Would you turn to Psalm 85? And if I was going to. Give this
a title. I would entitle it the Gospel
of David. The Gospel of David. Let's read
this together, Psalm 85. Lord. Thou hast been favorable. And my marginal reading says,
well pleased unto thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity
of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou has covered all their sins. Thou has taken away all thy wrath. Thou has turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger. Turn us, O God of our salvation,
and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt thou be angry
with us forever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger
to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again
that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord,
and grant us thy salvation. 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. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him, that
glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other Truth shall spring out of the earth, and
righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall
give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before
him and shall set us in the way of his steps. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
word. How we thank you. That righteousness and peace.
Have kissed one another. In the cross of our blessed son.
Lord, we ask that you would accept our thanksgiving, that you'd
accept our praise through him. Lord, we're so thankful for your
gospel. We're so thankful for your word. We ask once again
that your gospel might be preached and that you give us hearing
ears. Lord, those of our number that are going through deep water
and trial, we pray for your blessing upon them. We're so thankful
that you're in control of everything. Our Lord bless us for Christ's
sake. May we be enabled to worship him. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. The Gospel of David. It doesn't
say that David wrote this psalm, but it appears that he wrote
this psalm. There are some who think that
perhaps he didn't write it because of what he says in the latter
part of verse one, thou hast brought back the captivity of
Jacob. And it's true that Israel and
Jacob were brought into Babylonian captivity after David. was already
dead, but the idea of captivity, doesn't
the scripture say that he led captivity captive? And doesn't
it say in the Lord's preaching of the gospel that he came to
set the captives free? As long as we still commit sin. And I don't say that lightly.
I don't say that lightly. I hate sin. And I would never
commit another single sin again. But as long as we sin. We're
captive to sin until the Lord takes away these sinful bodies
when we will sin no longer. The Lord said, these are the
words of the Lord. He said in John chapter eight,
he that committed sin is the servant, the slave of sin. Now, if you're not the slave
of sin in your mortal body, let's see you stop sinning. You can't
do it. Because it's your nature. Sin
is more than an act. It's a nature that I think the
best example of this is the fact that children, infants, die. Why do they die? Because they're
innocent? No. The only reason for death
is sin. And sin is a nature that's always
with every Child of God, they still have a sinful nature that
they feel captive to, and they hate it. And that's what our
Lord is talking about when he says, blessed are they that mourn.
What do they mourn over? They mourn over their sin. When
we talk about a believer being still a sinner, This is the sad
reality of what we hate and what we look forward to be delivered
from, to be in Christ's presence without sin, without a sinful
nature, never sinning again, never having a sinful thought
again. That's what every believer longs
for. And as long as we're in, as long
as we still commit sin, We feel captive to sin, and that's what
Paul said in Romans 7, verse 14. He said, as a believer, not
as an unbeliever, but as a believer, as someone who loved Jesus Christ,
as someone who bowed the knee to Christ, As far as men goes,
I suppose, well, the Lord said John the Baptist is the greatest
of men. So I can't, I certainly wouldn't
argue with that, but he was up there, the apostle Paul, he said,
we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Sold as a slave. He said that
as a believer. Do you know an unbeliever who
could never make a statement like that and believe it and understand
it? Only a believer knows something about that because they have
a holy nature. They know what sin is. Now let's look at this
Psalm together, Psalm 85. Lord, thou hast been favorable
unto thy land, and like I said, my marginal reading says, Lord,
thou hast been well pleased. Now, think of that language.
You remember that scripture? This is my beloved son in whom,
not with him, in whom I am well pleased. Now my dear friend,
If you're in Christ, guess what? God is well pleased with you. He hath made us accepted. He hath favored us in the beloved. And in the Lord Jesus Christ,
God is well pleased with me. Thou has been favorable unto
thy land. Thou has brought back the captivity
of Jacob. I love the scripture. Reckon
yourselves. Romans 611, reckon yourselves,
count yourselves to be dead indeed to sin. Sin has nothing it can
say to you. Now, if God says reckon yourselves
to be dead indeed to sin, guess what? You are dead indeed to
sin. He doesn't tell you to reckon
yourself something that you're not. Every believer is dead indeed
to sin, and sin is not their Lord. Romans 6, 14 says, sin
shall not have dominion over you. That means lordship, lordship. Sin shall not have dominion over
you for you're not under the law, but under grace. That's
why. Oh, the grace of God. You brought
back the captivity of Jacob. Now, when I was talking about
being captive to sin, I'm also the Lord's free man. I'm the
Lord's free man. I'm accepted in the beloved.
I've been given grace to do things I couldn't do before I was saved. I can believe the gospel. I love
God. I love his gospel. I love his
people. Um, Dallas brought back the captivity
of Jacob. Look what verse two says. Thou
has forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Thou has covered. How much of their sin? All their
sin. Now that's the first half of
Psalm 32, isn't it? Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. And this is what I love about
God's forgiveness. He doesn't wait for us to do
something to forgive us. My salvation. My acceptance with
God begins with the forgiveness of sins. And the word forgiveness
means born away. You born away our sin and the
scapegoat. Isn't that beautiful? The sins
of God's people were figuratively transferred to that scapegoat.
