Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us, and
I hope this program, the message, will be a blessing to you as
we continue to study through the scriptures the Bible, which
is God's verbally inspired, inerrant word. And one of the things that
I like to do quite often on this program and as I preach at our
church and elsewhere is to go back to the Old Testament and
see how Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the salvation that
God freely and fully provides His people in Christ is revealed
in the Old Testament Scriptures. And today I want us to look at
Psalm 85, the 85th Psalm, and the title of the message is taken
from verse eight. I'm gonna look at the whole Psalm
But verse eight, it says, I will hear what God the Lord will speak. For he will speak peace unto
his people and to his saints, but let them not turn again to
folly. And the title of the message
is When the Lord Speaks Peace. when the Lord speaks peace. Now, before I get into this scripture,
and I may do it in one message, it may take two, but what I want
you to see, and this is something that I believe every true believer
needs to learn, and if you're serious at all about studying
the Bible, it is really a vital point And that's this, this whole
book, from Genesis to Revelation, is a book of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every book of the Bible, Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, all the way up in the Old Testament, and
then Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all the way up through
Revelation in the New Testament. It's not just a history book,
though there's history in this book. It's not a book of science,
But it adheres to science and the way we view things. Now,
some people will argue that. I'm not going to get into that
today. But it's a book of Christ. And it's a revelation of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is God in human flesh, God-man. That's
who He is. God manifest in the flesh. And the great salvation that
He has fully and freely provided for His people whom God gave
Him before the foundation of the world, and Christ came to
save them from their sins. And that's what this book is
about, how He came to die on the cross and satisfy the justice,
the law of God on their behalf as their surety, as their substitute,
as their redeemer. And so it is salvation through
Christ who is God manifest in the flesh, God-man, every bit
God, and every bit man except no sin in him. And so it is a
book of God, Lord Jesus Christ, who is God manifest in the flesh,
God-man, who secured and ensures the salvation of his people by
his death on the cross to establish righteousness for his people. and righteousness in the Bible
is perfect satisfaction to the justice of God. Now, again, before
we go to Psalm 85, I'll show you a scripture that proves what
I'm saying to you, and that's when Christ, after he had gone
through the ordeal of the cross, he died, he was buried, he arose
again the third day, his death, burial, and resurrection, And
he walked the earth for a little while before he ascended into
glory, into his father's acceptance and care, and where he sat down
at the right hand of the father. And before he did that, he sat
down with his disciples. And he says, look at, this is
in Luke chapter 24 and verse 44. And it says here, and he
said unto them, These are the words which I spoke unto you
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled."
Now listen to this, all things must be fulfilled, which were
written in the Law of Moses. Now that's a way of referring
to what some scholars call the Pentateuch, which is the first
five books of the Old Testament. The Law of Moses, Moses was the
human instrument that God used to do that. And so it says, all
things which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets,
and Moses himself was a prophet, and then other prophets, you
can think about the prophetic books like Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, all those, and in the Psalms, those are the poetic
books, which would include the passage where our text is, Psalm
85, the Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, those are the Psalms concerning
me, concerning Christ. And then it says in verse 45
of Luke 24, then opened he their understanding that they might
understand the scriptures, the written word. And he said unto
them, verse 46, thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ That
is, it was an obligation that was placed upon him. That word
behooved is the Greek word for debt. Christ owed a debt. What debt did he owe? The sins of his people, the sin debt,
you might say, was charged to his account. as he became their
share. He said, put it on my account,
I'll repay it. So it behooved Christ, and what
did he have to do to pay it? To suffer, to suffer unto death
and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance,
verse 47, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached
in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Now that's
key, all nations. You see, the gospel, is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
because it was first preached to the Jews, and to the Greek
or the Gentile also, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed.
So in other words, if you go back and you begin to study the
Old Testament scriptures, and you don't see Christ in those
scriptures, the glory of His person, and the power of His
finished work, you've missed it. Now in the book that I wrote
that we offer free of charge called Rightly Dividing the Word,
which is a book that gives the rules of interpretation for the
scriptures, the Bible, the first rule is what I call the rule
of Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. And what
that teaches is that when you go to the scriptures and you
read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, when you
read the prophetic books and the Psalms, we're to look for
Christ. Now that doesn't mean we're supposed
to jam in truth where truth is not there. And it doesn't mean
that we're to tweak it or we're to spiritualize it where it is
wrong to do so. It's just simply saying that's
the intent of the Bible. To show sinners, we cannot save
ourselves. We cannot make ourselves righteous.
