Thank you, Joy. It's nice to
have our accompanist back tonight. And we're going to have her for
two weeks? Two weeks. All right. Well, good evening,
everyone. Let's open tonight's service
with hymn number 38 from your Spiral hymn book, from the Gospel
Hymns hymn book. Number 38, The Dead of Love.
Let's all stand together. Come, every sinner saved by grace,
you who by faith God's Son embrace. Tell all who hear your voice
below the debt of love to Christ you owe. ? Dear Lord, I lift
my praise to Thee ? All that I am or hope to be ? I owe a
load, O Christ, to Thee ? He left His Father's throne above
? And came to earth on wings of love Thus he lived, the perfect
man, And so fulfilled the law's demand. Dear Lord, I lift my
praise to Thee, All that I am, or hope to be, I owe alone, O
Christ, to Thee. Jesus endured His Father's hour
and died at the appointed hour. What He endured, no tongue can
tell, to save our souls from death and hell. Dear Lord, I
lift my praise to Thee. All that I am or hope to be,
I owe alone, O Christ, to Thee. From death's dark grave our King
arose, And triumphed over all our foes. Up through the skies
the victor rode, And reigns on high our Savior God. Dear Lord, I lift my praise to
Thee. All that I am or hope to be,
I owe alone, O Christ, to Thee. From heaven Christ will quickly
come and bring his ransomed people home. There we shall see his
lovely face and chant the praises of his grace. Dear Lord, I lift
my praise to Thee. All that I am or hope to be I
owe alone, O Christ, to Thee. Please be seated. Good evening. We're going to
be reading from Psalm 4 for our call to worship tonight. Psalm
4. I so appreciated what Michael
said Sunday that it's God that calls us to worship. And he does
that by his word. And I don't know of a place in
the scriptures that he's more clear in calling us into his
presence than this one. Lord willing, we'll be looking
at Psalm 4 next Wednesday night. Tonight we're going to be in
Psalm 3. So. Hear me when I call, O God of
my righteousness. Thou hast enlarged me when I
was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. O ye sons of men, How long will
you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity
and seek after leasing? Now that word leasing is lying.
All men are liars. God alone tells the truth. We are so prone to vanity, aren't
we? But know that the Lord hath set
apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call
unto him. God the Father. Well, the Lord
Jesus Christ in John chapter 11, you remember when at the
resurrection of the resuscitation of Lazarus, he said, father,
I know that thou always cheer me. The father always hears the
son. And we pray to God through Christ,
believing that God is well obligated. to hear the prayers of Christ. Stand in awe and said not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed. And be still. The Lord would
still us. He would enable us in this hour
to put aside all those things that would distract us from him. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness
and put your trust in the Lord. Now that's a redundancy, because
putting your trust in the Lord is offering the sacrifices of
righteousness. There be many that say, who will
show us any good? Lord, lift up the light of thy
countenance upon us. Thou has put gladness in my heart,
more than in the time that there's corn and wine increased. The joy that the Lord gives by
his spirit in our hearts is better than the happiness that we experience
from the good things that he provides. I will both lay me
down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only, makest me to
dwell in safety. Not safe anywhere else. Oh, but
how safe I am with him. Mary's mother, Carol, is still
hanging on. She's not on life support, hasn't
had any food or water or anything since last Thursday, Wednesday,
a week now. So mostly unresponsive. Continue to pray for Mary as
she cares for her. She's in Mary's home. All right. Let's pray together. Our merciful
Heavenly Father, we ask that you'd be pleased
now for Christ's sake to show us your glory, your mercy, and
your grace. We pray that you would speak
to our hearts and that you would reveal to us just another glimpse
of the glory of thy dear Son. that we would know that he is
all our righteousness, all our safety, all our hope, all of
our true rejoicing is in him. Lord, we are such in need for
you to help us in our vanity and in our leasing. Lord, we
get so bound up in the things of this world and in the weakness
of our own flesh. Lord, we come before your throne
of grace, declaring with that Roman soldier, Lord, we believe
help thou our unbelief. We know that the spirit is willing
because you've given us the spirit of Christ. But Lord, our flesh
is weak. And we pray now that for Christ's
sake, you would be pleased now to give us some rest and comfort
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We continue to pray for Carol
and we ask Lord that you would be merciful to her. Pray that
you would be pleased to give her understanding and hope in
the things that she's heard. We pray for Mary as she cares
for her Lord that you would give her comfort and peace and mercy
as she waits on you. but we ask it in Christ's name,
amen. Let's all stand together again.
