Well, I'd like you to turn with
me to Psalm 17 this morning. Psalm 17. I've called this message,
Understanding the Scriptures, or I might have called it, Truth
Rightly Divided. How do you judge preaching? How do you judge? You know, you
listen to a sermon, and you make an assessment of it, and you
say, oh, I like that, that was good, that was profitable, or
no, I didn't like this, and I didn't like that aspect of it. How do
you judge preaching? Now some people would say you
don't judge preaching, you just submit to it. The response to
a sermon should just be What does this sermon have to say
to me? That's the only response you
should have. You shouldn't criticize at all. In no way should you
criticize. You must just bow to whatever
a man who calls himself a preacher stands up and preaches and say,
what does this have to say to me? I've heard that said. I've
heard that said very, very strongly. It's not what the scriptures
say we should do. The scriptures hold forth the
noble Bereans in the acts of the apostles. Do you know what
they did? They didn't say, oh, here's the Apostle Paul, come
to preach, therefore, whatever he says, we must bow to it. No,
what they did was they were noble because they searched the Scriptures
daily to see whether these things that they were hearing were true
and in accordance with the Scripture. And that's what we must do. You
have a duty. Whatever you listen to, whether
it's me you're listening to or anybody else you're listening
to, this is the question you must ask. Am I, if I'm a sheep
of God, am I hearing the Good Shepherd's voice in these words? Am I hearing it? And what are
the criteria against which preaching should be judged? I'm telling
you, judge preaching, you must do it! You have a responsibility
to assess what you're hearing. But against what criteria? Now
people would say, oh, was he a nice man that was doing the
preaching? Was he a nice man? Did he have an engaging style?
Did he capture my attention for the time that he was preaching,
or was I drifting away? Was the preaching Bible-based? Did he preach from the Bible?
Very important. Was he flippant? Light-hearted? Was he a joker? Was he a comedian?
Or was he reverential? Was he serious? You see, you
can have all of those things, it can be a nice man, it can
be an engaging style, it can be based on the Bible, it can
be serious and reverent, it can have all of these But this is
the point, it can miss the central, vital message. Because understanding
the Scriptures is not mechanical, it's not theological, it's not
academic, it's not what you learn to do in a theological college
and therefore equip yourself to become a preacher of God's
Word. In Luke chapter 24 and verse
45, Jesus is with the disciples on the Emmaus road, well probably
they've gone into their place and they've broken bread together,
but it says there that He, Jesus, opened their understanding. He
opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. This is the key thing. It's of
divine origin. It's of spiritual origin. It's
the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit comes
and gives life to the sinner in believing the gospel of grace,
so he opens the understanding that we might understand the
scriptures. Oh, that you might hear a man
preach. whose heart has been opened,
whose understanding has been opened to understand the Scriptures. Oh, there are people languishing
in so-called churches up and down this country, where any
listening by a true sheep of God to that which is preached
will say, that man hasn't had his understanding opened to understand
the Scriptures. He doesn't know. He might be
a nice man, he might have an engaging style, he might use
the Bible as his text, but he doesn't understand the Scriptures.
In the Old Testament, there's a very good picture. It's called
the Urim and the Thummim. What it is exactly, I don't know.
I don't know whether anybody knows what it was. It's translated
as lights and perfections. And Aaron the priest had to have
the Urim and Thummim on his breastplate when he went in to do the service
of God. The lights and perfections. How might we understand it? The
divine revelation of truth is what the priest must have. The
divine revelation of truth. The revelation of God's true
message from God himself. This is it. there are several
references to the Urim and Thummim in the Old Testament and it's
very mysterious but in such as Ezra and then in Nehemiah chapter
7 verse 65 We read there that they should not eat of the holy
things. This is when they're rebuilding
the temple in Jerusalem, in Nehemiah. They should not eat of the holy
things. You know the priests, the Levites,
were to eat of the holy things, the sacrifices, it was to be
meat for them. They should not eat of the holy things until
there stood up a priest with Urim, and Thummim, with that
divine understanding of the Scriptures. Paul put it this way in the New
Testament, he said in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 16, we have
the mind of Christ. This is what it is, to have the
mind of Christ. To have, two verses earlier,
verse fourteen, he says that the natural man doesn't receive
the things of the Spirit of God, they're foolishness to him, neither
can he know them in his flesh. Why? Because they're spiritually
discerned. They're spiritually discerned
by divine revelation. He says we have the mind of Christ
by God's grace. You see, what is the purpose
of Scripture? Now here's a great myth that
pervades the religious world, the Christian world, and it's
this idea. The purpose of Scripture is for
God to tell the whole world what he requires them to do to be
acceptable to him. to be acceptable with Him. That's
what they say the Bible is for. It's the instruction to mankind
for what they need to do to be acceptable with God. Do you know
something? It isn't. It isn't. What is it? I'll tell you. This book is God's
declaration to His people of effectual salvation accomplished
in His Son. That's what it is. Do you know
those two points of view are a million miles apart in truth?
