We're going to take a little break tonight from
2 Corinthians since we're about at the halfway
point. We're going to take a little break and
look at the Psalms. Psalm 101. We're going to
finish these Psalms one day. We've been hitting
a few of them here and there for years now. We
made it through 100 of them. We're two -thirds
of the way through. We've got 50 more to go.
Maybe in the next three or four years we'll knock
those out. We'll hit a few here and there. Psalm
101. It's a relatively short psalm, so we're
going to try to get through the whole thing,
eight verses. Psalm 101. Let's pray, and we'll
get started. God, we come to you tonight, and
I thank you that we have the freedom to come
into your house. I thank you for loving us. I
thank you for letting us be able to come together.
is a group called Enterprise Baptist Church.
I pray that you just bless the time that we have
tonight. I pray that your Holy Spirit would lead
us. I pray that your word would be good to us
tonight, God, that we would rejoice in you, that
we would see the words that are penned here,
that we would take them to our heart, dear Lord,
that we would be men and women of integrity,
that we would not be... swayed by the evil things
that we encounter and the temptations of the
world, and just forgive us where we fail in those
areas. And I pray, God, tonight we would rejoice
in your love and your justice and your mercy
and your grace. And I ask these things in Jesus'
name. Amen. This is a Psalm of David, and it
starts as this, Psalm 101, verse 1. I will sing
a faithful love in justice. I will sing praise
to you, Lord. Now, we see a lot of things that
represent who God is. Who is God? We had a little
mini -series on that about a year ago, and we
looked at all these things that make up God,
all these qualities that show us who God is.
And one of the things that makes God God is that
he is a... Loving God. God is love. He is full
of love. Another thing that we see that makes
God God is he is just. That is, God cannot allow
evil to go unpunished. Evil has to be punished.
If any judge is going to be a just judge, evil
has to be punished. We see that in a very simple
level in our world today. We understand that.
We see people that do evil things. and people
that murder people or do other just horrible,
atrocious things. We see them oftentimes go to
trial, and a just judge will say, you have committed
this crime, whatever it may be, and this is the
proper punishment for justice to be served. Now,
you wouldn't take someone who had taken the life
of another person intentionally and then slap
them on the wrist and say, that's a $50 fine.
That's not justice. The punishment doesn't fit
the crime. And so God is perfectly just in every
way. And when God brings judgment, the punishment
has to fit the crime. God is a gracious God,
but God can't just give grace and not deal with
justice. He has to do both. God is a gracious
God, praise the Lord. He's a loving God, praise
the Lord. But he's also a just God. And all of
these qualities that make up God are all represented
in God. You can't have one without the other.
God can't just look at sinners and say, well,
I'm just going to give them grace. Well, that
grace comes at a cost because justice has to
be served because the wages of sin is death.
Now, that's bad news for you and I and everybody
listening online. The wages of sin is death.
We have sinned greatly in so many ways against
God and continue to sin against God. And God
says, what's the just punishment for that? The
just punishment for that is that death has to
occur. That's why we see in the Old Testament,
we see all these animal sacrifices, but we see
in Hebrews that the blood of goats and bulls
was never going to be sufficient. A death had
to occur that would be sufficient to bring justice
for those who deserve death. And that death came
through Jesus Christ. The justice that had to
be carried out and fulfilled by God, who was
a righteous judge, was placed on Jesus Christ.
That he became death for us. That he took death
for us. That he took punishment for us so that
we could receive the grace of God. The grace
of God is a beautiful thing, but it is not free.
The grace of God comes through Jesus Christ.
And what does David say? He says, I will sing
a faithful love in justice. You really can't
have one of those things without the other. You
see both of those things in Jesus Christ. You
see the justice that God demands carried out
on the cross of Jesus Christ. But right there
beside that justice, you see the love of God.
You see the love of Jesus Christ. That Jesus
says, I will give my life as a ransom for many.
That God says, I will give my only begotten son.
That is love. And on the cross, we see the love
of God and the justice of God carried out. And
praise God that we can still experience that
love and the justice of God today. If we don't
know the love of Jesus Christ, then we can't
sing and rejoice in the justice of God. Because
if we don't know the love of Jesus Christ, one
day we will stand in judgment before God. And
we will experience the justice of God that we
deserve. But praise the Lord, Jesus Christ came.
And in the love of God, our sins can be forgiven.
The punishment that Jesus took on the cross,
the death that he gave on our behalf, is sufficient
to cover our sins because he was a perfect sacrifice.
So today, if we are in Christ, then we can be
as David. We can sing. We can rejoice of faithful
love and justice. Because we have seen the justice
of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We have seen
the love of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And
we have experienced that. And that's what we
want the world to hear. We want the world to
know of the grace of God. Or do we? We want God
to forgive our sins, right? We've done some really
horrible stuff. You've done stuff so bad that
you just hope nobody in here knows about it.