We'll sing hymn number 125 from your hardback hymnal 125. I hear the Savior say, thy strength
indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and
pray. Find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find thy power
and thine alone can change the leper's spots and melt the heart
of stone. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. For nothing good have I Whereby
thy grace to claim. I'll wash my garments white In
the blood of Calvary's Lamb. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save, my life
shall still repeat. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Please be seated. Psalm 3. I've titled this message, From
Trouble to Blessing. If you notice in verse one, David
says, Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? And then in
verse eight, salvation belongeth unto the Lord. Thy blessing is
upon my people. So he starts out in trouble.
and he ends up rejoicing in blessing. Now the Psalms are written in
such a way as to teach us what God has done in the lives of
his people in times past. These are David's experiences. And we're encouraged to know
that the Lord loves all of his children and what he does for
one, he does for all. And to see what the Lord's hand
was pleased to do in the life of David gives us encouragement
to know that he cares for us in the same way that he cared
for David. These Psalms are also our experience. We see our own
trouble with our sin and with our flesh, the world in which
we live, the contradiction that we are to ourselves. and the
things in this world that are contrary to everything we believe,
we're in trouble. And yet the third way in which
we understand these Psalms is that they're all speaking prophetically
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When David said, although my
house be not so with God, Yet he has made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, ensure this is all my salvation
and all my desire. Normally when we think about
that verse, we think about that's our experience, that the tabernacle
of this flesh, my home life, nothing is as it ought to be. Yet the hope of our salvation
is that he made with us an everlasting covenant. But I want you to think
about that final words of David as the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ, speaking to the father on behalf of his church, saying
to the father, although my house be not so, my people aren't the
way they ought to be, yet God has made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and made sure by my shed blood
And the Lord Jesus Christ saying, this is all my salvation, this
is all my desire, though we make it not to grow. Church of the
Lord Jesus Christ doesn't grow by one person, does it? Church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is same size today as it was before Adam
was formed out of the dust. It's the same size today as it
will be in eternity. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is God's elect people chosen in that covenant of grace,
the body of Christ. And so it is with these Psalms,
David, when David speaks, he's speaking prophetically. Notice
the title of this Psalm, and I remind you that the titles
are actually part of the text, even though they're normally
written in small print and we think of them as parenthetical,
they're really not. They're part of the text. And
so, where it says a psalm of David when he fled from Absalom
his son. That was the circumstances that
this psalm was written under. And if you go back to 2 Samuel
chapter 15 and 16 and 17 and read the experience that David
had in fleeing from the murderous treason of his own son. and how David had to flee Jerusalem. And the scripture says that he
and his men were barefooted, weeping, going through the Kidron
Valley and up the Mount of Olives. Now that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did the night that he was arrested, the son of David. You see, these things are prophetic.
What happened to David is pointing to what would happen a thousand
years later to the son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, as he
went weeping across the Kidron Valley and up the Mount of Olives. And he didn't just weep tears
of water from his eyes as David did, he wept drops of blood. He sweat drops of blood, didn't
he? cried out to his father, father, if there be any way this
cup can pass from me, let it be nevertheless, not my will,
but thine be done. And he went to the cross all
by himself, forsaken by his own people, by his own disciples.
They weren't even able to pray with him in the garden, were
they? He kept going back and finding him asleep. Could you
not pray with me for one hour? No, the spirit is willing, but
the flesh is weak, isn't it? And so this picture of David,
David's crying and he says, Lord, how are they increased that trouble
me? Many are they that rise up against
me. Now we can only imagine. the
grief that David was experiencing. His house was a mess. David had a son by the name of
Amnon who was older than Absalom. And Amnon fell in lust with Absalom's
sister Tamar and raped her. There's no other way to put it.
