Psalm chapter 25, and my text
will be found in verse 15. Psalm chapter 25 and verse 15, Psalmist David says, mine eyes
are ever toward the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of
the net. The title of the message this
evening is The Eyes of Faith in the Net of Unbelief. The Eyes
of Faith in the Net of Unbelief. Now David, in this psalm, we
have gone over this psalm several times together. We've seen that
this psalm of David is a cry unto God. He cries out in the
very first verse unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. Prayer to God is nothing less
than lifting up the soul to God. lifting up his soul in trust,
in trusting the grace of God for the salvation and deliverance
of our soul. This is what David does and this
is what we do when we cry to our God. We lift up our soul. And he sues the throne of grace
for mercy, for understanding, and for guidance. He says in
verse 4, he says, Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths,
and lead me in thy truth, and teach me. Would to God we would
have teachable spirits. How many times do we come to
the Word of God and say, well, I already know that. I do it. I know you do. When I say things
like that, I'm not asking really questions. I'm just telling you
this is how we are. Well, I know how you are because
I know how I am. God, we should have teachable
spirits concerning this Word and lead me, teach me and lead
me in the truth, in Thy Word. Why? For Thou art my salvation. and on thee do I wait all the
day." David was leaning and trusting for God to give him understanding
and guidance. And you know, tonight, if we
do not lean upon God to teach us tonight, we won't understand
anything. We cannot know one thing about this Word. except
God open it and reveal it to us. You remember those disciples
on the road to Emmaus. They had just seen the Lord crucified. Three days prior, they had just
seen Him. They were with Him. They knew
Him. And yet, as He walked with them,
He hid Himself from them. You see, they could not even
know it was the Lord, except He reveal Himself. And tonight
we can't know anything, except He open our eyes, except He open
our hearts, and give us eyes to see and hearts to believe. And David pleads for remembrance. Look at this in verse 6, What
does he ask God to remember? Remember, O Lord, Thy tender
mercies and Thy lovingkindness, for they have been ever of old. And listen what he asked God
not to remember. Remember not the sins of my youth
nor my transgressions. Isn't this prayer familiar? Is that prayer not familiar to
you? When we are face-to-face with
the prayers of God's saints, we are face-to-face with our
own prayers. These prayers are our prayers. And though we might not find
words in our own minds, we can surely go to God's Word and find
the words we need. These are words worth repeating. If you don't know what to pray,
you should go to the Word of God and find a prayer. Because
it's there. And you'll say, that's it. That's
what I mean to say. Lord, this is what I want right
here. I want this. Lord, remember Your mercies and
not my sins. David pleads for forgiveness
and pardon for sins. This is the prayer of our heart.
It is the desire of every born-again child of God to lift up our souls
to God, not in our own merits, not in our own works, but lift
up our souls washed in the blood of Christ. In Romans chapter 5, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me read it to you. I don't
want to mess it up. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access. Access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Friends, you have access. You have access. Often think
of that photograph of JFK's son. John F. Kennedy Jr. and how he
played under the desk of his father. Most powerful man in
the world at that time. And there his son was playing
under his desk. He had access. And you, my friend,
have access to God. Instant access. Into the very
throne room of your father. And you have access at any time
into this grace. We don't ever come to meriting
anything, do we? We don't come ever bringing our
merits and showing our God our merits. There's nothing. We have
nothing. But I tell you this, we come
as sons. Adopted sons, bought sons, redeemed sons. So then, it is only by Christ's
perfect atonement for sins we are made acceptable. We are made
holy in the presence of God. Scripture says, by the witch
will, by God's will, we are sanctified. We are made holy through the
body of Jesus Christ, what? Once for all. Once for all. Therefore, we seek to be accepted
by Christ. And you know what David prays?
He says, let me not be ashamed. Let me not be ashamed. Let me
not be disappointed. Isn't that our cry when we come
before our God? I don't want to be disappointed.
