Oh, we can say amen to that. That goes so well, too, with
the message. Let's go to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. The title of this
is Righteous Judgment, Tender Mercies. The Lord Jesus one day said to
some men, who thought they were righteous and despised others.
He said, search the Scriptures. Now, brethren, search the Scriptures.
Search the Scriptures. Don't take any man's word for
anything. You search the Scriptures and
ask God to give you an understanding. But he told them, he said, search
the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life. You think you're going to be
saved by what you're doing. I think that's what this book's
about. He said, and these scriptures
are they which testify of me. We read about in Psalm 119, God's
testimonies. That's what they are, testifying
Christ is, believe my son, he's my salvation. And then it said,
when the comforters come, whom I will send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father,
he shall testify of me. He shall testify of me, and he
shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine. He'll take the
volume of this book, and he'll receive of mine, and he'll show
it to you. He'll show you Christ in these
scriptures. Now it's my prayer that the Holy Spirit will show
us Christ in our text this morning. The next section of Psalm 119
is the Hebrew letter, Jod. You see there beginning of verse
73. Each one of these sections is
a Hebrew letter and each word, there's eight verses and each
word begins with that letter, Jod. Now that letter, that word
is what our Lord called a jot. in the Greek, ajat. That's what
you and I would call the little dot on the I in our alphabet,
ajat. The tittle is like the little
crossbar on the T. Our Savior came to fulfill the
law for his people and he said this, think not that I am come
to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy. I came
to fill them so full you can't put another drop in them. I came to fulfill them. So verily
I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle
shall in no wise pass from of all, till all be fulfilled. And he said, I came to fulfill
every jot and tittle of the law. He's going to do that for his
people. Now, the first Adam represented his people, but he was created
upright, full grown, Perfect in a perfect world with one law
and no sinners to contend with. The last Adam is representing
a fallen people. People who fell in Adam and became
completely, totally ruined. You mean, if you take a dead
man who's laying there dead, that's what you are in your flesh
from the moment you're conceived in the womb till they put you
in the ground. You're a dead man in your flesh. So this last Adam, he's representing
his people from the womb, because you had to be perfect in the
womb. Throughout every stage of childhood,
we had to be perfect. And he's representing his people
through every stage of childhood. They circumcised him at eight
days old. Paul said, every man that's circumcised
is a debtor to keep the whole law. And from the beginning, he's
keeping the whole law of God for his people. Through his teenage
years, through his adult years, he entered his public ministry
around 30 and was crucified around 33. The whole way from the womb
all the way into the death of the cross, he served the Father
perfectly. He's the one perfect man. And he did it in a cursed world
surrounded by sinners who opposed him every step of the way. Every step of the way. When he said that to those Pharisees,
he said it to them. And they despised him while he
was saying it. Because they thought they were righteous by something
they had done. God said the righteousness of
God is manifest by the faith of Christ. Only place. And that means by the faithfulness
of Christ, by his fidelity, by his life from the womb until
he drew his last breath. That's where you're going to
see the righteousness of God. He's the righteousness of God. Now
as we read our text, I'm just going to read the first portion
and we'll look at the second portion as we go. But I want
you to hear Christ Jesus speaking to the Father as the righteous
perfect servant of God in perfect faith and fidelity. This is Christ
our righteous and speaking. Now listen, verse 73. Thy hands
have made me and fashioned me. Give me understanding that I
may learn thy commandments. They that fear thee will be glad
when they see me, because I have hoped in thy word. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments
are right, and that thou in faithfulness has afflicted me." First of all,
the Lord Jesus only glorified the Father. He gave all the glory
to God constantly. All of it. And He glorified the
Father for making His fleshly body. Thy hands have made me
and fashioned me. Now turn to Hebrews 10. This
is quoted from Psalm 40, but I want to read a little more
than is in Psalm 40. But this is quoted from there.
This is the Lord Jesus speaking. He was speaking in Psalm 40.
