Tonight's service with hymn number
four from your spiral hymn book. Number four, Hail Sovereign Love. And the tune will be Sweet Hour
of Prayer. Let's all stand together. Hail sovereign love that first
began the scheme to rescue fallen men. Hail matchless eternal grace
that gave my soul a hiding place. Against the God who rules the
sky, I fought with hand uplifted high. Despise the mention of
His grace, too proud to seek a hiding place. And wrapped in thick Egyptian
night, And fond of darkness more than light, Madly I ran the sinful
race, Secure without a hiding place. But thus eternal counsel
ran, Almighty love arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress,
And found I had no hiding place. Indignant justice stood in view,
To Sinai's fiery mount I flew. But justice cried with frowning
face, This mountain is no hiding place. Ere long a heavenly voice
I heard, And mercy's angel form appeared, Who led me on with
gentle pace To Jesus Christ, my hiding place. On him almighty vengeance fell,
That must have sunk the world to hell. He bore it for a chosen
race, And thus became my hiding place. ? A few more rolling suns
at most ? Shall land me safe on heaven's coast ? There I shall
sing the song of grace ? To Jesus Christ, my hiding place Please
be seated. What a hiding place he is. Mount Sinai, no place to hide
from God's justice. What comfort and hope we have
in knowing that the Lord Jesus himself is that city of refuge
in which we can flee the avenger of blood. Will you open your
Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 5? Matt, Andrea, Vincent and
Rebecca. So good to have you all with
us. They drove down from Lexington today. Rebecca is going to be with us
for a little while, so we'll welcome her to our fellowship. I've tried to prepare a message
from Psalm 65 on the blessed man. the blessed man. I'm interested
in having God's blessings, aren't you? And for many, many years,
we read Matthew chapter 5, popularly known as the Beatitudes, and
thought that these are the attitudes that we ought to have and if
we can somehow drum them up, then God will bless us for that.
And that is just exactly the opposite of what this passage
says. The attitude is the blessing. And seeing the multitude, he
went up into a mountain and when he was set, his disciples came
unto him And he opened his mouth and taught them. Oh, how we hope
every time we come together, the Lord would open his mouth
and teach us, teach us about his blessings. Here it is. Blessed
are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Oh,
if I could just be poor enough, God would bless me. No. Being devoid of any righteousness
is the poverty of the spirit that God gives as his blessing. When he makes us to be a sinner,
God makes something crooked, no man can make it straight. Blessed are they that mourn. Mourning is the blessing. Having
some Slight as it is, understanding of our sin and need for grace
is the blessing that God gives us that causes us to bow and
plead for mercy. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek. Being meek
before God is the blessing. For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Hungering and thirsting after Christ is the blessing, isn't
it? We wouldn't hunger and thirst after him if he did not bless
us. They shall be filled. Blessed
are the merciful. Oh, one who has received mercy
can not help but to be merciful. For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart. Pure in heart. That's the new
man. That's the new nature. And he's without sin. Perfect
before God. That's the blessing. For they
shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers. We have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. That is our blessing. For they
shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which
are persecuted for righteousness sake. Don't change it now. This is still the blessing. Persecution
is a blessing. If it's for righteousness sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So many years we thought, well,
we just stand out different from the rest of the world. They'll
persecute us because we're so good. To the contrary, actually, the
world likes good people. They do. Now, being persecuted
for righteousness sake is standing on the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ for the only hope of salvation. And the world,
particularly the religious world, hates that. Blessed are they when men shall
revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad
for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you. Let's pray. Our gracious and merciful Heavenly
Father, we come before thy throne of grace in the name of thy dear
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our life, our righteousness,
all of our acceptance, and all of our hope of salvation. And
Lord, for Christ's sake, we pray that you would be pleased to
pour out a blessing on us. We pray that you would reveal
to us the blessed man and cause us to come unto him. Lord, that you would confirm
to our hearts your divine and sovereign, gracious and merciful
choosing of sinners. That you would bless us with
that poverty of spirit and that mourning and that rejoicing in
the righteousness of thy dear son. For it's in his name we
pray, amen. Let's all stand together again.
