Psalm 40 this evening, and I'm
using for a title what is said in verse 9, and I'm using for
a title Christ the Preacher, the Lord Jesus Christ the Preacher. We know that David, the king
of Israel, was a preacher of righteousness as a prophet of
God, but here this reference is to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the preacher of righteousness. the preacher of righteousness.
So Christ the preacher, that will be the title of the message
this evening. God said to Moses back in the
book of Deuteronomy, he said, I'll send a prophet from among
their brethren, and he shall speak all my words, and he shall
speak in my name. And those that will not hear
and believe him, God said, I'll require it at their hand. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is
that prophet that God would raise up and did raise up to tell us
the truth. In Matthew chapter 4, we studied
when we went through the book of Matthew, Jesus went about
all Galilee teaching in their synagogue, preaching preaching
the gospel of the kingdom, healing all manner of sicknesses, all
manner of diseases. The Lord Jesus Christ was a preacher,
a preacher of the gospel. He was and is the prophet of
God. In Luke chapter four, the Lord
quoted this from Isaiah 61 and said, this day is this scripture
fulfilled in your ears, remember? here's what he said the spirit
of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach
the gospel preach the gospel to poor sinners he has sent me
to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captive
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are brute, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
The Lord Jesus Christ was a preacher of the gospel. Now, I want to
go back to verse 5 for just a moment, and we'll work our way down through
these verses. Many, many, O Lord my God, are
thy wonderful works. Everything our Lord Jesus Christ
has done for us in that covenant of grace is wonderful. His name
is called, remember, Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He is the Prince of
Peace. He is the King of Righteousness.
O Lord my God, many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works
which thou hast done. Salvation is something that he
has done for us. You think of all the wonderful
works of his creation. I've been reading the book of
Genesis, trying to prepare for a study at some point. In the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. His wonderful
work in creation. He spoke everything into existence. He brought things from nothing
to everything. Everything that we see and we
enjoy, the water, the sky, the air, the rain, the wind, all
these things are his creation. all the animals upon the earth
are all his creation. He created them by the word of
his power. So the work of creation is marvelous,
isn't it? Wonderful. And then the work
of providence, that too is wonderful, isn't it? God is in charge over
all things. I don't care what it is. God
rules and reigns. He shall reign over all things
and He does absolutely and sovereignly, eternally. Nothing happens, nothing
happens without the Lord bringing it to pass. And then we think
of the wonderful works of salvation that He has done for us. Salvation,
His redeeming work. The Lord Jesus Christ has finished
the work of salvation for us. And then think about this. The
eternal thoughts and thy thoughts which are to usward. You see
that in verse 5? God has always had a mind toward
His church, His bride, His chosen, His elect. Thy thoughts which
are to usward. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but all should
come to repentance. Remember, we studied that 2 Peter
3, verse 9, isn't it? He's long-suffering to usward.
His thoughts have always been toward his people. The Lord Jesus
Christ is that lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. We can't reckon
or count them, the wonderful works of the Lord. They're infinite,
aren't they? They're infinite as God himself.
If I would declare and speak of them, we can't number them. His loving kindness, his faithfulness,
his righteousness, infinite, aren't they? The infinite, everything
about our God is infinite. Now we know verse six, seven
and eight is quoted There in Hebrews 10, as we read earlier,
and you can see that marginal reference there, sacrifice and
offerings, God did not have no pleasure in, no satisfaction
in, the blood of bulls and goats cannot put away sin. He said,
mine ear hast thou opened, the Lord Jesus Christ is that loving
bond servant of God. Behold, my servant, my elect,
and whom my soul delighteth. burnt offering, consent offering,
hast thou not required? Then I said, lo, I come. I come
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Then I said, lo,
I come. I come. In the volume of the
book, the volume of the book of God decrees, the volume of
the book of God's eternal decrees, And the book of God's written
Word is all about the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you remember, to Him
give all the prophets witness? We read it so many times there
in Luke chapter 24, where He said, all things that are written
in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and the Psalms, they all are
concerning Me. And He said, I came to fulfill
all things. The Word of God, the book of
God, The book of God is all about Christ. From Genesis 1, in the
beginning, the whole book of God starts with God. In the beginning, God. In the
beginning, God. He has no beginning, but in the
beginning of what we know as time and creation, God was already
there. In the beginning, God. from Genesis
1 all the way to Revelation 22. The whole volume of the book
is about the Lord Jesus Christ. Everywhere you read in the scripture,
doesn't matter where you read, in the Proverbs, in Genesis,
Exodus, writings of Moses, remember he said, Moses wrote about me. Beginning of Moses and all the
scriptures, he expounded unto them things concerning himself.