He forced her. And Tamar was shamed as a result
of that because Amnon wanted nothing to do with her after
that. And Absalom, Tamar's brother, plotted for two years to get
Amnon. And finally, he planned a big
gathering and got all of David's sons to come and told his servants,
when you see Amnon drunk, kill him. And they did. And one of
the servants ran back to David and told David, Absalom has killed
all of your sons. He's killed them all. And David thinking that everything
was lost and Absalom had in his rage killed everybody, another
servant finally came and said, oh no, just Amnon's the only
one, the only one. But as a result of that, Absalom
had to be exiled for two years or three years I think it was
actually. And finally, Joab, you remember, convinced David
to let Absalom come back? And Absalom came back, and now
Absalom stays in Jerusalem for two years. And he sits at the
city gate, and every time somebody comes with a complaint, Absalom
says to them, he says, if I was king, I'd take care of your needs. And the scripture says that he
stole the hearts of the people from his father. After having
killed his brother, after all the things that took place, David
knows that all of this is happening as a result of what he did with
Bathsheba and Uriah. The Lord said, the sword will
never depart from your household. And all of this came as a result
of sin. And all the sufferings that the
Lord Jesus Christ experienced in his cries to the Father and
in his going up on the Mount of Olives came as a result of
sin, didn't it? And all the problems that we
experience in our lives come as a result of sin, don't they?
You see, we've got trouble. Our trouble is our sin. That's
our trouble. It's nothing else, not our circumstances.
It's our sin. If we were able to believe God
without sinning, our circumstances wouldn't bother us a bit, regardless
of whatever they were. They wouldn't. But it's our unbelief,
isn't it? It's our sin that causes us our
trouble. And so, David has to flee. Absalom goes and puts together
an army and marches in on Jerusalem. And David knows that if he doesn't
flee, Absalom, there's going to be
a war and a lot of people are going to die. And so David flees
the city and turns it over to Absalom. And that's when Shimei,
you remember, cursed David. Now, this is important because
these are the things that David, this is when David wrote this
psalm. He wrote this psalm in the midst of these circumstances.
He was in trouble. He was weeping, crying out to
God. He was shamed. He was, you know, he felt guilt
and remorse over what he had done with Uriah and Bathsheba
and all the consequences of that. And the fact that he was such
a poor father, you know, never disciplined in his children and
Absalom, you know, being the way he was, David knew what was
going to happen. And so Shimei curses David and
throws rocks at him. And one of David's servants wanted
to go cut his head off. And David said, no. He said,
the Lord has bidded him to curse me. Leave him alone. He said,
my own son has turned against me. What is his cursings to me? And what do we see there? We
see a picture of God the Father forsaking the Lord Jesus Christ
because of our sin. and the Lord Jesus Christ receiving
the cursings of men who would say, he believed in God. Let God save him now. Let God
save him now. If he be the Son of God, come
down off that cross. You see Shimei and then Ahithophel
was David's trusted advisor and Ahithophel stays behind and advises
Absalom. You know how Ahithophel died?
David prayed that God would turn Ahithophel's counsel against
him. And so Ahithophel counsels Absalom
on what to do and Absalom doesn't receive his counsel. And Ahithophel
goes home and the scripture says he gets his house in order and
he hangs himself. He does the same thing that Judas
did. All these things are prophetic. They're all symbolic. They're
all typical of what the Lord Jesus Christ is going to experience.
David is a type of Christ. He's the sweet psalmist of Israel.
