Let's open our Bibles to Isaiah
chapter 43, Isaiah 43. Beginning of verse one. But now,
thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed
thee, Israel." Jacob was that old man created
after the image of Adam, that fallen man, the supplanter. Israel
was the new man created in Christ Jesus, the Prince of God, And
so when the Lord speaks to his people, he reminds them that
by nature they are but Jacob's. That's how they were created
physically. And now by the new creation,
they're Israel, Prince of God. Oh, Jacob, oh, Israel, here's
a word from the one who created you, the one who formed you. Fear not. For I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. Notice, he didn't say, I will
redeem you if, he said, I have redeemed you. Redemption is finished. It is completed in what the Lord
Jesus did. To redeem means to purchase.
And the Lord purchased his people unto himself by his own blood
on Calvary's cross. I have redeemed thee. Now that you are mine, when you
pass through the waters, I'll be with thee. And through the
rivers, they shall not overflow thee. You know, that Jordan River,
Jordan, Translated means to descend. It's really a picture of death
and it's a picture of our death. Children of Israel were on the
east side of the Jordan and Joshua had to divide the waters of the
river to bring them across into the promised land. And here's
the picture of our hope in Christ that our Joshua, our Savior,
would divide the waters and bring us safely home. And he says,
these waters will not overflow thee and not destroy you when
you walk through the fire. Fiery trials, troubles and sin,
I shall not be burned. Those Hebrew children were thrown
into the fiery furnace. King said, I see a fourth. who
looks like the son of man, the son of God. And when they came
out, not a hair on their head was singed. The smell of smoke
was not even on their clothes. Why? Because the Lord Jesus walked
through that fire with them. And when you go through the fire,
you will not be burned. Neither shall the flames kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God. The
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior, I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable. I have loved thee. Therefore
will I give men for thee and people for thy life, and here's
another. I mentioned last Sunday 365 times
in the Bible, the Lord says, fear not. There's two of them
right here in this short passage. Verse five, fear not, for I am
with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather them from the west. I will say to the north,
give up, and to the south, give not back. Bring my sons from
far, my daughters from the ends of the earth. Even everyone that
is called by my name, I have created him for my glory and
I have formed him, yea, I have made him. Our Heavenly Father,
thank you for your word. Thank you for your Holy Spirit
that gives faith to believe what you have said. Thank you for
these precious promises. Thank you for the accomplished
work of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has purchased
unto himself a particular people, a peculiar people, and made them
to be priests and kings. Lord, we pray that Christ would
be lifted up in this place this morning, that our hearts would
be drawn in faith and love to him. Lord, that we would experience
the forgiveness of our sin and the hope of life eternal. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. ? Brethren let us join to bless
? Christ our peace and righteousness ? Let our praise to him be given
? High at God's right hand in heaven ? High at God's right
hand in heaven ? Son of God, to thee we bow ? ? Thou art Lord
and only Thou ? ? Thou the woman's promised seed ? ? Thou who didst
for sinners bleed ? ? Thou who didst for sinners bleed ? ? Thee
the angels ceaseless sing ? ? Thee we praise our priest and king
? ? Worthy is thy name of praise ? ? Full of glory, full of grace
? ? Full of glory, full of grace ? ? How has the glad tidings
brought ? Of salvation fully wrought ? Wrought, O Lord, alone
by Thee ? Wrought to set Thy people free ? Wrought to set
Thy people free ? Thee our Lord would we adore ? Serve and follow
more and more ? Praise and bless thy matchless love ? Till we
join thy saints above ? Till we join thy saints above Please
be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to 1st Samuel chapter 24, 1st Samuel 24. And then very quickly, we're
going to be going to Psalm 57, Psalm 57. In 1st Samuel chapter
24, the Lord tells us about what happened to David
as he was being pursued by Saul. Now Saul had an army, the scripture
says, of 3,000 fit men, fully armed. Saul was filled with rage,
he was filled with jealousy, he was filled with fear, and
his determination was to kill David. David is in a place called En
Gedi. a rocky place with lots of caves
and hiding places. David, in contrast to Saul's
army, has 600 men who make up a ragtag team of misfits. The scriptures already told us
that these men were men that were in distress, they were men
that were discontented, and they were men that were in debt. That
describes David's army. Does that describe you? Spiritually
discontent. I cannot find contentment anywhere
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Spiritually distressed. I am between a rock and a hard
place. I turn every direction, I can
find no deliverance and no hope. I must cry, Lord save me. And spiritually in debt, I owe
God a debt for my sin that I cannot pay. Now that was David's army,
that was his, wasn't even an army, not even sure how well
Armed they were, just in the previous chapter David himself
didn't even have a sword and had to get Goliath's sword in
order to have a weapon. So I can see this ragtag team
of David's with sticks and stones trying to defend themselves against
a well-armed 3,000 men of Saul the king. rightly so, was afraid. He was
afraid. He was hiding in a cave. And
in God's providence, Saul goes into the same cave that David
happened to be hiding in, not knowing that David and his men
were in there. And the scripture tells us that
in verse 3, and he came to the sheep coast by the way, where
was a cave and Saul went in to cover his feet, relieve himself,
privately he thought. And David and his men remained
in the sides of the cave. While Saul is in there, David's
men say to David, this is your opportunity to kill your enemy. And David, rather than killing
Saul, takes his knife and cuts a part of his robe off. So that
now when Saul leaves the cave, the scripture says that David's
heart smote him even for what he had done because Saul was
the Lord's anointed. Now David had been anointed also.