You do better to hear Christ speaking in the Psalms. Where
are you going to get the most out of them? He had to be made
in all points like unto his brethren. Everything you need, he needed
when he was serving for us. He needed it. Now here he is,
he's glorifying God for making him a sinless body in the womb. He says, Hebrews 10.5, wherefore
when he cometh into the world, he said, sacrifice an offering
thou wouldest not. But a body hast thou prepared
me, and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. They never satisfied. Then said
I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. That means everything in the
scriptures is written of him. Every bit of it. I came to do
thy will, O God. Thy law is within my heart. That's
what the psalmist said, what he said in the psalm. And he
came to do that because his people couldn't. That's why he came
to do it. I came to do thy will, O God.
To do it perfectly. Now watch. Above, when he said
sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin,
thou wouldst not, neither had pleasure therein, which are offered
by the law, Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.
He takes away the first. He takes away the old covenant
law that condemned us that he may establish the second. We're
going to talk about a law in our psalm. He established the
second everlasting covenant of grace. That's the law his people
are under. By the witch will, by his will,
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ one time. As a man, he lived holy in perfection
and died holy in perfection. and sanctified his people by
one offering. Every priest stands daily ministering, offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices which can never take away sin. Men in this
world today are still offering sacrifices, works and whatever
that can't take away sin. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. and we're going to see something about some of his
proud enemies in our psalm. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Remember how he said the Holy
Ghost will speak of me, he'll take the volume of the book,
he'll show you things concerning me, whereof the Holy Ghost also
is witness to us. The Holy Ghost teaches us this.
Colossians now, back in our text, he speaks of God as the creator.
Colossians says Christ created all things. Our triune God is
our creator. Now all should bow and all should
worship God. He's our creator. Everybody should. But because we sinned in Adam,
became guilty, we come forth enmity against God, and all we
mind is carnal things. You know what that is? That's
searching the scriptures and thinking by the works we do,
we have life by them. That's having a carnal mind set
on the rudiments of the world, and that's all a carnal mind
can focus on. That's what it's focused on. It's focused on not
Christ, it's what do I do to save myself? But God made his
son a fleshly body because Christ came to make God's elect a new
creation. Now he created all the first
creation, but he came to make a new creation entirely, entirely
of his making. God's elect were in Christ. That's
where we were. God put us there in eternity,
in Christ. members of his body and of his
flesh and of his bones, one with him from eternity, just like
Levi was in Abraham's loins. And we were in that body when
he came forth, even when he was in the womb. Christ speaks to
the father of his body and of all God's elect in him. Look
at Psalm 139. He said there, In our text, thy hands have made
me and fashioned me. Now look here at Psalm 139, this
is Christ speaking, and he's speaking of that earthly body,
but he's speaking also of his elect who make up his body that
are in him. He said in Psalm 139, 14, I will
praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous
are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. Our Savior
praised God perfectly. My substance was not hid from
thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the
lowest parts of the earth. Kelsey's got a baby in her. That's
what he's talking about. When I was in my mother's womb.
when his body was created in the womb of the virgin. That's
what he's talking about. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet
being unperfect, and in thy book. Unperfect means not developed.
In all thy book, all my members were written. Get that? In God's book, all Christ's members
were written. He wasn't just talking about
his fingers and his toes of his physical body. He's talking about
his elect people. that make up his body. In God's book they
were all written before the foundation of the world which in continuance
were fashioned when as yet there was none of them. Just like his
physical body came forth and grew and was fashioned, he's growing his spiritual body
and fashioning it by what he's done, by his hands. Now we believe
and we bow and we worship God our Father and his son Christ
Jesus only when he gives us faith to believe that we were in Christ
from his mother's womb, in him from eternity, but in him from
his mother's womb and that he made us entirely a new creation
by what he did. by His hands, by His righteousness,
by His obedience as our head. That's when we praise God and
that's when we say in verse 73, Thy hands have made me and fashioned
me. That's when we'll give Him the
glory for it. Now secondly, our Savior is God. But as a man, in perfect faith,
the Lord Jesus looked to God our Father for everything. for
everything, including wisdom. Now, he did this perfectly, brethren. He did this perfectly. We look
a lot to ourselves, and as sin, he looked only to the Father.
