turning your bibles with me again
to psalm 69 we are spending some time looking at psalm 69 because
it's referenced for us in john chapter 2 As the Lord Jesus Christ
in his first visit to Jerusalem after his baptism and his temptation
and gathering his disciples together and taking them to a wedding
and going to Capernaum, the next activity of his was to go to
the temple and his work in that temple and the declaration of
who he is, is fulfillment of prophecy. But the Holy Spirit
has led the Apostle John and the disciples
in verse 17, they remembered that it was written, the zeal
of thine house hath eaten me up. Lord willing, I don't want
to talk about zeal next week, but I wanted us in our journey
through Psalm 69 to have a look today at what it is declared
in verse 13. And he says, our Lord Jesus. David says that he is speaking
as a representative of all of God's people, but these are extraordinary,
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 69 is quoted 17 times in
the New Testament. It's quoted in every one of the
Gospels, it's quoted in Romans and Hebrews, and remarkably it's
quoted seven times in the book of Revelation. So the Holy Spirit
has chosen this psalm in an extraordinary way to be a remarkable picture
of the perfect finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
separation of the goats from the sheep, the blessing of what
it is to be in him and to be numbered with him and to be part
of his house and to be called by him brethren and what What
awful judgments fall upon those that the Lord prays against. Let their eyes be darkened, poured
out by indignation and wrathful anger. Let their habitation be
desolate, which is what the Lord said of Jerusalem in the presence
of these religious people. Truth, the truth of thy salvation. So let's read these verses. from Psalm 69 together if you
can with me. Verse one. Save me, O God, for
the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where
there is no standing. I am come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me. I'm weary of my crying, my throat
is dried, my eyes fail while I wait for my God. If the Lord
would allow us at times to enter into something of the agonies
of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he was made by his Father to
be sinned for us, and he bore those sins, and he was made a
curse, it might cause us to love him and esteem him more. What
a remarkable savior we have, brothers and sisters in Christ.
Verse four, they that hate me without a cause are more than
the hairs of my head, and they that would destroy me being my
enemies wrongfully are mighty. Then I restore that which I took
not away. O God, thou knowest my foolishness,
and my sins are not hid from thee. Let not them that wait
on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. Let not
those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. What a remarkable promise. The Lord prayed and the Lord's
prayers are answered. Those that wait in faith. They'll
never be ashamed for his sake. Those that seek him will never
be confounded. We might be confounded about all sorts of things in
this world, but not about him and his salvation. Because, verse
seven, for thy sake I have borne reproach, I've borne rebuke,
shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my
brethren and an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal
of thine house hath eaten me up. And the reproaches of them
that reproach thee are fallen upon thee. When I wept and chastened
myself with fasting, that was to my reproach. I made sackcloth
also my garment, and I became a proverb to them. They that sit at the gate speak
against me. Those that sit in judgment, that
was what the gate was all about, the court of the people. They
speak against me, and I was the song of the drunkards. Such is
the humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Such is his humiliation. But listen to this glorious verse
that I wanted to spend some time looking at this morning with
you. But as for me, that's all that's
happened. But as for me, my prayer is unto
thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time, O God. In the multitude
of thy mercy, hear me. in the truth of thy salvation. The truth of thy salvation has
been the phrase that has been with me for most of this last
week or so. I love what the Lord Jesus said
in the presence of Pilate in John chapter 18 and verse 37,
if you could turn there with me. Pilate asked that extraordinary
question, what is truth? And I'm very much taken by Todd
Knightley's understanding of it. Knowing what was lying before
him, Pilate was in a sense saying to the Lord, are going to suffer. Pilate said, Art thou, verse
37, Pilate said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered,
Thou sayest that I am a king? To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world. that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Everyone that is of the truth
heareth my voice." What a remarkable description of the ministry of
the Lord Jesus Christ, to bear witness to the truth, the truth
of God's character, the truth of who He is as God's Saviour,
God's Christ. But isn't it fascinating, and
I pray that this might be a blessing that the Lord brings upon each
and every one that hears. He says, everyone it is of the
truth. That word of speaks of origin. Everyone who has their birth
in the truth, the throne of God and the heavens of God, those
who are born from above are born of the truth. But listen to what
he says. Everyone that is of the truth
heareth my voice. He could have well said, couldn't
he? And it's exactly right. Everyone
