And if you'll turn in your Bibles
to Psalm 85. Psalm 85. This is a Psalm celebrating the
Lord's power and the Lord's mercies towards his people. Probably
written after the people of Judah and Jerusalem were brought out
of captivity from Babylon. You remember that happened around
500 some years before Christ. Jeremiah the prophet, and Isaiah
even 100 years before that, spoke of that captivity which was God's
judgment on those people for breaking the law, for their idolatry,
their indifference. And of course, I've explained
about that old covenant. The old covenant was not a covenant
of salvation. And we need to understand that.
The old covenant was the law of Moses given to Israel, the
Hebrew children at that time, they weren't called Israel at
that time, from Mount Sinai, gave it to Moses, and it lasted
about 1,500 years up until the time of the cross. And that covenant
was a conditional covenant towards that nation as they dwelt in
the promised land, and it was a as I call a bilateral covenant. It was between two persons, the
Lord God and the people of Israel, the Hebrew children, wherein
God conditioned their blessedness and continuance in that land
upon their obedience, and of course they failed. But so would
we. And that's what we need to understand.
The law of Moses was not given to that nation as a way of salvation. In fact, when they sought salvation
by their law-keeping, God said it was idolatry. Read Romans
chapter 9, you remember he said Israel sought after righteousness
but they didn't find it. Why? Because they sought it by
works of the law and they didn't seek it by faith. Now how do
you seek righteousness by faith? By looking to Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith, looking to Christ for righteousness.
We don't look to ourselves for righteousness. We don't have
any. There's none righteous, no, not one. We don't look to
others, our church, or our brethren, our preacher, or whoever, because
there's none righteous, no, not one. We look to Christ and him
alone. Romans 10, four, for Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
So when we read passages of scripture like this, Psalm 85, this is
a messianic psalm. We have to look at it, as one
old preacher said, bifocally. As it pertained to the nation,
that physical nation, whom God had sent into captivity in Babylon
for 70 years, as it pertained to them, it was a temporal, physical,
ceremonial, temporary covenant that could not bring salvation.
But God gave him that covenant for his purposes. And you know
what the main purpose was? To keep that nation, especially
the tribe of Judah, the Southern Kingdom Judah, especially to
keep them together because Christ, the Messiah, was going to come
through them as to his humanity. The scepter would not depart
from Judah until Shiloh come. And you've heard me say that
so many times and you men have preached it too. Christ was set
by the Father before the foundation of the world to come in his humanity,
his human nature through that nation. And when he would come,
he would fulfill it and abolish it. Remember when he died, what
happened in the temple? The veil was torn in two from
top to bottom, indicating that old covenant was over. But now
there are blessings of salvation that are spoken of here in Psalm
85 that only pertain to God's true people, believers, both
Jew and Gentile, which are called in the New Testament, spiritual
Israel. Do you know if you're a believer,
you're an Israelite, not physically. You may be physically, I don't
know if you're, you may be a Jew physically, but ethnically, but
if you're a believer, you're a child of God, you're a spiritual
Jew, a spiritual Israelite. And you remember Paul said it
in Romans 2, 28, 29, he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly
in circumcision that of the flesh, but he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart. What is circumcision
of the heart? You know what it is? It's the
new birth. That's when God takes away the stony heart, the unbelieving
heart, Ezekiel 36, you remember? And He replaces it with a heart
of flesh, not sinful flesh in that sense, but that's pliable,
that will bow to Him, believe Him, rest in Him. Are you resting
in Christ? Is Christ your Sabbath? If He's
not, He ought to be. You see, our Sabbath under the
New Covenant is not a day. Sunday's not the Sabbath. Sunday's
the Lord's Day that we meet to worship Him as a collective body
of believers. But Christ is our Sabbath. How
do you know that? We rest spiritually and eternally
in Him. Read Hebrews chapter four. It
tells you all about it. Christ is our Sabbath. Are you
resting in Christ for salvation or are you trying to work your
way there? That's the difference. Because trying to work your way
there is idolatry. And you know why it's idolatry?
It's because if you're trying to work your way into God's favor,
you will find some way to concoct in your mind a God who will accept
that and he's not the God of the Bible. I'm telling you the
truth. Well, look what he says in Psalm
85. Look at verse one. Lord, thou hast been favorable
unto thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity
of Jacob. Physically speaking, that pertains
to the Hebrew children, the children of Israel. in captivity, he brought
them out of captivity. Remember Jeremiah said he's going
to bring into captivity and Jeremiah, some people say Jeremiah was
a defeatist because Jeremiah, you know what he told the people?
