Psalm chapter 15. Let's read
this together in Psalm chapter 15 and verse 1. Lord, who shall
abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and
worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart, he that
backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor,
nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes a
vile person is contemned, that means despised, but he honoureth
them that fear the Lord, He that sweareth to his own hurt and
changeth not, he that puts not out his money to usury, in other
words, he doesn't lend money for interest, nor takes reward
against the innocent, he that doeth these things shall never
be moved. Now this is asking a question
and it's answering it in this psalm. You can see the question
is opened in the first verse. Who shall abide in the Lord's
tabernacle? Who shall dwell in His holy hill? And then the description is given
of the one who does do that. And notice in this description
here that this is God's description of what pleases Him. It's always
good to see what pleases the Lord in scripture. A man asked
me one time, he wanted to, he said he did, I don't know if
he did or not, he wanted to learn more about the Bible, he said.
And he said, how should I do that? And I said, well, why do
you want to learn more about the Bible? And that was the question. And he didn't know how to answer
it. So that's a problem. And I told him, the Bible tells
us what God thinks. And that's what we need to know.
We need to understand what God thinks. Can you minimize that
so that it doesn't appear on the screen? We need to know what
God thinks. And here it shows us what God
thinks, what he wants. What he wants is someone who
walks uprightly, someone who works righteousness, someone
who speaks the truth in his heart. He wants someone who does not
backbite with his tongue. He doesn't speak against others
in secret or openly to shame them and to make himself look
better, nor does he do evil to his neighbor Nor does he take
up a reproach against his neighbor to make his neighbor appear shameful. He doesn't do that. It says in
verse 4, and in whose eyes a vile person is contemned. He's not
someone who has double standard for justice. He will condemn
what's wrong, but he will show mercy to others. He'll be honest
with others. He, it says, he that honoreth
them that fear the Lord. This man, the Lord, is describing
here as someone who honors those who fear the Lord. And it says,
and he swears to his own hurt and does not change. So, he will
not swear falsely. If he swears, it's to his own
hurt. Now this is, again, this is a
reflection of what God desires, and therefore, if it's a reflection
of what God desires, what does that mean about, what does it
say about God? What does it say about the Lord
Himself, if this is what He desires? Which certainly means that this
describes God's character, doesn't it? The Lord himself is upright. He works righteousness. He speaks
the truth in his heart. He does not backbite. He doesn't
speak evil to his neighbor. He doesn't take up a reproach
against his neighbor. In his eyes, a vile person is
condemned. And he does honor them that fear
the Lord, and he does swear to his own hurt and does not change.
That's what the Lord does. Let's go on, verse 5. He puts
not out his money to usury. In other words, he doesn't do
things in order to get payment or earnings back from it. And
that's what the Lord does not do. He doesn't give to us in
order to get back something from us. All things belong to Him. What we give to Him is our privilege
to give it back to Him out of what is already His. And so He's
describing these things here. Now, as you read this, if we
ask these questions, where are we going to find someone who
fits this description? Remember what we looked at last
time in Psalm 14? It describes all of us, and to
remind you of what that said there, in verse one of Psalm
14, the fool said in his heart, no, God, they are corrupt, they
have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The
Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand and seek God. And of course,
the answer is, they are all gone aside. They're all together become
filthy. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. So now, though, in Psalm 15,
the Lord is describing someone who is his delight. Now this parallels so much of
scripture, but as we can take Psalm 14 and lay it on top of
Romans chapter 1, verses 18 through chapter 3, verses 20, and we
see there God's universal condemnation of men, women, boys, girls, everyone
ever born to Adam, in the first part of Romans is condemned and
shown to be guilty. They're shown to be condemned
and they're shown to be helpless in that condition. They cannot
justify themselves. They can't do right. They won't
do right. They're guilty. It's all their
fault and they're under the judgment of God. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all unrighteousness. But then in Psalm 15, it corresponds
to the next verse of Romans chapter 3. In verse 21 of Romans 3 it
says, but now the righteousness of God. manifested. So if you read this in that light,
it's helpful. Psalm 14 tells the woeful condition
of all men without exception, and it ends with this one plea
in Psalm 14. It says, Oh that the salvation
of Israel will come out of Zion, when the Lord brings back the
captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall
be glad. So now we see the context. It's like the back, the black
velvet, set on the countertop. And then the jewel of God's righteousness
is going to be planted right there underneath the light that
shines the different facets of that diamond or that gem that's
laid there on it. And that is the righteousness
of God. So here we see in light of the
complete ruin and the void and darkness of all men in sin, the
complete absence of all righteousness in all of the children of men,
an absence of goodness and understanding, no one seeks God in all of Adam's
seed, the great, but now, as it says in Romans 3.21, but now
the righteousness of God. is manifested. That is the great
now that's seen here in Psalm chapter 15. There is one who
abides in the presence of God. There is one who dwells in the
presence of his holy place. There is one who is approved
before the throne of God's rule. It says in Psalm 89 verse 14,
justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy
and truth shall go before thy face. There is one who can stand
in the presence of God in all of His glory, His tabernacle
on His holy hill, and that one is the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of Man, who was not born of the seed of Adam, but of the
seed of the woman. As son of man, he is one with
us in our human nature, and yet he was appointed by God and anointed
by God, and he did all that he did for his people. What did
God send him to do? Remember, he shall save his people
from their sins. And in 1 Corinthians 15, Christ
died for our sins according to the scripture. He was buried
and he rose again on the third day according to the scripture.