that is of the truth heareth my words. And that's exactly
right, isn't it? The children of God hear the
words of God. But what does he say? This is why he came. Everyone
that is of the truth heareth my voice. distinctive about all
the voices of all the men of this world. Letha has a tape
of her father giving a lecture and it's just remarkable to hear
his voice again and hearing his voice brings back the most extraordinary
memories of him and his presence and his personality and his character. And such as it is with the Lord
Jesus Christ hear his voice, we will obviously hear his words,
but we will hear from him personally. Truth. Here the psalmist He says, but as for me, my prayer
is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time. What is it to be in the
presence of God? What is it to have God hear me? O God, in the multitude of thy
mercy, hear me. What is it to be a recipient
of the mercy of God, to be heard of God? When he says, he goes
on to say, it's all in the truth of thy salvation. The Church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is called the Church of the Living God.
The Church of a God who is alive now and reigning and ruling as
normal. So we'll show this from Isaiah chapter 6. It's the pillar
and the ground of the truth. That word ground means firm,
immovable and steadfast. See, the church is built by God,
and the church is built on the truth of God. And as the Lord
Jesus Christ said, that everyone that is of the truth hears the
voice. You might recall from John chapter
seven, they hear his voice and he speaks personally and particularly
to them. The pillar and the ground of
the truth. We have been gathered for these
many years now on the basis of love for Him who is the truth. And it's costly. And I wrote
these words down in my thoughts the last few days. Lord, no matter
what the cost, show me the truth. Lord, no matter what the cost,
lead us into your truth. Lord, we know that our hearts
are deceitfully wicked and beyond cure. Unless you guide us, unless
you lead us, unless your voice is followed, unless your voice
is heard, we will be deceived. We have been before. We have
been before deceived. We've been zealous for a lie. To enter into the presence of
God is to be one the truth of thy salvation. There's a remarkable verse that
causes me great humility before my God and great
concern for our witness to He who is the truth that He would
cause us again and again and again to not let us go without
His presence. There is an exclusion on that
great day from heaven And it's remarkable that we can understand
Revelation Chapter 22 without other dogs, and that's talking
about those who would add to anything of legalism and works.
It's not talking about canine species, it's talking about,
you can read it in Philippians, he said, beware of the dogs.
He's talking about those who would put the child of God or
anyone else back under law in any way at all, or works in any
way at all. without other dogs, sorcerers
and whoremongers. Well you can understand by whoremongers
and murderers and idolaters, you can understand why they would
be excluded. And then he goes on to say, and
it's said in Revelation 21 verse 27 as well, and whosoever loveth
and maketh a lie. This, however, loveth and maketh
a lie. One of the most sobering passages
in all of the Scriptures is in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and
it's talking about these days, these last days, and the last
days began, of course, a long time ago, and the Antichrist
and the false Christ and the false teachers have gone out
into this world, and they are captive of Satan. In verse 9, it says, even him
whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs
and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish. A shocking word, isn't it? And
a serious sobering word. They perish. What do they perish? Why do they perish? Verse 10. They perish according to the
Word of God. They perish because they have
received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And to this cause, God shall
send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, the
lie of free will, the lie of good works, the lie of decisionism,
the lie of man-made religion, a religion that doesn't begin
with God and doesn't give God all the glory, a religion that
denies the very essence of the character of God in one way or
another. Ultimately, all lies are personal
when it comes to religious lies, because all lies are saying something
about the glory and the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. There
is truth, and necessarily truth demands that everything that
stands in opposition to that truth is a lie. Of course, the
scriptures make it abundantly clear, isn't it, that the truth
is a person, I am the way, the truth, and the life. All salvation
is in the truth, and all outside of the truth are lost and perish. So all the saved hear the voice
of the truth. All the saved believe the truth. And people might ask, well, how
much truth do you need to believe? Well, Paul made it really, really
clear in Acts chapter 24, verse 14, didn't he? He says, And I love how the Holy Spirit
caused him to express it. He says, but this I confess unto
you, this is Paul's confession, this is a confession of the church
of God, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship
I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the law and the prophets. He didn't say he understands
all things, he just says he believes all things that are written in
the Law and the Prophets. So truth. is fundamental. The gospel is the gospel of truth.