He said we're going into captivity, we deserve it, accept it, we've
sinned against the Lord and he's going to bring his punishment
but he said you're only going to be there 70 years And that was the completion of
it. Excuse me again. Gonna be there
70 years. And at the end of the 70, and
that's Daniel, he was prophesying there. Ezekiel prophesied there. But anyway, the Lord brought
him out of captivity, and that's what he's talking about. The
Lord's been favorable. Now he was favorable to the Israelites,
the physical nation, in a temporal, ceremonial, temporary way. but it didn't last. Read the
minor prophets. When Israel came back out of
Babylon and got back into their land, were they obedient to God? No. They're sinners, like all
of us. And I always tell people, I said,
now don't look back on the Old Testament and see the rebellion
of Israel and then get puffed up and say, well, I wouldn't
have done that. Yeah, you would have. If God leaves us alone,
that's all we'll be. Rebels, enmity against God. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. What does that mean? That means we missed
the mark. We can try to be the best people we ought to be. Now,
let me say this. We ought to try to be the best
people that we ought to be. Every one of us. We ought to
be engaged in being the best. I ought to be the best preacher,
the best pastor, the best husband, the best father, best grandfather,
all the best brother, everything. That's what I ought to strive
to be. But when I do the best at striving to be all those things,
that still doesn't save me. That still doesn't make me righteous
in God's sight. That does not cleanse me from
my sins. Only the blood of Jesus Christ
will cleanse me from my sins. Only His righteousness imputed
to me, accounted to me, will justify me before Holy God. It's
all Christ. He's all and in all. So when
He brought him out of that land, now, how does that pertain to
spiritual Israel? Well, He brought us out of the
captivity of sin and Satan and the law. That's what Christ did
when He died on the cross. He conquered all of our enemies,
the flesh, All of it. He made salvation not a possibility,
but a surety. And he conquered all of our enemies.
He brought us out of the captivity to darkness, of unbelief, brought
us to faith in Christ. Look at verse two. Thou hast
forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Thou hast covered all
their sin. Now, as that pertained to the
physical nation, That had to do with the blood of bulls and
goats taken from the altar and taken by the high priest into
the holiest of all. And again, that was temporal.
Actually, the blood of bulls and goats could never really
take away sin, but it gave them a temporary reprieve ceremonially
so that God used them for his purposes. But you know, the book
of Hebrews tells us the blood of bulls and goats can't take
away sin. And when they came to think that it did, they were
in idolatry. The blood of bulls and goats
was a picture, a type, a prophecy of one who would become, who
could and did take away sin, the Lamb of God. And that's what
they were to look forward to for eternal salvation. And that's
what we who are saved by the grace of God do. We're forgiven
of our iniquity. David in Psalm 32, he said, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. You know what that
means? That means God does not charge his people with the demerit
of their sin. Romans 8, 34, anybody know what
it says? It says, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? what it says. Who are the elect? Those whom God chose before the
foundation of the world and gave to Christ, put all the responsibility
of their salvation upon Him, laid their sins upon Him. He
bore our iniquities, the scripture says. He was chastised for our
rebellion. The chastisement of our peace
was laid upon Him. He's the just who suffered for
the unjust. He did it all in my place. That's what the scripture said.
And he covered that sin. Now what does that mean? Doesn't
mean he covered over it just to hide it. We try to do that,
don't we? But it means he covered it with
the blood of Christ just to satisfy. The debt is paid. And so he says
in verse three, thou hast taken away all thy wrath, thou hast
turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. It was a temporary
thing with the Hebrew children, with Israel, because later on
God did bring his wrath down upon them. But to the true people
of God, the spiritual Israel, the church, the collective body
of sinners saved by grace, believers, there is no wrath. That's right. There is no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died, it's Christ that rose again and is seated at the right
hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us.