It's all written about Christ. We don't read through the, when
we studied through 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel and 1 Kings and 2 Kings
and the book of Ezra, book of Nehemiah, the book of Ruth and
Esther and those books, it gives us the history of Israel and
that's fine to look at those things, but all those things
are types and pictures and shadows of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's all about Christ. And when
we look through those books, it's like even going through
Genesis. If you study through the book
of Genesis and you don't see the gospel, if you don't see
Christ, you've missed the message. The whole volume of the book
is written of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says in verse
eight, I delight to do thy will. The father said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. The Lord Jesus cried, delighted
to do the will of God. He delighted to do the will of
God. Oh my God, yea, he said, thy law is within my heart. The
Lord Jesus Christ honored the law of God for us. Remember,
we studied that in Matthew 5, 17, didn't we? He said, I didn't
come to destroy the law and the prophets. I came to fulfill everything
that God had written. He came to fulfill the law of
God for us. The Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable, Isaiah. 42, 21, I delight to do thy will,
oh my God. Remember the Lord prayed there
in the garden as He's sweating great drops of blood, agonizing
with our sin, being His, becoming His. And He prayed, remember
what He prayed? Father, not my will, but thy
will be done. He delighted to do the will of
God. Our salvation is by His will. by His doing the will of
God for us, for us in salvation. He performed all things for us.
The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. The law is within
my heart. He came to do the will of God.
He said, all that the Father has given to me, they will come
to me, and those that come to me, I'll never cast them out.
For I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will
of Him that sent me, And this is the Father's will which hath
sent me, that all that he hath given me I lose nothing, but
raise it up again at the last day. John chapter six, verse
37 through verse 39. I delight to do thy will, O God. Doing the Lord Jesus Christ,
I've often said this, and it bears repeating, the Lord
Jesus Christ honored every precept of that law, People think about
the law of God, they think about the 10 commandments. There's
a whole lot more to the law of God than those 10 commandments. 700 or 800 precepts of that law.
The Lord Jesus Christ magnified every precept of that law. In
word, deed, thought, and motive, that's our righteousness before
God. His obedience, His faithfulness,
doing the law of God, which we could not do, He did that for
us. He honored every precepts of
that law, and then in his death, he honored what? The penalty
of that law. The penalty of that law said,
you remember, the guilty? The guilty must die. The Lord
Jesus Christ, had he not been guilty, having our sin charged
to his account, he could not have died. He had no sin of his
own. We're gonna see that in a minute, down in verse 12. But
what I want to get to here is verse nine and 10 mainly, verse
nine and 10 mainly. And consider the message of the
gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ had preached and the apostles
preached. and the message of the gospel
that this book of God we call the Bible teaches us. Our Lord
says here, and I take this, they can be the words of David, but
these are especially the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. As
they're quoted in Hebrews 10 and applied to him, a body hath
thou prepared me. God cannot suffer, but the God-man
mediator did. the Lord Jesus Christ in that
body, the Word incarnate made flesh and dwelt among us. I have
preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo, behold,
I have not refrained, I've not held back, I've not refrained. He told those Pharisees, you
are of your father the devil. He didn't hold back, did he?
He didn't hold back. I have not refrained my lip,
O Lord, thou knowest. He said, the words I speak are
not mine, but my father that sent me. And then he says in
verse 10, I'm not hid. Five things we see here in verse
10. I've not refrained my lips. I've
not hid thy righteousness within my heart. I preached it. I preached
righteousness in the great congregation. I've not held back. I preached
thy righteousness. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart, I have declared it. I have declared your righteousness. I have declared your faithfulness.