I don't want to be cast out. I want to be accepted. That's
my heart's desire. Let me not be ashamed. Let me
not be disappointed. Look over at Psalm 37. Psalm
37 and verse 19. Listen to this promise. You that
do not want to be disappointed when you come before the presence
of your Father, listen, they shall not be disappointed. They shall not be ashamed. And the enemies of the Lord,
they shall not be ashamed in the time, in the evil time, in
the days of famine, they shall be satisfied. they shall be satisfied. Go to Isaiah chapter 45. These
are promises for you so when you come before God and you desire
His counsel, His teaching, His mercy, His grace, these are for
you. Isaiah 45 Those before this, it said, they
shall be ashamed. Who? The wicked, the evil, those
outside of Christ. But Israel shall be saved with
an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed nor
confounded. How long? World without end. That's how long. Promises of God are sure, are
yea and amen for you, believer. You are accepted in the Beloved. You've always been accepted.
In time, you've come to learn of your acceptance. And God has
shown you this. And now then, listen, you shall
not be ashamed or confounded when you approach unto your God.
You shall not be ashamed. Now then, I've given you some
very sure words. These are sure words. Yet, even
though we are secure in Christ, accepted of God, we come to God. Why is it that
we have to come to God? Because we're often confused. We're often confounded. We're
often confused by providence, and we're often cast down by
our own sin. and wretched hearts. So we like David desire to be
taught of God concerning providence. Don't you desire to be taught
of God about this thing called providence? I tell you what,
there's one thing that's often confusing to us is providence. We don't understand. God said
my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts.
They're higher than your ways and your thoughts. They're infinitely
higher. And so, by providence, we are often confounded. And
this is why we're often in prayer. Because we don't understand.
Even though we have these promises. Yet the circumstances that occur
cause us much confusion. And so we often are found in
prayer because of these circumstances. Go over to Ecclesiastes. Go to
Ecclesiastes chapter 8. Ecclesiastes chapter 8. If there's
anyone who studied the paths and ways of God in divine providence,
it was Solomon. Remember, this whole book of
Ecclesiastes is him studying what is taking place under the
sun. That phrase is used often in
this book. And look what he found. In verse
16 of chapter 8, he said, When I applied my heart to know wisdom
and see the business that is done upon the earth, For also
there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes."
In other words, I've done this and I didn't even sleep. I looked
until I couldn't even sleep. And know what he found. This
is what he found when he applied his heart to that under the sun. Then I beheld all the work of
God. He said all this is the work
of God. Everything done under the sun is of the hand of God. Everything. And listen what he
found out about man. He said that man cannot find
out the work that is done under the sun. Now does that settle
your heart about providence right there? God says, I don't care
how hard you study, how hard you look, you're not going to
find out what I'm going to do. You don't know what I'm going
to do. All you should know is that it's my work. That's what
you should know. You should know that everything
that is done under the sun, I do it. I do it. And though a man
search it out diligently, he's not going to be able to understand
it. You think of these mathematicians. Think of all the formulas they
have to try to, I know that this is so, not that I even understand
it, but they have formulas to try to predict future things. You know what that's going to
do? Nothing. They're not going to be able
to predict anything. I mean, even a broken clock is
right twice a day. They might guess something, but
that doesn't prove their formula or their theory. God says, you're
not going to find out what I'm doing. The only thing you should
know, believers, I'm doing it. I'm doing it, whatever it is.
So providence, divine providence, is done by God, and no man by
diligent labor can figure it out. And so then, what is God doing
in all this providence? Now that we can know. That we
can know, verse 1 of chapter 9. For all this I considered
in my heart, even to declare all this. Here's what we can
know that God is doing in providence. That the righteous and the wise
and their works are in the hand of God. That's what you can know. If you would be taught of God,
this is what we should know. God is doing all things for the
righteous and the wise, and everything of them will be in the hand. That word, in the hand, I want
you to see it. It means open hand. In other words, the righteous
and the wise and their works are accepted of God. That's what you should know.
That's what you should know. This is what I'm going to declare.
The righteous and the wise, their works are accepted. Well, who
are these righteous and wise men? Well, David, in his prayer,
in our text, he writes of a wise and righteous man in verse 12. What man is he that feareth the
Lord? Isn't that the beginning of wisdom?
