I had a handkerchief somewhere and I don't know where it is but that'll be okay. Tears running down our face, feeling the good presence of the Lord. I tell you what, we're so blessed. Do you realize in the Old Testament they would have fain to see the day that we live in? where man can commune with God in His presence. And we're not worthy. We're all sinners, but thank God for those of us that are saved by grace. The blood has washed us clean, made us white as snow. I don't understand the mercy and grace of God. I wish I did. I know enough about it to know this. Can take the heart of a man that feels condemned and make him feel close. It can take a man or a woman that feels wayward and bring them home. Can take a heart full of hate and make it full of love. There's nothing that God can't do except one thing, and you know what that is? Fail us. Boy, I'm glad I'm trusting in Him this morning. If you have your Bibles, you know where we're headed, the 89th chapter of the book of Psalms. Those of you that know the book of Psalms, and I don't know, just seem like we've been hung somewhere in the book of Psalms for the past month of my life. I love the way that David expresses his worship toward the Lord. And I believe all of us have a little David in us if we've been saved. I know Trey does. Trey loves the story of David and Goliath, not story, but the account of it. And we call him little David every now and then. So, all right, here we are, brothers and sisters. the 13th verse of that 89th chapter. And this is what David, I tell you what, let's go back. Let me go back, I gotta read the sixth verse too. It's just, it's all wonderful. For who in heaven can be compared? unto the Lord. Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. Take that where we're at this morning. And to be had in reverence of all them that are about him or around him. O Lord God of hosts, who is strong like unto thee, or to thy faithfulness round about thee. Thou rulest the raging of the seas. When the waves arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Rahab into pieces as one that is slain and has scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. Let me go on down to verse 13. Thou hast a mighty arm. Strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face. Here we are in verse 15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. For thou art the glory of their strength, and in thy favor our horn shall be exalted. For the Lord is our defense, the Holy One of Israel. Are they speaking in a vision as to the Holy One? Said, I have helped one that is mighty, and I have exalted one that is chosen. I have found Dave and my servant. With my holy oil have I anointed him. Let us pray. Dear Lord and heavenly Father, God, as we come to you this morning, in the most precious name ever uttered by lips that be in the name of Jesus. God, when we read of thy strong arm, Lord, thy strong hand, when we read of your anointed one, God, we have no doubt that you speak, and David was prophesying of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Father, I would say this morning, as David has said, who is like you? Lord, there is none found to be compared to you. Lord, I've never seen one so faithful, so merciful, so loving and caring in all of his ways. To whom could we compare you to? There's no one like our Jesus. willing to die and give His life on an old rugged cross, and then take it up again on the third day. Again I say, O Lord, who is like unto Thee? Our hearts are full of love and mercy towards You, Father. We fear You, but yet we love You and we thank You that You have chose us, Lord, and You have anointed us with Your Spirit. God, we love you and we thank you, Lord, to be living in this day and this hour, Lord, where we can feel the presence of God. Now, Father, I pray, speak as only you can. We ask this in Christ's name and for our sakes. Amen. And amen. Again, I want to call to your remembrance this 15th verse, blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. If you've been going down the road or maybe doing some menial task, And all of a sudden there's a song begins to well up in your heart. And you know, I'm one of those, if you come by on the right day, you might be able to hear me singing over the sound of the tractor engine. There are times whenever I'm riding through the field and maybe the sun hits me the right way or I'm looking at the majesty of God's creation. I almost say it like this, there are times I just can't help myself. Y'all like that? You ever have times you just can't help yourself? Maybe you're on your way to work and the sun is shining and the birds are singing. I know a lot of you ladies love to praise the Lord on your way to work. Boy, I love that. It's whenever that is within us wells up and the Bible said out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And sometimes God's people get a case of I just can't help it. I thought about the children of Israel and how long they'd been in captivity. And finally, after the plagues had been delivered from the hand of Pharaoh, and I read to you, and we talked about where the Lord told them to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And as they stood still, the Red Sea parted. They went for on dry ground. And we know that after the last Israelite or Hebrew crossed out of the Red Sea, Pharaoh's army was crushed in those waters. Now listen. This was a people who had never sung a song of deliverance, but all of a sudden their hearts began to erupt in one accord. And they say the same thing that David was saying in the 15th chapter of the book of Exodus. Who is like unto the Lord? They said he has crushed the horse and his rider, all of our paths. has been washed away. And by the way, we're on our way and on our journey to a land that we've never seen, but God has promised us. They begin to sing the song of a redeemed people. I thought about whenever the angels announced the birth of Jesus in the gospels, how the Bible said they told the shepherds Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." They gave them instruction where to find Jesus. They said He'd be wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And listen, once they made their proclamation, all of heaven rose up and began to sing, Oh, they couldn't help themselves. The Son of God had been born. Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth, goodwill toward men, they began to sing. But all my brothers and sisters throughout All the scripture we see, men and women in their time of joy singing unto the Lord. Did you know the Lord Jesus Christ sang a hymn and rejoiced in His Father? And I want you to know today, there's nothing wrong with rejoicing in the Lord. Paul said it like this in the book of Philippians in the fourth chapter, rejoice and again I say, Rejoice, and what would do us some good is for the salvation that God has put in our heart to stir us up to the point to where we couldn't help it. Isn't it a wonder the Bible said, let the redeemed say so? Oh, to God, you get to thinking about some of the wonderful things God has done for you and the way that he has blessed you, and you get a case of the can't help it. Let me say this. Oh, glory to the Lamb of God. When my children were born, they begin to cry and listen. My grandchildren, you'll hear them sometime during this service. To some people, that's a difficult sound. To some people, that's a sound that causes them trouble. But every baby that cries blesses my heart. You know why? Because they're alive and God has given us children in our church. A lot of people what they call a bad noise is good noise. Thank God even the babies when they cry are praising the Lord. When the songbirds sing, they're praising the Lord. When the wind rustles, through the trees of trees are praising the Lord. And I'll be if I'm gonna let a rock or a tree take my place. Glory to the Lamb of God. He's worthy of our praise. Then he begins to get in to why. I want to tell you this, he said, blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. Oh Lord, that walk in the light of thy countenance. You know why? Lost people don't get to feel what you and I are feeling this morning. Let me say this. Glory to the Lamb of God for what I get to feel. Listen, I'm going to tell you, there are a lot of people out in this world with broken hearts and broken lives, and all they feel is pain. And some people are full of hate. Listen, the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, he was that way. He hated the Christian church. He sought to destroy it, but I'm gonna tell you, this man Jesus came to it and said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Oh, don't you know, he got his attention, borned him again. What do you mean born him again? Saved his soul, called him to preach, made one of the greatest preachers the world has ever known. I'm telling you this, God is able to do things, and glory to the Lamb of God." From then on, Paul was about preaching the grace of God in Christ. I tell you what, we look around and we're talking about be still and know that I am God. Last week, I'm gonna tell you this, what voices are you listening to? What are you hearing? What are you saying? A lot of us, all we hear is the negativity and all the different things that are going on around us. You know what an old gospel song said? It said, turn your radio on to the master's radio station. I'm gonna tell you what I know, and I know it's going on in heaven right now. They're still praising Him. Some of our mamas and our daddies, they have went home to be with the Lord, that serve the Lord in a great way down here. Don't you know it's Sunday morning every day and every hour as they worship Him, but they can't crown Him king until we all get there. And by the way, one day, that's where we're going. Well, glory. Men that led songs, men that played the piano like your daddy boo and like your daddy and your mama and like your precious wife. And I can go on and on and on about the people of God and the saints of God. I'm telling you, you said, Brother Russell, I don't live like a saint. Listen, a lot of the old time saints didn't either. We're not sainted by what we do. What makes us a saint is that we've been washed in the blood of the Lamb. When He watches us, He changes us. It's what David said. He said, blessed is the people who walk in thy countenance. In thy name they shall rejoice all day. Do I have any Baptist? I'm going to shock you, okay? I don't rejoice in the fact that I serve in a Baptist church and that I'm a Baptist preacher. I don't rejoice in the name of Baptist. I certainly don't rejoice in my name. I probably don't want to shame it than I have to help it, but I tell you there's an There's a name above all others, wonderful to hear, bringing hope and cheer. It's a lovely name of Jesus, evermore the same. What a lovely name. Oh, glory. There's only one name given under heaven whereby men must be saved, and that's the name of Jesus. I tell you, every time I hear His name, there's a part of my heart that lights up. Oh, glory. Thank God for the name of Jesus. Said we rejoice, not in what we've done, not in what we're doing, not in our calling, not in our works, we rejoice. In His name, listen, the Bible said, and the righteous shall be exalted. Listen, for thou, talking about the Lord, art the glory of their strength. Now I want to really dwell on this next verse. In the favor our horn shall be exalted. Has anybody ever heard of the horn of salvation in the Bible? Multiple times the Bible talks about this horn. What is it? What does it do for us? What are they speaking of? Well, first of all, anybody know what a 10 point buck is? I got a lot of hunters in here. What do they use those horns for? They protect themselves, right? You ever see two of them rascals locked up? Man, they're vicious and they're fighting, but those horns are there for protection. What the writer is saying is, he is our provider and he is our protector. But even more than that, in the Old Testament, they would take a ram's horn and they would hollow it out and fill it full of oil. Does anybody know where we're going with this? They would fill that horn full of oil and they would use it to anoint their kings and God's people. I'm gonna tell you, when I got the horn of salvation, God give me a horn that's full of oil. He said, oh, in thy favor our horn shall be exalted. You know what the Lord wants for you this