There is no sanctification without the truth. In that verse, when
Paul went on to say, he's bound to give thanks always unto God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. So let's turn to Psalm 69, and
I wanted to do something simple this morning. We often talk about
the yeses of salvation. and I've got 10 of them this
morning and I want us to see them in Psalm 69. I want to see
them as, and I want the Lord willing for you to see them as
descriptions of the Lord Jesus Christ in his true character
as revealed as in Psalm 69 and throughout the rest of the scriptures.
One of the glorious things about truth, the truth of the Lord
Jesus Christ, is that it's there from Genesis to Revelation. And
every time you turn the truth around and look more closely
in the Word of God, you'll just see more glorious things about
the truth. But the truth is a sovereign truth. It's the truth of the
sovereign God. And necessarily the truth of
the Lord Jesus Christ is about the success of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's a successful Saviour. And because he's successful,
he's a sufficient saviour. And we looked last week at the
fact that that sufficiency is the result of the fact that he
is a substitute before God for his people. And God the Father,
having seen that substitution, is satisfied with him, and he's
satisfied with his six sin-bearing sacrifice. And so the Lord Jesus
Christ is the subject of all of faith, isn't it? All true
faith has an object. And He is the subject of all
of the scriptures. It's Christ and Him crucified.
The scriptures just speak of Him. And that means that He is
a glorious Saviour. And finally I want us to look
at the fact that In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 this saviour is a shining
saviour. He shines in the hearts of his
people and he makes his people to be servants, to be servants. So let's go back to our verse.
Obviously the but is in reference to all of the ignominy that the
Lord Jesus Christ suffered when shame had covered his face. My
sins are not hid from thee, he is speaking, as we saw Lord Willing
last week, he's speaking as a representative and as the husband in union with
his glorious bride, the butt. But all of that is happening,
and then he says, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable
time. What a glorious description of
the time. This is the day of salvation.
The acceptable time is now. God's children are accepted in
the beloved. It's an acceptable time because
there's been an acceptable sacrifice. There is that glorious description
of the Lord as he begins his ministry. And he quotes Isaiah
chapter 61, and it's quoted in Luke chapter 4, and you know
the story well. And he preaches, he preaches
the acceptable year of the Lord. The acceptable year is that year
of Jubilee. We are accepted in the blood
because there is an acceptable sacrifice in the acceptable time. There's a time of God's acceptance
of his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. So to be in Christ now
is to be in the presence of God now, to be seated with him, to
be presented by him and to enter in is to be heard by him. I love what it says. In the multitude
of thy mercy, O God, hear me. It's to be heard by him. Isn't it glorious that we have
a God who hears? He hears us. All that called out to him as
mercy beggars, in this Gospel account, all that came to him
as needy sinners and helpless. He was heard by them. There's great comfort in being
heard, isn't it? In the truth of thy salvation. The truth of thy salvation. See,
what is the hope? People die according to the Scriptures
with a lie in their right hand. There are multitudes the Lord
spoke of in Matthew chapter 7 who will come to the Lord Jesus Christ
on that great day and they will have their many wonderful works. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
not denying those works from an earthly point of view with
any professors. I never knew you. I never knew you. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
in the truth of his salvation takes his people into the very
presence of God, the humble see it and are glad as we saw last
week. But there are so many people
who have a hope and that hope is dashed and that hope is crushed
and they become enraged when you actually describe the Lord
Jesus Christ according to the scriptures. So to describe your
hope and to describe your salvation, you describe the object and you
describe the subject of your faith. See, faith is the evidence. The faith lays hold of the Lord
Jesus Christ as he's revealed in the scriptures. See, salvation,
that's one of my favorite passages in the scriptures in Psalm 85. It speaks of the glory of what
happened on Calvary's tree. It says, 9. Surely his salvation is nigh
them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. When Abraham encountered that
nation with Abimelech, he was fearful of being in that nation
because there was no fear of God in that place. There is no
fear of God before the men of this world, otherwise they'd
be trembling at what is being done and what is often being
said in the name of God. But then I love this verse in
