I find myself oftentimes reading
the Psalms, meditating upon the Psalms, looking at the Psalms,
all 150 of the Psalms. They all have a message of salvation
and mercy to sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's who
salvation is for. Salvation is not for good folks.
Good folks don't need salvation, do they? The Lord Jesus Christ
came to save sinners. Paul said, I'm the chief one.
old Saul of Tarsus. He said, I'm the chief one. But
I'm taking the title for the message from what is said in
verse 7, the Lord, the Lord. The Lord is my rock and the Lord
is my strength. You see verse 7, the Lord is,
he's mine. He's my strength. I don't know
what he is to everybody else, but to the believer, he's my
strength. He's my hope. He's my all. He's my shield. My heart trusted him. In him, my heart trusted in him
and I am helped. I'm helped. Therefore, my heart
greatly rejoices in the Lord. And with my song, David just
had one song. I will praise the Lord. He just
had one song. Praise the Lord. So I trust in
the Lord and I'm helped. I'm helped in him and I'm helped
by him. Solomon said, trust in the Lord
with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding.
Acknowledge him in all your ways and he'll strengthen my heart.
So what a great privilege we have to trust the Lord. And you
know that's, isn't that the essence of saving faith? is to trust
the Lord. That's the essence of saving
faith. Looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the author
and finisher of our faith. Truly those who are led by his
grace to trust and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are those
who have been mightily helped of him. For the scriptures teach
us in John 15, our Lord said, without me, you can do nothing. But Paul writes about it and
said, through him, I can do all things. Through him. Without
him, we can do nothing. But with him, we can do all things.
We are what we are as believers by his almighty and sovereign
grace. We say with the Apostle Paul,
I am what I am by the grace of God. And His grace which was
bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly
than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with
me. The grace of God is never bestowed
in vain, is it? Of His fullness have we all received
what? Grace for grace, grace upon grace. We are what we are by His sovereign
grace, by His sovereign love. He's loved his people with an
everlasting love. There never has been a time,
since there was time, when God has not loved his people because
he's loved them with an everlasting love. And we are what we are by his
grace, his sovereign grace, his sovereign love, and his sovereign
mercy. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed because His compassions, they do not fail. They do not fail. Now, let's
read and consider verse 1 and 2 for a moment, and we'll work
our way down to verse 9. Verse 1 and 2, unto thee will
I cry, O Lord, O Lord my rock. To have a rock to rest upon is
to have a foundation. Christ is our solid rock foundation. Be not silent to me, lest if
thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down to the
pit. The only thing the Lord has to do for sinners to perish
is just to lead them to their own wicked devices and we'll
perish. It's only the grace of God that has made us to differ.
If you leave me alone, if you're silent to me, if you don't disturb
me, if you don't wake me up, if you don't give me life in
Christ, I'm going to perish. That's what he's saying there.
Hear my voice, verse 2. Hear the voice of my supplications.
When I cry, not a matter of if, when I cry unto thee, and when
I lift up my hands toward thy holy temple, or thy holy oracle,
the tabernacle, the mercy seat in Christ Jesus. Twice in these
two verses, David says, I will cry unto thee, and then he says,
I will cry, verse one, will I cry, O Lord, unto thee? And then verse
two, hear the voice of my supplication when I cry, when I cry. Now, responsible parents, when
their child cries, they give attention, don't they? Must be
something wrong when that child is crying. And we try to find
out what the problem is. And if you're like me, I try
to get that little one to stop crying. I don't want to hear
that little one cry. But he says, oh Lord unto thee
I cry. Now, a cry It's an expression
of sorrow, is it not? When I cry unto the Lord, it's
an expression of distress. It's a distress call. It's a
distress call for help. Help me! I'm in trouble. I cry. David said, I cry unto the Lord. He's the one that can help me.