That salvation is by the grace of God, reigning through this
one person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and based upon His righteousness,
which is the merit, the worth, the value of His obedience unto
death, on behalf of the people whom God gave to him before the
foundation of the world. And you might say, well, now,
how do I know if God gave me to him before the foundation?
Well, I'll tell you how you know. Do you believe what the Bible
says concerning Christ? Do you believe what the Bible
says concerning God, concerning yourself as a sinner, concerning
Christ as the one and only Savior, and based on his righteousness
alone? That's how you know. The ones
who believe that are called in the Bible, God's elect. Now let
me make that application and show you as we look through Psalm
85. It says here in Psalm 85 one,
and a lot of scholars, they believe David was the instrument that
God used to write this Psalm. I don't know that for sure. Could
have been. Doesn't matter. This is God's
word. And it says, if you have a King
James Version, you might have a byline under Psalm 85. that
says, to the chief musician, a psalm for the sons of Korah.
Now, many scholars believe that that Korah refers back to the
Korah, who was a nobleman, a prince, among the Hebrew children, when
they came out of Egypt, when Moses led them out of Egypt,
and they crossed the Red Sea, and they stood there at Mount
Sinai, and Moses went up and he got the law, And they later
on come down and you know what happened. The golden calf, the
earth opening. Well later on there was a man
named Korah who rose up among the people and wanted some glory
for himself, wanted some authority for himself. He wasn't willing
to submit to God's providential appointment of Moses to be the
one man who would lead the whole nation. And of course Moses was
a type. You know what a type is. That
was a picture, a foreshadowing. a symbol, if you will, of Christ. And so Christ is the only one.
He's the head of the church. My friend, the Pope is not the
head of the church. That's demonic. The preacher
is not the head of the church. Christ is the head of the church.
He's the head. We're the body. And Moses pictured
Christ and God said Moses was to lead them. But Korah didn't
like that and so he rebelled and he got a faction with him.
You know how it goes. You get people with his family,
I'm sure. And what happened is God opened up the earth and swallowed
them. Everyone who followed Korah. But the Bible says that later
on God spared the children of Korah. And so Korah's descendants
were not necessarily destroyed at that time. But what you have
there, I believe, is a type of our fallen Adam. Adam rebelled
against God, and the Bible teaches that when Adam fell, we all fell
into sin and death. And that's why we need salvation.
For as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin, for death passed upon all men for that all have sinned,
Romans 5.12. As in Adam, all die. Why do we get old? Why do
we get sick? Why do we die physically? Because
of sin. And the only way that we can
get out of this mess is if we have righteousness. Romans 8,
10 says, if Christ be in you, then the body is dead, this physical
body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
is life because of righteousness, because of Christ. I'll tell
you what, it would do you well that in most cases where you
see the word righteousness as it applies to salvation, it's
talking about Christ's righteousness which is imputed to His people. That's the only way life's going
to come. Whoever wrote this, it's written of God, and it says
in verse one, Lord, thou hast been favorable. If you've got
a concordance, it might say well-pleased unto thy land. You've been favorable
unto thy land. Now this has nothing to do with
the physical nation of the Jews, because they, listen, God was
not well-pleased with those people. God is not well-pleased with
us by nature. The Bible says without faith,
it's impossible to please God. And what does faith do? Faith
looks to Christ. Remember when Christ was baptized
by John the Baptist, as recorded over in Matthew, I think, chapter
three. It says that God spoke from heaven
and said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. If you want to be
well-pleasing to God, if you want to receive God's favor,
you must be in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must be washed in
His blood from all your sins, cleansed by the blood of Christ,
redeemed by the blood. Having fallen in Adam, you must
be redeemed by the blood, bought back off the auction block of
the law. Your sins must be paid for. Justice
must be satisfied. And so you must have Christ. You must be washed in his blood
and you must be clothed in his righteousness. Now that's a metaphorical
way of speaking of your sins imputed, charged, accounted to
Christ, reckoned to him. And his righteousness imputed,
charged, accounted, reckoned to his people. So in other words,
I stand before God, debt free, because God paid my debt. And
how did he do it? Through his son, the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't owe a debt to God's law
and justice. The debt that I owe to God is
a debt of love and gratitude, which will never be paid. I'll
spend eternity worshiping God and honoring him. And so I stand
before God in righteousness, not my own, not that I made,
not because of my doings, but because of Christ. And so this
is a prophecy. It's not fulfilled in the physical
nation Israel. It's not an unfulfilled prophecy.