I have declared thy salvation. I have not concealed it. I have
not refrained. I have not hid. I have not concealed. Preached it plainly and boldly. I have not concealed thy love
and kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. The Lord
sends the gospel to His covenant people. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of the Lord. The Lord has chosen by
the foolishest of preaching to save them that believe. We have
a five-point outline. Did you see those five things
in verse 10? Five things that we see in verse 10. The Lord Jesus Christ, first
of all, preached righteousness to the great congregation. He
declared the very character of God, righteous and holy. He declared the essential character
of God as absolutely holy, right? Isaiah 6, you remember? Holy,
holy, holy Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of our
glory. Not only the essential character of God, but the Lord
Jesus Christ preached himself as the very righteousness of
God revealed in the gospel. Righteousness of God revealed
in the gospel. Now, this is a very important
point here, and let's look at it carefully. Turn to Romans
chapter one. First of all, Romans chapter
one. He not only preached the essential
righteous character of God, but the Lord Jesus Christ throughout
the Word gives unto us the righteousness of God revealed through the Gospel. In Romans chapter 1, Paul says
in verse 15, For as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the
Gospel to you that are at Rome also. Well, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation
to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live
by faith. There is the righteousness of
God revealed in that salvation that the power of God unto salvation
read on verse 18 Romans 1 verse 18 for the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness who do not Preach the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed in the gospel. Now, staying with
that very thought, turn over here to Romans 3. We know in
Romans 3, we don't have any righteousness of our own. There's none righteous,
no, not one. As it says in verse 10, Romans
3 verse 10. But now watch this. We know that
what things whoever the law sayeth, verse 19, to them that are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law. is manifest, being witnessed
by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God,
which is by the faith or faithfulness of Jesus Christ unto all and
upon all them that believe, there is no difference, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is no difference.
Being justified freely by His grace through the redeeming blood
that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now turn to Romans 4. So there
is that righteousness of God revealed in the gospel that is
freely imputed, counted and reckoned unto his people in Romans 4. Or if Abraham, verse 2, were
justified by works, he had whereof the glory, but not before God.
For what sayeth the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is reward,
not reckoning of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Even as David also described
it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness
without works, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now we're not done. Turn to Romans
5 verse 19. All the way through the book
of Romans about the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel.
Romans 5 verse 19. For by one man disobedience,
many were made sinners. We're gonna study that at some
point in Genesis chapter three. You remember Adam disobeyed God. By one man's sin entered into
the world, for by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by
the obedience of another, of one, shall many be made righteous. Now here we see two representative
men. And Adam all died, and Christ
shall all be made alive. It's through his obedience that
we have righteousness under God. Now turn to one more on this
point, Romans 10, verse one. Romans 10 verse one. Now, I hope
I'm telling you nothing that you don't already know. We've
been over this ground many times, but it's good, it's good to,
it's good ground. It's good ground. Romans 10 verse
one. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God is for Israel that they might be saved. For I bear
them record, they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. They being ignorant, Romans 10 three, of God's righteousness. That's the essential character
of God. And going about to establish their own righteousness because
they're ignorant of who God is. They have not submitted themselves.
Now watch it. There's two righteousness here
revealed in verse three. The ignorant of God's holy character,
righteousness, and therefore they go about to establish their
own righteousness. Now watch this. Have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. Now what's that? That's that righteousness revealed
in the gospel that's freely imputed to God's people. Look at verse
4, where Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believes. So, you would ask me, preacher,
do you have a righteousness of your own? All my righteousness
are filthy rags in God's sight, but I have imputed to me a blessed,
perfect righteousness that's Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ is my righteousness before
God. Now what a great, this is one
of those many wonderful works which thou hast done. Every believer
enjoys that perfect righteousness Christ worked out for us, and
he gives that to us. So what do we preach? The Lord
said, I've not hid thy righteousness within my heart, I declared it.