You just hope that the preacher don't bring up
something that you've done. We've done horrible
stuff, and we don't dare want anybody to know
that we've done it. But praise God, we are glad
that God forgives us. Amen? That we go to God
and we say, God, I have done the most horrible
things, and we have a hard time. We don't even
want to think about them while we sit on these
pews. They're so bad. And praise God that God
forgives us and that he does not give us what
we deserve. But if we would accept Jesus Christ,
we can know that Jesus took what we deserve.
So that we can receive only what Jesus deserved.
So we like that grace, right? But do we like
other people to get that grace? Because we can
see other people. We can see that they've done
some bad stuff. I'm talking about bad stuff.
Maybe worse than us. Maybe not. Maybe to us.
But we see other people. We want justice to be
served. But do we want that same justice to be
served on us? Yeah, we want justice to be served,
but you know what we should also want, I think?
It's the grace of God to be shown. That they
would know the love of God. Now that's not to
say that there aren't consequences in this world.
That there's not justice served in this world
for the things that are done. But for all of
eternity, what we should desire is for people
to see the grace of God. But do we desire that?
And the most evil people that we see in this
world, do we desire that? Is there a part of
us that really hopes that they get what they
deserve? That they really get the punishment
they deserve? And maybe they will in this world.
But what about for all of eternity? If we've
received the grace of God, if justice has been
served on the cross for us, isn't the blood of
Jesus Christ sufficient to cover not just our
sins, but the sins of all who would come to Him?
And so if we rejoice today and say, God, I rejoice
in your faithful love and in your justice that
was carried out on the cross, if we rejoice in
that and we've experienced that grace, then shouldn't
we want the world to experience that grace? Shouldn't
that be what drives us as we go into the world
and people sin against us and hurt us in so many
horrible ways? Shouldn't that be what drives
us to show them a little bit of compassion? To
know that we're no better than they are? And
you may say, hold up, I'm better than that person
because I know they did X, Y, and Z. Well, guess
what? Your sin is just as heinous in the eyes
of God. Our sin is just as bad. Who are we to
say that we deserve the grace of God and someone
else doesn't? All of a sudden we take on the
role of judge? That is not our role. We know
if we've come to Christ, we have come before
the one who will judge. And we have poured out
our heart and we have said, God, I'm an evil,
evil man. I'm an evil, evil woman. And God, I
don't deserve your love, but would you love me
anyway? And what a horrible feeling it is when
the guilt and shame of our sin is burdening us
down and pressing us down. And we don't even
want to dare go before God, but we boldly go
before Him because who else can we go before?
And we say, God, would you forgive me? And you
feel the grace of God and the love of God. Is
there any better feeling in the world? To know
that we don't deserve it, but to know that Jesus
Christ has given His life so that we can be forgiven.
And the love of God that washes over us in our
sins, is there any better feeling in the world?
And how in the world can we experience that grace
and decide for ourselves that others are not
worthy of that? We need to experience the grace
of God and that needs to transform our life in
such a way that we show that grace to other people.
So we want to be those tonight who rejoice in
the faithful love of God and the justice of God
that was carried out in Jesus Christ so that
we will be those. Who prays the Lord. I said
we was going to get through the whole thing.
One verse is enough. Let's pray. God, we thank
you for this good word. I pray that we'll just
kind of soak this up and think about this tonight,
God. Your love is good and your grace is good,
but we know you're a just God. But God, I pray
that if there is one that does not know Jesus
Christ, that today they would know that Jesus
Christ has given his life on the cross. that
the punishment for our sin has been fulfilled
in Him, that He has carried it out, that He has
paid the price, dear Lord, that we can be forgiven.
There is no greater love than that a man lay
down his life for others, dear Lord. That's exactly
what Jesus Christ has done for us. So, dear Lord,
I pray that each one of us in this room tonight
is rejoicing in Your justice and the love. that
has been given to us through Jesus Christ. I
pray, God, that we would soak up your grace and
that we would live in your grace tonight, that
we would rejoice in that, dear Lord, that we
would not kid ourselves to think we are better
than we are, that we are better than the other
men or the other women that we see. Yeah, God,
there's some evil stuff in this world, and we
do some of it. And so, God, if we've experienced
your grace and compassion, as hard as it may
be, let us show that to others, dear Lord. That
no matter how evil their sin may be, that they
would know that the blood of Jesus Christ is
sufficient to forgive their sins, dear Lord,
if they would just call out to Him, if they would
just seek Him. Dear Lord, let us all praise You
for Your faithful love and Your justice today,
just as David did. And let us seek to lead the
world to Jesus Christ so that they can rejoice
in the same thing. And I ask these things in
Jesus' name. Amen. All right, I got a couple
tonight on our prayer list. Need to continue
to pray for Mr. Paul. He's not really been any
change. He's just kind of laying there. He's
not doing good. He's not breathing real strong.
He's unresponsive. He's still in the hospital.
He can stay in the hospital until Friday. So
we want to pray that the Lord would just give
him rest and comfort. and be with the family.
