Morning again. David said in Psalm 122, I was
glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the
Lord. Pray the Lord to put it in our
hearts to be glad. Glad to be here. And pray that
he'll be pleased to. Reveal himself to our hearts
this morning. Tom's gonna come lead us in number
127. Man of sorrows, what a name. For the Son of God who came,
ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah. What a Savior. What a Savior. Let's stand together.
Number 127. ? Man of sorrows, what a name ?
For the Son of God who came ? Ruined sinners to reclaim ? Hallelujah,
what a Savior Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned
he stood, Sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! Lifted up was he to die, It is
finished was his pride. Now in heaven exalted high, Hallelujah,
what a Savior! When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring, Then anew this song we'll sing,
Hallelujah, what a Savior! Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to that Psalm I just quoted from, Psalm 122. Most of you heard the first hour
that Deanna's not feeling well and Robert is home with her.
He normally does scripture reading on the first Sunday of the month.
Psalm 122, verse 1, I was glad When they said unto me, let us
go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy
gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city
that is compact together. The bones and joints are all
held together by the grace of God. Whether the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord unto the testimony of Israel to give thanks,
unto the name of the Lord. We've come here this morning
to give thanks to Him, to praise Him, to worship Him. 2 Thessalonians chapter 5 says,
Be thankful for all things, for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. I used to think that verse meant,
well, it's God's will that I be thankful. So I guess I need to
be thankful. But that's not what that verse
means. That verse means all things are the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. Therefore, be thankful. That
makes a difference, doesn't it? If you believe that everything
has been ordained and purposed of God for your good and for
his glory, you can be thankful. We've come here to be thankful.
For there are set thrones of judgments and thrones of the
house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
They shall prosper that love thee. Now that's God's promise. Those who love Jerusalem shall
prosper. Peace be within thy walls and
prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions
sake, I will now say, peace be within thee. Because of the house
of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good. In order for there
to be peace in Jerusalem, God has to speak peace. I can't speak
it, you can't speak it. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking in verse eight when he says, For my brethren and
companions sake, I will now say, peace be within thee. Peace. Because of the house of the Lord
our God, I will seek thy good. Let's pray. Our merciful heavenly father,
We're thankful that we have thy word to lean on, to believe in. We have the revelation of your
promises and your purpose. Lord, we pray now that you would
forgive us for our unbelief, the sin that doth so easily beset
each one of us. Help thou our unbelief and give
us in this hour faith to believe you. Enable us, Lord, to know
that all things really do work together for good for them that
love Thee and those that are called according to Your purpose. Lord, give us the faith to believe
that those who love Jerusalem are promised prosperity. And Lord, we know that we need
more than anything the prosperity of Your grace the forgiveness
of our sin, the hope of eternal life. And Lord, that's the prosperity
we hope for and pray for this morning. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. Yeah. Precious is the name of Jesus,
Who can half his worth unfold, Far beyond angelic praises, Sweetly
sung to harps of gold. Precious when to Calvary groaning,
He endured the cursed tree. Precious when His death atoning,
Made an end of sin for me. Precious in His death victorious,
He the host of hell o'erthrows. In His resurrection glorious,
Victor crowned o'er all His foes. Precious Lord, beyond expressing
are Thy beauties all divine. Glory, honor, power, and blessings
be henceforth forever Thine. Please be seated. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear. And grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear. I first believe. Through many dangers, toils and
feet, I have already come. Tis grace, ? Hath brought me safe thus far
? ? And grace will lead me home ? ? When we've been there 10,000
years ? as the sun. We've no less days to sing God's
praise than when we first begun. We've no less days to sing God's praise
than when we first Thank you, Adam. What a blessing
it is to sing hymns that we have some understanding of. It seems
like the whole world, the religious world at least, even the irreligious
world, loves that old hymn written by John Newton, and they don't
have a clue. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 40, please? Psalm 40. We've been preaching
through the Psalms on Wednesday night, and it's becoming more
and more clear with each of these Psalms that the only way to understand