The Scripture says, the fear of the Lord, the reverence of
God is the beginning of wisdom. So who is the wise man? He is
the one that feareth the Lord. And listen, he is one taught
of God concerning the way. David says in his prayer, What
man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way
that he shall choose. What is the way that God has
chosen? What is the way by which sinners
are made righteous? What is the way by which salvation
comes? Is it not Christ the Lord? He is the chosen one of God. This is the way. He's the elect of God. The Scripture
tells us, Behold, My servant, Mine elect, in whom I have chosen,
in whom My soul delighteth, he shall not fail nor be discouraged. This is the one. Ephesians 1,
it tells us that He had chose us in Christ before the world
began. That we should be made holy.
That we should be made holy by Him. accepted in the Beloved. And Jesus Himself said this,
I am the way. What is the way that He chooses?
What is the way in which the man that feareth the Lord, what
way is he instructed? He is instructed in the way of
Christ. Christ is the way to God, the
only way. No man comes to the Father but
by Me. That's a pretty dogmatic statement,
isn't it? And that's a narrow statement.
There is only one way to God. One way. There's not many ways. There's one way to God. Christ
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to
the Father but by me. So no matter then, believer,
the providence of God. We who come to God by Him are
accepted. Why? Because we are both righteous
and wise. Righteous. No matter what God
does. You who are in Christ are righteous. You're righteous because God
made you righteous. You're not righteous because
you made yourself righteous. You're righteous because of Christ. By nature, we are not righteous.
By nature, we are not wise, but fools. You see, we could not
know God and we would not come to God if we could know Him. We would not come to Christ had
God not revealed Him to us by His free grace, which He purposed
to give us before the world began. And it's upon this gospel, this
gospel, God's intended that this gospel be revealed to you and
me. Isn't that wonderful? That God
intended. This whole gospel thing is not
an accident. It is on purpose. This is by
design that you understand the gospel. It's on purpose. You
didn't stumble into this and you're not going to stumble out
of it. It's on purpose. Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. And verse 11, it says, "...according
to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord." I'm sorry, verse 10, "...to the intent." He created all things
for this, "...to the intent that now unto the principalities and
powers and heavenly places might be known by the church, what? The manifold wisdom of God according
to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord. It was intended that you should
know this. It was on purpose that you should
know this. And know this, that God moved
everything in time and eternity by divine providence so that
you should know the gospel. So you want to know what God's
doing? You're confused? You don't have to know what God's
going to do specifically. All you have to know is this.
He is moving all things for the salvation of His people. That's
what He's doing. Everything that happens in your
life, everything that happens in my life, everything that happens
in the whole world is moving so that the righteous and the
wise should know their acceptance. That they should know the manifold
wisdom of God that He purposed to give them. That they should
know Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And they should rest upon the
solid foundation of Christ so that they may plead for mercy
and forgiveness and acceptance with God the things that David
was doing in this prayer God moved everything so that David
should receive this and he's moving everything so that you
too may have this even mercy the Lord remember Lord remember
Christ is that not the prayer of our hearts in every situation
Lord remember thy mercies of old and remember not my sins. Remember not my sins. Now as
you as a believer, how do you know that God will hear? How do you know God will hear
the cry of your soul and accept it? How can you be confident
that God should always remember Christ and pardon you? How is
it? Even as David encouraged himself,
you should encourage yourself in the things you know of God.