David knew that he was going to be Saul's successor. but it
was not David's place to kill Saul. And David's heart smote
him. And after Saul left the cave,
David came out and bowed himself to Saul and showed Saul the piece
of his robe that he had cut off and said to Saul, and here's
our text. Look at verse 14 and 15. David is speaking to Saul After
whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog? After a flea? The Lord therefore be judge,
and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause,
and deliver me out of thy hand. David knew that the Lord was
going to have to deliver him from Saul, it wasn't his place
to do it. Saul, in the following verses
of this same chapter, sees the righteousness of David and they
part ways and Saul doesn't pursue David after that. But David, as a result of this experience,
wrote Psalm 57. And Psalm 57 tells us what was
going on in David's heart as a result of this impossible impossible defeat lest the Lord
defend him. David knew that God was gonna
have to deliver him. Oh, brethren, we have an enemy
that we cannot defeat. We have the enemy of our own
flesh that is too strong for us. We have the enemy of our
own sin our own born out of our own unbelief. We have the spiritual
powers of hell that would come up against us. We're like David,
you're pursuing a flea, you're pursuing a dog. Might the Lord
deliver me? If I'm going to be saved, he's
gonna have to save me. He's going to have to do it all
and he's going to have to do it all by himself. I have no
hope of delivering myself. We have a world in which we live
that is too often influencing us away from Christ and away
from God. You know that, don't you? We
know that by experience. And here's what our Lord said,
in this world you shall have tribulation. He wasn't talking
about just the trials and troubles of life. You know, even in the
greatest tribulation, even in the greatest trials that you
and I face in this world, the real problem with that trial
is our unbelief. It's our sin. It always comes
back to that, doesn't it? If we believed God as we ought,
was the Lord Jesus, prior to going to the cross, ever, was
he ever caused to be distraught over anything? No, why? Because he believed his father
perfectly. He had perfect faith. Nothing
bothered him. It's not our circumstances, it's
our sin in those circumstances that causes us so much fear and
trouble, isn't it? That's an enemy and we cannot
defeat. And then we have, as we read
in Isaiah chapter 43, that river yet to cross, the Jordan River, the river of
descent, the river of death. And except Joshua divide that
water for us and take us across safely, we'll be overwhelmed
by that water, won't we? Oh, we have an enemy. So many
enemies. That's what David's a picture
of here. And we're but a motley crew of men and women in distress,
and in discontent, and in debt, and oh, how we need David to
defend us. The Lord put us in this trouble in order that we might find his
grace to be sufficient. Paul prayed thrice, the scripture
says, three times that the Lord would remove the thorn from his
flesh and he calls that thorn in his flesh a messenger of Satan. Many speculations have been made
as to what that thorn was. I know what it is for me and
I believe I know what it is for you. It's your flesh, it's your
unbelief, it's your sin, it's that messenger from Satan, it's
the accuser of the brethren that would tempt us to look somewhere
else other than Christ for the hope of our forgiveness and our
salvation. After Paul had prayed to be delivered
from this thorn in the flesh, what did the Lord say? No, not
going to do it. You're going to suffer with that
thorn the rest of your life that my grace might be sufficient
for thee. My grace might be sufficient
for thee. Oh. We walk by faith, we're saved
by grace, it's all of grace. From beginning to end, it's all
a gift from God. Accomplished and performed by
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's look at Psalm 57. David found great hope and great
comfort in the words of this Psalm as every believer would
find in our struggle with our own unbelief and with our own
sin. This is a wonderful prayer of
need, Lord deliver me from this enemy. But like all the Psalms in particular,
the real hope of our salvation is seen in how these words are
not simply the words of David in his time of need, but they
are in fact prophetically spoken by David as the words of the
Lord Jesus on Calvary's cross. And so we find the hope of the
Lord answering this prayer for us in the struggles that we have
with our enemy because the Lord was faithful in hearing this
prayer and answering this prayer from the lips of the Lord Jesus.