That's what he was sent to do. He was sent to put our sins to
death, put death to death, overcome Satan and the world, and to wash
us from our sins, to appease God with the sacrifice of Himself
to God for our sins. He was sent to establish an everlasting
righteousness, all these things He was sent to do. That was what
God appointed and anointed him to do. Why? Because there was
none on earth who could do these things. There was no righteousness
on earth. And so having completed all,
he rose, he ascended, he sat down in triumph, and was accepted
in the presence of God in all of his glory and in all of his
holiness. So the answer to the question
in Psalm 15, verse one, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
First and foremost, by himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay? But, here's the thing. Christ
acted to God, not for himself, but for his people. He acted
as our high priest, and as our surety, and as the Lamb of God,
the substitute, the second and the last Adam, the one whom the
first Adam was but a figure, And He was the captain of our
salvation by the eternal will of God, from eternity. And so
He was made like us that He might redeem us from all that held
us at a distance from God. All that we did offended God
and His justice. God had, from everlasting, loved
His people. He had chosen them in Christ.
He had predestinated them to the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself. And He would accomplish that
by sending His Son into the world, who would be the Son of Man,
who would be our near kinsman, and He would lay down His life
and shed His blood to pay the ransom price for our redemption,
our release. So what is said in this psalm
is true of him alone, but as he did not act alone in all that
he did as the Son of Man, therefore what is true of him Here it is,
it is also true of all of his seed. Just like all of Adam's
seed sinned in Adam, were condemned in Adam, and died because of
that sin in Adam, all of Christ's seed obeyed in Christ, were justified
in Christ, and so live by the Lord Jesus Christ, by his righteousness. Now, those who were chosen in
Christ before time began by the Father were also predestinated
by the Father to be His sons by adoption and to be conformed
to the image of His Son. And we are therefore the sons
of God by God's electing love and by His predestinating grace,
by that purpose of love He had for us. We are also sons of God
by the redeeming blood of Christ because it was necessary for
Christ as our Redeemer to purchase us with His blood out of that
prison, that debtor's prison that we were in because of our
sins. He paid that ransom to God for our sins. The justice
of God had to be satisfied, and that's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did. And so, since we are redeemed by the blood of Christ, what
happens in time when we're born into this world, in the experience
of our life, the time state of our own life, what happens? God
sends forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts so that we
are given this grace to know that Christ is our Redeemer and
to trust His blood. And that Spirit of God, the Spirit
of Christ, the Spirit of God's Son sent into our hearts, it
makes us the adopted sons of God in the experience of our
life. We're born of God. We're born
of God. We're created in Christ Jesus. We're translated from the kingdom
of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. And so all the
things that are said of that experience of being raised from
spiritual death to life, created in Christ Jesus, born of God,
translated, all those things correspond to the work of the
Spirit of God in us as a result of Christ's redeeming blood,
which was a result of God's electing love and predestinating love
to make us His sons by the Lord Jesus Christ, His daughters and
sons. That's why Christ came. That's
why He came. That's what He did. And He, as
our Redeemer, obtained our eternal redemption. When we read this Psalm here
then, we are reading what pleases God. What pleases God is the
work of His Son, the reason His Son did that work. He did it
in faith, He did it in love, and He did it perfectly. He believed
perfectly, He loved perfectly. And what was the love of the
Lord Jesus Christ for His people? What love, how do we know His
love? Well, it says in so many ways,
The son of God who loved me and did what? He gave himself for
me. That's love. He gave himself.