We cry out of the distress of our sin. We cry out of the grief
of sorrow. And we cry to the Lord to help
us. And that's to whom we direct our cries and our prayers and
our pleas. When we make our requests known
unto God, we cry unto Him. He's the only one that can help
us. He's the only one that can help us in our time of need. Christ alone is able to hear
our prayers, and Christ alone is able to answer our prayers
according to his will. Now we're taught to pray in scripture
according to his will. Our father, which is in heaven,
remember the disciple said, Lord, teach us to pray. And the Lord
said, our father, pray this way, our father, which is in heaven,
hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven. So we pray, when we pray, it's
asking the Lord, Lord, thy will be done. And then prayer is submitting
unto the will of the Lord. Unto the Lord I rock, I rock. He alone is the immutable, unmovable,
solid foundation of all our hope and all our help. He's the foundation. We used to sing a chorus years
ago. I hold not the rock, but the rock holds me. The rock holds
me. Have you ever heard that chorus?
The rock holds me. You see, the believer being fastened
to the rock, to move the believer, you got to move the rock. Christ
is that rock. This might not be good English,
but it's good theology. He ain't moving. Hey, he's the
immovable rock. He's the immovable rock. 24 times
I found in the book of Psalms, the Lord Jesus Christ is described
as our rock. He's the rock. He's the mighty
foundation upon which he has laid, upon which we rest. The
Lord said to Peter, upon that rock of Christ, the anointed
Christ, I'll build my church. And nothing, not even the demons
of hell, the devils of hell, and Satan himself can prevail
against my church. Because they're built on the
rock. What's true of the rock is true of the church. We're
one with Him, in Him, on Him, by Him, through Him. You remember
Psalm 27 verse 5. For in the time of trouble, He
shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of his tabernacle
shall he hide me. He shall set me upon a rock. Now he's that rock. He is that
rock. Now here's another scripture
I was looking at today. Turn one page to Psalm 31. Psalm
31. Psalm 31 verse 3. For thou art
my rock, my fortress, therefore For thy name's sake, lead me
and guide me. You're my rock. You're my rock. My rock. This is an interesting
one. Turn over to Psalm 61. Psalm
61. I like this one. Psalm 61. Look at verse 1. Psalm 61, verse
1. Hear my cry, O God. Attend to
my prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
overwhelmed with grief, sorrow, trouble. Lead me to the rock
that's higher than I. Lead me to that rock. For thou
hast been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will
abide in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covering,
the covering of thy wings. Turn one page. Psalm 62 is all
about Christ the rock. Psalm 62 verse 1, Truly my soul
waits upon God, from Him cometh my salvation. He only, you see
that? I call this Psalm 62, remember,
the only Psalm. He only my rock, my salvation,
He's my defense, I shall not be greatly moved. Greatly moved. Look at verse 6, He only is my
rock, my defense, I shall not be moved. Trust in Him at all
times. God is a refuge for us. I love
that Psalm 62. We may look at that sometime
this year. What he's saying here, David
is saying, I have a foundation upon which I rest. And the foundation
upon which I rest is Christ Himself. Remember Isaiah 28, Behold, I
lay in Zion for a foundation of stone, a tried stone, a precious
cornerstone. He that believeth on Him will
never be forced out Now, there's an interesting scripture if you
want to make note of this. We read it before in Deuteronomy
32. Don't turn. I've got it written
down here for us to read. How, and here's what it says,
Deuteronomy 32 verse 30. How should one chase a thousand
and two put ten thousand to flight? How would one soldier chase one
thousand and two put thousands to flight? except their rock
had sold them, or promoted them, and the Lord had shut them up.
And then he writes this, for their rock, that is, the Philistines,
the Hittites, the Jebusites, and all the other ites, he said,
their rock is not as our rock. Their rock's not like our rock.
Their rock is sinking sand. Our rock is solid. secure and
everlasting, everlasting. That's why the Lord said, upon
that rock, I built my church, upon Christ himself. Now verse
two, hear the voice of my supplication when I cry unto thee. When I
lift up my hands, and it's not talking about physical hands so much as it
is the hands of faith, the arms of faith. Looking unto Jesus
the author and finisher of my faith when I lift up my hand
toward thy holy place The holy place the holy oracle and what
he's really referring to is the mercy seat the mercy seat turn
to Psalm 138 I believe it is Psalm 138 turn over there and Another Psalm of David talking
about verse one, Psalm 138. I will praise thee with my whole
heart before the gods, small g, will I sing praise unto thee. I will worship for thy holy temple
and praise thy name for thy loving kindness, for thy truth, for
thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. I will worship
toward thy holy tabernacle. Now when David talked about the
temple, the temple wasn't built then. He's talking about the
tabernacle. It's the place where God dwelt.