He's the shepherd of Israel. He's the king. He's a man after
God's own heart. And he pictures what the Lord
Jesus Christ is going to go through. So as we read this psalm, we
see how are they increased that trouble me. Many are they that
rise up against me. Ahithophel has risen up against
me. Shimei has risen up against me. My own son has risen up against
me. The people have all turned against
me. Absalom has turned the hearts of all the people towards himself,
away from David. And David, when he first leaves
Jerusalem, he takes the ark with him. And about halfway up Mount
of Olives, just outside the city, he says to Zadok, he says, take
the ark back, put it back in the temple. He said, if God is
for me, I'll return. And if he's not, I'll die. David trusted the Lord to bring
him back. And as it turned out, you know
the rest of the story that a battle did ensue within just another
chapter two of second Samuel and Absalom is killed and everything
is restored. David is also shamed in that
he leaves 10 of his concubines behind in Jerusalem and Ahithophel
counsels Absalom, he says, Take your father's concubines and
go into them. And so Absalom pitches a tent
on the roof of the house in the midst of all the city so everybody
can see. And Absalom takes all of his father's concubines and
shames his father publicly in that regard. David is broken. He's a broken man. He's got no place to go. He's
got no hope unless God intervenes and saves him. The Lord Jesus
Christ was broken, wasn't he? A contrite spirit. The Lord Jesus
Christ had that spirit. We're gonna see that in a prayer
that the Lord prays in Psalm 40. And that's who the Lord gives
grace to. He gives grace to those who are
broken over their sin. He breaks us over our sin. That's
the blessing. We're gonna get to that in just
a moment when we get to this last verse. But I wanted you
to see that with David's experience because David is left with no place to
go except to trust God. If the Lord shows us our sin,
we'll know that there's not a single thing we can do to fix it. Not
a thing we can do to fix it. God's going to have to have mercy
on us. He's going to have to charge it to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's going to have to credit the righteousness of Christ to
our account. We can't do anything. Our house
is not as it ought to be. Verse two, many there be that say of my
soul, there's no help for him in God. And what they, they wag their
heads, they pointed their fingers. They said, let God help him now.
Even those crucified next to him, the two thieves railed at
him. And then how oftentimes you and
I experience doubt. When our sin rears its ugly head
and the accuser of the brethren would have us to look to the
evidence of our salvation in our lives, and what do we conclude? There's no help for him from
God. The only time we ever get any
comfort is when we're enabled by the Spirit of God to look
to Christ and to believe that God is pleased with him and what
he did. And that's what's gonna happen. Look, but thou, oh Lord, art
a shield. Lord, you're my shield. Now,
the first time that word is used is in Genesis chapter 15 verse
1 when God is establishing his covenant promises with Abraham
and he says to Abraham, Abraham, fear not for I am thy shield
and thine exceeding great reward. Abraham, I'm your shield. I'm
your protector. That word also is translated
buckler in the scriptures in some places. But it's a wall
of protection. And then in Ephesians chapter
5, when the armor of faith is given, the helmet of salvation
and the breastplate of righteousness and the belt of truth and feet
shabbat, the preparation of the gospel, the sword of the spirit,
which is the word of God. And the scripture says, above
all, Taking the shield of faith which is able to quench the fiery
darts of the devil The fiery darts of the devil
the devil's got one objective in your life in my life And that's
to rob Christ of his glory To get us to look somewhere other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. I And what David's saying here
is, but O Lord, thou art my shield. God said to Abraham, I am your
shield. And when the scripture speaks
in Ephesians chapter six of the shield of faith, he's not talking
about, okay, I've got to have my faith to lift it up and be
my shield. The shield of faith is Christ.
You see what, we're not saved by our faith. Faith is that which
connects us to Christ. We're saved by Him. We're saved
by Him. I am your shield. Your faith
isn't your shield. I'm your shield. I'm the one
that's going to quench those fiery darts of the devil. I'm
your exceeding great reward. I'm the one that's going to deliver
you from all of your troubles, from all of your sin. Look what else he says in verse
3, my glory, my glory. The Lord Jesus Christ had perfect
faith, didn't he? He had the shield of faith. And
when Satan tempted him, what did he say? What did he say? Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Thou
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, for him only shall thy serve. Satan wasn't, Satan is not in competition with
Christ. Don't think that for a moment.
Don't think that God and the devil are fighting with one another.
The devil is God's devil. Satan belongs to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He'll use him for his glory just
like he'll use everything else. And he restrains him. He's only
able to do, you remember when he went, when he tempted Job,
Satan had to go to the Lord to be, and he could only do exactly
what Job, what the Lord gave him permission to do. And it's
nothing's changed. Nothing's changed. The devil
is God's devil. I find so much comfort in that,
in knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ has conquered him. He's
conquered him. He's defeated him. That's what
he said. When the Holy Spirit comes, he'll
convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment,
of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because
of a goat of my father, and of judgment because the prince of
this world is judged. Satan has been judged by the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all those held captive to
him were delivered. through the sacrificial death,
substitutionary atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan
has no power, not over God, not over God. So Satan, we experience
his power in our own lives, don't we? And that's all the more reason
for us to say with David, but thou art my shield. You're the
one that's gonna have to quench the fiery darts of the devil.