What did he hold back if he gave himself? Nothing. In fact, when
it speaks in scripture of the blood of Christ, it's referring
to the total giving of the Son of God in our nature. He gave himself. Nothing could
exceed the gift of God's Son. Someone said God, when he gave
his Son, emptied heaven. Everything in heaven was comprehended
and belonged to the Son. The Father, He was the heir of
all things. So when God gave His Son, He
gave all things. When Christ gave Himself, He
gave everything. He didn't create a world to give
that. He gave Himself. And that was
a gift that is incomprehensible. And so, the Lord Jesus Christ
as our elder brother, our eldest brother, as our second Adam,
the last Adam, he acted in all things as the captain of our
salvation. So when he speaks here of he that walketh uprightly
and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart,
this is what God loves, this is what Christ did, and him In
him doing it, he did it for his people. All that he did, he did
as a public head for them. He did not act for himself alone. He acted in accord with God's
eternal will that he was going to exalt his son to the highest
place. to reign on the throne of heaven
as the Son of God and Son of Man, and he was going to put
all things in subjection under the Son, the Son of God and the
Son of Man. And because he was the Son of
Man, he was made in fact the Son of Man because God desired
to have many sons, to bring many sons to glory. And in order to
do that, it pleased the Father to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. That was the will of God. The
will of God was for Christ to come and redeem his people. Now,
if that was the will of God, then what is the work of God?
It's the completing of that will, isn't it? The work of God is
whatever He wanted done, and who did the work? Well, we say
God, it's God's work, but in John chapter 5, Jesus said, My
Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Everything the Father
does, the Son does. In other words, God does nothing
that He doesn't do through His Son. God the Father sits on the
throne in scripture. He's always the one seated on
heaven's throne and his son is doing his father's will because
his father's will is perfectly the mind and the will and the
love and the belongings, everything that belongs to the father and
the will and love of the father is the same as the son. And he's
the perfect expressed image, it says in Hebrews chapter one,
of his father. He's the brightness of His glory. Everything true of the Father
is true of the Son in His authority, in His power, in His will, His
love, His mercy, His justice, His righteousness, His immutability,
His counsel. All those things are true of
the Father and the Son, and Jesus said so in John chapter 5. And
so what Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to do was the will
of the Father and His work was the work of God. Okay? So when
we read this, we're not surprised to see a description here of
the Lord Jesus Christ in our humanity as a man described here. Who shall abide in the tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? What is the tabernacle? That's
where God dwells. What is the holy hill? That's
where God rules. Who's going to abide in the presence
of God in all of his glory, in all of his holiness? Only the
Lord Jesus Christ, but not Him by Himself, Him with all of His
people, because He said He was made like, not only like them,
but He was one with them. He that sanctifieth, and they
who are sanctified are all of one, one in nature and one in
covenant. one in relation, they're all
one, they're all sons. God desired to have many sons
and bring them to glory and the way he would do that is through
the captain of their salvation being made perfect through sufferings
in our nature, that in our nature he might be a merciful and high
priest in things pertaining to God. Okay, so, without the Lord
Jesus Christ being made one with us in nature, our near kinsman,
and also without the Lord Jesus Christ being given the will of
God to do it, and that will being the salvation of us from our
sins, we would have no salvation. Unless it was in God's heart,
unless it pleased the Father, to have love for a people who
in their own selves and in their nature were what? Ungodly, sinners,
impotent, couldn't do anything about their condition, and in
their minds, hostile towards God. They were unreconciled in
themselves. They were not at peace with God
because in their minds and in their wicked works, they were
estranged from God. And what did God do in that case?
When we were without strength, when we were sinners, Christ
died for the ungodly. What was that? That was the will
of God, and that was the work of God, and that work was done
by the Son in our nature, the Lord Jesus Christ. So if that
is the will and the work of God, then reading verse 2 here, it
describes the one who dwells in the presence of God. He that
walketh uprightly, he that worketh righteousness, and speaks the
truth in his heart. What is this righteousness? Well,
this righteousness is the very heartbeat, really, of the gospel.