verse 10 of Psalm 85. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness kissed each other. What a glorious description of
what happened on the cross. Truth, verse 11. Truth shall
spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down
from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that
which is good, and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness
shall go before him. and shall set us in the way of
his steps." The truth of thy salvation. There is just one
truth. There is just one Lord Jesus Christ that saves. There
is just one way. There is just one door. There
is just one Restorer who took. The Restorer body took not away,
He says, I am thy salvation. There is just one Kingsman, Redeemer. God is satisfied with Christ. He's satisfied with him in every
way. The truth of this gospel has
gone out into this world and continues to go out into this
world, and God says it never returns to him, for it is such
as the work of the Lord Jesus Christ came to this world and
bore the names of all of his chosen on his heart and on his
shoulders, and he bore them into heaven with himself when he returned. See, faith comes by hearing.
True, saving faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word. The
Proverbs tells us to buy the truth and sell it not. So let's just look. Very briefly,
obviously, of these 10, you have heard them again and again and
again. And as the writer of the Hebrews said, it's not burdensome
for me to say the same thing again. I just want to say the
same things about the Lord Jesus Christ again and again and again. Firstly, we looked at the fact
that God is sovereign in salvation. God's truth is eternal. The truth of the Lord endures
forever. The truth of the Lord is an unchangeable
truth. Our God is absolutely sovereign. He has given him power over all
flesh. He does as his wills, doesn't
he? Our great God, Psalm 115 verse
three says, our God is in the heavens. Our God is in the heavens. He had done Whatsoever he hath
pleased. Our God is sovereign. Our God
is sovereign in salvation. Our God is sovereign in choosing
a bride for Christ before the world began in the eternal covenant
of grace. Christ came with sovereign power
for his elect. He says, I'll have mercy on them,
I'll have mercy, and I'll harden them, I'll harden. He is the
potter, we are the clay. See, salvation is God's salvation,
and God's salvation reflects all of the character of God,
His holiness, His sovereignty, His righteousness, His justice,
so the only door to heaven is marked, isn't it, with sovereign,
free grace. God's grace. causes God's sovereign
grace, causes people to be enraged as you move off and looked at
that situation and the Lord Jesus Christ went to preach in the
synagogue in Nazareth and he'd been there all his life. They
had before them, for nearly 30 years, they had before them a
man who never sinned, a man who never lied, a man who never had
an evil thought, who could never have an evil thought. And he
came back and preached, and they wondered at the gracious words
that he said. And then he spoke to them. He
applied the reality of sovereign salvation, and he says, in the
days of Elijah, there was just one widow, and she was a Gentile,
and she was saved. There were lots of widows in
Israel. In the days of Elijah, there were many lepers in Israel,
and there was just one leper that was saved, and he was Naaman
the Syrian. And those who wondered, that
the gracious words that proceeded from his mouth were enraged at
God's sovereignty in salvation, and nothing has changed. Any
denial of God's sovereignty in salvation is a lie. There is
no worship sovereign. There's no calling
upon a God who is not absolutely sovereign. There's no crying
out to a God who is not absolutely sovereign. There is no hearing
from a God who is not absolutely sovereign. Listen to some of
the descriptions. Every time you read an I, a shall
and a will, associated with God. In the scriptures you know that
it is a declaration of the absolute truth of God, isn't it? In verse
5, go back and stay with me in Psalm 69, but in verse 5 it says,
O God, thou knowest my foolishness and my sins, and I think from
there God knew all of the sins in absolute sovereign majesty
and omniscience. He knew all of the sins that
were laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, my sins are not hid
from thee. Again and again, he's called
Lord, O Lord. To be Lord is to be absolute
sovereign of all things. And at the end of the psalm in
verse 31 and following, we have all of these wills and shalls
as a result. all the wills and shalls of our
God. For God, verse 35, God will save
Zion and will build the cities of Judah. Verse 36, the city
will also be servants, shall inherit it. God is absolutely
sovereign, absolutely sovereign. He sits on the throne of this
universe and he's sovereign in salvation. The truth of thy salvation is
the truth of the Sovereign God. And the truth of the Sovereign
God necessarily declares that the Sovereign God is absolutely
successful in all that He does. Our God is in the heavens, we
just read it. And He has done, He has done. pleased. Everything that ever
has happened in this universe is according to the sovereign
hand of our God. And he's successful, isn't he?