these Psalms is to see them first and foremost as the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know that our Lord was
taken to Calvary's cross at the third hour, which would be 9
a.m. at the sixth hour, which was noon, the sky was blackened. And at the ninth hour, which
had been three o'clock in the afternoon, when the afternoon
sacrifice was made, the evening sacrifice, the very moment that
the Passover lamb would have been slain according to the law
of Israel, our Lord hung his head and gave up the ghost. So he was on the cross for six
hours. nine o'clock in the morning till
three o'clock in the afternoon and in those six hours we only
have a few seconds of words that he spoke. We know that during
those six hours he prayed that all comforting prayer that each
one of us take great hope in. Father forgive them for they
know not what they do. We really don't have any clue
as to what our sin means to God. If God's pleased to send His
Spirit to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, then we will look
upon Him whom we have pierced, and the closest we can come to
understanding what our sin costs God is when we look to Christ
on Calvary's cross. But that doesn't give us the
full, we're not able, we're not able to fully enter in to what
the Lord Jesus Christ went through as the sinner's substitute on
Calvary's cross. So he prays for us. Father, forgive
them. Forgive them. They don't know
what they're doing. And then when our Lord said to
that thief on the cross, today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
Those are just, those are statements that didn't take any longer to
say than it just took me to say. What comfort. What hope. criminal,
that lawless murderer, that thief, had to hear the Lord say, today,
you shall be with me in paradise. And then for the Lord to look
to his mother, Mary, and say, woman, behold thy son, pointing
to John, and to say to John, behold thy mother, taking care
of their earthly needs in his departure. And the Lord takes
care of every need that you and I have. ever need. And then in those final moments,
when the sky was blackened and the Father's eyes were too pure
to look upon sin, quoting from Psalm 22, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? The Lord identifying himself
as the sinner's substitute, the one who bore in his body For
him to say, I thirst in fulfillment of prophecy, and then for him
to say, it is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. Now, what was the Lord thinking
during the rest of those six hours? Well, we have his thoughts. We really do. We have his thoughts
recorded in the Psalms. The Lord was in constant fellowship
with the Father. And so all these words that David
speaks are being spoken prophetically of that which would be in the
heart of the Lord Jesus Christ as he hung as the sinner's substitute
on Calvary's cross. And here as the perfect man of
faith, he says, I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined
unto me and heard my cry. He heard me say, Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do. He heard me say, it is finished. Everything that God requires
for a sinner to stand justified in the sight of a holy God was
accomplished by the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary's cross.
He heard me say, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
He heard my cry. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? There were a lot of folks at
the cross that didn't understand when the Lord, he cried in Aramaic
and in Hebrew, when he said, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. That's
what is recorded in the scriptures. He was speaking in Hebrew and
Aramaic. And a lot of the people said,
he's calling out for Elijah to come help him. They didn't know. And God give us some understanding
of what It meant for the Lord to be forsaken of God, for Him
to be made sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He, speaking of the Father, now
this isn't David's words. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look at verse two. He brought me up also out of
a horrible pit, Oh, we get ourselves in a mess
sometimes, don't we? And we suffer the consequences
of sin. We have no idea what pit the
Lord Jesus Christ was in. Bearing all the shameful sin
of every one of his children, of every generation, he was placed
in a horrible pit out of a miry clay. and he set my feet upon
a rock and established my goings." And here's a reference to the
Lord Jesus Christ satisfying what God had sent me to do and
the fulfillment of the promise that I will not allow my Holy
One to see corruption. He hath put a new song in my
mouth, even praise unto our God. Now here's the title of this
message. Many shall see it and fear and shall trust the Lord. What is it that causes a sinner
to fear God and trust the Lord? And I'll answer that question
with what it's not. It's not your circumstances. Hey, lots of folks get themselves
in a mess. There's a lot of foxhole religion
going on. There's a lot of people crying out to God to deliver
them from their troubles. And as soon as they're delivered,
they've got no more interest in the Lord. What is it that
caused true fear of God? What is it that caused a person
to truly trust the Lord? Well, here the Lord says, many
shall see it Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the