Think with me for a minute about what this righteousness is. The
righteousness that the Lord Jesus Christ worked out. Let me get
to the notes I have here so we'll be more efficient. So, to understand worketh righteousness
as it is here, we have to understand the work of Christ that He did
for His Father. The work of God that Christ was
given to do and did. What was that work? Well, I've
already alluded to it. What was the work? It was God's
will. What was the will of God? It was that Christ save His people
from their sins. By what? By doing what? How would
He save His people from their sins? Could he just wash them
with water? No, he had to give himself. Why is giving himself going to
save them from their sins? Because he himself would stand
as the surety before their judge and their governor, who had accused
them of crimes, he would stand there as their surety based on
an engagement he had previously made with his father to make
them sure to the father, just like Judah made Benjamin, his
younger brother, sure to Jacob, his father. I will be surety
for him. I will lay a solemn obligation
upon myself, Judah said to his father Jacob, to bring Benjamin
back to you or I will bear the blame forever. And Jacob entrusted
Benjamin to Judah. So the Lord Jesus Christ made
a solemn obligation of himself. He engaged from eternity and
pledged himself in covenant love for his people, but love for
his father as the mediator, taking those the father loved As it
says, Jacob's life was bound up in the life of his youngest
son, Benjamin. Those the father loved because
his Godhead, his purpose of love and grace was bound up in the
salvation of his people. And Christ would be the one who
would make that happen as the surety. He would obligate himself
in everything for them. And so when Judah stood before
Joseph as the judge, and as Christ stood before God's law and justice,
and the wrath of God. Judah said to Joseph, take me
instead of the lad, and let the lad go up free with his brethren
to his father. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
obligated himself, stood before God's justice, and he said to
God in his work, what did he do? He submitted himself He gave
himself in offering and in sacrifice. He confessed our sins on his
own head, putting our sins on himself as the high priest did
when he laid his hands on that scapegoat in Leviticus 16, 21
and 22. And he transferred our sins to
himself as the high priest and he bore them as the Lamb of God.
And so the love and the will of God the Father was that the
Lord Jesus Christ do this in submission. in obedience, in
love. The Lord loves a cheerful giver.
The Lord Jesus Christ cheerfully, for the joy that was set before
him, looked forward to giving himself for those the Father
loved and reuniting them, reconciling them, removing the barrier their
sin, their offense caused God's justice and making satisfaction
to God's justice so that just like Joseph, he loved it. when
Judah pleaded his father's love, his own surety engagements, and
then substituted himself in saying, take me, instead of the lad,
and pleaded for the redemption of Benjamin by his own suretyship
offering of himself. He gave the answer to Joseph
of himself. So Christ gave his own self in
answer to God for our sins. And He obtained our redemption,
our eternal redemption. He entered into the holy place,
offering His blood in the presence of God, in the tabernacle of
God, where God dwells between the cherubims above the mercy
seat. He offered His blood in the presence of God in glory.
And He obtained our eternal redemption, and we were released. We were
justified. We were declared to be righteous. And what righteousness did He
work out in doing this? an everlasting righteousness.
It's super abounded in the fulfillment of God's law. Where in the law
did it ever require a man to give himself, to pledge himself
to his own hurt for his enemies? Remember what Jesus said in Matthew
chapter 5. I want to read this to you. In
Matthew chapter 5 and verse 43. Notice in the Sermon on the Mount.