Look here in verse 73, second part, he said, give me understanding
that I may learn thy commandments. Our Savior grew in wisdom as
a man. Because God taught him. God taught
him. He learned obedience by the things
which he suffered. That's what God the Father promised
to do in the covenant of grace before the world was made. Our
Lord quoted Isaiah. I want you to look at Isaiah
42. Our Lord quoted this, speaking
about himself. Isaiah 42, verse 1. This is the
Father speaking of our Lord Jesus. Christ said, give me understanding
that I may learn thy commandments. Here's what the Father promised
him. He said to us, behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect
and whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He did it without measure. We
just have spirit and a measure. But he put it on his son without
measure. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He
shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in
the street. A bruised reed shall he not break. The smoking flag
shall he not quench. That's his weak, weak people. He's going to deal tenderly and
mercifully. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till he has set judgment in the earth. And the Isles, the Gentiles,
shall wait for his law, his people all over the world. As thus saith
God the Lord, he that created the heavens and stretched them
out, He that spread forth the earth, that which cometh out
of it. He that giveth breath to the people upon it, spirit
to them that walk therein. I the Lord, he's speaking to
Christ now, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will
hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant
of the people for a light of the Gentiles to open their blind
eyes to bring the prisoners out of the prison and them that sit
in darkness out of the prison house. Christ came to set us
free. He came to set us free. We were
already in bondage. He came to set us free. I am
the Lord. See that? I am the Lord. That's
my name and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise
to graven images. That's why he sent Christ. Everything
man, fallen man, tries to do in religion is nothing but the
worship of an idol, self. He sent Christ to serve him perfectly
because and glorify him perfectly, because he won't give his glory
to an idol. And so Christ glorified him.
Look at Isaiah 11, verse 1. He asked the Lord to give him
understanding, that he might learn the commandments of the
Lord. Isaiah 11, verse 1. See, he came forth under the
whole old covenant that God gave to Sinai. And he's asked, God,
teach me these commandments. Now look at Isaiah 11, 1. There
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch
shall grow out of his roots. David's writing our psalm, but
God says, there's coming one out of Out of David, out of Jesse. And the Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, he asked the Lord to give him
understanding. This was God's Father's promise to him. The
Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall
make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And
he shall not judge after the sight of the eyes, He looks on
the heart, he knows the heart and he says, neither shall he
reprove after the hearing of the ears. But with righteousness
shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the
earth. That's his people, the poor and
the meek, the weak, the can do nothing. And he shall smite the
earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips
shall he slay the wicked. He gonna declare the gospel and
slay the proud and the wicked. And righteousness shall be the
girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. We're
going to see God's righteousness and his faithfulness. Now, so
he asked God, he praised God for making his body, and he asked
God to give him an understanding that he might learn God's commandments.
It is Christ that we saw the Father did that to him in covenant,
covenant promise, just like he promised. It's Christ who's going
to give his elect understanding. If you remember what John said,
go to 1 John 5.20. Here's the understanding. He gives it, and
here's what he makes you to know. This is the understanding he
makes you to know when he calls you. 1 John 5.20. He said, We know that the Son
of God has come and has given us an understanding. that we
may know Him that is true. There's the understanding He
gives you to know Him. And we're in Him that's true.
That's the understanding He gives you. Even in His Son Jesus Christ,
this is the true God and eternal life. So little children, don't
be looking to idols. Don't be looking to anywhere
else. Don't look at you. Don't look at your hands. Don't
look at what you have or haven't done. You keep looking to Christ.
He's given us an understanding, and we're in Him that's true.
And when we're born again and given that understanding, Christ
our wisdom gives us the understanding. That's when we believe, and that's
when we start looking to Him alone. To Him alone. And then we start
asking Him, give me an understanding that I may learn my commandments.