It's where the mercy seat was in the Holy of Holies when the
priest came in on that day of atonement and sprinkled blood
upon the mercy seat. So David is asking to be heard
upon the fact that Christ has made full atonement for our sin
upon the mercy seat. That's what he's saying there.
Where blood atonement was made. for the sin of God's people.
And John writes about it, he said, Herein is love, not that
we love God, but He loved us, and that He sent His Son to be
our perpetuation, our mercy seat for our sin. If we would gain
access unto God, who is not only almighty, but most holy, we must
come to God through the designated mediator and high priest, the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. Seeing we have such a great high
priest, he said, come boldly to the throne of grace. The Lord
Jesus Christ is only one a mediator. God too holy and we're too sinful.
This vile sinner cannot come to holy God apart from a proper
mediator. A proper high priest was somewhat
to offer and that we know is the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember
our study in the book of Hebrews. saying that we have a great high
priest. For by one offering he perfected forever them that are
sanctified in Christ. If we would gain access unto
God who is holy, we must come to him through the designated
mediator. That's why our Lord said, I am
the way, not a way, the way, the truth, the life, and then
he says, no man, no man comes to the Father but by and through
and in and because of me, Christ alone. We lift up our empty hands
as mercy beggars unto him as able to supply our every need
according to his riches in glory. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by him. He said, come unto me all ye
that labor heavy laden, I'll give you rest. The Lord provides
for us perfectly, doesn't he? Complete everlasting righteousness. It says in Daniel chapter 9,
somewhere over there it says, the Lord brings in everlasting
righteousness for us. Blessed is that man whom the
Lord imputed righteousness without works. And we have complete and
total redemption from all our sin through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if we go back to verse 1
for just a moment, our cry is, Lord, don't leave me alone. Don't
be silent to me. If the Lord just simply leaves
us to our own wicked heart, we'll surely perish in our sin. The
Lord must invade our heart, our mind, our will, and make us willing
in the day of His power, lest we end up in the pit of eternal
damnation. I become like them to go down
to the pit. Now the pit's what we deserve. The pit is what we've earned.
We're not deserving of the least of his mercies, but rather the
wages of sin and death. That's what we deserve. That's
what I've earned. That's what I've got coming to
me. But I want mercy. I beg for mercy. I beg for mercy. Thank God there's mercy with
the Lord. He delights to show mercy. We gladly take our place
before him as a mercy beggar, don't we? God, be merciful to
me, the sinner. And the good news of the gospel,
as you read through the book we call the Bible, the scriptures
given by inspiration of God, we never read one time when the
Lord turned a deaf ear to a sincere mercy beggar. He heard every
cry and he answered their cry. Just name it. The leper, Lord
if you will, you can make me clean, I will be that clean.
Blind Bartimaeus, Lord! The Lord stood still. What do
you need? I'm blind. The Lord restored
his sight, made him whole. And just go on reading through
the scripture, there was never One who came to the Lord seeking
mercy was turned away. You see the Lord, with the Lord
there is mercy, with Him is plenteous redemption. Now look at verse
3, 4, and 5. Here is what we all deserve,
therefore we cry, draw me not away with the wicked. You see
verse 3, let's read these three verses. Draw me not away with
the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace
to their neighbors, but mischief's in their heart.
Mischief's in their heart. Wickedness is in their heart.
Give them according to their deeds, according to the wickedness
of their endeavors. Give them after the work of their
own hands. Render to them their just deserving,
is what he's saying there. Because they regard not the works
of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy
them. Those that regard not the work
of the Lord, who go about to establish the righteousness of
their own, he shall destroy them, and not build them up. is what we all deserve, judgment. But we say with David, Lord,
have mercy on me, the sinner. We are by nature workers of iniquity. You see that? Workers of iniquity wicked workers of iniquity who
masquerade as the Pharisees did in the Lord's day as doing works
of righteousness. Remember they said, Lord, we
preached in your name, we cast out devils in your name, we've
done these many wonderful works in your name. What did he tell
them? Depart from me you workers of, workers of, workers of iniquity. They thought they were establishing
a righteousness. He called it nothing but sin.
