December 9, 2012
The Sinners Prayer
O Lord, look Thou upon me. In mercy set me free.
Look upon me is my plea. Salvation is of Thee.
I call upon your mercy. I undeserving be.
O Lord, look Thou upon me. Then I your love shall see.
O, take away my reproach among the sons of men.
I have nothing to offer. I’m vile and steeped in sin.
You’re Righteous and you’re Holy. My knees to you shall bend.
I must have you, my Savior. O, give me life within.
You called to one in a tree, “Salvation’s come to thee.”
By the shores of Galilee you called, “Come, follow me.”
He went and wept bitterly, that one who denied Thee.
You looked on them in mercy. O Lord, look upon me.
By Gary Spreacker
(Tune: The Church’s One Foundation, p. 186)
Psalm 121: 1-8
Believer, our help is Christ. Our help comes from the hills—his holy hill in heaven and that hill where Christ has given his gospel. His help is personal help—MY help (Hebrews 2: 17-18). In all our troubles remember the truth revealed in this Psalm.
The Lord Will Not
First, the Lord will not allow the feet of his redeemed child to be moved. (Ps 121: 3) Many times “our feet are almost gone, our steps well-nigh slipped.” But God our Savior will not allow our feet to be moved. (Ps 62: 2) Secondly, the LORD will not slumber nor sleep. God never forgets his children. We can’t remember what to forget and we keep forgetting what we should remember. But God never forgets his child - neither slumbers nor sleeps. God never ceases to consider his child of grace. (Ps 40: 17) Each child is always at the center-focus of Gods thoughts. There is never is a moment, night or day, in which the great mind of the Eternal ceases to think of the child he has everlastingly loved in Christ Jesus. “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
The Lord Is
The Lord is the keeper of his child. Christ is our shade of righteousness and our shade of defense, the shade upon our right hand is Christ our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption—our ALL! Christ is able to give his help because Christ is God who created all things but even better, Christ is our Redeemer who by his blood makes all things new. (Ps 8: 3)
The Lord Shall
First, the Lord shall preserve each of his children. (Ps 121:7) There would be no perseverance of the saints where it not for the preserving of our Lord. (Eph 1: 13) Secondly, notice what the Lord shall preserve his child from—all evil. I found 569 references to evil in the bible. Here are a few: evil of the heart (Gen 6: 5), evil of your doings, evil report (Num 13: 32), evil beast, evil congregation (Num 14: 35), evil place (Nu 20: 5), evil generation (De 1: 35), evil diseases (De 7: 15), evil name (slander) (De 22: 14), evil spirit, evil dealings, evil understanding (Job 28: 28), and evil time (Ps 37:
18). The LORD shall preserve thee from ALL evil. (Job 5: 19-27) Also, the LORD shall preserve your soul. (Ps 121: 7) He shall raise our bodies incorruptible from the dust of the grave, but the soul—how important!—the soul. (Ps 34:22) Furthermore, the Lord shall preserve our going in and coming out, that is, all our ways. (Pro 3:6) When will the LORD start doing this?—from this time forth (Mt 6: 31-34) "Cast foreboding cares away, God provideth for today." But for how long will the Lord preserve me?—even for evermore. The end of this life is just the beginning. (Mt 5: 8) - Pastor Clay Curtis
“They Shall Not Depart From Me”
“And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good: but I will put my fears in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.” (Jer. 32:40)
And what is the evidence that the Lord has made this everlasting covenant with me? It is that He has put His fear in my heart. The fear that is the beginning of wisdom. The fear that makes a man afraid of sin! The fear that makes a man afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone! It is the fear that makes me fear departing from Him. Most who begin this heavenly path end up departing. The stony ground hearer departs in a highly visible way. The thorn-choked hearer has a gradual departure. It may be that his body never departs. He remains a church-member, but he brings forth no fruit. The “cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things” lead him to depart. But those who do not depart, and continue walking with Christ, they are the ones He has evidently made an everlasting covenant with. He has put His fear in their heart, so that they will not depart from Him. - Unknown
~~~ O ~~~
"And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?"
Matthew 21:10. The greatest obstacle we face today in the church is indifference. People do not openly hate the Gospel, they just do not care to hear it, or care for what it teaches. We are satisfied with anything that will calm our conscience. I am not saying people are not religious. They are. We need the preaching of the Gospel to stir up our hearts, our homes, this church, and this area. THERE IS ONLY ONE THING THAT WILL DO IT. A reigning Saviour riding in triumph in our hearts and churches. Jerusalem was never moved until the Lord Jesus Christ rode into it as King. There is a lot of Jesus preaching today, but not the Jesus of the Scriptures. There is a lot of salvation preaching today, but not the salvation of the Scriptures. There is a lot of god preaching today, but not the God of the Scriptures. So on all this you can write Ichabod, for "the glory of the Lord is departed." There is no glory in a place unless Christ alone is preached as the sinner's only hope.
- Pastor Milton Howard