And He tells us, 1 John 3.23, this is His commandment. that we should believe on the
name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave
us commandment. This is such a glorious thing
to God's people. It is such a glorious thing when
he makes you know this because the Pharisees were looking at
all the commandments of the old covenant, over 600 commandments
and they were trying to come to God by those and they were
burdened and they were heavy laden and there's no way they
could do it. They sinned in their mother and they were conceived
in sin. Christ comes to you. The Lord
gave him understanding and he did all the commandments of God. All those old covenant commandments
and took away the first and established a new law. The everlasting covenant
of grace. and he comes to you just like
he came to Abraham. That's the beautiful picture.
Paul, quote, spent three chapters in Romans and said there is none
righteous, no not one. When you condemn somebody else,
you are just opening your mouth and condemning yourself because
you do the exact same thing. in every way at all times. So
there's no point in trying to exalt one over another. No point. He spent three chapters saying
there is none righteous, no not one. That means at any point
in our life we can't come to God in any righteousness of our
own. We don't have any. We're not good at any point in
our life because we have a sin nature that's only sin and only
sins. And then he used Abraham as the
example. Abraham was 430 years before the law at Sinai was given.
And he said, we're not making void of the law. Christ said,
I didn't come to make void of the law. I came to fulfill it.
And he said, and we're fulfilling it the same way Abraham did before
it was ever even given at Sinai. How's that? Christ comes to you
and he gives you understanding. He said, this is my commandment.
Believe on me. And you are the righteousness
of everything that law demands. You believe on the righteousness.
That's the best news you'll ever hear. When he shows you what
a sinner you are and that you can't do anything to keep that
law, he makes you to see, believe me, and he gives you the spirit
to do it and understanding. And that's when he puts love
in your heart for your brethren because you begin to see at that
point, my brethren are sinners. They're sinners just like I am.
And God's been merciful to me. So I need to love them. What
did God do to me? He came and gave me an understanding
of Christ and said, believe me, what I need to do for my brethren.
Tell them what Christ has done for us again and say, just believe
him and he'll do that. He'll work that. He's the answer
to every problem we have, brethren. Every problem we have. We're
looking at him in this song to see how he's going to make you
and me learn and follow him. Right here. All right, now thirdly,
go back with me, thirdly. When we're given reverence for
the Lord, when he's given us understanding, that's when we're
made glad. That's when we're made glad. You ever heard Brother, I think
I told you, Brother Scott Richardson said, there haven't been any
bad news since I heard the good news. And he had a really, a
lot of affliction in his life. A lot. And he meant that. Because even when you're afflicted
and you're sad and sorrowful because of your flesh and all,
you still have that joy Christ gave you. You know you're his.
Getting ahead of myself, but he gives you this gladness and
Here's why we have it, because when Christ walked this earth,
He makes you to know this, when He walked this earth, He only
looked to the Father, and He hoped in the covenant word of
the Father, and He did it in perfection for us, in perfect
faithfulness. Christ said to the Father, verse
74, They that fear Thee will be glad when they see Me, because
I have hoped in Thy word. All this we've looked at so far,
him praising God for making him, him asking God to give him an
understanding that he might keep the commandments for his children. He was hoping in God's covenant
that all those things we just read, that God said, I'm going
to do all this for you. I'm going to teach you this. I'm going to
keep you. I'm going to show you. I'm going to grow you. I'm going
to do all this for you. He hoped in his word and he did it perfectly.
And when you see him, he said, when they see me, they're going
to be glad because I hoped in your word perfectly. And fulfilled
the everlasting covenant for his people. Christ said to the
Pharisees, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he
saw and was glad. That's what Christ said. When
they see me, they're going to be glad. They're going to be
glad. And the Pharisees, you're not
even 50 years old. And he said, before Abraham was,
I am. When they picked up stones to try to kill him. We believe
and we're glad and we hope in Christ because he's our righteousness. He is our righteousness. When
it says we're complete in Christ, that means we have dotted every
I and crossed every T of God's law. That's what righteousness
means. There is no record of sin in
God's book toward his people. He has blotted it out. He's our
righteousness. And so in every affliction, here's
how he is our righteousness. This is how he hoped to know
the Lord. In every affliction he faced, the moment he's born,
they try to kill the male children two years and under. They go
down into Egypt. All his life, the devil's trying
to kill him. The devil's trying to kill him.