And he was led by the hand of a fit man into a land of forgetfulness. Born away, made to not be. Thou has forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou has covered all their sin. And let me remind you about the
covering of the blood of Christ. When he covers something, it's
gone. It's not just covered, but it's still there. It's gone. He was manifested to take away
our sins. You hear that? He was manifested
to take away our sins in him is no sin. Verse three, thou has taken away
all thy wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger." Now, God has anger. God has wrath. There is a place called hell
and that place has a population in it. This is part of who God is and
his anger is not like our anger. Our anger is wicked. Our anger
is being mad at God. Anytime I get mad about anything,
I'm getting mad at the Lord. I'm getting mad at his providence.
I'm getting mad at what he's doing. our anger, our wrath toward
people, wanting vengeance and so on. It's evil. Amen? It's evil. But God's wrath
is perfect. It's holy. It's who he is. He hates sin. It's a perfect,
but yet this says, thou hast taken away all thy wrath. You
know, when the reason for wrath is taken away, sin, the wrath
is taken away. Thou hast taken away all thy
wrath, thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine
anger. Now isn't this glorious gospel, the gospel of David? Now he says something that almost
sounds contradictory. Verse four, I remember he says,
you've forgiven us, you've covered our sins, you've taken away all
your wrath, you've turned yourself from the fierceness of your anger,
you're favorable toward us. Now, David says, turn us, O God
of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt
thou be angry with us forever? Wilt thou draw thine anger to
all generations? Now, that sounds opposite of
what it just said, didn't it? Sure does. You're taking away
all your anger. Don't be angry with us forever.
Now, where does that come from? If you're a believer, you cannot
look at your personal sin and say, no worries. I'm forgiven. I'm justified. I'm not worried about myself.
I'm in good shape. I mean, we're forgiven. You can't look at sin
in that light. Listen, what is said of David's
sin, the thing David did. displeased the Lord. Now, wasn't it forgiven? Yes.
Wasn't it covered? Yes. Was David justified? Yes. Was David saved? Yes. But you can't sin and just say,
no worries. No worries. I mean, it's not
that big a deal. You know, I mean, it's all, but no, Blessed are they that
mourn, the scripture says. And there is a true mourning
over my sin. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. You know, in gospel, in the gospel,
there's always comfort. If you hear a message and you
just go back, boy, preacher really stepped on my toes. Things were
very difficult. You didn't really hear the gospel.
The gospel always comforts. When there's rebuke involved,
there's always the comfort of the gospel. And you can't sin
without feeling, turn us, oh God, of our salvation. Cause
an anger toward us to see if you're aware of your sin. Will
that be angry with us forever without draw out than anger to
all generations? There is a an awareness of of
your need of him. Verse 6. Will thou not revive us again?
That that people may rejoice in thee. You know, we sing that
him. Revive us again. Fill each heart with thy love.
Let each soul be rekindled with fire from above. Revive us again. Now the very fact that we ask
him to revive us again is because we're aware of a declension. We're aware of a declining. We're
aware of a hardening of heart. We're aware of being desensitized
towards seeing where we're just hardened to it. We're aware of
losing our first love. We're aware of becoming lukewarm. We're aware of becoming proud, self-righteous, and we feel ourself
going down, and we cry, revive us again. That's a good prayer,
isn't it? Revive us again. As a matter of fact, I know I
ought to be praying that prayer every hour. Revive us again. Now with regard to revivals, whatever was going on in Asbury,
that's not a revival. Revival is when the Lord speaks
to you in power and revives you. You have a new appreciation of
being saved by his righteousness. It's more precious to you. The
gospel is more precious to you. you you believe now that's what
happens when you're revived and that's what david asks will thou
not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee now
didn't david say in psalm 51 restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation restore it to me that's the same thing as saying revive
me you see We love the Lord. We love his salvation. And when
we see ourself declining, here is our cry. And it's his grace
that causes us to see our decline. You know, when you're lukewarm,
you really don't even know it. Because when you're lukewarm,
you say, everything's good. Everything's good. Everything's
great. I'm rich and increased with goods. I have need of nothing.