Lord. So what is it that the Lord would
have us to see? What is it that he would have
us to see? He told Nicodemus, he said, Nicodemus, you can't
see the kingdom of God unless you're born again. And we know
the new birth is necessary in order for us to see because we're
born spiritually blind. The Lord has to give us eyes
to see. And that comes as a result of the new birth. But here he
says, many shall see it and shall trust and shall fear and shall
trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man that maketh
the Lord his trust. Now the Lord Jesus Christ made
the father his only hope, all his trust, all his salvation
and all of his desire. And he is the blessed man He's
the blessed man. And those whom He gives eyes
to see what He has done, they will cast all their care upon
Him, knowing that He cared for them. And so He says, blessed
is that man that maketh the Lord his trust and respecteth not
the proud. Turn with me back to Psalm 39. look at verse 6, surely every
man walketh in a vain show every man believers and unbelievers
alike are full of vanity look at the verse just before that
towards the end of that verse at every man at his very best
state is altogether vanity people go through life trying
to figure out who they are. God just told you who you are,
you're nothing. You're nothing. Don't try to
figure out who you are. We're not much to figure out. Oh, but if the Lord ever shows
us who He is. This is life eternal. that they might know thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Young people
don't think that you're the first generation that came into this
world thinking, boy, I'm going to be a, I'm ambitious, I'm going
to be a pioneer. I'm going to, I'm not going to
settle for the things that my parents have settled for. I'm
going to, every generation thinks that. Every generation thinks that.
And they start out as pioneers and end up as survivors, don't
they? You're going to end up right
where your parents are, just trying to get by. This world is vain. This world
is empty. Be ambitious. Have high hopes. But I'm going to tell you where
it's going to end. And here's what God says. Every man at his
best state is vanity. Vanity. Empty. So what is the
meaning of it all? It's to know Him. It's to know
Him. That's what the Lord is saying.
Everyone that sees me will fear God and learn to trust God. If any man thirst, let him come
unto me." The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only life that there is in this world. There's no life outside of him. Go back with me to verse 40,
chapter 40 verse 4. Blessed is that man that maketh
the Lord his trust and respecteth not the proud. Now we just read
in the previous psalm that every man at his best state is altogether
vanity and we all walk in a vain show. Now that means that your
problem and my problem is pride. And isn't it interesting in our
language at least in the English language that the middle letter
in the word pride is the I and so is the middle letter in the
word sin. You know, we got an eye problem, don't we? We walk
in a vain show and we get disquieted in vain. That's what the scripture
says. And what's the difference between
the believer and the unbeliever? If we all walk in a vain show,
we all got a pride problem, we're all full of vanity, the believer
and the unbeliever, what's the difference? What's the difference? I'll tell you the difference.
The believer acknowledges it. The unbeliever hasn't got a clue.
The believer says, truth Lord, that's my problem. And the unbeliever just goes
on in their vain show. They go on in their vanity. They
go on looking for something in this world to gratify them. Blessed is that man that makes
the Lord his trust and respect if not the proud. Now that doesn't
mean that you have no respect for the proud man out there.
It means that you have no respect for the proud man in you. Have
you got any respect for the proud man in you? That's what true humility is.
True humility is acknowledging the pride of the flesh. It's
just saying, Lord, that's me, the old wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I'm vile. When I saw Christ, I'm just like
Daniel. My beauty, my comeliness, my
strength was turned in me into corruption. That's the only difference.
the only difference between the believer and the unbeliever. Well, it may not be the only
difference, but it sure is a big difference, isn't it? Alright,
go back with me to verse 5, or verse 4. Nor such as turn aside
to lies. Now, here's another difference. The believer doesn't turn aside
to lies. The believer does not believe
what the world believes. That they've got the ability
to exercise their will in such a way as to move the hand of
God. In other words, a believer knows
he's dead in his trespasses and sins. Unless God makes him willing,
he's not going to have a free will. A child of God doesn't
believe that lie. A child of God does not believe
that God loves everybody. They believe that he loves righteousness
and hates iniquity. The child of God doesn't believe
that Christ died for everybody or that God wants everybody to
be saved. We do not turn aside to lies. Now, I've said this
before. I'm very careful about what a
child of God won't do because we're capable of doing just about
anything. But I'll tell you one thing a child of God won't do.