He said, God is good. How do I know this is going to
happen? Because God who promised it is good. God is good. He's upright. He is the Lord because He promised
to give us these things. Believer, we can pray for such
things even because the Lord promised to give these things,
and he that promised cannot lie. Everything God promises is perfect,
and it doesn't need to be repented of. What can you say about us? That
doesn't need to be repented. Nothing. Everything with us is,
oh no, I don't even know. I have no idea what's right or
good. God is never like that. God always,
when He purposed something, it was eternally purposed, and nothing
shall move Him from it. His gospel, therefore, is yea
and amen. And so then, what should you
expect of God? You should expect Him to do what
He promised. Go to Ezekiel chapter 36, see
what He promised you. As you cry out to God, you should
take these promises. These are yours. This is His
promise to you. Ezekiel chapter 36, we have the
covenant of God revealing His covenant of grace. And the very first thing that
God says about this covenant, He tells us the reason why He
gives this covenant. Not for your sakes do I this. You see that? God is going to
give you this covenant not for your sakes. Not because of you. There's nothing in this covenant
that God has given because you deserve it. Nothing it is a covenant
of free grace He said I'm going to do it because I pity my own
namesake. That's what he tells us in verse
23 21 down through verse 23 and he said I'm gonna sanctify my
name and I'm gonna declare this I'm gonna I'm gonna show this
in the eyes of everyone Look at verse 24. This is his promise. He said I will take you as from
among the heathen and gathered." Isn't that what He done? Isn't
that what He's done for you and me? Did He not take us from among
the heathen? Were we not like everyone else,
lost and depraved and sinned? And yet God took us. God gathered
us. He brought us to Himself. And
notice what He did with us. He said, I will sprinkle clean
water upon you, And what's going to happen? You
shall be clean. Do you get that? I am going to
do something. I'm going to sprinkle clean water
on you, and you know what's going to happen? You're clean. Where do you fit in in all this?
Did He say, I'm going to sprinkle water on you, and if you do this,
then you shall be clean? No. He said, I will and you shall. I will sprinkle and you shall
be clean. This water, we know, is the washing
of regeneration. This is the Word of God. This
is the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin. He sprinkles
us. And then what does He do? He
said, I'll give you a new heart. A new spirit will I put within
you? I will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put
my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And
what's the result? You shall keep My judgments and
do them." These are not questionable things. This covenant has no
variance. There's no shadow in it. There's
no doubt about it. God says, I'm going to do it,
and this is going to be the result of it. Isn't that good news? It is for us who can do nothing.
It is for us who can have no merits before God. This covenant
is perfect. It's ordered in all things and
sure. God says, I will, and you shall. And you shall dwell in the land
that I give your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I
will be your God. Does this not bless the ears
of all who've experienced the covenant of grace in their hearts?
Is this not you who believe on Christ? This is your covenant. This is a covenant God has given
to you. This should bless our ears. This
is because this is the promise of our salvation. Surely we were by nature blasphemers
even as others, dead in sins, rebels against God. But God who
purposed our salvation, He gathered us, He cleansed us, He washed
us in the blood of Christ, And now the Spirit of God has
come to us and saved us, given us a new nature, and His Spirit
dwells within us. We are new creations in Christ
Jesus. New creatures. Our spirit was dead. You know,
that's what died when Adam died, is his spirit. You know what
God gives? He gives us a new spirit. He quickens our spirit, gives
us life, and then indwells us with His very presence to keep
us. You know, believer, you are His
workmanship. You are His skilled craftsmanship. And He has put His Spirit in
you, and His Spirit leads you, His Spirit guides you, not to
bondage, but to liberty. His Spirit points you to Christ. You know how to tell the difference
between the Spirit of the world or the Spirit of devils with
the Spirit of God? You know how to do that? The
Spirit of God testifies of Christ and not Himself. Any spirit that
testifies of himself is not the Holy Spirit. You see these people
jumping up and down and screaming and hollering and saying, Oh,
this is the Spirit! This is the Spirit! He's testifying of himself.
That's not the Spirit. The Spirit of God testifies of
Christ. Isn't that what He testifies
in your heart? Christ. And because He testifies
of Christ in our hearts, we are heirs and join heirs with God.
And if we are so blessed, if we are made righteous and made
wise, you know this? You and your works are accepted
of God. Accepted of God. This then should give you confidence
in prayer. As you lift up your soul like
David did and cry out to God to be heard, you should expect
to be heard. Because God has saved you, because
God has quickened you. And if He has promised to give
us salvation and His Spirit, why then are we so plagued with
doubts and fears? I'll tell you why, because the
old man is not destroyed. Because the nature of sin still
dwells in us. John said, if any man say he
have not sinned, he is a liar and the truth is not in him. We still have this old man in
us. And yet God in His covenant,
though He's done these things for us, listen, He says this
in His covenant. He says, I will save you from
your uncleanness. See, He's already sprinkled you
with clean water. You're clean every whit, yet
He promises, I will cleanse you. I will save you from all your
uncleanness. This is His present cleansing
of our sins. This is His present washing. Believer, we are, have
been saved, our sins have been fully removed and punished at
the cross, yet we are still in this body of death, are not free
from its presence. We're not free from its presence.
