service with the hymn in your
Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn book number 42. 42. Let us praise
the name of Jesus. Let's all stand together. ? Let us praise the name of Jesus
? ? Prophet, priest, and sovereign king ? ? To him render adoration
? ? Laud and homage to him bring ? ? Let us praise the name of
Jesus ? God incarnate from above Came to save his chosen people
Sent by God in covenant love ? Let us praise the name of Jesus
? ? Who upon Mount Calvary ? ? Shed his blood and sealed our pardon
? ? Died for sin to set us free ? ? Let us praise the name of
Jesus ? prison-conquering, gracious friend, advocate and mediator,
all our hopes on him depend. ? Let us praise the name of Jesus
? ? For he brought us to his fold ? ? Come exalt his name
and worship ? ? May the Savior be extolled ? ? Let us praise
the name of Jesus ? ? Till we see Him face to face ? Then throughout
the endless ages ? Praise Him for His love and grace Please
be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 8. Psalm 8. a Psalm of David, O Lord, our
Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who has set
thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and
suckling has thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies and
thou, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When
I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon, and
the stars, which thou hast ordained. What is man that thou art mindful
of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast
made him a little lower than the angels, and has crowned him
with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under
his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beast of the field,
the fowls of the air and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever
passeth through the pass of the sea. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is thy name in all the earth. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we know
that the heavens declare your glory. And yet we confess to
you, Lord, that we. We walk through this creation
of yours and. And so oftentimes fail to. To
acknowledge your handiwork. And to offer you to the praise
that that you're worthy of. Or do we pray that in this hour?
That you would enable us to set our affections on things above
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Lord, that
you would enable us to worship you in the power of your spirit
and according to the truth of your word. Pray that you would
cause Christ to be lifted up in our hearts. Lord, that we'd
be brought into thy presence in a spirit of worship and praise. Oh, we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Number 340 in the hardback teminal,
340, nearer, still nearer. Let's all stand once again. Nearer, still nearer, close to
thy heart. Draw me, my Savior, so precious
thou art. ? Fold me, O fold me ? ? Close
to thy breast ? ? Shelter me safe ? ? In that haven of rest
? ? Shelter me safe ? in that haven of rest. Nearer, still nearer, nothing
I bring, but as an offering to Jesus my King. Only my sinful, now contrite
heart Grant me the cleansing thy blood doth impart. Grant me the cleansing thy blood
doth impart. Nearer, still nearer, Lord, to
be Thine. Sin with its follies I gladly
resign. All of its pleasures, pomp and
its pride, Give me but Jesus, my Lord crucified. Give me but Jesus, my Lord crucified. Nearer, still nearer, while life
shall last. Till safe in glory my anchor
is cast Through endless ages ever to be ? Still nearer to Thee ? ? Nearer,
my Savior, still nearer to Thee ? Please be seated. Psalm 7. Would you turn with
me there, please? in your Bible, Psalm 7. How glorious it is to see these
Psalms as the prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here in
Psalm 7, we have words spoken by King David as he's fleeing
his enemies and he's speaking them prophetically again. about
the Lord Jesus Christ, pleading his innocence with the Father. Now, you say, well, now wait
a minute, Psalm 6, the Lord was owning our sins as his and expressing
his sorrow for his sin. And now in Psalm 7, he's pleading
his innocence, which is it? Which is it? It's both. It's both. The gospel is full
of paradoxes. A paradox is an apparent contradiction,
which is not a contradiction at all. The Lord Jesus Christ is fully
God and fully man. How can that be? Well, it's a
paradox, isn't it? The child of God is fully sinful
and perfectly holy at the same time. How can that be? It's a paradox, isn't it? The
scriptures are full of paradoxes. God is absolutely sovereign and
yet man is held responsible before God for his own sin. That's a
paradox. Now, a contradiction would be
that God is sovereign and man has a free will. That cannot
be made sense of. But a paradox, it is that God
is sovereign and man is responsible. So how do we know these paradoxes
are true? Because the scriptures declares
them to be true. When God gives you faith to believe,
you just believe everything God says. And if he says it, then
it's true. And in Psalm six, it's clear
that the Lord is owning the sins of his people as his own and
expressing his sorrow before the father. And in Psalm seven,
it is clear that he is pleading his innocence before the father. Notice in the title of this psalm, Shigion of David, and we don't
know what that word means. Most people have concluded that
it just means a song. It's the only place in the scripture
where this word's used. But it's a song of David, which