And the reason they won't do it is because they can't do it.
They cannot turn aside to lies. They cannot forsake the gospel
and go listen to someone lie on their Christ. They can't do
it. And so the Lord says, blessed
is that man that maketh the Lord his trust and respecteth not
in the proud nor turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are
thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which
are to usward. Now, here's what the Lord is
going to give us eyes to see, something of His wonderful works,
something of the thoughts that He has toward usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would desire to speak of
them, they are more than can be numbered. They're beyond my
comprehension. And the things that we speak
of when we talk about the things of God, we're just scratching
the surface. We don't really even understand
anything we talk about. We say that God is holy. We don't
know what that means. When we talk about us being a
sinner, we don't know what that means. Verse 6. Sacrifice and offerings
thou didst not desire. God's not going to save you based
on a sacrifice or an offering that you make. I don't know how
to say that any more clearly than that. No amount of sacrifice,
no amount of offering, no amount of sorrow, no amount of whatever. Here's the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. Sacrifice and offerings thou
didst not desire. Look at verse. Mine ears hast
thou opened. Mine ears hast thou opened. Now
what is that a reference to? Well, in Isaiah chapter 50 verse
5, the scripture says, the Lord hath opened mine ear and I was
not rebellious, neither turned away my back. I gave my back
to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the
hair. I hid not my face from shame nor spittle. Now, that
clearly is a reference to what the Lord Jesus Christ would do.
He's saying, the Father hath opened up my ear. And if we go
back to Exodus chapter 21, If you got in financial trouble
in the Old Testament, you know the interesting thing about Exodus
Chapter 21 is that Exodus Chapter 20 is the Ten Commandments. And
then the next several chapters are a detailed description of
how certain circumstances were to be handled in compliance with
the commandments. And the very first thing that's
mentioned in Exodus Chapter 21 is what to do with an indentured
servant. So if you got into financial
trouble and you weren't able to pay your bills, you would
sell yourself as a slave to your creditor as an indentured servant. And you would have to, you would
make an agreement as to how long you would serve this man in order
to pay off your debt. And when that time was over,
you were free and God says in Exodus chapter 21 according to
the law that when your time was up you were free to leave and
if you brought a wife in with you when you became an indentured
servant you could take that wife with you but if while you were
a servant your master gave you a wife and you had children by
that wife then the children and the wife still belong to the
master you're free to go but you gotta leave your wife and
children with the master. But if as an indentured servant,
your time was up, you had fulfilled all your obligations, and you
said to your master, I love my master, I love my wife, and I
love my children, and I will commit myself to be your servant
the rest of my life because of my love for my master, my wife,
and my children." And then the master was to take that servant
and carry him to the doorpost of the house and bore his ear
through with an awl, marking him as a servant for life to
that master. Now that's what this is a reference
to. Read it again. Sacrifice and
offerings thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou That word
opened is the word digged or awed. Now you see the significance
of that, don't you? The master, he's the father. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
servitude to his father in order to fulfill the requirements that
God required. And in service to his father,
He won to himself or was given by his father a wife, which is
the church, and children, which are the individual members of
the church. And after he did everything necessary
to provide the salvation or to fulfill the debt that he took
on himself, he said, I love my master, I love my wife, and I
love my children. and his ear was driven through
with an awe on Calvary's cross, the doorpost or the doorway into
heaven, if you will, the sacrifice that Christ made on Calvary's
cross. And so, The Lord is saying now to His Father on Calvary's
cross, Father, I know that sacrifice and offerings Thou did not desire.