Free from the guilt and power, but not the presence of sin.
Therefore, we confess our sins. Though we've been made
righteous by God, we still confess our sins, because we still have
this old nature dwelling in us. We pour out our hearts to the
Lord like David did in our text. If you go there again, David
says this, he says, for thy name's sake, verse 11, pardon mine iniquity,
for it is great. And here is the grounds. Here's
the grounds for his pardon as well as ours for God's namesake. Pardon me not for my merit but
for thine own glory which Jesus Christ magnified upon the cross. Pardon us from our sins by which
Christ had already endured the just sentence on the tree. And David cries now let David's
then confidence be our confidence verse 13 he says his soul who's
the man that feareth the Lord the man who is made wise by God
the man who is righteous by Christ he said his soul shall dwell
at ease I like that because he said his
soul shall dwell at ease doesn't say anything about his body does
it Doesn't even say anything about his mind. Is your mind
at ease? How about your body? Is that
at ease? No, but my soul is at ease. Therefore say you to the
righteous, it is well with him. It's well. No matter what happens
to your body, no matter what happens to your mind, it is well
with you because your soul is at ease. Your soul is at ease. Don't you see that you have been
justified by the Father and redeemed by the Son? Who then shall lay anything to
your charge? I know we don't have a lot of
people accusing us. I know a lot of people don't
run around pointing their finger at us. But I tell you what, we
do. Do you not condemn yourself? Do you? Satan, we know, condemns
us. We know he tries to raise doubts
and fears by pointing at our sin. He constantly accuses the
brethren. But how about ourselves? We accuse
ourselves all the time. Yet, who are you to condemn someone
who Christ died for? Who are we? You know this, if
anybody's condemning you, it's not God. If you're in Christ, nobody can
condemn you. Nobody. Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yet rather
is risen again. Who then shall separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus? We know that nothing,
nothing shall. But let me ask you, does your
experience contradict what I've just said? Doesn't your experience
just clash with this? The experience in the flesh and
the circumstances are often contrary to the Word of God and grace
in our hearts. And so then Solomon, back in
that text I just showed you, he said this, no man can know
love or hatred by all that is before them. In other words,
you're not going to know God if God loves you or God hates
you by what you see. You can't know it. You can't look at the circumstances
and say, OK, God loves me. This is going well. Or if something's
going bad, you cannot say, well, well, God hates me because this
is going bad. You can't tell by what you see. So then how
then can we tell? What then is the evidence that
God loves me? How then is all... How do I know
if these sure things, that I have them? God is... God purposed
salvation for His elect. Christ redeemed the elect. The
Spirit of God quickens the elect. How do I know if I'm the elect?
How do I know if I'm in Christ? Well, you can't tell by looking
around you. I can't tell by looking at you, and you can't tell by
looking at me. What then is the evidence? I
want evidence. What is the evidence? Look at
your text. Here's the evidence. Mine eyes
are ever toward the Lord. What's the evidence? What's the
evidence of His pardon? What's the evidence of His acceptance?
What's the evidence of His answer to prayer? Faith is the evidence. The only evidence of your acceptance
with God. That's it. This is not the eyes of His flesh,
but rather the eyes of faith. Believer, through our faith,
though it be small and weak, let us be sure of this, that
faith in Christ is the only evidence of our conversion. Do you believe
on Christ now? If you believe on Christ now, That's the only evidence you
are converted. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. Evidence of things not seen. You know that's the only time
that that word is there used, evidenced? It's the evidence of things not
seen. You will never know your election,
redemption, and regeneration except You believe on Jesus Christ
alone. Listen, faith is not natural.