We cannot be condemned. And that's applied to our conscience
in the new birth. You see, when God, the Holy Spirit,
gives us life and brings us to faith in Christ, Our conscience
is sprinkled, the scripture says, by the blood of Christ. And that's
the spiritual application of the knowledge of the truth that
Christ's death keeps me out from under the wrath of God that I
deserve and that I've earned. You understand that? Well, look
at verse four. Turn us, O God, of our salvation
and cause thine anger toward us to cease. There were times
in the life of that nation where they were obedient to God in
the sense of the king of the southern, the kings of the northern
kingdom, none of them were good kings, but the kings of the southern
kingdom, some of them were, and they led the people in obedience
to the law of God in the sense of keeping those commandments,
not keeping just the Ten Commandments, because that's a law that condemns
us all, but keeping the ceremonies and all of that, But it didn't
last because they always turned, think about this, when they were
brought back out of captivity, I think it was somewhere around
400 and some years later that Christ came. Well, think about
what the state of the nation was when Christ came. It was
awful. They didn't have a king from
Judah, it was an Indian king. Herod and the people were in
rebellion, they didn't know the truth at all, they rejected the
truth. But when it comes to God's true
people, Jew and Gentile, He turns us and brings us to Christ and
causes us to look to Him, turns us to Christ and turns us away
from self. That's what He does. That's the
God-given gifts of faith in Christ and repentance of dead work.
Look at verse five. Wilt thou be angry with us forever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger
to all generations? How are you going to answer that
question? Well, look at verse six. Wilt thou not revive us
again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? And then they say, show
us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. Now that's
what we need. We need not a salvation that
men and women concoct. We need God's salvation, the
way that he plans and purposes and provides. And that's what
I want. And I believe that's what you
want. Well, how am I going to know if I'm part of this number
to whom God has granted his salvation. Now here's the key, look at verse
eight. I will hear what God the Lord will speak. That's what
we need. I don't need to hear, in this
sense now, we hear from preachers, and there's nothing wrong with
that. If please God by the foolishness of preaching, then that come
unto him. We need preachers. That's what
the scripture says. God has appointed that means. Men preaching the gospel, people
witnessing the gospel, and he gives ears to hear and eyes to
see. But we don't need men preaching their own ideas, their own opinions,
their own ways. Because if you do, all you're
hearing is a lie. lie upon lie. We need men preaching
God's way, God's salvation. What is his way of salvation? And look what he says here in
verse eight. He says, I will hear what God the Lord will speak
for he will speak peace unto his people and to his saints. Now there's one in the same,
his people and his saints. What is a saint? It's not somebody
that the Pope over there canonizes and does all that. That's false.
A saint is a sinner saved by grace. If you're a believer,
you're a saint. Granted, you may not act like
a saint all the time, but that's what you are. You're set apart.
That's what that means, sanctified. You're set apart by God. You
were set apart by God before the foundation of the world.
Your name, the Bible says, if you're a believer now, your name
was written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation
of the world. You were set apart in God's mind
in your justification. That's an imminent reality in
the mind of God, whereby He has imputed my sins to Christ, my
sin debt was charged to Christ, and imputed His righteousness
to me. I stand before God righteous, not by my works, but by Christ's
work, His obedience unto death. And that's why he arose again.
He finished the work. He paid the debt. He put away
my sins. If he hadn't done that, he couldn't
have come out of the grave. Sin demands death. He had to
conquer it. Righteousness demands life. He
had to bring it. And so, when he died on the cross,
I was sanctified. The Bible says in Hebrews 10
and verse 14, for by one offering, he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. And then we were set apart and
made saints in the sense of the new birth, when God brings us
out of darkness, out of fellowship with the world, and into the
kingdom of God, the kingdom of light, the church. That's what
he does. And so we're saints by the grace
of God. And he says, but let them not
turn again to folly. Now the people of Israel turned
again to folly. but the people of God's spiritual
kingdom, that covenant of grace, we won't turn again to folly.
Now let me say this before you go off thinking something is
wrong. Can a child of God act foolishly
sometimes? Yes. Yes, you can, I can. We all can. But we will not fall
away from Christ to perdition, to destruction. We will not totally
forsake Christ because he'll keep us. We persevere in the
faith. And the reason we do is because
he preserves us in the faith. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. Notice that Paul didn't
say, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that I'm able.
No, he is able. to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. And what have I committed unto
Him? My whole salvation is committed to Christ. Not to me, but to
Christ. You see that? So let us not turn
again to folly. But he says, I love this. He
says, I'll hear what God the Lord will speak. He'll speak
peace unto His people. Now, speaking peace. Let's talk
about that for a minute. I want you to turn back to Genesis
chapter three. You know what the story of Genesis
chapter three is, the story of the fall. And the point that
I want to make here is this. Many people, I'll even say most
people, speak peace to themselves and to other people when there
is no peace. You understand what I'm saying?
Now what we're talking about is the peace that God gives in
salvation. Peace between God and His people.
And many people claim salvation and a right relationship with
God based on things that God forbids. How do you know you're saved?
