I was telling the Millers this
morning that I got their first taste of hurricane hysteria among
the weather guessers. I'm thankful that that thing
broke up and looks like we're just gonna get a little rain
out of it. I mentioned in the first hour that we are hoping
to get in our new building two weeks from today, the 16th. So,
Brian's cringing right now. I put him on the spot. We have
power. So, I don't know when the electricians
are coming to flip the switches. But we finally have power. We have air conditioning and
carpets all finished. So, the fixtures in the bathroom
still have to be done. The railing is stacked up out
here, and hopefully it'll still be there tomorrow when they come
to install it. I saw somebody looking at it
yesterday, so I don't know what to do other than us all running
over there and unpacking it and trying to put it in the building.
You want to try to do that after the service? I mean, the boxes
are not heavy. We might want to do that. I really
did see somebody. I mean, I came up here yesterday
and there were two guys looking at it, like, you know, this is
free pickings. So, all right, so after the service,
if we could get eight or 10, 12, 15 people, we just have to
take plastic off the boxes that are not heavy and put them in
the building. That way they'll be sure to be here tomorrow or
whenever they get around to installing them. this week. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 10 says,
for he that has entered into his rest, he also has ceased
from his own works as God did from his. You enter into the
rest of Christ, you cease from trying to earn favor with God. As God ceased from his work on
the seventh day, he rested. I hope we leave here today resting
all the hope of our salvation in Christ. Let's stand together. Tom, you gonna come lead us?
Number 36, 36. And the spiral hymnal, and then
we'll sing the hymn that's on the back of the bulletin. So
make sure you're near somebody who has one. number 36. Behold my soul, the love of God! Behold the grace most free! Before all worlds His purpose
stood, His heart was fixed on me. Elected by eternal love,
the covenant firm and sure, the triune God agreed in love, salvation
to secure. My soul was given to the Son
He promised to redeem By blood and righteousness His own He
would my soul reclaim In the due time Emmanuel came To live
and die for me He lives today and bears my name, Christ is
my surety. In love He sent His Spirit down,
who gave me life and grace. He drew me and I followed on,
my Savior to embrace. Now I rejoice in covenant love,
amazing grace I sing. I now am conquered by his love. My savior is my king. Please be seated. Good morning, all. For the call
to worship, we'll be in Psalm 62 for the scripture reading.
Psalm 62, verses 1 through 8. Psalm 62. Truly, truly or only, my soul
waiteth upon God, waited silently toward God. From him cometh my
salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation,
my defense. I shall not be greatly moved.
And we have in contrast the man-centered religion and God's response to
it in the next two verses. How long will ye imagine mischief
against a man? He shall be slain, all of you,
as a bowing wall and as a tottering fence. They only consult to cast
him down from his excellency. They delight in lies. They bless
with their mouth. but they curse inwardly. My soul
wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him. He
only is my rock and my salvation, my defense. I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my
glory. The rock of my strength and my
refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, ye
people, Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Our Father in heaven, we wait
upon you now in the person of your dear son, our God and Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, we confess that we
are in great need of this salvation, even this morning. salvation
that can be only found in Christ. We pray, Lord, that you would
deliver us from any vain, evil imagination, but that, Lord,
that you might be pleased by your Spirit to reveal Christ
to us and in us for our only hope of salvation. We pray that
by your spirit that you'd be pleased to bless the preaching
to that end, help our pastor as he preaches to preach Christ
and him only, and then we'll worship you. We pray all these
things in Christ's name for his sake, amen. Let's stand once again, we'll
sing the hymn on the back of the bulletin. Though troubles assail and dangers
affright, Though friends should all fail and foes all unite,
Tis one thing secures us, whatever be tide, His promise assures
us the Lord will provide. The bird without barn or storehouse
are fed. From them let us learn to trust
for our bread. His saints what is needed shall
ne'er be denied, So long as tis written the Lord will provide. His call we obey like Abram of
old. We know not the way, but faith
makes us bold. For though we are strangers,
we have a sure guide, and know in all dangers the Lord will
provide. No strength of our own, nor goodness
we claim. Our trust is all cast on His