He hung on Calvary's cross for three hours of darkness. There's
very few words recorded that he spoke audibly. But you know,
during that entire time in which he was being offered up to his
father, he was reciting in his heart these Psalms, Psalm 22,
Psalm 57, all the Psalms. And here's what he would have
said. Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the
shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities
be overpassed. I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth all things for me. The Lord Jesus
trusted his father to perform everything for him, to fulfill
the promises that the father had made, to raise him from the
dead and to accept the offering that he was making for the sins
of his people. Perfect faith. He shall send
from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would
swallow me up. What would have swallowed him
up? Death would have swallowed him up. but he trusted his father
to deliver him from the grave. God shall send forth his mercy
and his truth. Stop there for just a moment
and turn over with me to Psalm 85. Psalm 85. And look with me. verse 9. Surely his salvation
is nigh them that fear him. What is it to fear God? It's
not a slavish cringing fear of wrath and hell and judgment,
it's a reverential fear, it's a belief in God, it's to trust
him, it's to look to him in submission and trust knowing that if you're
going to be saved he's gonna have to do it. Surely his salvation is nigh
unto them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy, that's what we just read. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Where did mercy and truth meet
together? Where did righteousness and peace
kiss each other? At Calvary's cross. When God
showed mercy, toward his people by the sacrifice that Christ
made as the truth of God and in truth to establish righteousness
and justice. Mercy and truth have met together. Go back with me to Psalm 57.
God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. God does not show
mercy to the expense of his truth. He does not show salvation to
the expense of his righteousness. Righteousness must be established.
Truth must be fulfilled in order for mercy and peace to be had
by us. And so that's what our Lord was
praying on the cross. This will be your hope. My soul
is among lions, and I lie even among them that are set on fire,
even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their
tongues a sharp sword. Be thou exalted, O God, above
the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the
earth. The gospel of God's free grace.
accomplished in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
is the only message of salvation anywhere that gives to God all
the glory. Every other method and plan and
message that men would contrive for the salvation of one's soul
does not depend upon him performing all things. See that in verse
2? My God that performeth all things
for me. In every other message of salvation
there's something that you have to do. But this message gives to God
all the glory for He performed it all. Look at verse 6. They have prepared a net for
my steps. My soul is bowed down. They have
digged a pit before me in the midst whereof they are fallen
themselves. The very attempt of the evil
one to destroy the Lord Jesus Christ was the means by which
the Lord would save his people and destroy the enemy. My heart fixed. I looked up that word in the
margin of my Bible, perhaps it is that way in yours, it says
prepared. My heart is prepared. The Lord
Jesus' heart was fixed. He set his face, the scripture
says, like a flint towards Jerusalem. Nothing would deter him from
going to the cross. He came into this world to die.
He came into this world to make himself the sacrifice for the
sins of his people and he was determined to accomplish what
he came to do. His heart was fixed. But I like
that word prepared as we think about this psalm being our prayer
because too often our hearts are not fixed as they ought to
be. Isn't that what grieves us more
than anything else? how prone we are to wonder, how
unstable our hearts are and how fickle they are. Nevertheless,
in all of that, God's people's hearts are prepared. And unless
the Lord prepares them, they won't receive the seed. Unless
the Lord, I mentioned in the first hour the parable of the
four soils, and unless the Lord toils the ground, unless he prepares
it for the seed, the seed will not grow and it will not be fruitful. Our hearts are prepared. It's
called prevenient grace. It's what God does before he
reveals Christ to us. in all the means of preparation
that he puts us through in his wise providence in order to prepare
us to hear the gospel. And not only before our salvation,
but in our salvation. He prepares us all along the
way. for the next measure of his grace
and the next measure of faith and the next measure of his revelation
of truth and glory. He's always preparing our hearts. Aren't you thankful? Scripture says the heart is deceitful
and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Our hearts, we can't prepare
our hearts. Oh Lord, make my heart fertile
ground. Prepare it for the message of
the gospel, for the seed of truth and mercy. It might be planted
and grow, bring forth life. Lord, if you leave me to myself,
I'll just have a heart of stone. You must take out that heart
of stone and put in a heart of flesh. My heart is cold, it's
lifeless, it's hard. It can't produce fruit. David said, my heart is fixed.