It isn't God saying, do all of this and then you'll get to heaven. It's God declaring to his people
the effectual salvation he's accomplished. And who are his
people? Those who he gives light and life to believe, to see,
makes them willing in the day of his power. Now I want to take
Psalm 17. as an example, because some of
us this week heard an example of what I think is definitely
how not to preach it. Now I'm not going to get into
a very pointed match, but there's just one or two things I need
to point out. How not to preach. This is just a demonstration
of how not to preach the scriptures. This psalm was taken in this
sermon that I heard, and basically we were told that in this psalm
was the instruction on how to live a godly life in a fallen
world. You'd say, isn't that a good
theme? Isn't that a worthy theme? How to live a godly life in a
fallen world? And the three points that the
preacher made with an engaging style, using the Bible as his
basis, was The Bible, number one, the Bible is your guide
for life. So don't set out on a walk without
a map. Don't set out on life without
the Bible as your guide for life. It's like the torch on a path
in a dark night, and you say, that's a good point, very good.
Then it was confidence in God's promises. God's made some promises. You can have confidence. It's
like thinking of a very rich man. Richard Branson has made
some promises, and I'm going, Richard Branson's made some promises
to pay off all my debts and all my commitments. What a great
thing and I haven't got the slightest thing in the way of a piece of
paper or a signature saying anything about it. Just Richard Branson's
made some promises. I'm going to claim those promises
as mine. And then thirdly, at the end of all of this difficult
life, there's a hope of heaven. And therefore, on those three
grounds, we can live a godly life. Now, sounded like a young,
confident preacher, confident in his knowledge, he was quoting
Hebrew to show that he knew some Hebrew, but there was only a
superficial mention of Christ? There was no explanation or understanding
of the basis of God's promises? What were they based upon? In
terms of the hope of heaven, it was there as an offer for
anybody to accept God's offer. Here is what God offers you.
Now, it may be that it was well-meaning. And maybe we ought to say, well,
here's a guy who clearly knows something of the Scriptures,
and here's a guy who clearly can speak in an engaging way. He might be a bit like Apollos
that we read about in Acts chapter 18, verses 24 to 28. You know,
when Aquila and Priscilla heard him preach, he was clearly a
capable orator, But what they heard didn't have the core of
spiritual understanding in it. And so they took him to one side.
And it says they explained to him the way of God more perfectly. And you know what you then see?
The very next thing you then see in the Acts of the Apostles
is that Apollos That well-meaning preacher, but having missed the
point completely, then goes, and what does he preach? That
Jesus is the Christ. That's his message. What's his
message? What else does he have to say?
Nothing other than Jesus Christ and him crucified. Jesus is the
Christ. You see, that sort of preaching,
that misses the point like that, I literally, and you know I literally
mean literally, I literally don't want to cross the road to hear
that preaching, I really don't. Let's look at Psalm 17 and seek
the mind of Christ in it. What I want to see is the basis
of judgment, the reason for saving judgment, the protection that
arises from God's judgment, in respect of his people, and the
outcome of that judgment in respect of his people. This psalm is
about judgment. It's a plea for judgment. This
is a psalm of David, a prayer of David. He comes into the judgment
hall of God and he says, judge me in this situation. Judge me
in this situation. And may the outcome be that I
awaken your presence. Make that the outcome. Well,
let's look at the basis of the judgment. Let's just read verses
one to six. Hear the right, O Lord. Attend unto my cry. Give ear
unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned, that is false,
lying lips. Let my sentence, we're in a court
of law, let my sentence come forth from thy presence. Let
thine eyes behold the things that are equal, just, a just
balance. Thou hast proved mine heart.