precious name. In this our strong refuge, for
safety we hide. The Lord is our refuge, the Lord
will provide. When life is most o'er and death
is in view, the Word of His grace will see us safe through. Not fearing nor doubting, with
Christ on our side, we hope to die shouting, the Lord will provide. Please be seated. Caleb and Lacey
Hickman are going to bring special music. Teach me, O Lord, the way of
Thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I
shall keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it. Make me to go in the path of
Thy commandments, for therein do I delight. Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies,
And not to covetousness. Turn away mine eyes from beholding
vanity, And quicken thou me in thy way. Establish thy word unto thy servant
Who is devoted to thy fear Turn away my reproach which I
fear, for thy judgments are good. Behold, I have longed after thy
precepts, quicken me in thy righteousness. You guys think you could do that
every Sunday? I mean, not that exact same hymn,
but open your Bibles to Psalm 119 with me, please, because
they just sang my text. If you guys could just put my
text to song every Sunday, what a blessing. They just sang verses
33 through 40 of Psalm 119. And that is our text this morning. All of grace. That's what I've
titled this message. All of grace. If it is of grace,
it can no longer be of works. Otherwise, grace is not grace. If you mix any amount of man's
contribution, his will, or his works, or his wisdom to the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have turned the gospel of
God's grace into a gospel of works which will not save. David in Psalm 119, beginning at verse
33, said, Lord, teach me. We looked at these verses last
week. I wanna pick up where we left off. Teach me. Lord, if
you don't teach me, I won't be taught. And here's our hope. They shall be all taught of God. And when the Comforter, the Holy
Ghost comes, he will teach you. That's our hope. Lord, teach
me. Give me. Give me understanding. Lord, if you don't give it to
me, there's no way I can earn it. There's no way I can achieve
it. You're gonna have to give it
to me freely. Lord, make me. Make me. Lord, if you don't make me go
in my path, if you don't make me to believe, if you don't make
me to hear, if you don't make me to see, I won't be able to.
It's all of grace. It's all his work. Salvation
is of the Lord. He gets all the glory. Incline, verse 36, incline my
heart unto thy testimonies and not
to covetousness. Incline means to bend. To bend. And Lord, if you don't bend my heart.
The imagery here is training up a child in the way he should
go. That when he grows old, he will
not depart from it. And we, as the children of God,
say, Lord, incline me, bend me, train me, show me. Children have to be bent, don't
they? They have to be directed in the
way in which they should go. I want to say this as a word
of encouragement to our young parents. I have watched over
the years that our children as they grow up, in general, have the same commitment to the church
and to the gospel that they see in the lives of their parents. That's not a hard and fast rule,
but it's a proverb. And we've got some young parents
that have their young children here, every service, and what
a blessing, what a blessing it is. And they're bending them,
they're training them in the way in which they should go. Notice that David's speaking
of not bending the way we live. We bend the way our children
live and we correct them and from time to time we have to
put our children under the law in order to in order to rebuke
them. But here the believers say unto
the Lord, Lord bend my heart. Now here's the truth. Man is
capable of changing his behavior. You can do that in the power
of your own determination and in the power of your own will.
You can change your behavior. You can get some therapy and
some group counseling and some support and drugs or whatever
it takes and you can change your behavior. Man is not capable
of changing his heart. For the heart to be changed,
that's something God's got to do. He's got to take out the
heart of stone. He's got to put in the heart
of flesh. He's got to make us after his own heart. And that's the new birth. That's
the new birth. Lord, bend my heart, change my
heart. And after the Lord takes out
the old, unbelieving, hard, and cold, lifeless heart and puts
in a beating heart that's warm and moved by the Spirit of God,
the child of God continues to say, Lord, bend my heart. Incline my heart toward Christ. Look, incline my heart unto thy
testimonies. You see, this really is an issue
of the heart. Religion is all based on conforming
one's outward behavior to make him look like a Christian or
whatever. religious persuasion a person
might be. And so every religion has its
own sets of rules and regulations that men are expected to conform
their lives to so that they can fit in. And the Lord's making
it clear to us, this is a matter of the heart. And I'm the only
one that can do that. And so I'm going to put you in
a place where you're going to have to depend upon me for that.