We'll sing hymn number 199 from the hardback hymnal, 199. Come on. ? Sinners Jesus will receive ?
Sound this word of grace to all ? Who the heavenly pathway leave
? All who linger, all who fall ? Sing it o'er and o'er again
? Christ receive the sinful man Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receiveth sinful men. Come and He will give you rest. Trust Him for His word is plain. He will take the sinful last. Christ receiveth sinful men. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receive the sinful man. Now my heart condemns me not
Pure before the law I stand He who cleansed me from all spot
Satisfied its last demand Sing it o'er and o'er again Christ
receiveth sinful men Make the message clear and plain, Christ
receiveth sinful men. Christ receiveth sinful man,
even me with all my sin. Purged from every spot and stain,
heaven with him I enter in. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful man,
Make the message clear and plain, Christ receiveth sinful men. Please be seated. Will you open
your Bibles with me to Psalm 64? excitedly and innocently asked
me before the service tonight what I was going to be preaching
on. And I said, well, I made the mistake of asking Henry Mayhem
that question the first time he came here. And so I'll give
you the same answer he gave me. Christ. Christ. Oh, I hope the Lord will
enable us to see the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up. I know what
you meant, brother. Where are you going to be preaching
from? Psalm 64, 65. Did I say 64? I'm so sorry. Psalm 65. And the message I want to keep
coming back to throughout this Psalm is found in verse four. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. That's a blessing. Many of the things that the world
calls a blessing are in fact a curse. Someone was telling me how successful,
financially successful, their children were and their children
weren't believers. I thought, oh no, that's not
a good thing. That's not a good thing. The
world would say that's a blessing. Here's the blessing. When God
chooses you and causes you to come unto him, there's no blessing
like that blessing. This blessing, as we just sang,
is for sinners. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. God chooses one of His, the first
thing He does. After having revealed to them
the glory of His Son, He brings them to this conclusion, there's
nothing in me that's like Him. If that's righteousness, then
I'm nothing but unrighteousness. If that's holiness, then I'm
nothing but sin. And as a sinner, we're drawn
to Him. Faithful, sane, worthy of all
acceptation. Christ Jesus came to save sinners. And how's that verse end? Of
whom I am chief. Every child of God sees their
own sin more clearly than they see anyone else's. And they see
their need for grace more desperately than they see anyone else's need
for grace. Someone asked me recently about
having a burden for other people's souls. And I said to them, I
said, the burden that you have for other people's souls will
be in direct relationship to the burden that you have for
your own. Once you realize the gravity
of this thing called salvation, then the burden that you have
for yourself will be translated in the burden that you have for
others. David begins this psalm by saying,
praise, praise, waiteth for thee, O God. We delight in being able
to praise him and the scripture says that he inhabits the praise
of his people. But as soon as we attempt to
praise God, as soon as we seek to honor him and to pray to him,
we come to realize how inadequate our praise is. Our worship falls
so far short of his worthiness that sometimes we're brought
to just say, Lord, praise is just gonna have to wait on you.
You're too glorious for me to be able to praise you as I ought.
One of the longings in every believer's heart is to know that
one day he's going to see him as he is and be made like him.