Thou hast visited me in the night. Thou hast tried me and shalt
find nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall
not transgress. Concerning the works of men,
by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the
destroyer. Hold my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip
not. I have called upon thee, for
thou wilt hear me, O God. Incline thine ear unto me. and
hear my speech. This is David's plea for just
judgment in a particular situation. It's probably when he had one
of the confrontations with Saul, in which David was completely
just and Saul was completely in error, Saul was completely
unjust and in the wrong. Saul was seeking to destroy this
young man who had nothing other than faith for God and patriotic
feelings. And so in this situation, David
felt absolutely just. These are the words of David
written down. But as with all the scriptures,
they're much, much more. They're much, much more than
that. You see, David had acted in integrity and truth in accordance
with God's law in this situation, maybe, but we know that he didn't
all the time. We know that the majority of
the time he didn't. We know that in fact there are
very few situations that you or I can say, you know, we get
lots of legal examination in public, you know, we've got the
Leveson inquiry into the press and it's going to be an inquiry
into banking and all of these things and the more you pick
over the details Who comes out smelling of roses? Who comes
out with clean hands? Who comes out with not the slightest
taint of spot upon their record? Very, very few. Very few. Would we, in the courts of God? Would we there? You see, it won't
do for eternal judgment. If you're going to make David's
words your words, can you say, you have proved my heart, you
have visited me in the night, you have tried me and shall find
nothing. I can't. Dread it. If the thoughts of
my heart were written out on a notice board and portrayed
for all to see, wouldn't you feel like I'd just dread at the
thought of that? No, I can't say that with any
integrity. that God has proved my heart
and shall find nothing, and that my purpose that my mouth shall
not transgress will stand? I can't do that. I never have
been able to. Which of us can say, my lips
are unfamed? I am, I will be found innocent
of sin. I will be found true to my intentions. I have perfectly followed God's
word. That's what he says there. Who
can say that? Nobody can, not one of us, but
John Gill's commentary says this, this psalm is a prayer in the
person of a perfect man. Is that you? Not me. Not me,
as I am. Absolutely not. It's the prayer,
it's a prayer in the person of a perfect man and of Christ himself
and this is it, this is the gospel. and of everyone that is redeemed
by Him. God judges righteously. That's what it says in 1 Peter
chapter 2 and verse 23. God who judges righteously. If
I be judged righteously, under the glare of divine justice,
I must be condemned. But if I'm in Christ, God judges
me in Him. And in Him, He says that in me
He shall find nothing. Think about Numbers 21, the oracle
of Balaam. And he says, curse Israel. And
what does he say of Jacob? He says, he looks for iniquity
in Jacob and shall not find it. Jacob, the sinner, he looks for
iniquity in him. He shall not find it, why? Because
his Redeemer's borne it and taken it away and balanced the justice
of God perfectly. No, if God judges me in Christ,
He judges me in this way. He was sinless. He knew no sin. In him was no guile or deceit. He was subject to the law of
God and in the years that he lived as a man, no sin was found
in him. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Paul said, I don't want to be
found judged against the law and my doing of law works. He
says, I want to be found in him. That's where I want to be found
on the day of judgment. When this life ends, I want to
be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through faith of Jesus Christ. And I
can only pray this prayer in these six verses and make this
plea in Christ. You can never make this plea
on your own because you're guilty, as I am. But in Christ you can
make this plea, that he might look and find nothing, that he
might try me and find nothing, that he might examine me against
his word and find nothing. because I've done all of this
in the Lord Jesus Christ, in my Saviour, in my substitute,
in my surety. This is the essence of the Gospel. The Word of God is not a rule
book by which to live life. There are many who try that.
They say, as verse 4 says, concerning the works of men, by the word
of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Many
say, you live by this book and you'll do the right thing, it's
the rule of life for you. No, many try that and they fall
into one or two places. They either fall into hypocrisy
and self-righteousness and self-deceit in the process or they're being
true to themselves and they fall into despair because they know
they cannot do it. No, no. It's God's declaration. The Word of God is God's declaration
of grace to his people in his Son. And it's in Gospel obedience. What's Gospel obedience? Believing
the Gospel. Seeking, as God enables, to live
by Gospel precepts. It's in that that the promises
of God in the Gospel of his grace become reality in our experience. So then secondly, the reason
for saving judgment. You know I said that I didn't
hear anything that gave me any reason to think that the promises
of God related to me in the sermon I heard. This is what we must
have. You know, if I think that Richard
Branson is going to be incredibly generous towards me, I need a
little bit more than a fond hope, don't I? Just having a fond hope
that it might apply to me is not going to make a scrap of
difference. What will he say to me if I go knocking on his
door saying, about this promise that you made, that you're a
very rich man and I can have some of your money? Do you know
what Mr. Branson would rightly say to
me? He would say this, depart from me. I never knew you. You've
got nothing to do with me. I don't know you. I've never
made any promise to you. No. There's no point hoping in
promises for which you've got no reason to believe that they
apply to you. Look at verses 7 and 8. sorry,
just verse 7, "...show thy marvellous loving kindness, O thou that
savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee
from those that rise up against them." Thy marvellous loving
kindness. That's the basis of confidence
in the promises of God. That's the basis, this is the
promissory note, the marvellous loving-kindness of God, His grace
to His people. And what's He praying? Demonstrate
it again to me, your child, and to others yet to experience it.