It's fulfilled by the coming of Christ into the world and
in his church, his true church, which is those who are washed
in his blood, the church which he cleansed with his own blood,
he purchased with his own blood. And he says, Lord, thou has been
favorable unto thy land. Thou has brought back the captivity
of Jacob. Now, you know, many times the
children of Israel, physical nation, was in captivity, and
God brought them back. But they always went back into
captivity. At the time of the birth of Christ,
they were in captivity to the Roman Empire, and they remained
that way. And some people say, well, that's
referring to Palestine today, which was reestablished, what,
1946, I believe, or somewhere around, or 1948? Maybe not exactly, but they're
coming up. But see, this refers to a freedom,
a liberation that comes under the headship of Christ. Not in
a political way. The nation Israel today is a
democracy in the Mideast and we support them, but not for
religious reasons. We do it for political reasons.
The Jacob, the captivity, the Israel of God is spiritual Israel,
which refers to all who believe in Christ, both Jew and Gentile,
and they've been liberated. They were in captive to the law.
They were in captive to sin and death and to Satan. But Christ,
by his death on the cross, and ultimately by his spirit in the
new birth, he liberates them. He brings back the captivity.
That's what that means. That's liberation. Those who
were captivated in Adam are now made free in Christ. And Christ said, the truth shall
make you free. Well, he is the truth. And he
says in verse two, he says, thou has forgiven the iniquity of
thy people. Thou has covered all their sin.
And that word selah, that's a word that means pause. Consider this,
think about this. God's forgiven the iniquity of
His people. How did He do that and be just? Through the blood of Christ.
He's covered all their sin. Now the covering there, in the
Old Testament it's referred to as a covering. But that covering
doesn't mean just hidden from God's view because they weren't.
It means that they were atoned for. And that atonement by the
blood of animals was a picture, a type, a foreshadowing of someone
better to come, the Lamb of God. So in other words, when it talks
about the forgiveness of iniquity, the covering of sin, it's pointing
to the blood of Christ as a spiritual, eternal, powerful, redeeming
force that sets His people free. Verse three says, thou hast taken
away all thy wrath. That's another way of describing
a New Testament term called propitiation. You remember the Bible says that
Christ, he shed his blood to be a propitiation for the sins
of his people. First John 14 says, herein is
love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his
son to be the propitiation, propitiation for our sins. What is propitiation? Propitiation is the justice of
God satisfied. It's God's law and justice satisfied
by the death of a suitable, God-appointed, willing substitute. And who is
that? That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is my propitiation. If I'm saved, He's my propitiation. So it says in verse three, thou
hast taken away all thy wrath, thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger, And then he says in verse four,
now turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward
us to cease. God is reconciled to his people
on the ground of Christ's blood, Christ's righteousness imputed.
Now his people in time will be reconciled to him, they'll be
turned to him, how? By Christ sending the Holy Spirit,
bringing them under the preaching of the gospel of peace, and giving
them new life, spiritual life, a new heart, new eyes. Christ said you must be born
again or you cannot see the kingdom of heaven. You must be born again
or you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. The new birth is Christ
giving the power of his resurrection life, imparting it into his people
through the Holy Spirit. And that's a sovereign act of
God. The new birth is not the result of your decision for Christ.