And when that which is perfect has come, then that which is
in part will be done away with. And we'll praise him as we ought. But in the meantime, praise waiteth
for him. We're just waiting for that day
when we'll be able to praise Him properly and be able to praise
Him fully. We'll be able to see Him in the
fullness of His glory. Praise waiteth for thee, O God. And the only place this is true,
the only place this is true is in Zion. This is the blessing
that God gives. He inhabits the praise of his
people in Zion, in Jerusalem. This is where we wait on him,
waiting on him for his blessing, waiting on him for his mercy,
waiting on him to make himself known to us, knowing that we
have nothing to bring to obligate him or to persuade him other
than to plead for him. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint. Being still, being quiet, and
waiting on God is an expression of our dependence upon him and
it's an expression of our inability our inability to worship him
and praise him as we ought unless he comes and causes us to come
unto him. Lord, I'm waiting for your blessing,
waiting for your blessing. And unto thee, unto thee shall
the vow be performed. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ struck
hands with his father in the covenant of grace before time
ever began and committed himself to become the surety of his people. That was his vow. His vow was
to accomplish everything that was necessary for the salvation
of those whom God chose in the Lamb's Book of Life. His vow
was to provide for them a righteousness that they could not provide for
themselves. His vow to the father was to satisfy divine justice
by bearing their sins in his body upon the tree and suffering
the full wrath of God's justice. That was all in the vow that
the Lord Jesus Christ made with his father. That's why he said,
I must be about my father's business. I've come to do his work, his
work. And then when he bowed his mighty
head on Calvary's cross, he said, it's finished. It's finished. I have performed my bow. I've performed it. The accomplished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ is seen in His performance. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
come in order to make an offer of salvation to us. He did not
come in order to provide an opportunity to be saved. He came in order
to perform the vow that He had made to His Father before Adam
ever sinned. And He accomplished that vow
and satisfied every promise that He made to his father, fulfilling
them all. And now he says, praise waiteth
on thee, oh God. As we've seen time and time again,
these Psalms are most clearly understood in light of the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. What is he doing? He's waiting,
he's waiting on the father to reward him. The scripture says,
his works went before him. Now, the natural man wants to
send his works to heaven in hopes that they will recommend him
to God. There's only one man that can do that. The Lord Jesus
Christ did it. He sent his works ahead of him
and his reward is with him and his works are before him. And he waits. He waits. on the praise of his father for
having performed the vows that he made in the covenant of grace
before time ever began. Oh, thou that hearest prayer. Oh, I'm so thankful for the intercessory
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our prayers, like our worship,
are so fraught with insincerity and with fear and with sin and
with inconsistency and with distractions. We don't want God to use our
prayers as a standard of our acceptance before God as much
as we want to be able to pray. One day we'll be able to speak
to Him without all these distractions, without any sin. But right now,
the hope of our salvation is not based on our prayers. It's
based on His, isn't it? What made the difference between
Judas and Peter? They both did the same thing
that fateful night. They denied the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet the Lord said to Peter,
Peter, before the cock crows, thou shalt deny me three times. But Peter, I have prayed for
you, that your faith fail not." The difference between Peter
and Judas is the Lord didn't pray for Judas. He prayed for
Peter. Now did the Lord have to do anything
in order for Judas to be condemned? No. All God has to do, this is
the most fearful thought in the believer's heart. All God has
to do for any of us to go to hell is leave us alone. That's all he has to do. We're
on that path already when we're born. And if he just leaves us
alone, leaves us to ourselves, that's where we'll end up. But
he said, I prayed for you. I prayed for you. And then what
the Lord say in John chapter 17, Father, I pray not for them
only, but for those which will believe on me through their testimony,
through their word. I pray not for the world. I pray
for them, which thou has given me out of the world. God's not
trying to get folks saved. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one who fulfilled and performed all of his vows. He is the one
who's waiting on the praise of the father and he received it.
Isaiah chapter 42, what does God say? Behold, my servant,
mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. God delights in his son. And he delights in those for
whom his son died and those that look to his son for all the hope
of their salvation. Oh, thou that hearest prayers. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
high priest seated at the right hand of God. And the scripture
says he ever, ever liveth and make it the intercession for
us. We have an advocate with the Father. We have one who is
offering perfect prayers, perfect prayers to God for us. The Lord Jesus Christ takes our
feeble attempts to pray and he offers them up to the Father
in a way that are acceptable to God. And the prayers that
are, that are true prayers are those that are prayed in his
name. Lord, I acknowledge the fact
that my prayers are so far short of what they ought to be, but
that the Lord Jesus Christ would be my intercessor, that would
make the Father answer most, many of it. James put it like
this. He said, you have not because
you ask not. And when you do ask, you ask
amiss that you might consume it upon your own lust. Now, every
one of us knows what that means. How many times we have prayed,
we have been more concerned for temporal things than we have
for spiritual things. Our desire has been for those
things that support the flesh more than that is for those things
that support the spirit. Now God's going to provide. He said don't worry about the
things that you need in the flesh. Your Heavenly Father knows what
your needs are. He's going to provide those.