Show your marvellous loving-kindness. In what way is it marvellous?
In what way is God's loving-kindness, His grace, Why, in what way is
it marvellous? Let me tell you, understand this,
and you're understanding the key to the scriptures, the core
of the gospel. This is how it can be marvellous.
Look it up in your concordance. Look up marvellous and see how
many times it occurs in the Old Testament and see how many times
it applies to the grace of God in the gospel of His grace. It's
His marvellous work. This is the thing that is marvellous,
that God can be just, and He is. He's a holy God. He's a just
God. If God were to pardon without any payment, any sin,
he would not be God. Did you hear what I said? I tried
to say that as carefully as I could. If God were to pardon, without
adequate payment, any sin, he would cease to be God. But in
the Lord Jesus Christ, God has pardoned the sins of his people.
Because why? Adequate payment. Has adequate
payment been made? It has. He has paid it in full. He has paid the sin debt of his
people. So God can be just. He's still the God of the universe,
who is holy, and is sovereign, the creator of all things, the
upholder of all things. You know they're talking about
the God particle, the Higgs boson, Physics is a wonderful model
of the universe. Don't for one minute think that
the discovery of a Higgs boson is not a wonderful thing. It's
all confirming the way that the model of the subatomic particles
fits together. But you know like Romans 1 said,
worshipping the creature rather than the creator who is blessed
forever. To call the Higgs boson the God
particle is abject blasphemy. The particle isn't the creator.
It's one of the created things of God. God is the creator who's
made and upholds all things. No, he's sovereign in all things. Sovereign. And yet, he who is
sovereign and just and perfect is gracious and has justified
his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's justified them. by paying their sin debt. He's
a just God and a saviour. It's his marvellous work. If
God is only just, and that's all, he must condemn on the basis
of the charges brought by the accusers of his people. And his
people, you and I if we're believers, there are those who accuse us.
Satan is called the accuser of the brethren. He brings all of
those things that you know are written deep in your heart in
the books of God, the sins, and he brings them and he rightly
puts them there. Look, here's the charge, you
must condemn him. You must condemn him. Absolutely,
you must condemn it. Satan, the accuser of the brethren.
And God says it's paid for already in the Lord Jesus Christ, in
His Son. He has saved from condemnation.
How? By the man of His right hand.
By His right hand. By the man of His right hand.
By the substitute. By the surety of His people.
And this is an effectual salvation. It's not a hoped-for salvation.
It's not a, maybe if I think hard enough, or if I promise
hard enough. No, it's an accomplished salvation,
effectual. Why? Because it's a particular
redemption. It's not an offer that God makes,
it's a particular redemption that He declares to those whom
He saved, whom He's justified from all eternity. It's specific
for specific sinners, without distinction of race, or gender,
or age, or society, or degree of sinful actions. From those
who are the calmest, sweetest people, yet sinners, to those
who are wicked, terrible criminals. God can save any, and does. God saved John Newton, who was
a vile man. who was a vile man, who was a
slave trader, a cruel man. And God saved him by his grace.
He dangled him over hell, he showed him what was his true
destiny, oh that God might do that to us. How he saw his need
of a savior, but that man was saved. And he wrote, amazing
grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Because
God is just yet, praise his name, he is the justifier. of those
that call upon him in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not airy-fairy
promises that give confidence to live godly lives, it's certain
knowledge of salvation accomplished, of justice maintained, God is
still just, of justification achieved and confirmed. How is
it achieved? Romans 4.25, Christ was raised
for our justification. How do you know it's achieved?
He went down into the grave, but He didn't stay there. Why
are you seeking Him here? He's not here. He's risen from
the dead. God raised Him from the dead.