And the Lord's heart was fixed. And our hearts by his grace and
by his mercy are prepared. And lest he prepare the heart,
we'll not be saved. But here's our hope. My heart is fixed. Oh God, my
heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise. How do I know the Lord has fixed
my heart? Because I'm able to praise Him,
I'm able to sing to Him, I'm able to rejoice in knowing that
He gets all the glory and He did all the work. Not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name be glory for Thy mercy
and for Thy truth's sake. He did it all. The only way, the only reason
I'm able to worship God, the only reason I'm able to to come
before him in submission and love is because he's prepared
my heart. Verse eight, awake up my glory,
awake, psaltery and heart. I myself will awake early. Oh,
how oftentimes we need the Lord to say to us, wake up, wake up. We're just like those disciples
in the garden of Gethsemane. where flesh is weak. Lord, I sleep and I'll slumber. I pray that right now the Spirit
of God is speaking some words of light and hope and truth and
joy and peace to our hearts and waking us from our spiritual
slumber and causing us to want to to praise and worship Him
for His grace and for His mercy. Look at verse nine. I will praise
Thee, O Lord, among the people. I will sing unto Thee among the
nations, for Thy mercy is great unto the heavens and Thy truth
unto the clouds. Be Thou exalted, O God, above
the heavens. Let Thy glory be above all the
earth. Why does he get all the glory?
Go back with me to the beginning of this psalm. Notice, and I remind you again,
in my Bible is very small print, it's hard to read. But the introduction
of these psalms is part of the inspired text. And there's a
word in this introduction out I think is the way you pronounce
it. And the translation of that word is destroy not. And the other word in the introduction
of this psalm, Mishcham, is the word golden. And what David's
saying is this is a golden psalm for me because I have the promise
of God that he would not destroy me. David knew that Saul was
not going to, even though he was afraid, he was going up against
insurmountable odds. And yet his hope, his hope was
that God had made promises to him and that his seed would bring
forth the Messiah. And for that reason, David could
not be killed. And so David's saying, throughout
all my fears, I know based on the promises of God, I can't
be destroyed. The Messiah would not come. Salvation,
the promise of God would fall short of its fulfillment if the
Lord allows Saul to kill me. Is that not our hope? God has
made some precious promises. And through all the trials and
troubles of our own sin and unbelief and troubles in this world, we
have this promise. Al-tashjith. Destroy not. The Lord can't destroy me. Not
if he's going to be faithful to his promise. Turn with me over a few pages
to Psalm 89. Psalm 89. Look at verse 20. And I want
you to think of this as it relates to the Lord Jesus. Yes, it related to David. And
this was David's hope. that he could not be killed.
He could not be destroyed. But here's our hope in Christ.
I have found David, my servant, with my holy oil have I anointed
him. Now that's what Messiah means,
the anointed one. And the scripture says the Lord
Jesus Christ was anointed with the oil of gladness above his
fellows. He came in the full power of
the spirit of God. His fellows, that's us. And we
have a measure of the Spirit of God. We have an anointing,
as the scripture says, of God's Spirit. He that has not the Spirit
of God is none of his. We must have the Spirit of God
if we're to have any faith. If we're to have any light and
any hope and any truth, we must come by the Spirit of God. But
the Spirit of God comes to us in measure. And so we're always
crying, Lord, give me more of your Spirit. Give me more light,
give me more oil. But not so with the Lord Jesus.
He came with the full anointing of the Spirit of God, the full
power of the Spirit of God. He could not fail. with whom my hand shall be established. Mine arm also shall strengthen
him. The enemy shall not exact upon
him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down
his foes before his face and plague them that hate him." Here's what David's praying in
Psalm 57. He's saying because the father
could not forsake his son, therefore he cannot forsake me. If I am
found in him who is the fullness of the Godhead bodily and I am
complete in him, and I am in Him, not having my own righteousness
which is of the law, but that righteousness which is by the
faith of Christ, then there's my hope. There's my hope. He's performed everything for
me. He performed it all. God's not looking to me for anything.