You remember the woman with the issue of blood? What does the
heart do? The heart circulates blood and
life is in the blood, isn't it? And the woman had an issue of
blood. And that's really our problem. It's symbolic. I mean,
I know she had a menstrual problem and she was suffering greatly
as a result of that. But it's a spiritual picture
of each one of us. And our issue, if you will, is
with our blood. And it's in our heart. And she
had gone to many physicians. which is a picture of what men
do when they go to works religion, man-made religion, in order to
try to solve the sin problem that they know they have. And
what's the scripture say? She was worse off in the end
than she was in the beginning. Well, all these physicians, don't
you know each one of them she went to? She spent her money. She gave them what she had. They
would give her some prescription, tell her what to do. Probably
half of them did exactly what she didn't need doing, and that
would be bloodletting, would have been a medical procedure
in that day. Well, let's just get some more
blood out of her system, and that was her problem. She didn't
have enough, she was anemic, and that's religion. Here we are with an issue of
blood, anemic, and they just draw more blood out. They put
us more under the law, and more under works in order to solve
this end problem, and we're worse off in the end than we were in
the beginning. Oh, if I could just touch the
hem of his garment, I could be made whole. Who touched me? Who touched me, Lord? Everybody
here is touching you. What do you mean who touched
you? No, virtue has gone out from me. Grace has gone out from
me. Power has gone out from me. And
she told him all the truth. She confessed to him. She wasn't
supposed to be in that crowd. She was unclean. She was supposed
to be standing out by herself, announcing to everybody that
she had an issue of blood and no one was close to her. And
here she crawls on the ground and touches the Lord and is made
whole. What was she saying? Lord, incline
mine heart. Lord, I've got a blood problem.
I've got a heart problem. I need to be made whole. And
immediately, the scripture says, she felt in her body immediately
that she'd been made whole. Lord, that's my problem. I need you to take out. this
unbelieving heart of mine, and I need you to incline my heart
toward thy testimonies. I need you to train me up as
I try to train a child in his outward behavior. Lord, you're
gonna have to train me inwardly and change me. It's all of grace. It's not of
works. We're not talking about just,
you know, we'll stop doing this and start doing that. That's
what religion is all about. That's a works gospel. The Lord
changes your heart. Everything else will take care
of itself. That's right. Everything else will take care
of itself. We don't. We don't crack the whip of the law around
here trying to monitor the way people live. We preach the gospel. Believing that if the Lord changes
the heart, everything else will follow. Only God can make a person who
by nature hates Christ, love Christ. Only God can make a person
who by nature believes themselves to have some righteousness come
to the conclusion that they're a sinner. and they have no righteousness
whatsoever before God. That's the changed heart. Only
God can make a person who has no interest in the scriptures
have a love for the Word of God. Lord, teach me, show me. Give
me understanding. Reveal Christ to me from your
Word. Make it living and powerful in
my heart. Only God can take a person who
has an affection for their false religion and their false gospel,
hate that message and hate what it did to them and hate what
it's doing to others. I'm not talking about hating
people. By hating a gospel, hating a false gospel, a lying gospel
that sends people to hell, a gospel that you were deceived by, only
the changed heart will make you hate something that you once
loved and love something that you once hated. That's grace. That's grace. Lord, incline my
heart toward thy testimonies. Look at the rest of this. And not to covetousness. Now
we all, by nature, covet things in this world. We see things
that we would like to have and imagine what life would be like
if we had it. And Lord has to correct us and
he does. If we have a changed heart, he'll
show us the vanity of those things and show us the deceitfulness
of them. And maybe he'll let us go after
those things for a period of time until he's ready to show
us that there's no happiness there, there's no contentment
there. Lord, I don't want to be covetous for the things that
try to find my contentment. and my happiness outside of Christ,
that's what he's saying. But the real thing, the real
application of this, Lord turn my heart towards Christ that
I not covet his glory. That I not covet his glory, that
I not try to rob from him. his accomplished work of redemption
and take some credit, whether I'm looking to my life for the
cause of my salvation or looking to my life for some evidence
in salvation, I'm coveting some glory, I'm coveting some credit,
I'm coveting, Lord, don't let me covet that which only belongs
to the Lord Jesus Christ. For this salvation is all of
grace. It's all of grace and being all
of grace, he gets all the glory. Amen. Look at, look at the next
verse. Turn away mine eyes from beholding
vanity. Oh, there's plenty of vanity in this
world in there. And there are plenty of things
we ought not to be looking at. And, uh, we, we, we say with
Job, Lord. Behold, Job said, I've made a
covenant with my eyes that I would not look upon a maiden lustfully. And we all know that we lust
after things. Lord, covenant my eyes. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that never, ever looked on anything lustfully. So there's
vanity in this world. Lord, turn my eyes away from
the vanity, the emptiness. the things of this world. But
again, the real application to the gospel here is the emptiness,
the vanity, and that's what the word vanity means, of my own
life, my own works. Lord, turn my eye. You see, as
a believer, as a believer, we are prone every day to look to
something other than the Lord Jesus Christ for either the hope
or the evidence of our salvation. Are we not? We're trying to find something,
you know, some improvement. Something, Lord, turn my eyes
away from vanity. Truly, whatever I see in my life
is empty. Now here's what the scripture
says. Man, that's us, at his very best state, that's the best
thing you and I could ever do, is altogether vanity. Emptiness. Oh, we love to glory
in ourselves, don't we? We love to take pride in ourselves.