That's not biblical. The new birth is not the product
of your faith. It's not assembly, well, you
accept Christ and you believe and then you're born again, oh
no. First of all, you gotta be under the preaching of the truth,
not a lie. You gotta be under the preaching
of the truth as it is in this word, the word of God. begotten again, James said in
James 118, by the word of truth. And so the gospel is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. So the true
gospel. And then the Holy Spirit has
to empower it to bring you to faith, which is the gift of God.
No sinner by nature will believe. But God brings us to believe
and then we turn to Him. We come to Him by faith in Christ.
We repent of our dead works. So he says in verse five, wilt
thou be angry with us forever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger
to all generations? Verse six, wilt thou not revive
us again that thy people may rejoice in thee? One of the best
descriptions of a true Christian is found in Philippians chapter
three and verse three. where the Apostle Paul was inspired
by the Spirit to write, we are the circumcision. He's talking
about spiritual circumcision there, which is the new birth.
The cutting away the filth of the flesh in repentance. And
how we know we're the circumcision? We worship God in spirit. That is, we worship God as we're
inspired by the Holy Spirit, to worship God as He reveals
Himself, and rejoice or glory in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh. That's what he's talking about.
So he says in verse seven, show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant
us thy salvation. Salvations of the Lord in Christ. And then he says in verse eight,
I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak
peace unto his people and to his saints, but let them not
turn again to folly. Now his people and his saints
are one in the same. That's just a different way of
describing them. Who are his people? God's people. Am I one of God's people? Well,
some preachers today will tell you everybody in the whole world
are God's people. That's not true. God created
them, and they're his people by creation, but we're not talking
about creation here. Creation fell with Adam. We fell
in Adam. Christ looked at the Pharisees
in John chapter, I believe it's chapter eight, and he said in
verse 44, you're of your father the devil. Bible in Ephesians
chapter two tells us that by nature we're children of disobedience. And if we're God's children spiritually,
according to His electing grace, His adopting grace, His redeeming
grace, His regenerating grace. How do we know that? We're turned
to Him. We believe in Christ. We rest
in Him and follow Him. And that's His people. And they're
also His saints. What does that mean? Does that
mean some special Christian? who's dedicated himself, his
life, and done few miracles? No, saint comes from the word
sanctification or holiness. A saint is a sanctified one,
one who is set apart by God for his glory. And it's referred
to every believer. A saint is a sinner saved by
grace. If I'm a believer, I'm Saint
Bill. If you're a believer, you're
Saint so-and-so. So understand that. And he says,
I'm gonna hear what the Lord God will speak. He will speak
peace to his people. Now what's the peace based on?
All right, hold that thought. Verse nine, look at it. Surely
his salvation is nigh them that fear him. That means that worship
him, that reverence him. That glory may dwell in our land.
That's talking about Christ. The word salvation. It's the
name of Jesus. And he says in verse 10, now
listen to this, mercy and truth are met together. In other words,
this peace with God comes upon the basis of mercy and truth
meeting together. It's not God's mercy at the expense
of truth. I'm a sinner, how can God have
mercy upon me and remain true to himself? Because he must punish
sin. The soul that sinneth it shall
surely die. Sin demands death. How can God
show mercy to me and still remain true to himself? There is not
but one way, friend, in Christ as my substitute, who took the
wrath of God against my sins unto himself. He was made sin. That means my sins were imputed
to him. Christ who knew no sin. that
I might be made the righteousness of God in him." Look at verse
10 again. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. That's a metaphorical way of
saying that peace with God is based on righteousness established. Who established that righteousness?
Christ did. He is the Lord, my righteousness. It's by His merits. In verse
11, truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness
shall look down from heaven. That's speaking of Christ as
God-man. As God, He looked down from heaven. As man, He sprang
out of the earth, but without sin. Truth shall spring out of
the earth. Christ said, I am the way, I
am the truth, I am the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And he says, righteousness shall
look down from heaven. Christ did his work for his people,
God's elect, his church. And he died, he was buried, he
arose again, and then he ascended into the Father in glory. And so yea, the Lord shall give
that which is good, and our land shall yield or increase. Righteousness
shall go before him, and shall set us in the way of his steps.
I hope you'll join us next week for another message from God's
word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.