What gives you assurance of salvation? Oh, I know I'm saved because
I made a profession when I was 12. Where do you find that in
the Bible? Where do you find that in God's
word? Oh, I know I'm saved because I was baptized. Is that what
baptism is about and according to God's word? No. Baptism is
not what saves you. Baptism is a believer's confession
of Christ by the grace of God who saved me. That's what baptism
is. We identify with him publicly.
We confess publicly that when he died, I died. He's my representative. He's my surety. He's my substitute.
He's my redeemer. He's my keeper. When he died,
I died. When he was buried, I was buried.
That's why we go down into the water. It's not by sprinkling
or pouring. And when we come up out of the
water, when he arose, we arose. You see what I'm saying? Some
people say, well, I know I was saved because I had a great change
of character and conduct. I was a drunk and I quit drinking.
I was a drug addict and I quit taking drugs. I was a rounder
and I quit going around, whatever they do. Well, my friend, I'm glad that
drunks quit drinking, I am. I'm glad that drug people quit
taking drugs, but that's not salvation. You know, Satan can
counterfeit every bit of that. Is that what God's word says? I want God the Lord to speak
peace to me. You understand? Now, mama may
speak peace to you. Grandma may speak peace to you.
But if their speaking peace is not based upon what God says,
what good is gonna do you? Look at chapter three of Genesis,
verse one. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he
said unto the woman, yea, hath God said, you shall not eat of
every tree of the garden. Is this what God says? Now what's
happening here? What he's doing, the first thing
that he's doing is bringing into question the word of God. Hath
God said. Verse two. And the woman said
unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of
the garden. But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the
midst of the garden, God said, said, you shall not eat of it,
neither shall you touch it lest you die. And the serpent said
unto the woman, you shall not surely die." God's wrong. You're
okay, Eve. God's not going to, you shall
not surely die. For God doth know that in the
day you eat thereof, then your eyes will be opened, you'll be
as God's knowing good and evil. What that means is you'll be
able to set your own standard of good and evil. It's like false
preachers today. false believers. They set their
own standard of what it means to be saved and what it means
to be lost and they won't listen to what God said. You know what the title of Satan's
message is here? Peace, peace when there is no
peace. God's wrong. Well let me show you some scripture.
I don't care about that, I just, I know. You ever had people do
that? I have. What about this verse? I don't care about that, I just
know what I experienced. It was real to me. Well, let
me tell you something, folks. Hell is real, but I don't want
to go there. The reality of your experience
cannot be the basis of your peace. The only reality of your peace
with God must come from what God the Lord speaks. Jeremiah the prophet, he spoke
twice of false preachers, false prophets in his day, and the
very thing that he said they do is they speak peace when there
is no peace. That's in Jeremiah 6 and Jeremiah
8. Isaiah spoke of it in Isaiah
28. Speaking of the religious leaders of the people who were
telling them lies, telling them that when the overflowing scourge
comes, the wrath of God, we're going to be fine, everything's
fine. Don't listen to Jeremiah, he's a prophet of doom, he's
a burden to us. You know, that's why they called
Jeremiah the burden of the Lord because when he told them what
he told them was the truth and they didn't like it. He's like the woman who told
me one time, going out the back, she said, you don't ever have
anything good to say about us. I told her this, I said, yeah,
but I have a lot of good to say about Christ. And if he's your
hope, you'll like that. You will. When God speaks peace, it's true
peace. Look over at Hebrews chapter
four with me. I want you to see that this is a verse a passage
of scripture that ought to scare us to death if we're not looking
to Christ for salvation. It's Hebrews 4 and verse 12. Now, when I look at you or you
look at me and I receive you as a brother or a sister in Christ,
I'm doing so, why? Because of your testimony of
the gospel. And if you tell me that what
you believe is something other than the true gospel in the word,
then I cannot receive you as a brother or sister. And I know
that makes some people mad, but I'm sorry. I'm not going to dishonor
my heavenly father in order to gain your approval. If you don't
believe the true gospel, the gospel is called the gospel of
peace, peace between God and sinners. And if you tell me that
your peace with God is based on anything but the blood and
righteousness of Christ, I don't receive you as a brother or a
sister. I love you, and I pray for you. I pray that the Lord
will save you, will bring you to a knowledge of the truth,
and that's what I'm gonna preach to you. But look here in verse
12 of Hebrews 4, for the word of God is quick. Now the word quick there means
life-giving, and it's powerful. and it's sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and
of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Woo. You know what that means, don't
you? That means God not only looks on the outward countenance,
he sees the thoughts, the motives, the intents. He not only hears
what we say, he sees what we think. That's something, isn't
it? And right after that, here's
what he says in verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. knowing how God looks at me and
sees me in my very thoughts and motives. And listen, folks, my
thoughts and motives aren't always pure. I was reading a story about a
guy who says, now, if there's anybody in this audience who
doesn't have a pure heart, pure thoughts, leave. And I said,
well, we all ought to just take off. A pure heart is one cleansed
by the blood of Jesus Christ. Doesn't mean you're not gonna
have impure thoughts, evil thoughts sometimes, but it's cleansed
by the blood of Christ. And God tells us to those who
are cleansed by the blood of Christ who believe in him, he
won't lay that to your charge. I had a fella tell me one time,
he said, well, that means I can just go sin as much as I want to.