Those Pharisees picked up stones and throw at him, trying to kill
him. He went out of their midst, couldn't touch him. And every
affliction he went through, even the affliction of the cross,
when he was bearing the sin of his people and bearing the curse
in our place, this is what our Lord Jesus said faithfully right
here, verse 75. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments
are right and that thou in faithfulness has afflicted me. Brethren, that's an easy thing to say when
the lyrics to that song are not happening to you. But when they
are, that's a hard thing to say. And we don't ever say it in perfection. Because there's some part of
us that don't want to be in it. And we're thinking, what are
you doing, God? That's just fact. And that's enough sin to send
you to hell for a thousand eternities. But he came to manifest that
the Lord's judgments are right. The margin says righteousness.
That's all God does is righteousness. We don't have any righteous judges
in our day. They're making backroom deals
and judgments corrupted. We don't know much about it.
We go to court. If something happens to one of
our kids, we go to court trying to get them not to do justice.
Be merciful to us. The judge can't show you mercy
and be just. It ain't his business. His business
is to pour out the penalty of the law on you. But God does judge us. He judges
right. Everything He does is righteousness.
And He does it in faithfulness. He said, thou, thy judgments
are right, and thou in faithfulness has afflicted me. He said, I
know this. He knew it perfectly. that understanding God gave him,
and he glorified God for it, because he's manifesting God's
righteousness. That's what he came for, brother.
That's the gospel. That's what the gospel's about,
is God's righteousness, his holy character, and how he is the
judge that always does right. That's what the law's about,
to show me and you can't ever do right if we try to come by
the law. It declares us guilty and shuts
our mouth, but the law shows us Christ who only did right,
imperfection. And then he goes to the cross,
and he's bearing the wrath, the sin of his people, and the wrath
of God, and he declares to God, in perfect faithfulness, I know,
oh Lord, that thy judgments are right, and thou in faithfulness
has afflicted me. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself. not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and he's committed to us the word of reconciliation.
And now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead. We're standing
here in place of Christ saying, be reconciled to God, quit fighting
God, quit fighting men, quit fighting. Be reconciled to God. Lay down your shotgun, Brother
Henry used to say. Pour water on all your gunpowder.
The warfare is over. It's accomplished. Why did he
not impute sins to us? Why is he not imputing our trespasses
to us? If God doesn't impute something to you, if he don't
impute sin to you, it's because there is no sin to impute to
you. That's what imputation is. If God only imputed sin to me
and you because Adam made a sin, and if God won't impute trespasses
to you, it's because you don't have any to impute. Now, how
can that be? 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for he hath
made him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. He declared God just. Lord, I
know you're righteous. In faithfulness, you're afflicting
me. Showing your righteousness and your faithfulness, because
no man could manifest your righteousness or your faithfulness. None of
my people could. Every fallen son of Adam, none of them could
show forth your righteousness and your faithfulness. You sent
me to do it, Christ said, and you're afflicting me in perfect
righteousness and perfect faithfulness. See, that's the positive and
negative side of the law together. He's putting away our sin, and
he's justifying his people, and at the same time, he's loving
God, and praising God, and believing God with all his heart. He's
righteousness. And he hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it's written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And he did it so that
the blessing of Abraham might come on us Gentiles through Jesus
Christ, that we might receive God's promise, the promise he
promised in that new law, the promise he promised, the Spirit. and faith to believe Christ.
That's why he's doing what he did. So you could be given the
spirit of God and brought to where Abraham was brought, where
Abraham, God said, Abraham, I'm your righteousness. I'm going to give you everything. This was a heathen idolater who
didn't have the law from Adam to Moses. He's thinking, how
am I going to fulfill righteousness? Believe me, Abraham. Believe
me. That's why Christ died, to give
you that same promise He gave to Abraham. And He said when
the law entered, when Sinai came, and the old covenant entered,
He didn't change that everlasting covenant promise. He didn't alter
it one bit. God gave the law to shut our mouths to show us
what we are. He didn't change it. The promise is to Christ
and for Christ's sake he gives it to his people for his righteousness
sake. So when he finished the work
God according to his promise he had raised him to his right
hand and having made his people with his hands now. That's how
Christ made us with his hands. We started praising him for making
us with his hands. That's how he did it. And what
he did in that is he made us entirely righteous. A new creation
entirely righteous. But we weren't born yet. In time, we were born physically,
but we were dead in sin and corrupt and just a ball of iniquity.