This is why I can cry unto him and say, be merciful unto me.
He would not allow his holy one to see corruption. He raised
him from the dead. He defeated his enemy. He came
to destroy the works of the devil and to open the grave and destroy
death and put away sin. And he was successful in doing
that. And that's why I have hope. He is my hope. He is my hope. Destroy not. Oh, what a golden
psalm. How oftentimes the Lord could
have defeated his enemy, but his whole purpose was to defeat
the enemy through death. In the garden of Gethsemane,
when Peter pulled out his sword and cut off the ear of the servant
of the high priest, the Lord took to Peter and said,
Peter, put your sword away. Don't you know that I could call
12 legions of angels right now? Don't you know that all the angels
in glory are standing on the precipice of heaven with swords
drawn waiting for me to speak the word and they would come
and deliver me? And you look at Old Testament
stories where God sent one angel to destroy a whole nation. What
would 12 legions of angels do to this world to save their Lord? And he said, I could have called
them at any moment. How many times when they tried
to take him, he disappeared out of their sight. And that doesn't
mean that he hid behind a piece of furniture He made him, you
know, he became transparent. No, he hold in their eyes so
they couldn't see. Just like those disciples on
the road to Emmaus, they were walking with the Lord, but their
eyes were holding, they couldn't see who he was. And if the Lord
hold in your eyes or my eyes, we won't see him either. He withhold
himself from us. Oh Lord, open the eyes of my
understanding. how many times the Lord could have defeated. He could have done to Pilate.
He could have done to Pilate what he did to Herod the Great.
Herod the Great, the scripture says, was eaten with worms because
he sat up on the throne and declared himself to be God. He was eaten
with worms and then he died. I don't know what that means,
but I don't want to die like that. He could have done it. He sent a death angel once and
killed the firstborn of every inhabitant of Egypt. He drowned the entire Egyptian
army in the sea. He could have done that. No, he withheld his wrath that
he might experience the full wrath of God's judgment and justice
for the sins of his people. The defeat of his enemy was going
to be through his death and by his sacrifice. We read Psalm 57 as a prayer
and we are encouraged to pray like this. But we see it first and foremost
as the prayer of the Lord Jesus. And his prayer was answered by
his heavenly father. And he was rewarded with his
people for having performed everything for them. Look at verse 2, I
will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth. Now one of the reasons I like
the King James is because they take the verbs, the King James
Bible is the only translation I know of that takes the participle
verbs and puts an ETH on them. And what that means is that this
is the eternal tense. In other words, it means that
it has been performed, it is being performed, and it shall
be performed. It's not just a one-time performance.
It's an eternal performance. It's from the covenant of grace
to everlasting life. He hath performeth. all things for me." He didn't
leave anything for me to do, he did it all. If he left any
part of my salvation up to me, I'm gonna mess it up. My God
hath performeth all things for me. It is a continual action
of performance. And it is in the active voice,
by the way. Look at that verse again. The
active voice means that the subject is doing the action. Who's the
subject in verse two? God. So it's the active voice
and it's the continuation of a performance. God does all the
action and he did it all from beginning to end. I am the alpha
and the omega, the first and the last. I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth all things for me." Now, everybody here and everybody
in this world believes that something has to be performed in order
for someone to be saved. We all have a performance religion. The question is, what needs to
be performed and who does the performing? Most hold to a plan of salvation
that says God has done his part and now it's up to you to do
your part. You must perform an act of your
will in making a decision in order to make what he did work
for you. or you must perform a certain
level of obedience to the law in order to secure what he did
for your salvation. And that's a performance-based
religion. We have a performance-based religion
too. The difference is not only in what was performed, but more
importantly, who performed it. I will call unto God who performeth
all things for me." Everything. Everything. It's kind of like Pharisee who
were those self-righteous religionists who were looking to the law for
the hope of their salvation and putting men under the law and
saint Those two words in the New Testament have the same definition, separated one. They both mean
the same thing, separated one. The question is, who does the
separating? The Pharisees prided themselves
in that they were separated ones. They weren't like the common
folk. They were holier than thou. They had removed themselves from
the mundane things of this world and they had become the spiritual
ones and they called themselves Pharisees, separated ones. The saints, on the other hand, unto the church of God, to them
that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called separated ones,
saints. Jude in speaking of the Pharisees
says, they are they that separate themselves, sensual without the
spirit. A man who separates himself has
not the spirit of God. Anyone who has been separated
unto Christ knows that they didn't have anything to do with that. They know that it was God that
performed that for them. It was God that made them to
differ. And it is God that gets all the
glory. They didn't have anything to
do with it. They were like Saul of Tarsus, just going about their
way at enmity with God, cursing God, breathing out threatenings.