Murray's been down there a lot, so obviously
that family's been through a lot in the last
few months. So we want to pray for Mr. Paul and
pray for the rest of the family. We need to pray
for Ms. Corrine. Hey, good, I didn't know that
she had been in the hospital. I just found that
out. I went to see her today, and she's been
having all kind of health problems, and her house
flooded, had a pipe back up or something. I'm
not sure. But anyway, she's had a rough go of
it the last few weeks. So she was on a walker
and moving slow. So y 'all keep her in your prayers.
Also, our neighbor down the road here, Mr. David
Mathurn, he got a bad report at the doctor. He'd
been having some trouble with his prostate, and
they're going to have to end up doing some treatment.
They're going to start radiation, I think, next
week, he said, is when they're going to start
that. And so we want to pray for him, pray that
those treatments will go good and that maybe
they catch that and get it healed up. Pray that
the Lord will heal it up. And I know he's a little
nervous about it, so I know he'd appreciate y
'all's prayers. See y 'all. Please be praying
for him. I also had a call the other night from
Ms. Peggy Toler. She asked that we remember Dexter
Butler, that's Donald's brother, said he was
having some health problems, wasn't doing good,
and so she asked that we pray for him. Are there
any other prayer requests or praise reports tonight?
I have one. I didn't put him on the prayer list,
but James Copeland had gallbladder surgery Monday,
and I talked to him last night. He's doing great.
Good. Yep, that's a good praise report. Yep,
Cammie and Julio had a little baby. Ms. Sandra
Ravencraft told me the other day that her granddaughter
Abby I don't remember what it was, but she had
had some kind of surgery, and she was down. She's
not been able to work, and so whatever it is,
we need to pray for her. All right, if there's
no others, if anybody wants to pray, y 'all are
welcome to pray quietly or pray out loud if you'd
like to, and I'll give y 'all a little bit of
time, and then I'll close us with prayer. God,
we come to you tonight. We thank you for the
freedom we have in this land to be able just
to read your word and to gather together and
just worship freely. I pray for our brothers
and sisters in Christ that do not have these
freedoms. I pray that you would encourage them
and comfort them and be with them as they seek
to serve and worship you even in some pretty
bad circumstances. I pray that you just would
watch over them, dear Lord. I pray for our nation,
that you would help us to be a people that would
seek you. I know a lot goes on in this country
that's not good, and I pray, God, that you just
would start with us, that we would be a people
that seek you, and that we'd be a land that would
seek you, and that we would have leaders that
would seek you, dear Lord. I pray that you would
send revival on our land. I pray for Mr. Paul,
dear Lord, that you give him rest, that you give
him comfort, dear Lord. Just be with him and
the family right now. I pray for Ms. Corrine
as she continues to recover from all of her illness
and sickness she's been battling, that you would
just encourage her and help her to get back on
her feet. I pray for David, that you would help
him as he goes for these treatments. I pray that
you bring healing to his body, that through this,
dear Lord, that he would just know that you're
with him and that you'd be an encouragement to
him, dear Lord. And I pray that you just help
him to get over this. I pray for Mr. Dexter Butler
that you would help him with his health problems,
that you just watch over him and his family.
I pray for Mr. James Copeland as he recovers
from his surgery that he would have a good recovery.
I pray for Danielle, dear Lord, as she continues
to battle this, that you just be with her family
and help them to know what decisions to make
going forward. I pray that you bring healing
to her body and I just lift them up to you. I
pray for Mr. David Dixon and his heart problems
that you would... bring healing to him and be
with his family, and I pray that you'd get him
home soon. I pray for Robbie Bass with this mass
that they found on his intestines, that God,
you just would heal that, that you would encourage
him, that you'd be with his body as he fights
through this. Thank you for little baby Mateo
that was born, and that all went well. I pray
that you'd help him to grow healthy and be with
Mama and Daddy and help them as they prepare
for this new New stage in life, God, that you
just bless that family and protect them, and
I just thank you for them. I pray for our services
Sunday, God, that you'd fill this place with
folks, dear Lord, that would just come and experience
your love, that you'd be with the song service
and the Sunday school teachers, that you'd just
bless our time together. Help me to know what
words to preach, God. Let your Holy Spirit be
in this place and lead us as a church. Show us
opportunities to serve. Help us to be faithful.
and those opportunities, provide the needs that
we have, God, to meet those opportunities and
to continue to do the things that need to be
done. We pray that you just would take care of
all of our needs, dear Lord. I pray for our shoebox
packing Saturday, that you would help us as we
prepare, as people come in, that you just bless
this day, that it would be a day of fun, that
it would be a day that we rejoice in you, that
it would be a day that we... get work done, that
it would go smooth as can be, and that you just
would bless these efforts and the boxes and the
kids that are going to get them. I pray for our
sleeping bag ministry as that approaches, that
you would help things to go smooth there. I pray
that you provide good parking for us and help
us to be able to get set up easily and just be
able to minister to the people and love on them
and help us to have all the things that we need
there to help that to be a successful day. Pray
that you keep everybody safe and just be with
us in these ministries. I pray that you give
everybody a good week. Keep everybody safe and
healthy. Bring us back here Sunday. In Jesus'
name I ask it. Amen.