We love to boast in ourselves. We love to talk about ourselves.
We love the attention of other men on us. We love the praise
of men. It's vanity. It's just vanity. Lord, turn my eyes away from
vanity. Now here's the glorious truth
of man at his very best state. Being altogether vanity? Who's
the very best man that ever lived? Turn with me to Philippians chapter three. Verse five. Philippians chapter
2 verse 5, I'm sorry. Philippians chapter 2 verse 5.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who
being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. You see, when you and I boast
in ourselves, What we're doing is we're falling to the temptation
of Satan all the way back there in the garden, wanting to be
like God. We want to elevate ourselves
to a position of power and control and attention and authority.
Isn't it? We were just eat up with ourselves, aren't we? But
when the Lord Jesus Christ did it, He thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. You and I think it robbery. We're
convicted by the Spirit of the Lord. I'm robbing you of your
glory. I'm coveting what only belongs to you. The Lord Jesus
Christ never had to think that way. He knew that He was God. He wasn't robbing God of His
glory. But He made of Himself no reputation, no reputation, and took upon
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men,
and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore
God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall
bow, and every tongue shall confess that he's God. He's the Christ. He's Lord to the glory of God
the Father. Now you see that word no reputation
in verse 7? That's emptied himself or vanity. Man at his very best state. The Lord Jesus Christ as the
God man. The best man that ever lived,
who knew that it was not robbery to claim equality with God because
he was God. Emptied himself. He emptied himself
of his glory. He bore our sins in his body
on Calvary's tree and became God's sacrifice for sin, satisfying
God's divine justice. He emptied himself that we might
have the fullness of life in him. Go back with me to our text.
Turn mine eyes away from beholding vanity. Lord, don't let me look at the
vanity of my life for the hope of my salvation. Set my eyes on things above where
Christ is seated at the right hand of God. My affections, my
heart, my hope in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation's
all of grace. This is what you and I need every
day. We need for God to teach us. We need for him to give us.
We need for him to make us. We need for him to incline our
hearts. We need for him to turn our eyes
away from the vanity of ourselves. What a beautiful thing humility
is and how rare it is among us. And I stand before you as the
number one culprit of vanity. And yet, Lord, turn my eyes away
from myself. I can't get out of my own way.
I meet up with myself. I wake up in the morning thinking
about myself. I'm more concerned about myself
than anybody else. Is that your problem? Let me give you a real simple
illustration. Right in front of our sink at
our house, there's a rough spot on the countertop. And Tricia
has ruined several tops leaning up against the edge of that.