And God shined a light from heaven and knocked them off their high
horse and put their face in the dirt and stopped them in their
tracks. God did that. He performed that
new birth. They didn't make any contribution
to it. They didn't listen to a message of salvation that said
they had to do something and decided to do what needed to
be done in order to be saved. He performed everything for me. What is it that needs to be performed?
Two things. Perfect obedience to the law
of God. and a sacrifice for sin that
is sufficient to satisfy God's holy justice. Those are the two
things that are necessary that God must, God's got to perform
that. See, what do men think? Well,
you know, I've done my best. I've tried to keep the law as
best I can. And the Lord's going to overlook
my infractions and, you know, He'll take into consideration
my sincerity and my efforts. I was sincere. And He'll be satisfied. No, He won't. No, He won't. It is the Lord Jesus Christ that
makes the law honorable. It is only He that ever kept
God's law. You and I have never been able
to keep one of God's laws one time. God requires perfect obedience. I will cry unto my God, my God,
which performeth all things for me. Men go about trying to establish
their own righteousness. Why? Because they are ignorant
of the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. If Christ doesn't
perform, and he didn't just perform obedience to the law in his active
obedience, he also fulfilled the requirements of the law in
his passive obedience. When he was upon the cross, The
scripture says that he was obedient even unto death, yea, even the
death of the cross. God required him to be obedient
in laying down his life as a sacrifice for sin. And so the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, that's why, I don't even like to think about
this, but that's why hell is forever. People get the idea that, oh,
the suffering in this world is going to be taken into consideration.
And there are people who suffer greatly in this world, suffer
a lot more than I ever have. And my heart goes out to anybody
that has a chronic illness or suffering or people that live
in poverty. But no amount of suffering in
this world is going to be sufficient to satisfy The God's justice. An eternity in hell will not
be sufficient. Yeah, well, you know, maybe after
a million years in hell, God will be sad. No, He won't. No,
He won't. The fiery wrath of God's justice
that fell from heaven on the sinner's substitute. The sin
bearer, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy One of Israel, is the
only sacrifice that's sufficient to satisfy God's justice. And
so mercy and truth met together. Righteousness and peace kissed
each other. Where? At the cross. I will cry
unto my God. David was facing an enemy that
he could not defeat. You and I have enemies we can't,
we can't defeat. I will call unto my God, I will
cry out unto him, my God, who himself performeth all things
for me. Yes, we have a performance-based
religion and it's because of his performance, he performed
everything. He performed the keeping of the
covenant. Remember when Jacob was wrestling
with the Lord in Genesis chapter 26? He was afraid of Esau, he
was about to face his brother and thought, surely my brother's
gonna kill me. And he wrestled with the Lord all night. And
here's what the Lord said, I will perform the oath, which I swore
unto your father, Abraham. I'm going to be faithful to my
promises. I made a promise in the covenant of grace before
the world ever began. And the promise was that I would
pay for the sins of my people and I'm going to perform it.
And that's what he did. He performed it. The Lord will
perfect, David said in Psalm 138, that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine
own hands. I'm not going to forsake my works.
That was the performance of your salvation. Not one of my sheep are going
to be lost. I will build my church. The gates of hell will not prevail
against it. Paul said in Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, I am confident
of this one thing, that he which began a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. I'm sure of it. He's going to perform everything
that he sets out to do. He shall not fail. Being fully
persuaded that that which he hath promised he is also able
to perform. I will cry unto God Most High,
unto God that performeth all things for me. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. We ask that you would bless it
by your Spirit cause us to rejoice in the performance of Christ. For it's in his name we pray,
Amen. Number 12 in the spiral hymnal,
let's stand. ? Upon my great and sovereign God
? I cast my soul and rest ? My Father's hand controls the world
? And what he does is best So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. In raging storms and
fiery trials, He keeps me from all harm. He walks with me and
holds me in His everlasting arms. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. My God with skill infallible
and great designs of grace, with power and love that never fail,
shall order all my ways. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. My life's most minute
circumstance is ordered by my God, who promised that in all
things He will ever do me good. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. Okay.