Not natural. The Scripture says that natural
man receiveth not the things of God. Neither can he know them,
for they are foolishness to him. Neither can he know them, for
he spiritually discerned, the Scripture said. So faith is not
natural. This faith is not bought or earned. This faith we have in Christ
is a gift of God. The Scripture says, For by grace
you are saved through faith. That faith is not of yourself.
That faith is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. This faith is the work not of
man, but of God. Jesus said that in John 6, 29.
This is the work of God. that you believe on Him whom
He has sent. Faith is the work of God. Listen, we do not need to try
to believe. You either believe or you don't. You don't need to try. Why? Because faith is something
that comes from a product of the new man. And you know what
a believer cannot help to do? But believe. Now, the old man can do nothing
but not believe. Is that right? He can do nothing
but not believe. And the new nature can do nothing
but believe. As a matter of fact, when you
believed, isn't that just it? before you even knew what happened,
you were believing. And so believing, we don't try
to believe, we believe. True faith never trusts in self. Look, if you can believe by trying,
it's not true faith. I just told you it was a gift
of God, it's a fruit of the Spirit, it's not something we try to
do, it's something we do. We find it impossible not to
believe, even in spite of our unbelief. And so therefore I
see this, David here is in a net. He says, mine eyes, he's saying
my faith is toward the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of
the net. What is the net under every believer? Isn't it unbelief? It is. It's a net laid by our
old nature. It's a net laid by the enemy
of our souls. Who then shall pluck us from
unbelief? Mine eyes are toward the Lord. He shall pluck my feet out of
the net. Therefore we say, I believe. Lord, help thou my unbelief. True faith sets all then its
salvation and success upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Not any work
of nature, not any work or merit of self. And listen, true faith,
if it's true, it continues. It's not a one-time deal. It's
not a one-time shot in the dark. Every day, believers continue
to believe. Why? It is written, the just
shall live by faith. By faith. We live by faith. We look only
to Christ for all our salvation and acceptance. Now, does this faith exempt us
from troubles? No. No, it doesn't. But it does support us and sustain
us in trouble. Faith in Christ. The way is not going to be made
easy for us. Our foes will continue to assault
us as they did David. You see, he was already in the
net But his eyes was not on taking himself out of the net. He wasn't
busy trying to cut the net. He wasn't busy trying to manipulate
the ones who put him in the net. His eyes were toward the Lord. And so in all your trouble, where
should your eyes be? They should be toward the Lord.
In every trouble, in every difficulty, In all the warfare of our own
souls and hearts, we shall set our faith towards God, who shall
pluck my feet out of the net. Who's going to deliver us? Our
Lord. Is His arm then too short to
deliver? No. He's God. Is He so far above us that He
cannot understand us? No, because our Savior is our
High Priest, a man, very man, who is touched with the feelings
of our infirmities and our weakness. Jesus Christ, our Savior, our
High Priest, shall deliver us. So then, what are we to do in
distress? Look only to Christ. Now let me ask you, is that complicated? He didn't give you a bunch of
things to do. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Isn't that what faith is? Is
it not waiting for God to deliver us? Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. You know, I like this. He said,
turn my eyes. You know, both of them. Not just
some people think they need to be the cross-eyed believers look
into Christ and looking at all their troubles both eyes Both
eyes You said both eyes on him you
don't have to worry about anything else He shall deliver you from the
net the net of the world the net of of your own sin and unbelief. May God give us such faith. And so when we cry out to God,
how do we know we're accepted? Because of Christ. Because of
what Christ has done. So then where are our eyes to
be? On Christ. Don't take them off. You know
when you lose, I like this, Brother Tim James said this in a message
he preached this weekend. He said, you know the moment
you look for assurance, you don't have it. You know why? Because you're
looking for something other than looking at Christ. And when you
look at Christ, you have full assurance. You have it. Take your eyes off Him, you don't
have it. So where should your eyes be? Don't look at anything else.
Mine eyes are toward the Lord. He shall pluck me out of the
net. I pray God give you blessed hearts
to receive it. May He give us eyes to see it.
Hearts to embrace it. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.