He predicts what he's going to do. He says in Matthew 5.43,
you have heard that it has been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor
and hate thine enemy. That sounds fair. I can handle
that. People who do good to me, I can probably find it in my
heart to do good to them. They're my neighbor, but not
my enemy. That's too much of a demand. He says, but I say
unto you, Matthew 5.44, Love your enemies. Bless them that
curse you. Do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Notice
what he says, that you may be the children of your father which
is in heaven, for he makes his son to rise on the evil and on
the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you
love them which love you, What reward have you? Do not even
the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren
only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Now think about
this. Who's talking here? The Lord Jesus Christ. Who is
he? He's the master. Who is he speaking
to? His disciples. What is he describing? What he requires. The righteousness
that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
If the master is teaching this, what does that mean about the
master? It means he's done. He's not a hypocrite. He doesn't
say and not do. He fulfilled this. And what was
the fulfillment of this? When he gave himself for the
sheep, he laid down his life. He loved the church and gave
himself for it. Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures. In the volume of the book it
is written of me to do thy will, O God. It must be about my father's
business. My meat and drink is to do the
will of him that sent me and to finish his work. And this
is the will of him that sent me. That all who see the Son
and believe on Him should have everlasting life and I should
raise Him up at the last day. All these things were accomplished
when Christ gave Himself because there was nothing else that could
exceed or fulfill God's righteousness. It was His work. His righteousness
was worked out in the offering up of the Lord Jesus Christ when
He offered Himself in sacrifice with our sins to satisfy, to
propitiate God, to appease His wrath, to take our sins away
as far as the east is from the west, so that God has blotted
out our sins in the blood of His Son. reconciled us in the
death of his son, made propitiation. His son is the propitiation for
our sins. He is called in 1 John 2, in
verse 1 and 2, Christ Jesus the righteous. So who is he that
shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who is he that shall dwell in
thy holy hill? He that walks uprightly and worketh
righteousness. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
What is that righteousness? It's the covering of Christ's
obedience in submission to his Father to give himself for our
sins. His obedience was the putting
away of our sins and the establishing of our righteousness because
what he did is counted ours because he stood for us as our surety,
our substitute, our second, the second Adam, and the last Adam.
All who are his did what he did. They have his righteousness.
The king and the bridegroom are dressed in the same beautiful
garments of salvation and righteousness. And this is what the Lord is
talking about here. The Lord Jesus Christ alone,
but not alone by himself. He did these things. He satisfied
God. He established God's righteousness
and making it known when he gave himself for our sins. And this
is what the book of Romans is about. After verse 20, he talks
about the righteousness of God fulfilled in his son, the work
of God worked out and God's own character. God's own purpose. How do we know what He loves? He loves the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ who gave Himself for His enemies, those who despitefully
used, who persecuted, who hated Him and hated His Father. And
He came to those and He laid His life down and prayed for
them. and actually put their sins away and brought them to
God and made them not only taking away the wrath but established
them as God's sons and sent his own spirit into their hearts
so they would know it and praise God for it. And so what we see
in Psalm 14 and Psalm 15 is first the context of our dark black
a void, an emptiness of our condition. There's nothing there. Believe
me, there's nothing in you ever to find. Paul said it this way,
not having my own righteousness. It's filthy rags, it's dung,
it's revolting, it's nauseating, it's reprehensible. To think
of that would be to consider that my righteousness is somehow
comparable to the blood and offering of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
a horrible thought. What a horrible way of coming
to God. And that's the way every proud,
natural heart of man comes. We want to do something to get
approval from God. God says it's revolting. It's
hateful. Get rid of it. Throw it out.
It's nothing but dung. It's nothing but filthy rags.
I don't want to see it. I won't have it. There's only
one thing that pleases God. It's His Son. And all He did
it for are righteous in his son. That's the clothing God put on
Adam and Eve. That's the offering Abel offered.
That's what God required in the Passover. It was the pitch and
the arc, the atonement, and Noah's family was saved. Everything
comes down to this in scripture. It's the blood of the Lamb. Now,
Psalm 15 and verse 3. Notice, He says, he that backbiteth not
with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up
a reproach against his neighbor. Let me read these words to you.
You can read this in the crucifixion of Christ, if you want to, how
they treated him. It was cruel. It was unjust. It was merciless. They knew that God was afflicting
him and they jumped on his back, as it were, and they added their
own reproaches to it. But notice what he says here
in 1 Peter chapter 2. He says, what, and this is 1
Peter 2, verse 20, what glory is it if when you be buffeted
for your faults, you take it patiently? If you did something
wrong, if you told a lie, or you cheated somebody, or you
took someone's property, or you claimed you could do something
you couldn't do, and someone calls you on it, and you go,
yeah, you're right. You haven't done anything noteworthy
there. It was your fault. If you take
that patiently, what good is that? But if when you do well
and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable
with God. Now, isn't that exactly what
the Lord Jesus did? Notice he says in verse 21, "...for
even hereunto were you called, because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving as an example that you should follow his steps."