Declared in the gospel, the righteousness of God revealed in Christ Jesus. Noah was called a preacher, even
Noah in his day. All the way back to Genesis chapter
6, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But remember we
studied in 1st or 2nd Peter that Noah was called a preacher of
what? Righteousness. Whose righteousness
was he preaching about? The Lord looked down from heaven
in that day and said, there's none righteous, no, not one.
Noah was preaching righteousness in Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, except you're
righteous and succeed, the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not
enter in. When you sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. We studied that recently, didn't
we? Who is it? We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. We are righteous in Him. He has
made unto us our righteousness. Now here's the second thing.
So we preach the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel,
freely imputed to His elect. And then He said, I've declared
thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. You mean to tell me salvation
is not based upon the sinner's faithfulness? Absolutely not. It can't be, because our faithfulness
would never satisfy the holy law of God Almighty. Now I want
you to turn to the book of Galatians. We were there in the book of
Galatians on Sunday, but the book of Galatians, in Galatians chapter 2, get a
hold of this. I've declared thy faithfulness.
So in preaching the gospel, we declared not only the righteousness
of God revealed in Christ, but we preach the faithfulness of
the Lord Jesus Christ as accomplishing all of our salvation. Galatians
chapter two, verse 16, knowing, knowing, and here's what we know.
Believers aren't ignorant. They've been taught of God, knowing.
We're gonna see that in our Bible study. on Sunday morning, we
know, hereby we know that we know him. Knowing that a man,
Galatians 2.16, is not justified by the works of the law, we know
that. Believers know that, they've been taught of God. But by the
faith of Jesus Christ. Now it doesn't say by your faithfulness,
does it? By the faith of Jesus Christ.
Now it's interesting that the modern translation, they wanna
take that word out, and they want to put it by faith in Jesus
Christ. That's not what it says. It's
by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even we have believed
in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ, not by the works of the law. For by the works of the
law shall no flesh be justified. So we declare the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His faithfulness, his obedience
unto God. He performed all things for us.
Now turn to another reference I've got jotted down here. Philippians
chapter three. Philippians chapter three. Philippians three. Old Saul of Tarsus in verse 6,
he said his testimony as a Pharisee, he was a Pharisee of Pharisees,
concerning zeal, Philippians 3 verse 6, persecuting the church,
touching the righteousness which is in the law, he said, I'm blameless. That's self-righteousness, isn't
it? But what things were gained to me when I was the lost Pharisee,
those I count lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless I count all things
but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and I
do count them dung, rubbish, that I may win Christ and be
found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the
law, watch it, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. So we declare salvation
based upon His faithfulness, not ours. His righteousness,
not ours. And then The third thing that
he declared here, he's not refrained, I'm not refrained, I'm not held
back, I'm not concealed. And then he says, thy salvation,
thy salvation. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there's no other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. Salvation, we know, turn back
one page. Turn back one page. Psalm 37,
verse 39. Psalm 37, 39. But the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. There's that righteousness again.
But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength
in the time of trouble. So salvation, we know salvation
is of the Lord. We have declared thy salvation. Salvation alone in Christ. Remember,
One of the apostles said to the Lord Jesus Christ in John 14 Show us the way and the Lord
said I am the way I am the truth I I am the life. No man comes
to the Father but by and through me. I am the way. Christ declared
salvation that is in himself. He is the Savior who saves. He is the Redeemer who redeems.