You're the one that's going to have to be my exceeding great
reward. You're going to have to be the one to whom I set my
affections on. I cried unto the Lord my voice.
I'm sorry, verse 3. Thou art my shield. Thou art
a shield for me. My glory. My glory. Christ in you is your hope. of glory. And Paul said, He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Let him glory in the Lord. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. But let him that glorieth, glory
in this, that he understands and knoweth Me. Me. How do I know if I know him?
That I am the Lord, which execute loving kindness, that's grace,
judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things
I delight. The Lord Jesus Christ executed
grace. Our salvation is all of grace,
isn't it? It's all a free gift of God.
Judgment, the justice of God was satisfied by the sacrifice
of Christ on Calvary's cross. God saw the travail of his soul
and was satisfied. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
covers us of our sin. We have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Justice has been satisfied. Judgment
has been executed against Satan and righteousness has been established.
We have a righteous advocate with the Father. Let Him the glory, glory in this. That's why in Ephesians chapter
1 where the gospel is given to us very simply and clearly and
three times in that chapter it says, to the praise of the glory
of His grace. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. to the praise of the glory of
His grace. And what David said in Psalm 115, not unto us, O
Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name be glory for Thy truth and
for Thy mercy's sake. It's all about His glory, isn't
it? Let Him that glorieth glory in this, that He knoweth and
understandeth the Lord. That's why Moses on Mount Sinai Exodus chapter 33, after Moses
had seen all those glorious demonstrations of God's power, the plagues in
Egypt, the burning bush, the mountain that quaked, Moses wasn't
satisfied, was he? What did Moses say? Lord, show
me thy glory. Show me thy glory. And what did
God say? What did the Lord Jesus Christ
say to Moses? I'm going to show you my glory.
but I'm gonna have to hide you in a rock. There is a place near
unto me. I'm gonna have to put you in
Christ in order for you to see my glory. Nothing's changed,
has it? Now I'm gonna call to my goodness
to pass before you and I'll have mercy upon whom I will have mercy
and whom I will, I'll harden. I'll save in the manner in which
I save and I'll get all the glory for it. I'll get all the glory. It really is all about His glory,
isn't it? It's not about us. It's about His glory. And David
says here, I was in trouble. I was fleeing from my own son.
The whole nation had turned against me. I'm feeling the guilt. David didn't just commit adultery
with Bathsheba. He killed Uriah and a hundred
men. Murdered them. Might as well
have just taken them and done it himself. And He knew all this was happening
as a result of that. Can you relate to that? Isn't that what we... You know,
Lord, I know I'm bringing all this upon myself. Lord, I'm in
trouble. I'm in trouble. But You're going to be my shield.
And You're going to be my glory. And look what else He says. and
the lifter up of my head." David's head was lifted up, although it took Absalom's head
to be taken off for that to happen. David was restored. The Lord
Jesus Christ's head was lifted up. He bowed his mighty head
on Calvary's cross and gave up the ghost, believing in his dying
breath that God was going to honor the covenant and bring
him back to life. Lift up his head. My head's bowing
now. I'm dying on behalf of my people,
but God's going to lift up my head. He's going to lift up my
head. You know what? When he's pleased
to reveal Christ in us, he lifts up our head, doesn't he? The guilt, the shame, the
burden of sin, the Lord takes it away when he gives us hope
in Christ. And it comes back, doesn't it?