morning? Some of you and some of us, as I say you, God help me. You ever get to that place where your horn's running out of oil? You ever get to where you feel like you spent all that you can of yourself and there's nothing left? I'll tell you this. I come in the door this morning and I felt like I didn't have anything to give. And you know what the Lord's telling me right now as I'm speaking? It was never mine to give anyway. It was His. It's not what I've got. It's what He has. It's not about my supply. It's meager, but what He has. Thank God it's continuous and everlasting. And thank God He can open up the windows of heaven and pour it out on His people. Thank God for that this morning. He said in verse 18, the Lord is our defense. Now listen, I want to bring something to your attention. There are a lot of people that are wondering about what we're going to do if the government goes in this direction or goes in that direction. What are we going to do? I'm gonna tell you this, I want you to remember this now. Whenever you get fearful about all that's going on around you, when you get fearful about people that rise up against you, when you get fearful about wars and rumor of wars, remember this, He is our defense. Now, I want to ask you a question, and I need somebody to preach to me. Has he ever lost a battle? Has he ever failed? Has he ever not been God? Well, glory, he's succeeded every time. And every battle he fought, he won. And by the way, the greatest battle was won in a tomb where Jesus was there for three days. But on the third day, you know what Paul said about it? But if Christ be not risen, we're still in our sins and in our trespasses. But now is Christ risen. We serve a risen Savior. He's our defense. He really is. Thou speakest in a vision to the Holy One and said, I've laid help upon that is mighty. I've exalted one chosen out of the people. I found David my servant and with all. I've anointed him in the book of Acts. It records this. Jesus Christ, anointed with the Holy Ghost, went about healing all that were sick and casting out devils. I'm going to tell you, there is one that is the anointed one. But here's the wonderful thing. By our faith in Him, we can have in us what was working in Him, and that is the Spirit of the Living God. Now, I want you to understand something, because here's where so many theologies get crossed up and have got it wrong. Listen, that does not make me equal with Christ. I'm a joint heir. I'm a joint heir. Don't misunderstand me, but I want you to know something. There will never be, there is never be, there will never ever be one like Jesus. He is God's anointed. Him alone did the Bible record and this is my son in who I am well pleased. I want you to know everything we are and all that we have comes in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Having said that, do you know the joyful sound? Tell you what, I've been in some sad situations in my life. There's nothing worse than you take a little old family that loses someone young, and as a pastor, you go into the place where they're at. I've heard wailing of sorrow that just, I don't even know how to describe it to you, that was so painful. I'll never forget some of those sounds of these sweet little mamas and daddies. I don't know if you call it scarred, I don't know, but I never get those sounds out of my mind. I still remember some of them like it was yesterday. been in funeral homes and situations where things were so low and all you could hear was weeping and sorrow. And I want to remind you we are so vulnerable and we're so weak that could be us. But this morning it's not. This morning he woke us in our right mind. I don't have anybody in the hospital. Nobody close to me has died. I know we've got some with cancer, we're praying, but I'm gonna tell you, right now at this moment, everything is all right. Oh, and even whenever it's not, aren't you glad? We can still say it's well with my soul. No matter what I go through, no matter what I face, It can still be well because my hope is not in this world. It's in the world to come. The joyful sound. Do you know the joyful sound? Can I tell you what it sounded like? And I'm closing. I don't want to bore you, but my goodness, I love. This is fun for me. I'll just be all sweet. Somebody said, if you don't enjoy your preaching, nobody else will. It ain't about that. I'll assure you, it's the fact that God has allowed me to feel his sweet spirit. I'll tell you this, and I'll close. The first time I heard that joyful sound, it started out very dreadful. because it convicted my heart. My heart began to be out of my chest. I was quick and there was fear down in my heart. I mean I was troubled. But this this was the joyful sound the first one I ever heard. You are forgiven and you are mine. And after that, it's only gotten better. Stand to your feet, if you will, this morning. Let me say to my babies, y'all have been so good this morning. Jack, you've been wonderful. Son, yeah. Ruby, I love you. Lord have mercy. Graham, you've been a good boy this morning. Son, Lord. Murph, I love you. Blake, I love you. Blake's going, oh no, she's not listening. She's been like, am I in trouble? All right, now I'm closing. Let me tell you about a joyful sound. If the Lord tells you He's coming, we're going to get to hear. One day, He's going to say, the Lord saved myself. One day she's gonna say, the Lord saved my, oh my, he's gonna say, the Lord saved me. Blake gonna say, the Lord saved, my goodness, church. What will we do then? Right, amen. God bless you, daughter. All right, get us a song, if you will. I wanna encourage you, church, listen. Now, Paul said in another place, there would be any hope, any virtue, he named several things. He said, think on these, okay? Be careful what you listen to, because it affects what you think, okay? Make sure you tune in to the Masters Radio Station. Is anybody in here know the joyful sound? I tell you what, I hope you walk out them doors ready to face the world with the joy of the Lord in your heart and the blessing of the Lord on your soul and your horn full of all. Let's go out to the battlefield and let's serve the Lord with joy. What you got? If you need to pray, you come.