He is our salvation and salvation of the Lord. It's origination,
execution, it's application, sustaining power, and it's ultimate
perfection. Salvation is of the Lord. So
we declare His righteousness, we declare His faithfulness,
we declare His salvation. That sounds mean like it's all
of grace, doesn't it? All of mercy, doesn't it? And
then it says, I'm not concealed by lovingkindness. The lovingkindness
of the Lord. His lovingkindness. God's wrath
is always toward sin, but His lovingkindness is always toward
His people. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here in
his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us, and he
sent his son to be the sacrifice for our sin. Turn back to the
book of Romans again, and turn back to chapter 5 again. Romans
chapter 5, Look at verse 6 this time, Romans
5 verse 6, talking about the loving kindness of the Lord. His mercies are new every morning,
great is thy faithfulness. Romans 5 verse 6, for when we
were yet without strength in due time, or according to the
time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He commended his love toward
us when we were yet without strength. When we were yet ungodly, God
committed His love for us, and that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. So we preach the true love of
God that's revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where the
love of God is revealed in Christ himself. So we preach the righteousness
revealed in the gospel in Christ. We declare the faithfulness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach salvation is in Christ,
either had the son has life. We had not concealed the true
love of God, the sovereign love of God. He's loving kindness. And then,
in thy truth, thy truth. Now, the Lord said, you should
know the truth. What sets us free? The truth. You should know
the truth, and the truth will set you free. The truth of who
God is, holy, sovereign, eternal. The truth of who we are, sinners
through and through, and Adam all died. The truth of who the
Lord Jesus Christ is, God Almighty, manifest in the flesh. And the
truth of how God saves sinners. How can He be just and justify
the ungodly? How can He be a just God and
Savior? Only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So that's our message. Those five things. I've not refrained. I've not hid it. I've not concealed
it. We openly, boldly, because He
has said, we may boldly say, the Lord is our salvation. the
Lord is all, all of our salvation. The law was given by Moses, grace
and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ. Of His fullness have
we all received grace for grace. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. He declared this to his people.
He hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes. Now, look at verse 11. Withhold
not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy lovingkindness
and let thy truth continually preserve me. That's David's words
and that's the words of the greater David and that's ours. desire
too, isn't it? Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord, let thy loving kindness. You remember
Psalm 51, turn over there. Psalm 51 verse one. Have mercy upon me, O God. according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies, blot out my transgression, wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
cleanse me from my sin, or acknowledge my transgression and my sin as
ever before thee. According to his lovingkindness.
Now I want to close with one more scripture in verse 12. We've seen Christ the preacher. Now we see in verse 12, we see
the Lord Jesus Christ, our sacrifice for our sin. You see that in
verse 12? These are the words of David,
but also especially the words of the greater David, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute,
the scripture said he had no sin, he knew no sin, and he did
no sin? And here he's talking like these
are mind iniquities. He lays hold of our sin and he
says, he presses them into himself. My iniquities have taken hold
upon me, so I am not able to look up. They are more than the
hairs of my head, therefore my heart faileth. Here we see the
Lord Jesus Christ as our sacrifice for sin. It is not possible that
the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Our great
High Priest didn't bring the typical animal sacrifice. What
did He bring? He obtained eternal redemption
for us with His own blood. But here's the marvel of the
Gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for us. Remember Isaiah 53, He was wounded
for our transgression, bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement
of our peace was laid upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.
The Lord Jesus Christ bare our sin in His own body on the tree. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He dies under the weight and
judgment and guilt of our sin. We call that substitution, don't
we? The just dying for the unjust
that He might bring us unto God. We're not coming any other way.
But through that sacrifice, He bear our sin in His own body
on the tree. He is our only sacrifice for
sin. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. Deliverance based upon his sacrifice, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches
of his grace. Verse 14 and 15, let them be
ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy
it. Let them be driven backward and
put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate for reward
of their shame. Let's say, you remember, and
this is talking about and referring to those Pharisees, how they
mocked the Lord Jesus crying. He saved others, himself he cannot
save. Come down from the cross and
we'll believe you. You reckon he would have? Not
apart from the sovereign mercy and grace of God. But verse 16,
let all those that seek thee rejoice. We seek salvation where
it's found in Christ, don't we? He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice. We rejoice in him, rejoice in
the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. And
be glad in thee, let such as love thy salvation. And we love
it. We love Him who is our salvation.
Let them say continually, God forbid, I should glory save in
the cross of Christ. The Lord be magnified. I'm poor,
I'm needy. Deny them of a broken heart.
Save us such as be the contrite spirit. Yet the Lord thinketh
upon me. Remember his thoughts which are
to us word. He's always had us on His eternal
mind and heart. The Lord thinketh upon me, thou
art my help, thou art my deliverer, thou art my God. That's it, that's
everything. That's everything. Okay, the
Lord bless His Word.