This is the law of Christ, isn't it? He says, "...bear ye one
another's burdens." Isn't that what he did? He stood in the
place of the guilty. He bore their burdens. "...bear
ye one another's burdens." Remember to forgive one another, even
as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. All these things
are just speaking to the fact, remember what it says in Philippians
2, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross for those who were much lower than him, who were filthy
and reprehensible, and yet he stooped lower by taking their
sins. Now, read it in that context.
Even here unto where you called. because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps,
who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who, now
he didn't do anything wrong, and yet, notice what happened,
when he was reviled, why would they revile him? Because his
goodness exposed their wickedness and made them look so bad, and
they hated that and they wanted to kill him for it. They were
offended at God's goodness. The Apostle Paul said the law
makes our sin appear exceedingly sinful. The cross makes our sin
appear exceedingly, exceedingly sinful, doesn't it? So when he
was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. But he committed himself to him
that judges righteously. Who? Here it is. Here's what
he did. Here's God's righteousness on display. Here's our righteousness
in him. who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree that we, being dead to sins, should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. All
right, you see that? So here we see he didn't speak
evil against his neighbor. He took it. I give my back to
the smiters. I give my cheeks to those who
pluck off the hair. I did not hide my face from shame
and spitting. That was an active obedience,
wasn't it? He put himself right in harm's
way. Notice it says in Psalm 15. He
says, after verse three and verse four,
in whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoreth them
that fear the Lord, he that sweareth to his own hurt and changes not. Isn't that exactly what the surety
did? In that engagement from eternity with His Father, I obligate
myself, I pledge myself to stand for them, to bring them back
again. I will do everything necessary to make that happen, and if I
don't, I'll bear the blame forever. He swore to His own hurt, and
He did not change. He set His face like a flint.
For the joy that was set before Him, what did He do? He endured
the cross. And so you see that here. He
swore to his own hurt. But notice in verse 4, "...in
whose eyes a vile person is contemned." The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
compromise justice. Remember what he said about Judas?
It had been better for him if he had never been born. And that's
chilling, isn't it? And what did he say to Herod?
Tell that fox that I'm going to do this and that and the third
day I'll be glorified. And so he said to all those who
opposed his salvation of his people, who put themselves between
him and the will of God to do it for his people, to magnify
God's grace to the unworthy sinner and save that sinner, and these
who opposed that were left to the justice of God in their own
filthy rags righteousness. And so he says here, in whose
eyes a vile person is condemned, why wouldn't he? He's the son
of God, he loves righteousness, he hates iniquity. God has chosen
us to salvation, but God is not obligated to choose anyone. If
God gives us from eternity, if he determines to give us what
we deserve to stand before him and answer for ourself, is there
any injustice in that? That's what the angels got, stand
before the Lord and give an answer for yourself. Do you want that? Of course not. But that's what
the natural heart of man wants all the time. I just want to
do it my way. I want my contribution to count.
I want my will to count. I want my decision to count.
I don't want God to be sovereign in salvation. You better have
a sovereign God in salvation or you're lost. You won't be
able to be saved unless God does it for his own sake. I have blotted
out your sins for mine own sake. Remember Isaiah 43, 25? So here
the Lord has to save us for his namesake and because he has pledged
himself to do that, to his own hurt, God obligated himself to
satisfy his own justice and fulfill his own righteousness. For those
who had offended Him, that's the heart of the Father and the
Son, that's the work of the Father and the Son, that's the righteousness
of God made known, and that is the righteousness established
in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who knew no sin was
made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. That's the righteousness God
desires. That's what delights him. He that does these things
will dwell in the tabernacle. And then in verse five, it says,
he that puteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against
the innocent, he that doeth these things shall never be moved.
Christ did all that he did. He emptied himself. He didn't
need anything. There's only one thing that compelled
him. pure love, grace, and holiness, pure righteousness, truth, and
justice, all the things that were in His heart as they are
in the Father's heart, He did all these things because He was
compelled to do it. So He didn't give in order to
get anything. Remember what He says in John
17? Take a look at this, John 17. He didn't do anything to get
something for himself in that sense. Not for a reward from
us, not a payback from us. We love people because they can
provide us a benefit. Don't we? I love my wife, but
my wife loves me. And that's why. If she didn't
love me, I don't know if I would love her. I'm sorry. I mean,
maybe I would. Let's not go there. John chapter
17. Jesus spoke these words. He lifted
up His eyes to heaven, and He said, Father, the hour has come.
Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee, as Thou
hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal
life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. Do we now know God? Do we see
Him in the work of the Son, in the words of the Son, in the
attitude, in the humility of the Son, in the righteousness
of the Son? Do we see Him loving God's will and giving Himself
to His own hurt in order to save those who were the most unworthy
and to bring them to glory and set them on His own throne to
be joint heirs with the Son of God and the Son of Man? Do we
see love there? Do we know God the Father here
in this? Jesus said, he that seeth me seeth the Father that
sent me. Anyway, he says, notice in verse four, a powerful verse,
I have glorified thee on the earth, and he's the only one
who did, I have finished the work. which thou gavest me to
do. There's God's righteousness established. Now notice verse five. And now,
O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was. He didn't need
anything. He had the glory of the Father
with the Father before the world was. He did this out of a heart
that is a cheerful giver. A tearful giver. He wanted this.
Remember what he told the woman at the well? Give me to drink.
And what was the thing that delighted him? When she drank of him. Remember the woman who touched
the hem of his garment? What did he say? Who did this?
And she's trembling and fearing and he says, he turns around
and he says, the issue of your blood is stopped. Because He
took delight in His people finding their salvation in Him, drawing
it from Him. No charge, no interest, no usury. He didn't loan His money out,
as it were. He gave it freely. Look at a
couple verses, and then we'll close. Look at Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55, I like this, it conjures
up a picture of the Lord of Glory standing and stooping to the
place of a street vendor, crying out to us in our foolishness. He says, Ho everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, I'm not going
to loan you money for usury. Notice, he that hath no money,
come ye, buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money
and without price. It's free because someone else
paid, the Lord Jesus Christ, with his own blood. Don't even
think of adding to that. He says in verse 2, Wherefore
do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your
labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently to me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear, this is how
you drink, incline your ear, open up the mouth of your ear,
and come unto me and hear, and your soul shall live. Now look
also at Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon. I like this
verse. It's recently become something
I've referred to many times in things that I've written down,
and so it's become familiar. Song of Solomon. Look at the
last part of chapter 5, verse 1. Chapter 5, verse 1. He says, I'll read the whole
verse. I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse. And you
understand that the song of Solomon is the Lord Jesus Christ talking
to his church, his bride, his spouse. My sister, because we're
children of God like he is. My spouse, because he married
us, he gave himself for us. He says, I am come into my garden,
my sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with
my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. That reminds me of Samson after
he overthrew the lion. I came back later and there was
honey in the carcass of the lion. I've eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk. And then he says
this to all of his people. Eat, oh friends, drink, yea,
drink abundantly, oh beloved. You see what he wants? The Lord
Jesus Christ did all that he did. because he loved to see
his people saved by his own blood and his father glorified and
his people brought again to his father free with his brethren,
made children of God, made to see the Lord in all of his glory
in his own work. And that's the gospel he commanded
to be preached throughout this world. Let's pray. Father, thank
you for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one that we trust.
We trust that you have received him, that he has fulfilled your
will and magnified your name and your law. He has made known
your righteousness and you have arranged it so that we were chosen
in him and put in him so that all he did would be credited
to our account. one with Him, brought into union
with Him in eternal election, brought into union with Him by
Him coming in our nature and going to the cross and doing
everything in our name to save us from our sins, and brought
into union with Him in time when the Spirit of God, the Spirit
of Christ, the Spirit of your Son brings us to Christ and baptizes
us into the Lord Jesus Christ when he immerses us in him and
joins us to him so that we become members of his body and of his
bones and of his flesh. Christ dwells in us and we in
him and he dwells in the Father and the Father dwells in him
And we pray, Lord, that as He stands in Your presence, so also
we, by His precious blood, would have boldness to come into the
presence of God through the blood of Jesus alone. Knowing that
His blood is all-sufficient, there's nothing else needed,
and so let us come by Him alone. We pray, Lord, that You would
bless Your word to Your people, and You would increase their
faith, and You would strengthen them in this building that You
call Your temple, Your body, that they would be edified by
your word, pointing them to the Lord Jesus Christ, away from
themselves. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.