he sang unto the Lord concerning the words or the business or
the activity of Cush the Benjamite. Now in 1st Samuel chapter 9,
Saul who the people make, God chooses him to be the first king
of Israel and Saul is called the son of Kish the Benjamite. So this clearly is a song that
David wrote as he is pleading his innocence to God over the
accusations that Saul is making against him as Saul pursues him
to kill him out of envy. You remember the people sang
after David killed Goliath, the people sang Saul has killed his
thousands and David his tens of thousands and so there was
a there was a deep jealousy in the heart of Saul towards David
and that jealousy motivated him to try to kill David. And David is saying, Lord, I'm
not guilty of these charges that he's making. Now, all of that
having been said, the Lord Jesus Christ has an
enemy and You and I have an enemy, and
he's called the accuser of the brethren. He makes charges against
us and would intimidate us with his lies if we didn't have one
pleading our cause before God and presenting our innocency
before the Father. And that's what this psalm is
all about. It's such an encouragement. Before we read the psalm, turn
with me to John Chapter 8, John Chapter 8. This will put the
words of this psalm in their proper context as they relate
to the son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, pleading his cause
to the father. In Psalm 8, we begin reading
in verse 32, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall
make you free And they answered him, we be Abraham's seed and
we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou you should
be made free? Men are in bondage and they don't
know it. Look what the Lord said in the next verse. Jesus answered
them, barely, barely, I say unto you, whosoever commit a sin is
a servant of sin. What do you mean you're free? You're not free. Paul makes that
clear in Romans chapter seven, when he says that we know that
the law is holy, but I am sold under sin. And there we have
those two natures. And the Lord's making it clear
here that those who sin are a slave to sin. Now, what did I come
to do? And the servant abideth not in
the house forever, but the son abideth ever. If the sun therefore
shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. This matter of
sins got to be dealt with. Sins got to be put away. The
enemies got to be destroyed and that's what the Lord Jesus Christ
came to do. He said when the comforter comes, he will convict
the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because
they believe not on me. That's the root of all of our
problems, unbelief. of righteousness because I go
to the Father, we have a righteous advocate before God, a sinless
substitute standing in our stead before God, and of judgment because
the Prince of this world has been judged." Now that's what
Psalm 7 is all about. We're going to see that in a
moment. But it's the Lord Jesus Christ presenting Himself on
behalf of His people before the Father as innocent and righteous,
putting away this matter of sin so that we're no longer a slave
to sin. Verse 37, I know that you are
Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me because my word hath
no place in you. Now, this is not true of those
who had been set free. Lord said, if the Son make you
free, you're free indeed. And if you know the truth, the
truth will set you free. And now the Lord is speaking
to those who have no regard for his word. And he said, you're
not free because you don't believe me. My word has no place in you. I speak that which I have seen
from my father, and you do that which you have seen with your
father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father.
And Jesus said unto them, If you were Abraham's children,
you would do the works of Abraham. What was the work of Abraham?
He believed God. Believed God. Without faith,
it is impossible, impossible to please God. For they that
cometh to him must believe that he is, and he is the rewarder
of them that diligently seek him. What God gives his people
in regeneration is faith, faith. They believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ for all their righteousness before God. But now you seek to kill me,
a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. You do
the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, we be
not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. I want to say to people who act
religious that they don't know your God. You don't know my God. Jesus said unto them, if God
were your father, you would love me. For I proceed forth and come
from God. Neither came I of myself, but
he sent me. Why do you not understand my
speech? Even because you can not hear
my word. You are of your father, the devil. He's the one that came to defeat.
He's the one that I came to deliver my people from. They were slaves
to sin. They were in bondage. They could
not believe. And I came to destroy the works
of the devil. That's what I came to do. You
are of your father the devil and the lust of your father you
will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in
the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh
a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father
of it. And because I tell you the truth,
you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of
sin? I'm innocent before God. You
can't charge me of sin. What did they accuse him of?