She's put holes in her tops doing the dishes. And recently I looked
down and I had a place on my pants right below my belt, just
right there at my belt where I had leaned up and it pricked
my pants. Now she's been telling me about that spot for years
and has ruined several shirts and I determined when my pants
got ruined that I'm going to fix that sink. You have that problem? Are we not just full of vanity? Lord, turn mine eyes away from
vanity. The only way your eyes are going
to be turned away from vanity is if they're turned to the Lord
Jesus Christ. They're turned to Him. Then you
see yourself for what you are. And you're able to be humble
and you're able to esteem others more highly than yourself. And
yet this is a daily work of grace, isn't it? Because we're just
caught up with ourselves. It's a daily work of grace. Lord,
turn mine eyes away from the empty vanity of myself and enable
me to set my affections on things above where Christ is seated
at the right hand. quicken thou me in the way you
see that in verse 37 is this your need is this your need I
tell you it's my need Lord quicken me that word quicken means to
be made alive Lord if you don't quicken me by your spirit and
quicken me in the way of Christ enable me to look to Christ I'll
get caught up in the vanity of this world and in the vanity
of my own life. Lord, I need your grace. I need
your grace now more than I've ever needed it before. This is
not just a one-time gift of grace that we look back to as an experience
that, well, I got that down. Let's move on to something bigger
and better now. Lord, I've got to have your grace every day. Look at verse 38, establish thy
word unto thy servant. Establish thy word. Let me show you the first place
that word is used in the Old Testament. Turn back with me
to Genesis chapter 6. Genesis chapter 6. You know, some people are under
the impression that the God of the Old Testament was a God of
wrath and judgment, and the God of the New Testament is a God
of love and mercy. That is the farthest thing from
the truth. Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He has not changed one bit, and we rejoice in that. Our God is
immutable. I am the Lord and I change not
and therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Because I have
determined and ordained a covenant of grace to save a particular
people and nothing you do, good or bad, can change that because
I can't be changed. There's our hope, isn't it? And
that's what this word established means. Lord, it's a, it is established. Look at, look at Genesis chapter
six. Look with me at verse 17. And behold, I, even I, now God's
speaking to Noah. And behold, I, even I, do bring
a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh. Wherein is the breath of life
from heaven, from under heaven, and everything that is in the
earth shall die." Now the God that said that is the same God
who's coming again and destroying everything that has breath with
fire. And he is called the Lord Jesus
Christ. Riding upon a horse with a tongue
like fire, sending the reapers to reap the harvest and to bring
the wheat into the storehouse. That's our God. He's not changed. But with thee, what is my hope? What is my hope to escape the
wrath that is to come? But with thee, will I establish
my covenant. That's what we're praying. Lord,
establish thy covenant, establish thy word, and establish me in
thy word. Cause me to not be moved off
the promise of your covenant. Because that's the only hope
that I have. It's the only hope that Noah and his family had
from being destroyed with all flesh upon the earth. And it's
the only hope that you and I have of being destroyed by the wrath
that is to come. Look, but with thee, well, I
established my covenant and thou shall come into the ark, thou
and thy sons and thy wives and thy son's wives with thee. Here's
my hope. There's an ark. There's an ark. He's called the Lord Jesus Christ. He's pitched from within and
from without. Completely waterproof. He rises
above the floods of God's judgment. And that's exactly what he's,
and he's, and you remember what happened after Noah brought the
animals into the ark? The scripture says, and God,
closed the door. And here's the word of hope.
Brethren, the doors open right now. One day it's gonna be shut. It's open right now. When will God close it? I have
no idea, but I know he will. And when it's closed, it's closed. And Noah didn't put a sign on
the back of the ark saying, Smile, God loves you. Okay, that's the
message of modern day religion. No, it is a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of an angry God. Right now, brethren, the
door to the Ark is open. And I will establish my covenant
promises with you. Noah's name translated means
rest. We rest in the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this passage of scripture
can be taken also symbolically of God the Father speaking to
his son. I will establish my covenant
with you. You're going to be the rest for
your people. You're not only the Noah that went in the ark,
you are the ark. You see, Christ is all. He really
is. And he really is in all. Everything's to be understood
in light of who he is and what he's done. Establish. Lord, establish me in thy word.
Establish. Go back with me to our text.
This gospel is all of grace, isn't it? And all of scripture
speaks of it. It all speaks of it. Establish
thy word unto thy servant. Lord, make me to stand firm in
faith, believing your covenant promises. David said, this is
all my salvation and all my desire. He has made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things and sure. And what does the synagogue
of Satan say? We've made a covenant with death.
Well, that's the problem. You made it. You made it. You're going to stand on a covenant
promise that you made, or are you going to stand on a covenant
promise that God made? Which one do you think is going
to be established? As it was in the days of Noah,
so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. What were men doing in the days
of Noah? Marrying, giving in marriage, eating, drinking, just
going about their daily affairs, thinking all is well between
me and God. And the child of God says, Lord,
establish me in thy word. If you don't establish me in
Christ, I've got no hope. Turn to me
to Colossians chapter two. Colossians chapter 2, look with
me if you will at verse 6. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, how did you receive him? If you received
him, you received him as a dead dog sinner. You received him
as one who was unworthy of him, one who could not present anything
To force his hand or to obligate him, you had nothing to offer. You received him by faith. Looking in faith to the finished
work and the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
how every one of us received him. And as you received Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him." We never move beyond this
walk of faith. It doesn't change, does it? It's
still the same. Rooted and built up in him, established
in the faith. You see, brethren, it's faith. Faith in Christ. Believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the substance of things
hoped for. It's the evidence of things not seen. And so the
Lord says that Psalmist is saying, Lord, establish me in thy word. Establish me in thy covenant
promises. Lord, everything else is shifting
sand. Everything else is slippery.