We still weren't born yet. How are we going to know this?
He's going to have to create a holy man. And so he sent the
spirit into your heart, the spirit of his son into your heart, and
a new man was created. entirely by the hand of our Lord
Jesus, by the Spirit of our God, Holy Spirit, and made a holy
man. You either are holy or you're
not. You're either alive or you're
dead. You're either a man or you're not a man. You can't be
part of... When He makes you holy, you're
holy. You're going to grow in that state of holiness, but you're
holy. That child, when conceived in the womb, had everything in
it that it'll ever be. And when He makes you to be conceived
with an incorruptible seed, everything you will ever be as a child of
God is in that new man. And that's when you praise Him
and stop praising yourself. That's the evidence of a holy
heart. We stop looking at ourselves. We stop looking at others. We
start glorifying Him for everything. He gave us an understanding and
faith to believe Him, and He made us see. That's the thing
about this new holy heart, too. When I hear people talking about
their holiness and bragging about what they've done, When you got a holy heart, you
see that in your flesh dwells nothing good. Everything you
do, sin. You got sin mixed with it. A
holy heart, I tell you what it does, it makes you look out of
yourself and believe Christ is my only righteousness. That's
when Christ has really been made sanctification to you and righteousness
to you because God makes you know, I'm robing you like I robed
Adam. I'm imputing to you everything
he did because in him you did it all. You did it all. He made
us glad to see that by Christ, hoping in God's Word and obeying
God, we're righteous and holy. And so we hope in Christ. We're
not, we're not, well, yeah, we're hoping in the same Word the Father
made to Christ. We're hoping in all those covenant
promises the Father made to His Son that Christ, the Father through
Christ will give us all those covenant promises because he
promised them to his son, and his son fulfilled everything.
So he's going to give his son everything he promised his son,
which includes a people that are going to be his and be with
him forever. And so we're hoping in that same word with Christ.
And he makes you one with your brethren because this is it. We only have one hope. We only
have one hope. We're not, I'm not, my hope's
not in you. You're going, if I put my hope
in you, you're going to disappoint me. If you put your hope in me,
I am going to disappoint you. I already have. My hope's in
Christ. That's the only place my hope
is. And that's how he makes brethren that can't get along, that are,
got rough edges and sin and fall and stumble and do everything.
That's how he keeps you together. And I don't mean he's going to
keep you together with the same ones the whole time, but he's
going to keep his brethren together. So he's growing us in understanding
through the things we suffer. And when you behold God's righteousness
and his faithfulness in Christ, and you hear Christ praising
God when he suffered affliction, he brings you to see that when
he's afflicting you, And there's all different kinds of affliction.
Sometimes it's because of your sin. Usually it's always because
of our sin because we've sinned all the time. We need something.
We need to be taught more of Him all the time. But sometimes
it's loss of loved ones or whatever and loss of a job. What he's
teaching you is he's your separation, and he's keeping you separated.
You put too much confidence in that job, you put too much confidence
in that man, you put too much confidence in that work, you
put too much confidence in whatever it is that you thought, well,
this starts growing to be my salvation here. Nope, he's going
to kick that crutch out in front of you. and show you, I'm your
separation. I'm the one keeping you and not
going to let you go. And that makes you, now when
affliction's over, and he's blessed it to your heart, sanctified
it to your heart, that's what makes you say, Lord, I know.