Blasphemy. Blasphemy. And David's going
to say in Psalm 7, If the charges that Saul is making against me
are true, then God judge me for it. But they're not true. They're not true. And the charges
they made against our Lord were not true. Because I tell you
the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinces me to
sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He
that is of God, here if, God's words, you therefore hear
them not because you are not of God. You say that I'm of the
devil. That's what they accused him
of. Look at verse 48. Then answered the Jews and said
unto him, say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast
a devil? And Jesus answered, I am not
a devil, but I honor my father. And you do dishonor me. Why do
you dishonor me? Because you don't believe me.
You don't believe me. I seek not my own glory. There
is one that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
if a man keep my sayings, he shall never see death. If a man
believes my word, believes me and who I am, I'm the innocent
one. I'm the one who must present
himself on your behalf in order for you to have acceptance with
God. Now, turn to me to John chapter
12, verse 27. This was after the Lord brought
Lazarus out of the grave and he said, now is my soul troubled.
And what shall I say? Father saved me from this hour,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father glorify thy
name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
The people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it
thundered. Another said an angel spake unto him. And Jesus answered
and said, this voice came not because of me, but for your sake. Now, look at verse 31. Now is
the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. It's what I came to do. I came
to destroy the works of the devil. I came to set my people free.
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all unto
me. This he said signifying what
death he should die. Now turn with me to 1 John chapter
3. We're going to get to our text
in a moment. And I want you to see how this song of David is
the words of Christ, pleading his innocence before God on behalf
of his people. And we know that every prayer
that he prayed, just as he said here in John chapter 12, Father,
I didn't say this for my sake, but for their sake, for their
sake. And it's for our sake. Notice
in 1 John chapter three at verse eight, he that committed sin
is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose, the son of God was manifest that
he might destroy the works of the devil. Did the Lord Jesus
Christ destroy the works of the devil? Yes. Yes. He put away the sins of his people
and made them innocent in himself before God. so that whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in
him and he cannot sin for he is born of God. So those that
are in Christ have been delivered by the death of Christ from this
slavery of sin to know the truth of who they are in Christ and
to be made free. Now, turn to me back to our text. John chapter 16, verse 11, for
judgment came I into the world that the prince of this world
might be judged. Now Saul, in this story with
David represents Satan. That's who the Lord came to destroy.
That's who he came to deliver his people from. And he was successful
in doing it. And now David says, look at verse
one. Oh Lord, my God, in thee do I
put my trust. Save me from all them that persecute
me and deliver me. The Lord Jesus Christ praying
to the father to deliver him from his enemy. Lest he tear my soul like a lion. And Satan is like a roaring lion,
isn't he? Seeking whom he may devour. And
just like Daniel was put into that lion's den, you and I live
in a lion's den, don't we? But the lion's mouth's been shut. He has no power. He's been defeated. And God's people join in with
their Lord in saying, oh Lord, my God, save me, deliver me,
shut the lion's mouth. How am I going to be delivered?
Look at verse three. Oh Lord, my God, if I have done
this, if there be iniquity in my hands, if I have rewarded
evil unto him that was at peace with me, Lord, this problem of
sin is not my fault. I restored that which I took
not away. This is man's responsibility. This is the work of Satan that
came into the garden and drew man in rebellion against God.