I'm not saying that we don't ask God for our spiritual, for
our physical needs. We do and we depend upon Him
for those things. But how many times we ask amiss
because Our flesh is not comfortable and we want things to be more
pleasing for the flesh. And the father has to oftentimes
answer those prayers with, no child, not now. That's not for
you. I've got something else for you.
I've got something better. The Lord Jesus Christ never offered
a prayer to the father whereby the father said, no son, no. Every prayer he offered was perfect
and acceptable to God. So here's our hope brethren,
unto thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Now I wanna say something about
our prayers because the Lord rebukes us when he says, O ye
of little faith, you have not because you ask. Ask, ask and
it shall be given unto you. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. Seek and you shall find. You're
not asking, you're not seeking, you're not finding. And here's
the statement, here's the point that I want to make. Our God
is infinitely more willing to save
than we are to be saved. And I don't mean that just in
the sense of regeneration. I mean that in the sense of our
daily salvation. He is more willing to save than
we are to be saved. And I hope that's an encouragement
to you to know that our Heavenly Father is always ready. He delights
in showing mercy. He delights when his children
come to him and pour out their hearts to him. Lord, cause me to approach unto thee
like that. That'll be a blessing, won't
it? That'll be a blessing. Look at verse three. Iniquities
prevail against me. Now that word prevail is the
word strong or strength. And what that verse is saying
is my sin is stronger than I am. I can't beat sin. I can't conquer sin. My flesh, Paul said in Romans
chapter 7, we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal,
sold under sin. My flesh is just a slave to sin.
And that's why the Lord said, when you pray, pray, Father,
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil
one. Lord, I know that sin is strong.
Iniquities prevail against me. Now the iniquities of God's people
prevail against the Lord Jesus Christ and they weighed on him
and he cries from the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? He's bearing the burden of our
sins that are prevailing against him, causing him to suffer the
full judgment of God's wrath. But here's the truth too, brethren,
for us is that our sin is stronger than we are. Lord, if you don't keep me from
being, if I'm tempted, I'm gonna sin. Lead me not into temptation. I can't handle temptation. I
can't, my iniquities prevail against me. They're stronger
than I am. That's what the Lord meant when
he said, when we, which were without strength, when we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Turn with me to Psalm 142, Psalm
142, verse six. Attend unto my cry, for I am
brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are stronger than I." Now, who persecutes you more
than anyone else? We really are our own worst enemies,
aren't we? We persecute ourselves more than
anybody else persecutes us. Our unbelief, our flesh is always
there. Bring my soul out of prison that
I may praise thy name. The righteous shall come past
me about for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. My iniquities
prevail against me. They're stronger than I am. That's what the Lord meant when
he said, no man can enter into a strong man's house and spoil
his goods unless first he bind the strong man. It's when they
remember they accused him of casting out Satan by Satan and
the Lord said, oh no, a house divided against itself cannot
stand. He said, I've come to break into the strong man's house
and I'm stronger than him. And I'm going to bind him. I'm
going to bind him. And I'm going to bring out my
people. I'm going to spoil his goods. I'm going to break down
the gates of hell. And I'm going to bring him out
and leave captivity captive. Turn with me to Romans chapter
seven. My iniquities prevail against me. Is that your
experience? Is sin and Satan too strong for
you or you think you can take them on? Oh, we've tried, haven't
we? We've tried and we fail every
time. We fail every time. That's what Paul was talking
about in Romans chapter 7 and verse 15 when he says, for that
which I do, I allow not. Oh, I wish I could be without
sin, but I can't. I can't. For what I would, that
do I not. I would be perfectly holy, but
I can't. But what I hate, that do I. I hate my sin and yet I see how
prevalent and how powerful sin is in my body and in my flesh. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. I'm agreeing that
God's law is right, it's holy, it's just, it's good, but it's
not able to make me holy and it's not able to justify me and
it's not able to make me good. The law just condemns me. It
shuts my mouth and it makes me guilty before God. Now then, it is no more I that
do it but sin that dwelleth in me. See, I'm the new man. but I've still got this old body
of death that I'm carrying around with me. But that's not me. That's
sin. For I know that in me that is
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. I can't
perform my vows. See, people read Psalm 65 and
they say, well, I'm going to make a promise to God, you know,
like Job. Job said, I've made a covenant
with my eyes that I will not look upon a maid lustfully. Yeah,
right, Job. How are you doing with that one?