And the Lord says, you don't know that you're wretched and
miserable and naked and poor and blind. And when the Lord
reveals that to you, that's when you start rejoicing in his salvation. Revive us again. Oh God of our salvation, wilt
thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee. Show us, verse seven, show us
thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us, freely bestow unto us thy
salvation. You know when you appreciate
mercy? There's only one time when you appreciate mercy. When
all your sin is all your fault. When all your sin is all your
fault, you know what you need? Mercy. Now if your sin's not
your fault, you don't need mercy, you need justice. But if your
sin's all your fault, you're not a victim. You know, I can't
stand to hear somebody that's a victim, victim of this, victim
of that. I'm not saying that harshly in
the sense that there are some people who have had traumatic
experiences and were horrible victims. I'm not being hard-hearted
toward that, but I'm talking about when somebody, nothing's
ever their fault. They're victims, they're victims. Well, if you're no victim in
your sins, all your fault, here's what you need, mercy. And you
need him to grant his salvation. Verse eight. I will hear what
God the Lord will speak. Now this is what happens when
you're revived. You hear. Faith cometh by what? Hearing. Hearing. You hear what's being
said. You hear it as God's word, not
man's word. God's word, you hear. I will hear what God the Lord
shall speak, for he will speak peace unto his people and to
his saints. Now the message of the gospel
is a message of peace. And the only time I can have
peace is when I see that the question of sin has been completely
taken care of, and I have no sin before God. Having been justified. Now, don't forget what justification
means. Justification means you're sinless. You don't have anything to feel
guilty about. You stand perfect in God's sight.
Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. God's at peace with me. He's
not angry with me. He's at peace with me through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Having made peace through the
blood of his cross, Colossians 1.20. Having made peace through
the blood of his cross, he is our peace. Now, when I hear the
gospel, I may, every time I hear the gospel, I'm corrected. I'm
corrected for, Everything about me, there's correction, but I
don't go away just, no, peace. The joy and the peace of believing,
believing the gospel. And what a blessed thing the
joy of the gospel is. Happiness. is I wrote an article in the bulletin
about it. If you try to read it, there's such a difference
between happiness and joy. Happiness is based upon circumstances. I'm really happy. Things are
going great. And well, that can be taken away real quick and
will be at some point. As a matter of fact, anytime
somebody says, I just want to be happy, watch out. Heads are getting
ready to roll. I'm going to do whatever I need
to get my happiness. Joy is not dependent upon circumstances. Joy is in the Lord. Joy is in
His gospel. Joy is in Jesus Christ, the peace
that comes from Him, the rejoicing in Him. I will speak peace unto
His people, unto His saints, but let them not turn again to
folly. That means so much. Don't turn again to the folly
of salvation by works. You're always tempted to. Don't
turn to the folly of going after this world, this present evil
world. It is what it is. It's the world. It's an empty soap bubble. This whole world that doesn't
love God, don't let them turn again to folly. Verse nine, surely
his salvation is nigh unto them that fear him. Now this fear is not the fear
of mistrust. This is not the fear of, oh,
I'm afraid the Lord's going to take something away from me because
of some sin I've committed. I've been ungenerous, and the
Lord's going to take it out in a car wreck or out in a coffin. I saw something where the preacher,
he was talking about tithing. He said, if you don't tithe,
God's got a way of getting what he has coming to him. He's going
to take it out in a wreck, or you're going to be in trouble. Um... baloney. That's all you can say
to that kind of thinking and preaching. Fear is having such
respect to him that you're afraid to look anywhere but Christ.
That's the fear of God. Faith. Those are the two things
that go together. Fear and faith. You don't have
faith, you don't have any fear of God, you don't have any respect
for God. When you truly fear God, you are afraid to look anywhere
but Christ alone. Now, surely his salvation is
nigh to them that fear him, that glory, remember where he said,
the glory thou gavest me I've given them, that glory may dwell
in our land. Now these next two verses, this
is David's gospel. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the
earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Mercy,
God's mercy and God's absolute truth and justice and holiness. What? met together and kissed
one another. Where did that take place? The
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Now this is speaking of the cross
of Christ where God made a way to be absolutely just and justify. the ungodly in a way that glorified
his justice. The righteousness of God is revealed
in him saving an ungodly sinner. His absolute righteousness. And
they've kissed one another. They've met together in the cross. Look at verse 11. Truth shall
spring out of the earth. You know, when the Lord was resurrected
from the dead, truth sprang out of the earth, didn't it? That's
what that's a reference to, is the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And all of God's truth is magnified, is manifest
in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Don't
you love to think of truth springing up out of the earth? The resurrection
of Christ. And righteousness shall look
down from heaven. Well pleased. Well pleased with
what Christ has accomplished. Righteousness shall look down
from heaven. Verse 12, yea, the Lord shall
give that which is good. Notice that
that which is, is in italics. Yea, the Lord shall give good. Oh, the Lord's good. And what
he gives is good. It's all good. Isn't it wonderful
to believe that? The Lord's good. He's good all the time. There's
never a time when he's not good. The Lord's good. Yea, the Lord
shall give good. Everything that comes into our
life is good. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. And our land shall yield her
increase, the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. Righteousness shall
go before him and he shall set us in the way of his steps. Now, do you hear that? He's gonna
set you in the way of his steps. I love what David said, order
my steps in your word. Let not any iniquity have dominion
over me. Well, here we have the promise
of that prayer being answered. You know how you'll persevere?
because he'll set you in the way of his steps. The steps of a good man, the
scripture says, are ordered by the Lord. Each step is him setting
you in the way of his steps. The gospel of David. It's my
gospel too. Amen.