And the Lord says, if these charges that they're making against me
are true, if you find any iniquity in me, Let the enemy persecute my soul
and take it. Verse five, let him tread down
my life upon the earth and lay my honor in the dust. If I'm in, if I'm guilty of these
charges that are being made against me, then I bear the responsibility
of judgment, but I'm not, I'm not. I'm not guilty. Look. Arise, O Lord, in thine
anger. Lift up thyself because of the
rage of my enemies and awake for me to the judgment that thou
hast commanded. Lord, you commanded judgment. You commanded that the work that
I would do on Calvary's cross would be successful in destroying
the works of the devil, in setting my people free, in putting away
their sin, and now I'm calling on you to exercise that judgment. So shall the congregation of
the people come past thee about, for their sakes therefore return
thou on high. Lord, this is, the innocency
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the cause of our hope of salvation. We're able to stand in the very
presence of God. God made him who knew no sin
to be sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
So here our Lord now is saying, the church, the congregation
of the people are gonna gather together around us in glory. For their sakes, therefore, return
thou on high. And what did the Lord say? I
go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am there, you may be also. In my father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. So here's our Lord interceding on behalf of his
church saying, Father, I'm coming. I'm going to be seated at the
right hand of the majesty on high and the people are going
to be gathered together. The Lord shall judge the people. Verse eight, judge me, O Lord,
according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity
that is in me. Now who can go before God? Job
tried it, didn't he? Job over and over again tried
to justify himself before God and pleaded with God to judge
him according to his righteousness. Job in the end is glad that the
Lord didn't do that. But the Lord Jesus Christ can
go before the Father and say, judge me according to my righteousness.
If there be any guilt in me, I'll bear the blame, but I'm
presenting myself on behalf of my people as innocent. Integrity is in me. You and I come before the throne
of grace. We come in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this righteousness
and integrity that he has gives us access, doesn't it? So that
we can come boldly, we can come with confidence knowing that
we have a righteousness before God. Oh, let the wickedness of
the wicked come to an end, but establish the just for the righteous
God trieth the hearts and reigns. Man looks at the outward appearance
and you and I look at the outward appearance of our lives, don't
we? And we think, oh Lord, I'm in trouble. But aren't you glad,
brethren, that God looks at the heart? Not that your heart is pure and
perfect. The heart is deceitful above
all things. Who can know it? But if God gives
you faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's in your heart. That's
in your heart. You know if you believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And more importantly, he knows
if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's given you that faith. And so he's looking at the one
to whom we trust in faith. And the believer says, my defense
is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. The Lord has taken out the heart
of stone. He's put in a heart of flesh.
He's given us life in Christ. We have the mind of Christ. We
have faith in Christ. We have belief on the Lord. We
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, he says he saves
the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked
every day. There's two kinds of people in
this world. Those that are in Christ and those that aren't.
Those that are righteous before God, those who are innocent before
God. Those who have their sins put
away for time and eternity and those who don't. That's it. There's no in between. There's
no gray area. The Lord Jesus Christ now is
presenting himself and the child of God says, yes, that's who
I need. That's who I'm trusting. He's
the one I'm hoping in. Bert and I were talking before
the service, this billboard out here on the interstate, great
big letters declaring to the whole world, God is not angry. And I said, yeah, well, that
fits their view of God. How could God be angry when he
loves everybody? He's angry with the wicked every
day, all day, every day. And verse 12, if he turn not, if the wicked don't come to Christ, he will wet his sword. He hath
bent his bow and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him
the instruments of death He ordereth his arrows against the persecutors. Judgment of God is real. The
wicked don't believe it. They have no fear of God. You
know, I've made this statement a couple of times recently that
to fear God is to believe God. But it might even be more helpful
to understand it like this. To fear God, is to fear standing
in his presence without an advocate, without a savior. You see, the
natural, the wicked aren't, don't fear. The wicked think that I'm
just gonna bust into the presence of God and I'm just gonna present
myself and everything's gonna be okay. Because God's not angry. We know that God is a holy God,
and if the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't stand in our stead before
God, we fear the wrath of God. He will wet his sword. He has
bent his bow. He's made it ready. He's prepared
him instruments of death. He ordaineth his arrows against
the persecutors. Now the persecutors are described
in verses 14 and 15. Behold, he travaileth with iniquity
and hath conceived mischief and brought forth falsehoods. He travails. That word means
he works. He works his works of iniquity
in hopes that he'll be able to present something before God.
That's what the Lord said when he separates the sheep from the
goats. Depart from me you workers of iniquity for I never knew
you but the wicked are travailing in iniquity. They're travailing
in their good works in hopes that they're somehow going to
earn them favor with God. They're not believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ for their righteousness. They're presenting themselves.
