that. We sing a song, my times are
in thy hands. My God, I wish them death. Do
we? For the time of my birth, the
time of my death is fixed by God, unchangeably fixed. He says
in Job 14.5, man's days are determined The number of his months are
with thee, thou hast departed his bounds. He cannot pass. It's
set. It's set. There's a time to depart, and that time is God's time.
And when God, in His sovereignty, calls me, then I go. Then I go. And Paul says this time is at
hand. The years and the days go so
swiftly by, don't they? But let's look at verse 7 briefly. In verse 7, Paul contemplated
the past, present, and future. Now here's what we need to do
right now. I'm ready to be poured out as
a drink offering. We settled and established this
relationship between Christ, our sin offering, and our identification
with Him. And the time of my departure
is at hand. And Paul looked back over the
past and looked at the present and contemplated the future,
and he says, I've fought a good fight. He looked back with satisfaction. I've fought a good fight. I've
kept back nothing profitable unto you. I've not shunned or
declined to you the whole counsel of God. I've fought a good fight. And then he looked ahead with
sweet assurance. He said, I've finished my course,
the course of life, the course of my ministry. It may vary in
length, but I've finished my course. I don't regret this. I've finished my course. I've
run the race. Life is about over. Now watch
this. I've kept the faith. I've kept
the faith. Paul has nothing to say about
his merit. Nothing to say about His righteousness,
nothing to say about His works, but just one thing, I've kept
the faith. I've looked to Christ in faith,
and I look forward to eternity with joy. Verse 8, henceforth,
henceforth, based on Christ's obedience and Christ's righteousness,
not upon my merit or works, I look to Him, I've kept the faith.
Henceforth, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that
day. And this is not a special reward only to Paul, only to
an apostle, or only to a preacher, or only to a special believer.
And not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. Brethren, I don't know what heaven
will be like. I really don't. I've spent some
time thinking about it, wondering, you know, I know there'll be
a new heaven and a new earth. I know that our bodies shall
be like Christ's body. But I really don't know what's
going to be there to a great extent. I've often thought about
it. I know you have. But I do know
what won't be there. I don't know what will be, but
I don't know what won't be there. I know this. Verse 4 of Revelation
21. There'll be no tears. He says,
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Tears are evidences
of heartache and sorrow and pain, disappointment. There'll be no
tears. And there'll be no death. I'm
going to die once and that's all. I'm going to pass through
that valley one time. I'm going to cross that stream
one time. I'm going to breathe my last
breath for one time. And then there'll be no more
death. No more death of the trees, no more death of the animals,
no more death of people. No more death. And then there'll
be no more sorrow. Not going to be any sorrow. It's
going to be total joy. All absolute, complete joy. No more sorrow. Not going to be any sorrow in
God's eternal tomorrow. There's not going to be any crying,
moaning, groaning, grief, guilt, sadness. There's not going to
be any of that. None whatsoever. Life to enjoy. Neither shall
there be any more pain. I can't explain what kind of
body we're going to have, but I do know we're going to have
no more pain. There'll be no more headaches, and there'll
be no more backaches, and there'll be no more sore arthritic hands. There'll be no more pain. No
heart pain, no head pain, no bodily pain. No more pain. For
the former things, all of these former things associated with
sin, associated with Adam's fall, associated with man's depravity,
have passed away. And you don't long for that day. I think I long for it, but I
fear the unknown. Wait a minute now. This is not
unknown. Christ has revealed this to us.
This is not unknown. A believer can call it the unknown,
but somebody said, well, did somebody just come down from
heaven and tell us what it's all about? He did. He came down
here and told us what it's all about. He not only came down
here and told us, he demonstrated it. And he himself died. Christ died. And he went to the tomb. But
now there are footprints going in that tomb, there are footprints
coming out of that tomb. So I don't have to be afraid
of that tomb. And his promises are real. So let's... God's promises and God's Word
is as certain for tomorrow as it is for today. It's as certain
for death as it is for life. Believe him. I don't think that
I have a right to claim to believe God for salvation if I can't
believe God for preservation. Huh? He's able to do all that
he promised. All that he promised. So let's
adopt a different attitude towards death. We're talking like the world.
We're acting like the world. We act like carnal men, Paul
said. Rather than to leave here is
to go home. To leave here is to go be with
the Lord. To depart from this earth is
far better. To die is gain. This is what
God our Lord says. And here's another thing, it's
in his hands, and he has determined that day, and he's determined
it wisely, he's determined it lovingly, he's determined it
for the good of all concern, for all things work together
for good to them who love God, who are called. Well, we can't
afford to lose our pastor. Now, wait a minute. We can't
afford to lose our father, our wife, our husband, our children.
Wait a minute now. Who can determine what we can
afford and what we can't afford? What's good for us and what's
not good for us? God determines that. And I'll guarantee you
there's not a believer here, I don't care who that believer
is, Cecil Roach, Paul Mahan, anybody here, Bill Parker, God
set the day of your death and he set it wisely, he set it lovingly,
and he set it rightly. for all concern, for His glory,
for your good, for her good, and for their good. He said it
wise. I believe that. If I can't believe God in that
matter, can I believe Him in anything else? Can I trust Him
in anything else? No, sir. I can't claim faith
in any other regard if I can't claim faith in the most important
thing of all, my going or staying. My being here or not being here.
So I think you understand now what I meant when I opened this
message. I look forward to that. Because
I know when it comes that I'm going to be with the Lord. And
when it comes, I know He brought it to pass and He can't make
a mistake. He can't do wrong. He's doing
right for all concerned. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Now
this, if you can get a hold of this, if it's helped you in any
in any means or manner. If God's applied it, it'll help. It'll contribute to your comfort,
to your peace, to your joy, to your rest. And you can face these
things a little better than we've been doing it in the past. Our
Father, honor thy word. It's thy word by which we live. We have no foundation but the
word. We have no reason for hope except through the word. There's
nothing that we know except is revealed in thy word. There's
nothing that we can think or look to or trust in or build
upon except what's written in the word. Thy word, O Lord, is
a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. I'll hide this
word in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Not only
sin with evil words and deeds, but evil thoughts, questioning
the wisdom of my God. and the glory of my God, and
the right of my God to do with his own what he will, that sin,
to question thy providence and find fault with thy providence.
O Lord, teach us and we'll be taught.