Away with it! Workers of iniquity masquerading
as doing good things, the Lord says their just end is damnation. Verse The second thing we see
there, he says, which speak peace to their neighbors, they proclaim
that we have peace with God upon the ground of their works. I
was looking at this scripture, turn back to Psalm 12. Psalm 12, oh, they speak flattering
things. They speak peace to their neighbors.
Peace, peace, everybody says, well, we're at peace with God.
Okay, look at Psalm 12, verse one. Help, Lord, for the godly
man ceases. Psalm 12, verse one. For the
faithful man, Balaam from among the children of men, they speak
vanity, everyone, to his neighbor with flattering lips and a double
heart. A double tongue do they speak.
The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh
proud things." The Lord's going to cut them off. Cut them off. You see, the false prophet would
say, Peace, peace when there is no peace, where there is no
peace. How can we have as sinners, how
can we have peace with God? Only through the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's called the Prince of Peace, the King of Peace. We only have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ because He made
peace for us with His own blood. So, don't draw me away with the
wicked. with these workers of iniquity,
which speak peace to their neighbor, but mischief is in their heart.
Their heart's full of evil. That's why they do mischief.
You wonder why people do evil things? Because their heart is
evil. The heart is evil and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? Their heart
is full of mischief and evil. Give them according to their
deeds. according to the wickedness of their endeavors, give them
after the work of their hands. You see, the work of their hands,
man at his best state is altogether vanity. Our best deeds that we
have are nothing but filthy rags. Our self-righteousness are filthy
rags, and his sight renders them, they're just deserving for the
wages of sin is death. Look at verse five, they regard
not They regard not the works of the Lord. They regard their
own works and they prefer their own works more. That's why they
trust themselves that they are righteous. That's why they're
going about to establish the righteousness of their own. They
regard not the works of the Lord. The works of the Lord are what?
Well, perfect obedience to the law of God, whereby he established
a righteousness for us. The works of God are what? Redemption
through his blood sacrificed for us. These are the works of
the Lord, his intercession, his mediation, his priesthood, all
the things that he has done for us. They regard not the works
of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, You see, he accomplished
salvation for us with his hands. That old religious saying, you
remember what it says? God has no hands, but your hands.
That's a lie. God has no feet, but your feet.
That's a lie. God doesn't need your hands.
God doesn't need your feet. He accomplished salvation by
himself. Look at verse five again. Because
they regard not the works of the Lord. I found this Psalm,
Psalm 111. His work is honorable and glorious.
His righteousness endures forever. He has made his wonderful works
to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion. The wicked unbelieving have no
regard for the true living God, no regard for his sovereign works
of providence, no regard for his sovereign work of salvation.
They regard their own work to be higher in value than his.
than His glorious works. You see, it's not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy. He
saved us. You see, salvation is by works. You understand that? His, not ours. His works. It's what He has done for us.
Our Lord said so many times, I came to do the work of the
Father. I came to do the work of the
Father, and He finished the work for us, for His people. Now, let's get down to these blessings we see in
verse 6, 7, and 8 and 9. Blessed be the Lord. Those who
do regard the work of the Lord, that salvation is of the Lord.
Blessed be the Lord. Blessed be the Lord. Blessed
the Lord. You remember that's Ephesians
chapter 1, where it says, We bless God who has blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heaven and in Christ, according
as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy without blame before Him in love, We're
accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of His
grace. Blessed be the Lord, because He hath heard, He heard the voice
of my supplication. He heard my cry. He answered
my prayer. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Our prayer now turns to praising
the Lord. Bless the Lord. Praising the
Lord for His mercy. Confessing that Christ is all
of our hope. God's people are a blessed people,
a praising people, now and eternally. And then look at verse 7. The Lord is my strength. The Lord is. He's saying the same thing. He's
saying, as he says in Psalm 27 verse 1, the Lord is my light,
the Lord is my salvation. The Lord is my strength. The
strength of faith is not... Think about this. The strength
of faith is not in faith. The strength of faith is Christ.