Well, go and do what you want to. But that's not a believer. That's a false professor. And
he says in verse 15, we have not an high priest which cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmity. But was in all
points tempted as we are yet without sin, let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace. Now think about that.
God who sees my inner thoughts, you know, I can come boldly to
his throne that we may obtain mercy and find grace in time
of need, to help in time of need. Yes, we can come boldly on one
ground, the blood and righteousness of Christ. Grace, God be gracious,
be merciful unto me, the sinner. Go back to Psalm 85, our text. I wanna hear what God will speak.
Now listen to what he speaks here. Look at verse nine. You see, this whole thing is
lined up with the gospel. The good news of how God saves
sinners, His salvation, His way, not ours, but His. And what we
pray is that our way becomes His, is submitted to Him. Well,
here it is. Surely His salvation is nigh
or near them that fear Him. Verse nine, that fear there is
worship, respect, awesomeness, that glory may dwell in our land.
Listen to what he says. This is gospel language. Verse
10, mercy and truth are met together. That begs the question that comes
in line with the gospel. How can a holy and just and righteous
God, who must always deal in strict righteousness and justice,
he cannot pervert his justice to save me or you? He must be
just. When God condemns a sinner to
hell, he must be just in doing so. But when God saves a sinner
from hell, he must be just in doing so. And the truth of it
is, I'm a sinner. And I don't deserve the least
of God's blessings. I don't deserve salvation. I
don't deserve or I have not earned anything by way of blessing from
God. Nothing. If God ever, right now,
if he gave me what I've deserved and what I earned, it would be
damnation. So how can a God like that look
at me and be just and save me in mercy and grace? Well, he
says it this way, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. God has devised a way that mercy
can be shown and yet the truth not be denied about my sinfulness. He can have mercy upon me and
be just in doing so. He can see me as righteous and
still accept me in Christ. Righteousness, that's justice.
and peace. How can I be at peace with God
and He be just and not give me what I deserve? He can only do
it through Christ and listen to what He says in verse 11.
Here it is. Truth shall spring out of the
earth. Now how can truth spring out of the earth? That's Christ
in His humanity coming out of the earth. And it says, and righteousness
shall look down from heaven. That's Christ in His deity coming
down from heaven. The God-man. That's how God can
save me and still be just. He gave to Christ what I deserve
and what I've earned. And he gave to me what Christ
deserved and what he earned. That's called grace. Mercy. As sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord, Romans 5 21. Verse 12, yea, the Lord shall
give that which is good and our land shall yield her increase.
That had a temporary application to Israel, but it didn't stay.
But boy, it has an eternal application to the people of God. Righteousness,
look at verse 13. Righteousness shall go before
him and shall set us in the way of his step." Now how can righteousness
go before me and set me up in my step? Looking unto Jesus the
author and finisher of my faith. Isaiah 32 verse 15 says, righteousness
brings peace. Who's righteousness? Christ.
Christ's righteousness. shall be in perfect peace whose
mind is stayed on thee." Isaiah 26. Your mind must be staged,
that is, is set on Jesus Christ. We have a fixation as believers,
my heart is fixed on Christ. Listen to this, Romans 14, 17,
for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Romans 15, 12, Isaiah
said, there shall be a root out of Jesse, that's Christ, and
he shall rise and reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the
Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing, believing what? Believing in
Christ, resting in Christ, that you may abound in hope through
the power of the Holy Ghost. Now that's what God the Lord
speaks. Look unto me and be ye saved
all the ends of the earth. Look unto him. This is the work
of God that you believe in the Son, in him whom God has sent.
That's what God the Lord speaks. That's his way of salvation through
the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. And it's my prayer
that we all are fixed by God upon him whom to know his life
returns.