He travails in his iniquity and he's conceived. He loves the
God of his imagination. We're just, by nature, we're
all a bunch of idle factories. And it gets going really early
in life where we begin to imagine a God that's altogether as we
are ourselves. And then we begin to bargain
with that God as if we would bargain with a man. And that's
what the Lord's saying. This wicked man, he travails,
he works his iniquity. He conceives mischief. He brings forth falsehoods. He
believes the lie. He believes that he's got a free
will. He believes that his works are
acceptable before God. He's made a pit. He's digged it. And he falls
into the ditch which he made. Now, what the Lord said, they
are blind guides leading the blind. They're all going to fall
into the ditch. Leave them alone. Get away from them. Don't have
anything to do with them. His mischief shall return upon
his own head and his violent dealings shall come down upon
his pate. Now, that's just a word that
means crown, the crown of his head. his works. And what the Lord says here is
that the sword is a picture of words, isn't it? The sword of
God's justice, when the Lord comes, he's going to have a tongue
like a flaming sword speaking his word and bringing judgment.
And what did the Lord say? By your words, You will be justified
and by your words, you will be condemned. What you say about
Christ, what you say you believe, who you say you believe. You've dug a pit with your own
words and your own words are gonna fall upon your own head.
God's gonna judge men by their words. What say ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? Is his righteousness all your
righteousness before God? Is your innocency and your righteousness
before God completely in him? If so, verse 17, I will praise the Lord according
to His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the
Lord Most High. I'm going to rejoice in Him.
Rejoice in Him always. And again, I say rejoice. Let
your gentleness be known unto all men. Why? The Lord is at
hand. The Lord's near. The Lord Jesus
Christ, like David, pleads his innocence and his righteousness
before God on behalf of his people. And he's saying to the father,
if I'm guilty of what they say I'm guilty of, judge me for it. Yes, he bore our sins in his
body upon the tree and owned them as his own and felt the
full shame of them as we saw last week in Psalm 6. God saw
the travail of his soul and God was satisfied. And at the very
same time, the glorious paradox of the gospel is that he was
completely innocent before God. and pleads his innocence and
presents his righteousness before the father. And the father was
pleased, pleased to save him and save all those who he came
to deliver from the pit of hell. It's what the scripture says.
He said, he came to set captivity captive. We come into this world
captive to Satan, unable to believe. Unable to believe, unable to
see, unable to come. And the Lord Jesus Christ, because
he destroyed his enemy. He destroyed the works of the
devil and he set his people free. And he put our sins away. And we have an innocence and
a righteousness before God in Christ. We've got an advocate
with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. We've got
a high priest who has entered into the heavens You saw that
in verse seven. The congregation of the
people come pass about thee for their sakes, therefore return
thou on high. The Lord Jesus Christ returned
back to his rightful place at the right hand of the majesty
on high. And he ever lives. to make intercession for us,
perfectly righteous, sinless, and innocent, so that the justice
of God was met, judgment was satisfied. And we can say, we
can say, if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we can say,
Lord, if I'm not a believer, Judge me. I deserve to go to hell. If I'm
not in Christ, Christ is my only hope. He's my only hope. Our heavenly father, we're thankful
for your word. And Lord, we thank you that we
have a righteous advocate A sinless Savior. One who presents himself
on our behalf. One in whom we have acceptance.
Lord, we're thankful for these prayers of David and for how
we are able by your spirit to see them relating to. To our
Savior, thy dear son. We pray that you would give us
faith to believe on him. but we ask it in his name, amen. Number 474 and hard back to him.
Now let's stand together. We've seen this song without
no chorus, without singing the chorus, so no chorus. ? Naught have I gotten ? But what
I receive ? Grace hath bestowed it ? And I have believed Boasting
excluded, pride I abase. I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. Once I was foolish, and sin ruled
my heart. ? Causing my footsteps from God
to depart ? ? Jesus hath found me, happy my case ? ? I now am
a sinner, saved by grace ? Tears unavailing, no merit had I. Mercy had saved me, or else I
must die. Sin had alarmed me, fearing God's
face. But now I'm a sinner, saved by
grace. Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows
Loving his Savior to tell what he knows Once more to tell it
would I embrace ? I'm only a sinner saved by grace ? It doesn't really go with the
words, but those are good words. We have, and I don't know exactly
how it goes, but I guess I couldn't find it in a digital hymn book.