Your judgments are righteous. And in faithfulness, you've afflicted
me. I know that. You still don't say that perfectly,
but you do know it. And he's growing you to know
it more and more. Thou hast dealt well with our servant, David
said in verse 65. Thou hast dealt well with our
servant, O Lord, according to your word. We sing, it is well
with my soul. If you hadn't heard that message,
go listen to it. Especially that Joseph Spafford, he lost everything
except his wife. Thou hast dealt well with my
servant, O Lord, according to your word. Before I was afflicted,
I was going astray, but now I've kept thy word." Well, you won't
need to be afflicted anymore then. Read the last verse of
the psalm. Lord, I've gone astray like a
lost sheep. Come save me. Come save me. And that's what he's going to
do. See, he's the shepherd. That means he's going to shepherd
you, and without him, you're going to be that sheep that they
pull out of the ditch, and within five seconds, you're back in
the ditch. He's going to shepherd you. And he's making you see
he's your shepherd more and more. Now lastly, I'm out of time. I'm going to briefly go over
these because I just want you to see them in the context of
what I just preached to you, and maybe we'll look at them
more in depth another time. But these are three requests that
he made when he suffered on our behalf, and as we suffer, he's
teaching us to obey him by asking these things of him. Christ asked
this of the Father, and Christ is teaching you and me to ask
this of the Father for his sake. when we suffer. Our Savior depended
upon God the Father's merciful kindness and he's teaching you
and me to call on him for the same thing. He said in verse
76, let I pray thee that merciful kindness be for my comfort according
to thy word and to thy servant that thy tender mercies come
to me that I may live for thy law is my delight. God's law
is our Savior's delight, the whole law of God, all the, everything
in the old covenant, all the everlasting covenant of grace,
every word out of God's mouth is His delight. And in our new
heart, we delight in every word of God. But what we greatly delight
in is that everlasting covenant of grace where God says, everything's
ordered and sure and you're perfect in me. But he fulfilled that
law, every child tittled. But as he did it, God the Father
comforted our Savior in merciful kindness and tender mercies the
whole way through. And now he lives forevermore. He said, do this that I may live.
And now he lives forevermore. That's how dependent Christ was
on his father when he walked this earth. He lived by the mercies
of God. And he's teaching you and me,
all the way you go lives by the mercies of God. God promises
when you come to him through Christ for the sake of his son,
He'll show you merciful kindness. He'll show you tender mercies.
And He don't ever stop showing mercies to His children. This
is all our comfort. He never stops showing us mercies,
mercies, mercies, mercies. When He writes the law of this
covenant of grace on our hearts, the law of faith, and the law
of love, and the law of righteousness, and the law of peace, we delight
in the law of God and the new man. And He keeps us praising
Him by these tender mercies He keeps giving to us. He keeps
us saying, good, you're ready to forgive, you're pleading to
send mercy unto all that call on you. We're saved by mercy,
and He keeps you knowing it. Right in the face of your sin,
He keeps you knowing it. And He keeps comforting us with
Christ, our consolation, and we keep giving Him the glory.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. He comforts us
in all our tribulation. where we're able to comfort our
brethren with the same comfort where we ourselves are comforted
of God, and that's the consolation of Christ Jesus. We could have
all the luxuries in this world, and a big yacht to be parked
out in the Caribbean, and have everything, everything that the
world could ask for, and people say, and that's living, that's
L-I-V-I-N right there. And you'd just be dead as a hammer.
And you can be afflicted and poor and cast down and the world
look at you and say, that's got, that would be death to have to
live like that. But because of his tender mercies and the comfort
of Christ in your heart, you live and you rejoice. You live and you rejoice. He
opens the word to you and he makes you hope in his word. Whatsoever
things were written in the scriptures, through patience and comfort
of the scriptures, we might have hope. Now, here's what I really
want to show you. It's going to go a little long,
but I'm sorry. You with me? Still with me? This
is important. We're talking about mercy. We're
talking about mercy. This is so important. So, receiving
the Father's merciful kindness, Christ delighted in mercy. He delighted to be merciful to
others. And He's teaching you and me to do that. Teaching us
to do that. Verse 78. Let the proud, hear
Christ speaking now, let the proud be ashamed for they dealt
perversely with me without a cause. But I'll meditate in thy precepts.
Let those that fear thee turn unto me and those that have known
thy testimonies. Now some of the proud, when our
Lord walked this earth, they were not our redeemers. They
were not God's elect. And our Lord Jesus trusted the
Father to deal with them. He trusted the Father to deal
with them. While they were proud and dealing perversely, he said,
I'll meditate in my precepts, and he focused on God's Word.