Mine ear hast Thou opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings
hast Thou not required. Then said I, Lo. This passage is quoted in Hebrews
chapter 10. It's clearly clearly speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lo, I have come to do thy will,
O God. Now that, the yoke of the law
is burdensome to me and you. The yoke of the law will drag
us into the pit of hell. We can't keep God's law. But
the law was never a burden for the Lord Jesus Christ. It was
never a burden for Him. He was free to obey the Father.
It was natural for Him to be obedient to the Father. It came
from His heart naturally. And so He said, their sacrifices
and their offerings you would not accept. Then said I, In the
volume of the book, it is written of me. The Lord Jesus Christ
has revealed himself in the book, hasn't he? As I said a few minutes ago,
don't try to figure out who you are, young people. You're nothing,
you're just like your parents, and they're just like their parents,
and your children are gonna be just like you. We're all a bunch
of nothings. But to know Him, that's what, turn with me to
Psalm 115. Satan is a liar and the father
of lies. Satan would have us put all our
attention on ourselves. Look what the Lord says in Psalm
115 verse 1. Not unto us, O Lord. Now translated that just simply
means it's not about you. It's not. It's not about me. It's not about
us. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. And what does the heathen say?
Where is their God? And what do we say? Our God is
in the heavens and he hath done whatsoever he pleases. Their
God is silver and gold. Their God has hands, but he can't
handle. He's got feet, but he can't walk. He's got a mouth,
but he can't talk. He's got eyes but he can't see. Now who's their
God? They are their own God. And they can't see with their
eyes. And they can't walk straight with their feet. And they can't
work the works of God with their hands. It's not unto us, it's
unto Him. So when the Lord says, many shall
see it and fear and trust, what is it that we see? We see that
the Lord Jesus Christ willingly, out of love for his father and
out of love for his wife and out of love for his children,
bored himself through in the ear, satisfying, satisfying what
God required for sacrifice and offerings. Turn to me to Hebrews
chapter 10. Many shall see it. Many shall
see it. Most shall not see it, but many
shall see it. And those who see it will fear
and trust the Lord. Now, when the Lord translates
this passage for us in the New Testament,
Look at verse 6, in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou
hast no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come. In the
volume of the book, it is written of me. It's all about him. It's all about him. What's written about him? To
do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, sacrifice
an offering and burn offerings and offerings for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither hath pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first that he may establish the second, by the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Once for all. Made holy. Perfect. Go back with me to Psalm 40. The things of God are more than
can be numbered. But here's the truth. The Lord
Jesus Christ went to Calvary's cross in order to provide everything
that God required for sacrifice and offering on behalf of his
wife and his children. He delighted to do the will of
God in the volume of the book. It is written of him. Young people, you looking for
something bigger than you to live for? You know what? Most folks hear
this message and say, well, I'm not sure I want something that
big. It's interesting to me. The young
people always, you know, they have this ambitious pioneer spirit. They're always looking for something
to invest their life in. There is nothing to invest your
life in. It's altogether vanity. There's only one person who has
life in himself. And he's bigger than you'll be
able to figure out for all eternity. Not just in this life, but in
the life to come, you're never going to understand the fullness
of his glory. Proud, self-righteous men aren't
interested in him. They're interested in making
a mark for themselves, aren't they? God says, not unto you,
unto my name be glory. And it goes on. Look what he
says in verse 9. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. Father, I have pleased you in
everything you sent me to do, and I've not hid it from men. They don't believe it because
they don't want to believe it. It's not because it's hid. They are fully responsible for
their own unbelief. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. And that's what the gospel declares. The gospel declares the faithfulness
of God and that salvation is of the Lord and he gets all the
glory and all the praise. The gospel puts God on his throne
and puts man where he belongs. And every other message in this
world turns that completely upside down. When the disciples were
accused after the resurrection of the, after the ascension of
the Lord Jesus Christ that they were turning the world upside
down, oh no. The world was already upside
down. The message they were preaching
was turning it right side up. This world in which you and I
live is upside down. Everything about it is upside
down. Men don't need to have their understanding tweaked about