We have to keep hearing about the Lord Jesus Christ, because
that burden just, boy, it'll come back so quickly, won't it? One of the brothers was telling
me Sunday, he said, I'm just so thankful I was here, and I'm
just so encouraged. I said, probably about halfway
home, somebody's going to cut me off on the road, and I'm going
to have evil thoughts about him. That's about how long it takes,
doesn't it? but he does lift up our head
and one day, one day, our head will never bow again. Our eyes
are gonna be fixed on him and we're never gonna feel the shame
or the guilt or the burden of sin ever again. The memory of
it will be gone and all we'll see is his glory. He's the lifter
up of our head. Verse 4, I cried unto the Lord with my
voice and he heard me out of his holy hill. Why does he hear
out his holy hill? You know that's a picture of
the church. Why does he hear out of his holy hill? Well, look
over in the chapter 2, Psalm 2, verse 6. Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion. You see, there's no access to
God without being a part of his church, without being in the
body of Christ. I know there's some brethren
that are watching the service right now that are grieved over
the fact that they're not able to be a part of a local assembly.
And that's not what I'm talking about. If you're a part of the
body of Christ, you want to be where God's people are. And if
at all possible, you will be. You will be. We don't shame people to come
to church or try to manipulate them. If they're a part of the
body of Christ, that's where the gospels preach. This is where
my head's lifted up. But there are some individual
believers that for one reason or another aren't able to be
where God's people are gathered together. And I want to encourage
them to know that being a part of the body of Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ is seated upon His holy hill. You come to Christ
through the church. There's no there's no members of the body
of Christ that are disjointed from his church. They're all
part of his church. And he sits on his holy hill
and we have access to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. He's interceding
on our behalf. So that's why David said, I cried
unto the Lord with my voice. And I'm so thankful that David
said that with my voice. You know, we have a lot of thoughts,
don't we? And I think part of that is praying
without ceasing. You know, if we've got the spirit
of God, he's constantly reminding us and causing us to think about
Christ. But, you know, there's a place
for verbalizing. I'm not talking about public
prayers. I'm talking about just verbalize your need to him. Don't just think about it. Express
with your voice. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. With the mouth, confession is
made unto salvation. You know, out of the issues of
the heart, the mouth speaks. David said, I cried unto the
Lord with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hill. I laid
me down and slept and I awaked for the Lord sustained me. You
know, all of Absalom's advisors were telling him, go get David. And they did, they pursued David.
But David in faith was able to lie down and sleep in the midst
of all of his trouble. He believed God. Most importantly,
this is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ lying down in the
grave, isn't it? In the sleep of death, believing
that the Lord would raise him again. You know how I hope that
God will give us that peace to be able to lie our heads down
at night and sleep, trusting God. Job said, though he slay me,
yet will I trust him. And when Job said that, he wasn't
very trusting, but the Lord Jesus Christ is pictured in that prayer
too, isn't he? Though he slay me, and he did.
It pleased the father to bruise him. God slew his only son, yet
will I trust him. I await for the Lord sustained
me. I will not be afraid of 10,000
of people that have set themselves against me roundabout. What did
the prophet say to his servant? Don't worry about those Assyrians.
They that are with us are more than they that are with them.
How is it? Open his eyes, Lord, that he
might see, that he might see. If God be for me, who can be
against me? Lord, enable me to trust you
so that though the whole world turned against me, though my
mother and my father turned against me, Yet the Lord will not forsake
me. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you, ever. It's just me and God. That's
all I've got, nothing else. But we've got so much more than
that, don't we? We have each other. To encourage one another in our
own experiences, arise, verse 7, Arise, O Lord. I wanted to go back with me to verse four.
I cried unto the Lord with my voice. I wanted to speak just
quickly about the Lord Jesus Christ there. He cried unto the
Lord with his voice, didn't he? Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do. They have no idea how bad their
sin is. Lord, forgive them. He cried
unto the father, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Forsaken
by the father because of the imputation of sin, God made him
sin. Turn me to Psalm 40. Psalm 40. Verse 7, Then said I, Lo, I come,
and the volume of the book is written of me. Now this is quoted
in Hebrews. This is clearly speaking of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 40, verse 8, I delight
to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. I
have preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo, I
have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest." The Lord Jesus
Christ is pleading his case to the Father, saying, Father, I've
been faithful. I've been faithful. I have not
hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy
faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. I've told them
everything. The words which thou hast given me, John chapter 17,
I've given them unto them and they believed me. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have come
past me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. He bowed his head
not able to look up. When he cried, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He wasn't looking up into heaven
when he said that. His head was bowed. Why? Because he was feeling the shame,
the burden of our sin. The Lord lift up his head. I'm not able to look up. There
are more than the hairs of my head. Therefore, my heart faileth
me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me."