You know, people make all these promises and they say, I've made
vows to God. I'm going to keep my vows. God's
not impressed with our vow keeping. Here's our problem. Our iniquities
prevail against us. How to perform to will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For
the good that I would, I do not, but the evil that I would not,
that I do. Now, if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
then a law that when I would do good, evil is ever present
with me. Iniquity prevails against me.
I can't do anything without sinning. That's our experience, isn't
it? Everything we attempt to do is infected with our sin. Because we're always got this,
who shall, oh wretched, you know how this chapter ends, oh wretched
man that I am. I was talking to a brother who
had been listening to a theologian preach on this passage and he
rested the scripture and made it to say something that it wasn't
saying. He said, well, the verb tense here is really past tense
although it's in the present tense. And he did some gymnastics
to try to make it look like Paul was talking about his life before
he was converted. Now, Paul before he was converted
thought he was good. I mean, he thought he was, I,
he's of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day, a
Pharisee of Pharisees, concerning the law, he is blameless. He
was, he was perfect. He was righteous. But when the
law came, then I died and I saw myself for what I really was.
No, Paul is talking about his present day experience as a believer. Oh, wretched man that I am. Not that I was, that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Now look at verse 1 of chapter
8. Therefore, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. Who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. Oh, wait a minute, now I've got
to have some sort of spiritual experience of, you know, a higher
walk and I've got to be filled with the Spirit in order for
me to not have any condemnation. Now walking in the flesh and
walking in the Spirit is looking to your works as your salvation
or looking to Christ as your salvation. Walking in the Spirit
is walking in faith. It's not having some sort of
higher life experience it's it's realizing that in me that is
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing to will is present with
me but how to perform that which is good I find not I'm a wretched
man I've got to have an advocate I've got to I've got to have
one who in the end prevailed against sin and that's what the
resurrection is all about iniquities prevail against me And they prevailed
against him on the cross and they put him to death, but he
prevailed against them when he came victorious out of the grave
over sin and over death and over, oh, death, where is thy victory? The strength of sin is the law,
but thanks be to God, through Christ Jesus, we've been made
free. The law's been satisfied, sin's
been put away. He has prevailed. Go back with
me to Psalm 65. Now you can look up this word,
you maybe have it in the margin of your Bible, the word iniquities
in verse three. Actually, it's a conjunction
of two words. It's not the normal word for
iniquities. It's the word word, or speech
of iniquities. In other words, it's not just
my iniquities that prevail against me, but it's all the accusations
that my iniquities make against me. It's the speech that my iniquities
are always... Satan is called the tempter of the brethren, the
accuser of the brethren, thank you, the accuser of the brethren.
That's the point here, that our iniquities are always accusing
us, aren't they? And what should our response
be? Oh, I'm a whole lot more guilty
than you think I am. I'm a lot more guilty than you
think I am, but here's my hope. My iniquities, though they prevail
against me, do not prevail against Him. My salvation is not based
on how victorious I am in living some sort of spirit-filled life.
My salvation is dependent upon how victorious He was as the
Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ who came in the full power
of the Spirit of God to accomplish His vows, to perform His vows
before His Father and to accomplish the salvation of His people.