He's the object of our faith. The strength of salvation is
Christ. The Lord is my strength. He's the strength of my righteousness.
He's the power. Christ is the power of God and
the salvation to everyone that believes. The Lord is my strength
and He's my shield. We are but weak and frail and
sinful creatures of the flesh. Christ has to be all our strength
before God. All flesh is grass and the goodliness
thereof is the flower of the field. Christ is our strength
and then Christ is our shield. When Paul describes in Ephesians
chapter 6 about taking the whole armor of God, put on the whole
armor of God, the sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith. You remember them old movies
years ago we used to watch when we were kids of Robin Hood and
the kings and the knights and all those different, they'd have
a shield on this side, a shield to defend and a sword to the
offensive weapon, and then the shield to defend. Christ is our
shield and Christ is our sword. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
He's our protection, our defense from all enemies, seen and unseen,
known and unknown. I would rather have his shield,
the shield of faith, than the shield of The flesh. Think about it. The shield of
the flesh or the shield of faith in Christ Jesus. And then he
says in verse 7, my heart trusts in Him. My heart trusted in Him. Well, that's a good thing to
trust. Trust in Him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart
before Him. God is a refuge for us, my heart. Trust it and is
trusting in Him. The evidence of a new heart being
made a new creature in Christ, the evidence of that is God giving
us a new heart. A new heart that causes us to
trust the Lord Jesus Christ for all of salvation and those that
trust in Him will never be ashamed. Never be ashamed. The Lord is my strength, my shield,
my heart trusted in Him, and I'm helped. That's the fruit
of that. He said, I'm helped. You see
that? I'm helped. Do you need help?
I need help. I'm a poor and needy creature.
The Lord is my help. I am helped. I'm helped in Him. He said, come boldly to the throne
of grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help
in our time of need. This is our confession. He is
our helper. He is our helper. Don't turn,
let me just read this to you. God is our refuge and strength,
the very present help in trouble. He's our help in trouble. Therefore,
he says, my heart Now when David, when we talk
about the heart, he's not talking about this organ. He's not talking
about this thing we have in the middle of our chest. He's talking
about who we really are as believers. Talking about our affection,
our will, our mind, our emotions, all that we are as believers,
our heart, who we really are. rejoices in Him. Rejoiced in
the Lord always and again I say rejoice. We are the true Israel
which worship God in the Spirit that rejoice in Christ Jesus
and we have no confidence in the flesh. And with my song we
just sing one song. We just have one song. unto him
who loveth us, and watcheth from our sin in his own blood. My
heart greatly rejoices in him, and with my song, I'm going to
praise him. With my lips, I'm going to praise
him. As David said in Psalm 103, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me, bless his name. Now look at verse 8. The Lord is their strength and
the strength of their salvation. And He is the saving strength
of His anointed. Now, we know David was the anointed
king, but this is talking about David's king. This is talking
about David, Lord. Talking about the anointed, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's anointed in all of His offices,
prophet, priest, and king. Prophet, priest, and king, he
is the anointed one of God. Look over here at Psalm 45. Psalm
45, verse six. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
the right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness, hatest
wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with an oil of gladness above thy fellows. The
Lord Jesus Christ is anointed in all of his office as prophet,
priest, and king. And that's what He has made unto
us. He's the saving strength of our salvation, the Anointed
One. Now, I'm going to let you do
research on verse 9, and I'm going to let you, I'm just going
to remind you of it, the article on the back of the bulletin,
and we'll make this our prayer for this day forward, Save thy
people. You see that? Save thy people. Who are these people? Those given
to Christ in that covenant of grace. Bless thy inheritance. His people are his inheritance.
We're called the sheep of his pasture, the people of his hand,
the sheep of his pasture. And then feed them or rule them.
Rule over them. And he does. He has a righteous
rule, a sovereign rule. And then lift them up forever.
Lift them up forever. And that's what he does. He's
lifted us from the pit. Deliver them from going down
to the pit. I have found a ransom. I looked that up today, that
verse in Job 33. Deliver them from going down
to the pit. I have found a ransom. And if you look in the marginal
reference on that verse, it says atonement. Christ is our atonement. He's all the atonement for our
sin.