You'll call his name Jesus, Matthew 121. For he shall save his people
from their sins. What a glorious truth. And when
the Lord Jesus Christ cried out from Calvary's tree, it is finished. It has all been paid in full. You see, listen to what it says
in Psalm 69 verse 4. It says he restored that which
I took not away. He doesn't say I restored it
if you do something. Salvation, Savior. He restored it. He restored that which he took
not away. When Moses left Egypt he says
there's not going to be a hoof left behind, not a single one. When David had lost His wives
and all of his possessions and his town of Ziklag was burned.
You can read about it in 1 Samuel chapter 30. David went before
the Lord. The people were prepared to,
his own people were prepared to put him to death. And David
cries out to the Lord, what shall I do? And the Lord says, pursue. You will save all. David came back with everything. all of his soldiers' wives and
all of their possessions. It's a great picture, isn't it,
of the Lord Jesus Christ and his church and his bride. He
restored that which I took not away. Any message, any message
that suggests or hints that Christ died for all men in some way,
that Christ and God the Father has put him out there on a sale
block, as it were, as an offer to all men, that somehow the
Lord Jesus Christ tries to save all men, then wills to save all
men, and that some of those for whom he died go to hell is just
open blasphemy. It is not the truth of thy salvation. It's a wicked lie from a deceiver
and a murderer. Psalm 69 outlines like Psalm
22 the agonies of our Lord Jesus Christ when he took that cup
from his father. Those agonies as he drank that
cup and emptied that cup and in that cup A sovereign, successful saviour
creates an acceptable time, an acceptable way, because God has
set him forth as a propitiation. He will have his bride. He'll have her glorious arrayed
in the robe of his righteousness. A sovereign, successful Saviour
is a sufficient Saviour. There is nothing that can be
added to His work without taking it away from it altogether. There's
nothing that can detract from His work without destroying it
altogether. We read in Psalm 62 earlier, He is my rock, He
only is my rock and of all my salvation. He is a sufficient
Saviour, this successful, sovereign Saviour. We repeat it often,
don't we? All that God requires of us,
He must provide. Everything that we touch, everything
that we think, is just marred with sin all the time. Read it
in Romans chapter 7. Isaiah declared it, as Norm showed
us earlier. All that God requires of us,
He must provide. That's that coal from the altar. And the only thing that God accepts
is that which He provides. And everything that God provides,
He's provided in His Son. We sing the song, don't we? So
often we sing lies, don't we? But God's people truly sing,
nothing in my hand I bring. I don't bring my sorrow, I don't
bring my tears. I don't bring my works, I don't
bring my obedience. I just look away, and that's
what faith does. It's the object of our faith
that saves us. What a glorious, sufficient saviour. He says, I restored it. I didn't
try and restore it. I didn't make an attempt to restore
it. I restored that which I took not away. We have a glorious
kinsman redeemer. I just love the story of Ruth.