There's my hope. Iniquities. Iniquities. And those words of accusation
were made against him, weren't they? If thou be the Christ,
come down. He saved others, himself he cannot
save. And they made all sorts of accusations. He's Beelzebub. He's come in
the power of Satan. And all these words of accusations
made against him by sinful men. And the Lord Jesus now is saying,
iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. Now that word purge right there
in that verse is the word atonement, atonement. There's only one way
that God can put away our sins. God has to be just. He's got
to satisfy his divine justice. And the only way for him to be
just and to justify a sinner is through the atonement of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, men are always trying to
atone for their own sins, but there's only one atonement, that
the word atonement Translated means a covering. A covering. And there's only one covering
that will hide your sins from the eyes of God and that is the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only covering.
You remember the scripture when Noah built that ark and the deluge
came and Noah and his family were the only ones saved in the
ark. And the scripture says that he pitched it from within and
from without. He took tar And he waterproofed
that ark inside and out. And let Hollywood show the scenes
of the ark being tossed around and water coming in and them
bailing out water. Not a drop of water came in that
ark. Not one single drop. That water
was a picture of the wrath of God's judgment. And that ark
was pitched. It was pitched inside and out. That's the word atonement. It's
the word covering. It was a waterproof vessel. And
they were dry as a bone on the inside. And the Lord Jesus Christ
is that ark. And His blood is that pitch.
And we are dry from the wrath of God. The wrath of God fell
on the Lord Jesus Christ and it's been satisfied. There's
no more wrath. Why? Because of the atonement. Look, look at the verse. Iniquities
prevail against me. As for our transgressions, thou
shalt make an atonement for them. This word is also translated
reconciliation. We who were at enmity with God
have now been reconciled through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a reconciliation that
the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished himself. And we have peace with
God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Not through our atoning efforts,
not through our works, not through our righteousness, but through
the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall put away, purge, make
atonement for, reconcile all our transgressions. Now the word
transgression just simply means violation of God's law. You've
transgressed my law. That's what sin is. And truth is that you and I have
never been able to keep any of God's laws. That's all we are
is transgressors. Because every time we, everything
we do is infected as we've already seen with our sin. We can't keep
God's law. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one who kept God's law. We've broken God's law. We're
just like those children of Israel making that golden calf at the
bottom of Mount Sinai. And Moses came down and broke
the tablets. Why? Because we've broken God's
law. Those laws are written with the finger of God. And the work
of God is the only one that could keep the law of God. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. He's the
only one that kept God's law. We've transgressed. Everything
we do is a transgression of God's law. And yet he says, I've separated
your sin from you as far as the East is from the West. And I
remember them no more. I've atoned for them. I've made
a covering. I've reconciled you to myself
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Iniquities prevail against me.
They prevail against him. They prevail against us. and
he ultimately prevailed against them. As for our transgressions,
thou shalt purge them away. And brethren, when God puts something
away, it's been put away. He put something under the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when were the sins of God's
people put under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well,
the Lord's called the lamb that was slain before the foundation
of the world. And so that vow that Christ made with his father
in the covenant of grace before time ever began in eternity past,
we could say, well, our sins were put under the blood then.
And they were, by the decree of God, they were put under the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ then. They're put under the blood
when the Lord Jesus Christ actually shed his precious blood on Calvary's
cross. And all the sins of all of God's
people were put away. That means that every sin that
you've ever committed in the past, the sins that you're committing
right this very minute, and every sin that you'll ever commit in
the future has already been put away. Already been put away. And the unbeliever will say,
you can't tell folks that. That'll encourage them to sin.
That's the only thing that makes me not want to sin. The only
thing that makes me, the one thing that makes me hate my sin
more than anything else is when I see what the Lord Jesus Christ
did to put them away. They've been put away. And we finally got to our text.