He declared Him to be the Son of God with power, in that He
raised Him from the dead. having accomplished his work
and cried, it is finished on the cross, and gone down into
the tomb, and cancelled the sin debt of his people. He's raised
him from the dead. God says in the courts of justice,
let him go. He says in the, I can't remember
where it is in the Old Testament, he says, let him go for I have
found a ransom. Let the sinner go free. I have
found a ransom. This is the reason for saving
judgment. We're asking God to judge in
our favor with a good outcome. And this is the reason, because
He has saved His people, yet remains just in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And He provides protection that
arises. Having saved, is he going to
lose that which he saved? Look at the next few verses,
8 to 14. Keep me as the apple, the really
tender, sore bit of your eye, the really sensitive bit of your
eye that you don't want anybody to touch. I can't even touch
mine myself, it hurts so much, it's so sensitive. Keep me as
the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your
wings. Remember Deuteronomy 32, last
week? Exactly these words. This is written by the same Holy
Spirit, isn't it? Inspired by the same Holy Spirit
that inspired Moses, he inspired David to write, keep me as the
apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your
wings like an eagle flutters its chicks and cares for them.
From the wicked that oppress me, satanic powers. We wrestle
not, says Paul, with flesh and blood, but with principalities
and powers. You don't see them with the eye.
They come in various forms as instruments. of temptation. But no, their principalities
and powers keep me from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly
enemies who compass me. They're enclosed in their own
fat. They're rich. They seem to have everything.
They don't seem to have any worries. With their mouth they speak proudly.
They have now compassed us in our steps. They have set their
eyes bowing down to the earth. It looks like it's all up for
us, doesn't it? It looks like we're doomed. Like as a lion
that is greedy of his prey. Just imagine, you're like that
little desert rat on the ground and there's the lion cowering
over it about to to pounce. This is what the sinner feels
like with all of these forces bringing accusations to condemn
him to hell. Arise, O Lord! Arise, O Lord! Disappoint him in that situation. Disappoint that lion that's about
to grab his prey. Cast him down. Deliver my soul
from the wicked. because the wicked, we sang it
in that hymn, the wicked is thy sword. Did you notice that? The
wicked is thy sword. These around us who Satan and
his armies use to afflict the people of God are called God's
sword. From men, deliver me from men
which are, look at verse 14, which are thy hand. When Habakkuk was asking why
the Chaldeans were coming to overrun the land, what did God
show him? Ah, the Chaldeans are just my
instruments of judgment. The Chaldeans are not a people
fighting against God, the Chaldeans are God's instruments of judgment. God's instruments of judgment.
And this is what he says, O Lord, from men of the world, which
have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest
with thy hid treasure. They are full of children. It's
like Psalm 73. Oh, look at them. Look at the
godless who haven't tried to obey you and serve you. Look
at them. They seem to prosper. They have
everything that they need. And then Then the psalmist, Psalm
73, says, then knew I their end. No. God protects his people. You
know like in a court of justice in our land that sometimes the
court and the authorities provide protection, change of identity
to a witness who might be harmed, to a defendant who turns Queen's
evidence and goes against the rest of the gang. They say that
they'll protect that person and so God protects his people. He won't lose that which he's
saved, And this confidence is based on facts. This confidence
is based on facts of salvation. And we shouldn't despair when
we look around us because it's all in God's hands. He's sovereign
over everything. They're just His instruments
in this world. Satan is God's devil. He's sovereign
over all things. So rest in that knowledge. And
then fourthly, the outcome of saving judgment. There it is
in verse 15. He's compared, you know, this
is the judgment of, judge me in this situation, O Lord, protect
me, keep me. I know that your salvation is
true. And on that basis, verse 15, as for me, unlike them, who
are fat now, who have, it doesn't sound like a very good thing
in our modern society where fatness is suddenly the great evil, They're rich, they're prospering
in this world. But he says, as for me, I will
behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. It reminds me of Job, chapter
19, verse 25 and 26. I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God. That's it. Confidence. What must
I have to see God? What must I have? Holiness. Pursue
holiness. Without which, no man shall see
the Lord. No man. Do you have that holiness?
I shall be justified when I awake with thy likeness. I shall behold
thy face in righteousness. In righteousness. In Christ the
Lord, my righteousness. I shall. There's no doubt. Shall. Behold God's face in righteousness. You know, we often hope for a
barbecue summer, and we've been disappointed, not least this
summer. This has been about the least
barbecue-friendly summer I can remember for many, many years.
And you know, we have hopes of a barbecue summer, and we end
up getting absolutely soaked. It's not like that. This is a
shall. I shall behold God's face in
righteousness. Let me just close, I'll close
now, I've said enough. I'll just read these verses from
1 John chapter 3. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. So don't be surprised. Behold,
now are we the sons of God, Who? We who believe. We who believe
the gospel by that gift of faith. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. We don't know what we shall be,
but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself in the gospel of God's grace,
even as he is pure.