Lord, it's the only place I've got. And Paul says to the church at
Colossae, rooted and built up in him and established in the
faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit. That's all the world has to offer.
The only thing the world has to offer is philosophy. An empty
deceit. Turn my eyes away from vanity. What does the world say? Well,
you know what? You can nail this down. Just
pray this prayer. Or you can have confidence that
you're a child of God. Just look at what you're doing.
Or you can have hope that you're saved by looking at what you're
not doing that you used to do. That's vain deceit. after the traditions of men,
and after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him." Complete! Can't add anything to what's
complete. Go back with me to our text.
Establish me in my word. Who is? And I, you know the word devoted
is in italics, it's added by the translators. I don't have
really a problem with it. We are devoted to fear. God devotes
us to the fear of God. We, we never grow beyond that. We, we, we worship him. We bow before him. The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's not a cringing fear
of judgment and law and wrath. It's a, it's a, it's an acknowledgement
of God's grace and our dependence upon his grace. Look at verse 39. Turn away my
reproach, which I fear. Now, there's a real fear there. Lord, I fear. What is reproach? It's slander. It's slander of
something that's shameful. It's the accusations of sin. Lord, if I have to answer for
one of my sins before thee, you're going to have to turn
me away, turn away, you're going to have to turn away my reproach.
Because if I have to answer for the accusations of the law or
the accusations of sin before thee, I don't have an answer. And I fear I fear that if that's
what I have to stand before God based on, I've got nothing to look forward
to but judgment. So the child of God says, turn
away my reproach, which I fear. I said this in the previous hour. The law of God is holy. And we can say with David, we
love God's law. It's just and it's good. The law is not going to make
you holy. The law cannot justify you. And the law cannot add an
ounce of goodness to you. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Christ Jesus the Lord fulfilled
the law. He satisfied the demands of God's
holy law. Someone says, Do we not look
to the law as our rule of life? No, we don't. We don't. The life that I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me. Christ Jesus the Lord is the
one I look to in faith and follow after him. The law Cannot save,
the law cannot sanctify. Christ Jesus the Lord, as you
receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Did the law
save you? O foolish Galatians who have
bewitched you, one question I have for you. Were you saved by the
works of the law or by the works of faith? And if you were saved
by faith, then why are you going back to the law? We're not saved
by the law, we're not sanctified by the law. The law only reproaches
us. And what is the believer saying? Lord, don't let me come under
the reproach of your law. Because all my life does, compared
to your law, is expose the purpose of the law is to make sin utterly
sinful. That's the law. The law just exposes my sin for
what it is. That's all it does. It doesn't
give me any comfort. It doesn't give me any hope.
Now, I know the unbeliever who's monitoring and measuring their
self by the law hear us talking like this, they say, well, that's
lawless talking. You can't tell people that they're not under
the law. They'll go out there and live like they want. And
the child of God says, I wish I could live like I want. The law doesn't help me live.
Christ is my life. If I could live like I want,
I'd do everything perfect. I'd never sin again. My motives
would be pure and perfect all the time. As a matter of fact,
I'm longing for that day when I can live without sin. What a day that'll be. Look with me at this verse. Turn
away my reproach, which I fear. I fear the reproach of my sin
and the law for thy judgments are good. Now what happened at
Calvary's cross? The Lord Jesus Christ said, did
I come to destroy the law? No, I came to fulfill it. What did he do on Calvary's cross? Well, we just read it in Philippians
chapter two. He was obedient, yea, even unto
death. He fulfilled the law. Thy judgments
are good. God let the full wrath of his
holy righteousness and fury fall on the Lord Jesus Christ. When
Christ was made sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Lord, I look to the law, I look
to my sin, all I see is reproach. But when I look to thy judgments,
then I know that I'm good. It's good, it's good with God
when I'm looking in faith to the judgments of God. Thy judgments are pure. Turn to me to Romans chapter
three, Romans chapter three. I can't look to the law and get
any hope that my sin's been put away. But if I look in faith
to Christ, and I believe that He fulfilled everything the Father
sent Him to do, look, verse 23, for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. See, it's your problem, it's
my problem. None of us are exempt from this. This is our problem. Men think their problem in this
world is education or race relations or economy or that's not the
problem. Someone said, well, what do you
make of the, what do you make of the riots and the discord
that's taking place in the world? Well, men are just being men.