Blessed is the man. There is one man between men
and God, the man, Christ Jesus, the Lord, one mediator, one mediator. He's the blessed man. And if
you and I are going to be blessed, we're going to have to be found
in him, not having our own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
righteousness, which is by the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. He's the blessed man. Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest. Behold my servant, mine elect
and whom my soul delighteth. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
chosen man. How do I know if God has chosen
me? Well, scripture says that evidence,
that faith is the evidence of things hoped for. And we would naturally want to try
to find something in our lives that would give evidence of our
salvation in order for us to get assurance that we're chosen
of God. How many times I've heard people say, well, you know, I
used to do this and you don't do that anymore because God saved
me. There's a whole lot of folks that have changed their lifestyle
and their behavior who are on their way to hell. And I am certain,
I am certain that Satan is getting a lot more mileage out of morality
than he is out of immorality. There's going to be more people
in hell that lived moral lives relative to everyone else than
those who lived immoral lives in this world. That's the purpose
of religion. Religion is trying to help folks
become more outwardly moral, aren't they? Isn't it? So if
I can't look to evidence of my life for the hope of my salvation,
where do I look? I've got no place else to look
but the Lord Jesus Christ. How do I know I'm chosen? Because
I'm looking to the same one God's looking to. God's looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ and I've got no place else to go but to
Him. I'm trusting Him. for all the
hope of my salvation before God. I've got nobody else to trust
and I've got no place else to go. Those who are looking to a changed
life for the hope of their salvation are going to end up in one or
two places. They're either going to be greatly
discouraged if they're honest people or they're going to end
up being liars. And they're going to be like
those who Isaiah spoke of when he said, oh, I've made a covenant
with death. With hell, I'm in agreement. I've got no bands
in my death. I'm good to go. I'm a good person. And they lie
to themselves until they believe their lies. But sinners can never
come to that conclusion, can they? A sinner can only come
to the conclusion, I need that blessed man, that one chosen
of God, I need him to choose me. And I need him to cause me,
notice in the rest of this verse, I need him to cause me to come
unto him. And I'll finish this message
with that story of Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9. You remember the
story. Saul is dead, David is king,
and David is is wondering if there's anyone left of the household
of Saul that he might show them kindness for Jonathan's sake.
Jonathan being this story is a picture of Christ. And David
was showing the mercy of God to anyone left from the household
of Saul. And he brings in, he said, well,
there's a servant from the household of Saul and perhaps he would
know if there's anyone left from that house. And so they bring
Ziba in and they asked Ziba, Ziba, is there anyone left from
the household of Saul that I might show him kindness for Jonathan's
sake? David loved Jonathan. And Ziba
said, well, there is a man. a crippled man, crippled in both
his feet. His name is Mephibosheth. And
he's of the house of nature. And that word means sold. In
the land of Lodabar, and that word means no pasture. There's a crippled boy living
under, being sold at sin in a land where there is no pasture. And
David says to Ziba, Fetch him. Fetch him. Go get him. Now, Mephibosheth
was hiding from David. David had the right to kill all
the descendants of Saul, lest they overthrow him. And that
was the practice. And Mephibosheth must have thought
for certain. David's found me out. He's come
to get me. And all the way back to Jerusalem,
Mephibosheth is thinking, this is it. David sees Mephibosheth
and he sees in his face the likeness of Jonathan. And he says, oh,
Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth. And what Mephibosheth say, oh,
what would the king have to do with such a dead dog as I? And David said, Mephibosheth,
I've caused you to come unto me. Sit here at my table. Sit here at my table, hide your
crippled legs underneath my tablecloth and you're gonna eat of the king's
fare the rest of your life. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and whom thou causest to come unto thee. Oh Lord, bless us, bless us. Let's stand together, Brother
Tom. Number nine, in the spiral hymnal, number nine. It is not that I did choose thee,
for, Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee, hadst thou not chosen me. Thou from the sin that stained
me hast cleansed and set me free. Of old thou hast ordained me
that I should live to thee. Your love had no beginning, no
cause in me was found, that you should choose to save me, a sinner
strongly bound. But grace not earned or sought
for, Was purpose for my soul. For me salvation wrought, For
Christ paid the dreadful toll. ? Was sovereign mercy called
me ? And taught my opening mind ? The world had else enthralled
me ? To heavenly glories blind ? My heart owns none before thee
? For thy rich grace I thirst This knowing if I loved thee,
Thou must have loved me first.