Rejoicing in Love and Justice

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

Psalms 101:1

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.