But what about those that were his who were proud and dealt
perversely with him? You see, in our unregenerate
state, that's how we are, is proud. You know, we're right, everybody
else is wrong. Look at them, look at them transsexual people,
you know, that's just saying I'm better than they are. Proud. You're no better than they are.
I ain't either. Find you another bathroom. Solve that problem. Don't let that be a problem.
But we're all proud by nature. But in our regenerated state,
our sinful pride is with us constantly and takes us over. But his prayer to God is, let
those that fear thee turn unto me and those that have known
thy testimonies. Remember what the Spirit bears
testimony to? He'll bear testimony of me. Them
that know me, that you've taught me, that I'm their salvation,
turn unto me, the Lord said. When he walked this earth, what
spirit did our Lord have concerning proud, unregenerate men? Well, you can know that by what
precepts he taught you and me. He said, pray for your enemies. When James and John wanted to
cry down fire on those who dealt proudly and perversely with our
Lord Jesus, he turned and rebuked them and said, you don't know
what manner of spirit you are of. The Son of Man's not come
to destroy men's lives, but to save. That's the spirit in which
he prayed in our psalm. And we see the manner of this
spirit when we see one that was dealing proudly and perversely
with him, and how, for Christ's sake, God answered our Lord's
intercession and turned Him to Christ and made Him glad. You look to those two thieves
on the cross, and they're both just dealing perversely and proudly. One of the malefactors, which
was hanged, railed on him, said, if you be the Christ, save yourself
and us too. And the other, all of a sudden,
he'd been doing the same thing, dealing proudly and perversely,
and he answered and he said, Don't you fear God? Seeing that thou art in the same
condemnation. And we're in this justly. We can always say that. We're
in this justly. We receive the due reward of
our deeds. But this man has done nothing
amiss. And he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. And the Lord Jesus said, Verily
I say unto thee, Thou shalt be with me today in my kingdom.
Here's the precepts the Lord's going to bring us to meditate
in. God's mercy to us. Constant, continual, merciful,
kindness, tender mercies. God told David and all the saints
of old, and he teaches me and you did. You deal mercifully
with the stranger. David knew the heart of a stranger.
He said, you know the heart of a stranger. Be merciful to him. And David knew it because David,
even as a believer, had stood as the proud dealing perversely
with God and with men. He had done that. You have to.
You have to. You may do it today before it's
over. So you know the heart of a stranger. But God in mercy
restored David in his merciful kindness and his tender mercies.
And so when he's being dealt with by the proud, being dealt
with perversely, the Lord brings you to focus in on Christ, focus
in on his word, focus in on how he's been merciful to you, the
sinner. And that's what he'll bless in
your heart to make you deal mercifully. You're going to deal proudly
and perversely. And that's how He's going to show it to you
over and over, that His mercies never end. But that's how He's
going to make you be more merciful. And that's why He brings us to
this last verse. Let my heart be sound in thy
statutes that I be not ashamed. David had a lot of reason to
be ashamed. He looked on his past and he had a lot of reason
to be ashamed. You and me do too. by things I never wanted to happen.
I was so ashamed. But you know what it made David
do? It made him say, Lord, I need you to let my heart be sound.
You notice all these lets? Ain't nobody saying we're going
to let God do something. They're begging God, God, will you let
me? Will you let me? And all his falls and his trouble
made him know, God, I need you to let my heart be sound. Let me believe you more. Let
my heart rejoice in your mercies more. Let my heart be more merciful. Let my heart hope in your word
more and know all is well with my soul. Let my heart be sound
and know when you afflict me, you're doing what's right and
you're being faithful to me. Let my heart be sound, Lord,
to hate my sin more. Let it be sound, because if I
err in any of these ways, I won't be ashamed. Lord, let my heart be sound,
so I won't be ashamed today. Let my heart be sound, so I won't
be ashamed tomorrow or in the future. That's where He brings
you. That's where He brings you. Amen. We're going to observe the Lord's
table.