God. They need to be completely turned
around 180 degrees. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
saying, I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not
concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth. from the great
congregation. Now who's the great congregation? What a blessing it is for me
and you to be able to sit here and listen as a part of the great
congregation, the glorious things that he has done. This is life. And now the Lord Jesus Christ
says, Withhold not thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let
thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me." He's looking to the Father for
all the hope of his salvation. And now I want you to notice
verse 12. This, you see how these words are the words that the
Lord Jesus Christ has in his heart on the cross. He speaks
just a few seconds of words during those six hours, but here's his
relationship with the father. And what does he say in verse
12? For innumerable evils have come past me about, mine iniquities
have taken hold upon me so that I'm not able to look up. How sorry do you have to be? You have to be as sorry as the
Lord Jesus Christ was. We're referred to as the seed. If you haven't read that article
in your bulletin, I wrote it over a year ago and I've reprinted
it this morning in your bulletin about federal and seminal headship. Federal headship. Here's the
difference between federal and seminal headship. The President
of the United States is your federal head. He's my federal
head. Let the world say he's not my
president. Yeah, as long as you're a citizen of this country, he's
your federal head. He's your representative. He's
your president. Your father is your seminal head. We were in the loins of our father
Adam back there in the garden, so when Adam died, we all died
in him. And the scripture refers to the
church as the seed of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were in Christ. That's why
Paul said, I was crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live,
yet not I, that I might know the power, the fellowship of
his suffering. I was actually in Christ. So Christ wasn't just charged
with our sin. We as sinners were in him when
he went to Calvary's cross and died. And that's the only hope
that you and I are going to have, that God is satisfied. You see, the wages of sin is
death. Christ had to die, and we had
to die in Him. So He owns... Turn with me back
to Psalm 38. Look at verse 17. For I am ready
to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me. For I will declare
mine iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is owning
our sin as His own because we are His own. And He's expressing the sorrow
that you and I are incapable of expressing. And so He says
here in verse 12 in our text, for innumerable evils have come
past me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
of me so that I'm not able to look up. They are more than the
hairs of my head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. Oh, be pleased, oh Lord, to deliver
me. Oh Lord, make haste to help me." He's taking ownership. This is
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's praying a prayer that
you and I are incapable of praying with the sincerity and fervency
that he prayed it and what God requires it. Many shall see it. Most shall
not. Those who see it will fear and
trust God. Those who don't have no fear
of God before their eyes and no faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember where that donkey was
found? That colt? Where two roads crossed. Just one way or the other. And now the Lord is going to
pronounce just as sure as those whom he prayed for to be saved
will be saved those whom he prays for to be damned will be damned
look what he says let them be ashamed and confounded verse
14 together that seek after my soul to destroy it let them be
driven backwards and be put to shame that wish me evil If you haven't shared the gospel
with one of your religious family members or friends, then you
probably haven't gotten this response. But trust me, men still
hate the Lord Jesus Christ. They hate him. They hate him
just as much as they hated him when they said, crucify him,
crucify him. We'll not have that God reign
over us. That's not my God. Look at verse 15. Let them be
desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, aha,
aha. Now that's exactly what they
said to the Lord Jesus Christ when He hung on Calvary's cross.
They wagged their heads and they said, aha, aha. Now you can look
up that word. Each one of those ahas is a conjunction
of two words. One word is behold and the other
word is woe, which in biblical terms is judgment. In other words,
aha means look, God is judging him. That's exactly what Aha
means. And that's exactly what they
will say about your God. That's exactly what they say
about this church. We're all deceived. We're a cult. Our God is not the true God.
It's exactly what they say. They say, behold, your God is
cursed. Your God is cursed. We worship
the true God. Nothing's changed, has it? It
really hasn't. And what's the Lord say? The
Lord says all those who respond to the gospel by saying, no,
your God's a cursed God. That's what they said. That's
what they truly thought about the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary.