I love what Naomi said of Boaz. He won't rest. He won't rest
until he's completed the work that day. Ruth and Naomi were better off
after all their trials in the arms of Butters than they'd ever
been before. A successful, a sovereign, successful,
sufficient saving because he's a substitute. We looked at this
last week, and I just love that question that Isaac asked. Where's
the Lamb? Where's the Lamb, Genesis 22?
Where is the Lamb? It's a great question. It ought
to be the question that's asked of every message. Where's the
Lamb? Where's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world? Where's the Lamb of God that was slain from the foundation
of the world? Abraham found that Lamb, didn't
he, that substitute, and he's caught in the thicket. He's caught
in the thicket of the sins of all of his people. He's caught
in the thicket of our sins. And he's caught by his horns,
the symbol of his power. It's a picture, isn't it, of
the fact that he made that glorious covenantal promise before the
world began. To be that surety, to be that
sacrifice, to be that substitute. And it was behind Abraham. You
can read about it in Genesis 22. We always have to look behind,
don't we? We look back. We look back for
our peace with God and our salvation with God. I love how Jeremiah
describes it. He says, stand in the ways, stand
ye in the ways, Jeremiah 6.16, and seek. There are so many ways
before us. You stand in the middle of all
those ways and seek, and you'll ask for the old paths. Those
old paths are the paths that have no beginning. It's the paths
of the eternal covenant. Where is the good way? And walk therein, and you shall
find rest. for your souls, Abraham looked
behind to the eternal covenant of grace, he looked behind to
the promises of God. He had that knife at the very
heart of his son Isaac because he believed that God was going
to raise him from the dead. God has provided himself, said
Abraham, a lamb. and the wrath of God was poured
out on that lamb. And if the wrath of God, who
is holy and just and righteous in everything he does, was poured
out on that lamb, there cannot possibly be any way for God to
find in his character and pour out that wrath again. That's
why he calls them brethren in our psalm, doesn't he? He says, my brethren, my brethren,
brethren, they are thine house. That's why the subject of all
salvation, the object of all salvation, the subject is the
Lord Jesus Christ, this sovereign, successful, sufficient substitute
for sinners, that satisfies the very justice of God, is the subject
of all, is the satisfactory subject, isn't it? God saw the travail
of his soul and his sin, There is no preaching of the gospel without
preaching the Lord Jesus Christ, as 1 Corinthians 15 says. It's
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
John the Baptist began this gospel age with that glorious declaration,
Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God, who births
his children from above, and he gives them power that we become
sons of God. He is. As I said earlier, in
our descriptions of the Gospel, we're always describing, aren't
we? We're always describing the very person and character of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And all false Gospels have another
Jesus and another spirit. The Gospel defines the character
of the Son by the Word, and it never changes a thing. Don't
you love, don't you love all of the descriptions of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the Scriptures? They become more amazing. Now,
one of the Shulamites said, he's the chief of Samoans, 10,000th,
he's altogether lovely, my beloved, he's altogether lovely. He takes us into his banqueting
house, his banqueting house of his promises, his banqueting
house of his scripture and his banner over us. people with an everlasting love,
and that love is not the love of modern religion, which is
a love that fails to save, but it's a love, according to Song
of Solomon chapter 8, that's stronger than death. It's an
everlasting love. That's Jeremiah 31. It's a love
that achieves its purpose. God will have the objects of
his love with him. The son will have the bride that
the father has given him. We just love him. We love him
because he first loved us, but we love him as he is. We love the truth of who he is
and we love the truth of his salvation. We love the truth
of his character, he never changes. He says, I change not, therefore
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. The truth becomes more glorious
the more it is studied. The more it is delighted in,
the more beautiful it becomes. He keeps saying to us, doesn't
he? He says, come, come to me, come
the weary, come the heavy laden, come those who think and are
trying to do something to make themselves right with God, come.
and take my yoke and learn of me, learn about me, learn from
me, learn of me, as this glorious sovereign saviour. He is the subject, and ultimately,
like all the scriptures, Psalm 69 speaks of Him. Listen to what it says, what
the Holy Spirit has written for us in Psalm 69 verse 5. It says, O God, thou knowest
my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from thee. The Lord Jesus
Christ in union with his bride, and her sins as his own. See
that's a prayer, that's a statement that the Lord Jesus Christ alone
can make. because for all of the children
of God who are in him, our sins are separated from us. As far
as the east from the west, they are hidden behind a dark cloud.