Occasionally, God removes his restraining hand and lets us
see the evil of man. And he does that in my life and
in your life too, doesn't he? The wrath of man shall praise
him and the rest he shall restrain. See, the only thing that keeps
us, you know, we hear of the evil of the world and we think,
well, this is, you know, it's all falling apart. Yeah, I'm
just amazed that it's not a whole lot worse than it is. That amazes
me. Knowing man for who he is, I'm
just amazed that God is restraining man as much as he is. What a
mercy that the Lord would restrain us. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God being, look at verse 24. Thy judgments are
good. When I look to the law and I
look to my sin, I have something to fear. But when you turn me
to Christ and I look to thy judgments, being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith. Now we don't use
that word much anymore, but to be made propitious means that
there's no more anger, there's no more wrath, there's no more
fury. The fire of God's fury has been
put out and God has made Christ to be the propitiation for our
sins. To declare his righteousness
for the remissions of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, I declare, or to declare, verse 26, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth. You see, God had to maintain
his justice. Sin had to be paid for. All of
it had to be paid for. And so we go back to Psalm 119
verse 39, turn away my reproach, which I fear. Lord, if I look
to your law and I look to my sin, I've got reason to be afraid. But if I look to your judgments,
the judgment of God, it was exercised on Christ. His righteousness
was established. His justice was fulfilled. His
holiness was maintained. All the sins of all of God's
people were put away by the sacrifice of himself once and for all.
There's our hope. Nothing but fear outside of Christ.
But perfect love casteth out fear. I mentioned this recently,
I hate fear mongering. There's a lot of that going on
in the world right now. A lot of fear-mongering. And men are
trying to control and manipulate people with fear. And men in
religion do it as well. God says, perfect love casteth
out fear. Lord, I don't want to be in bondage
to fear. Verse 40, and I close. I have longed after thy precepts. Child of God, as a newborn babe, as a newborn babe craves after
its mother's milk, so crave ye after the word of God. If so be that you have tasted
that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Oh, how priceless he is. He's
the chosen of God. We come in faith and we keep
coming. Don't you love the way Peter
said that, to whom coming? If you speak to people in religion,
they say, well, I've come to Christ. And they make a big deal
out of that past experience. And they nailed it down. They
prayed the prayer. They walked the aisle. They got
baptized. And the child of God never gets over it. As you receive
Christ Jesus, the Lord so walk ye in him. To whom coming? We are always coming. How do
we come? We come by looking at his word.
This is where he reveals himself, right here, right here. Behold,
I have longed after thy precepts, verse 40, quicken me, quicken
me. Now you know what that word means. It means to be made alive. Quicken me in thy righteousness. And we can, we can paraphrase
that part of the verse by saying, make me alive in Christ. Make me alive in Christ. It's
all of grace. Teach me, give me, make me, incline
mine heart, turn away my eyes from beholden vanity, establish
thy word, turn away my reproach, and quicken me in thy righteousness. Oh Lord, you've got to do it
all. What a prayer. May the Lord bring us back to
this passage, often in our own personal devotions, pleading
for his mercy and for his grace. Lord, add your blessings to the
reading and preaching of your word. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 168, let's stand together, 168. We'll
sing this a cappella, number 168, Even Me. Lord, I hear of showers of blessing,
thou art scattering full and free. Showers the thirsty land
refreshing, let some drops now fall on me. Even me, even me,
let thy blessing fall on me. Pass me not, O tender Savior,
let me love and cling to Thee. I am longing for Thy favor, whilst
Thou art calling, O call me, even me. even me, let thy blessing fall
on me. Pass me not, O mighty spirit,
thou canst make the blind to see. Witnesser of Jesus' merit,
speak the word of power to me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not thy lost one bringing,
bind my heart, O Lord, to thee. While the streams of life are
springing, blessing others, O bless me, even me. Even me, let thy
blessing fall on me.