If God was, God's cursing him. Well, in a sense they were right.
Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. The Lord Jesus Christ,
bearing the sins of his people, suffered the wrath of God's curse
in order to satisfy God's holy justice. But he did it knowing
that God would be faithful to fulfill all the covenant and
raise him from the dead. I know I keep coming back to
this, but this is a God that's too big for most folks. Most folks have got a God that's
way too small. This is the only thing in this
world worth living for. Let all those who seek Thee,
here's our Lord praying now, this is in his heart. Let all
those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee. Let such
as love Thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. What is
the conclusion of our message? God gets all the glory. That's the conclusion of our
message. And those that love His salvation say, the Lord be
magnified. I'm nothing. He's everything. And my only hope before God to
be accepted before God is to be found in Him. And then the Lord says in verse
17, but I am poor and needy. And the Lord thinketh upon me,
thou art my help and my deliverer, make no tearing, oh my God. God delivers the poor and the
needy. The Lord Jesus Christ went to Calvary's cross as the
one who's poor and needy. God heard his cry and rewarded
him for his faithfulness. Many shall see it. Many shall
see it and fear. How do I know if I've seen it?
How do I know if I've seen it? I fear the thought of standing
in the presence of a holy God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I've got no place else to go but to cast all my hope and
all my trust, all my faith on Him. And I say, with the bride of
Christ, the Lord be magnified. The Lord be glorified. All else
is vanity. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly
Father, we hope and pray that your Holy Spirit would speak
to our hearts infinitely more than we've been able to speak
audibly. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. We're going to observe the Lord's
table. If I ask the men, if you would come please and distribute
the elements. Please remain seated. We'll sing
hymn number 17 in your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn book, number
17. See the table spread before you,
see the feast of bread and wine. These are symbols of our Savior,
tokens of His love divine. Bread that's broken is his body,
crushed beneath the wrath of God. Wine poured out is a reminder
of our Savior's precious blood. Children of our God, remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink the wine. Jesus came, the God incarnate,
to fulfill God's holy law. On the cross he made atonement
and retrieved us from the fall. Let us never forget the promise
Jesus made to come again. Soon he'll come, our King, to
call us home to glory. Praise his name. With this hope and expectation,
we rejoice to keep this feast, celebrating our redemption till
we lean on Jesus' breast. Believers are the only ones that
are able to enjoy this world. We really are. The rest of the world lives a
dissatisfied life because they're always looking for something
from the world that the world's not able to offer. Our life is Christ. All of our satisfaction is in
Him. All of our hopes and dreams and
aspirations are in Him. And we receive from Him things
in this world to enjoy and we're thankful for them. But we're
not expecting them to give us more than this world has to offer. Nothing new under the sun. Solomon
said vanity of vanities, all of us vanity. And that's this
world, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ emptied
himself and became of no reputation and was obedient even unto the
cross in order to satisfy what God required and to save his
wife and his children. This bread is a simple picture
of the sinless life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know I've
said this a couple times this morning, but I just love thinking
about the fact that the law was not a yoke for him. It wasn't. It was just as natural for him
to keep God's law in all of his heart, with all of his soul,
and with all of his mind, all of the time. That was just a...
He didn't have to... You and I struggle with the law
of God, don't we? Take my yoke upon you. I'm without sin. That's the bread. Without leaven. Do this in remembrance of me. What was a burden for him was
bearing the sins of his people on Calvary's cross and owning
those sins as his own, shedding his precious blood to cover those
sins for all eternity. He did it willingly, didn't he?
A willing servant, bore it through the ear, love my master, love
my wife, love my children, happy. happy to lay down my life for
them. Do this in remembrance of me. All God's people said, amen,
amen. Let's stand together. Brother
Caleb, would you dismiss us in prayer, please? Thank you for this time that
we've had together to sit around and worship, and thank you for
the table that you set before us, allowing us to partake.