They are put in a bag and dropped in the depths of the sea. God
doesn't remember them anymore, but on Calvary's cross, the Lord
Jesus Christ who saved my sins are not hid from me. God, remembered
them, and remembered that they are put away, and in remembrance
again and again we come and drink at that fountain, that fountain
that was opened for sin and uncleanness. And our God is satisfied, is
sovereign and successful, is sufficient our Saviour, There
is a satisfaction in his sacrifice. He is the subject of all praise. for the joy that was set before
him, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ went to the cross and
enjoyed the shame thereof. The law is satisfied by the perfect
obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by faith we establish the
law. We love the law of God, and we
love it particularly in the hands of our Saviour, and we are amazed
satisfy all the requirements there be as to the law, but he
satisfied all the justice of God for the breaking of that
law. God is satisfied with both tables
of the law. He magnified the law and made
it honourable. He satisfied divine justice.
God is pleased with His Son. This is my beloved Son, He says,
in whom I am well pleased. I love when He says, in whom,
because the in whom includes all those that are in Him. This
is our Saviour. comes and shines in the heart. We do know, I read it to you
often, but it's one of the most glorious passages in the scriptures. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, it says,
therefore seeing we have this ministry, a ministry of the new
covenant, not a ministry of the law, not a ministry of works,
not a ministry of do this and live, but a ministry of what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done. And we're not sufficient of ourselves,
these made-disabled ministers of this new covenant. We present
this new covenant, the new covenant in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, this covenant sufficient substitutionary sacrifice
that satisfies God. We have this ministry because
we have received mercy. The only reason we can have a
ministry from God, the only reason we can have a ministry of declaring
the truth of the gospel is because we've received mercy from God.
And that's what our verse in Psalm 69 says, in the multitude
of my mercy, that God delights in mercy. But we have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor
handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth. Commend ourselves to every man's
conscience in the sight of God. We have an audience of one that
matters most profoundly. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord. And for all of what it means
to be the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. Why? Because, verse six, because
God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, and that's
speaking of that first word in the scriptures, isn't it? Let
there be light. And that's not speaking of the light of the
sun. They weren't created until the fourth day. Let there be
light on who the Lord Jesus Christ is. It shines out of darkness. in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The truth of thy salvation leaves
comfort, isn't it? It's a salvation that can be
lost. It's a salvation by a sovereign grace. It's a salvation that
depends entirely upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and
God looks to Him. And we find our peace and our
rest when we look in exactly the same place that God looks.
To have His name honoured is just as satisfying for His glory
to be revealed. It's the glorious Gospel. And
it's a glorious gospel that shines in the hearts of God's people
and causes us to be servants of this truth. Lord, make us
servants. Cause us to delight in your dear
and precious Son. O God, O God, in the multitudes
of the earth, in the truth of thy salvation. Let's pray. Now Heavenly Father,
we do thank you and praise you for the revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and we thank you, Heavenly Father, that you shine
this truth into the hearts of your people that we might know,
might have the knowledge of your dear and precious Son. We might know that in him dwells
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we might know, heavenly Father,
that as complete as his fullness is of deity, we are complete
in him, and right now there is no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus. O our Father, we pray that you'd
cause us to rest in the glory of your son and his great salvation,
that we might, Heavenly Father, be granted the privilege of you
hearing from us and entering into your presence yet again.
And those who enter now will enter eternally, Heavenly Father. Of course, your son of his finished work. We pray
in his name, our Father, and for his glory.