And now, because the father answered that prayer of the Lord Jesus
Christ, he says to us, come now, come to the throne of grace and
come with confidence, come boldly. It doesn't mean with a cocky
spirit, it means with confidence. We are the true circumcision
which worship God in the spirit. Rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. All our confidence is in Christ.
Come to the throne of grace with confidence, with boldness to
find help and grace. in your time of need,
in your time of trouble, for your sin, come. And now David's saying, go back
with me to our text. David finally said, Father, into
thy hands I commend the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, into thy
hands I commend my spirit. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice. The Lord Jesus Christ was not
afraid of the people. Arise, O Lord, save me, my God,
for Thou hast smitten all my enemies upon the cheekbone. Thou
hast broken the teeth of the ungodly." Defeated sin, defeated Satan,
conquered the grave, fulfilled the law, all that would devour
us. His teeth has been broken. The
Lord Jesus Christ has gotten the victory. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. It's His. It's His. What you have, what you own,
you have the right to use it however you want. to give it
to whoever you want, to loan it to whoever you want, to share
it with whoever you want, to withhold it from whomever you
want. It's yours. And that's what the Lord's saying,
salvation belongeth to the Lord. It's His. And He'll have mercy
upon whom He will have mercy. And that'll cause a sinner to
become a mercy beggar, won't it? Lord, I've got no claims
on your salvation. I've got nothing to bring you,
to obligate you to save me. It's yours to give. And if you
cast my soul into hell, you have the sovereign right to do it.
Oh, how I need you to save me. How I need you to be merciful
to me. It belongs to you. And no one's ever asked Him.
No one's ever come to Him like that, where He's turned them
away. I will in no wise cast you out. You see, people don't come to
Him that way. People don't come to Him that
way. They come, men come to, the men that are turned away
from God are those who come with something in their hand. And the Lord rejects every one
of them. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. Thy blessings. I was talking
to a guy the other day. And we were in a store. He's
my age. And he was saying, he was very
religious. And he said, yeah, he said, the
best blessing in life is good health, isn't it? And I said,
well, you know, not really. He said, what do you mean? I
said, the best blessing is salvation. Oh yeah, well yeah, that too. How am I blessed? You know, people
talk about being blessed of God. And they talk about their possessions
being a blessing. I'm thankful for the things the
Lord's given us, but you know, if we didn't have them, would
we not be blessed? What about children? are a blessing,
generally speaking. But what about those that have
never had children? Are they not blessed? You see,
what is the real blessing? We're always thinking of blessings
in terms of physical things, aren't we? Comfortable house,
plenty to eat. I'm thankful for those things
and I know they come from the Lord. Turn to me in closing to Matthew
chapter 5. I don't know if I've been blessed. Now, a lot of people read these
beatitudes and say, well, if I can somehow develop a poor
in spirit attitude, then I'll be blessed of God. They got it
backwards. You got the cart before the horse.
It doesn't work like that. The poor and broken spirit is
the blessing. It is the blessing. Lord, I don't have anything.
I can't do anything. I don't know anything. I'm completely
dependent upon you. Salvation belongs to you. Lord,
I am poor, poverty stricken. I don't have any money. I can't
buy salvation from you. I can't barter with you for it.
I'm poor. If you're poor, then you've been
blessed. That's the real blessing, isn't
it? That's where it all begins. Talk to people all the time that,
you know, they've got a problem with this or that. And it always
comes back to the fact that God's just not made them a sinner yet.
He just hadn't made them a sinner yet. Once you become a sinner,
progressive sanctification goes out the window, limited atonement
is no problem. All that comes together when
God makes you to be a sinner. It all starts right here. Poor
in spirit. That's the blessing. Has God
blessed you? Blessed are they that mourn.
Oh, if I just mourn enough, I'll be blessed. Oh, no. The mourning
is the blessing. If God's broken you, given you
nothing to look to but the Lord Jesus Christ for the hope of
your salvation, mourning over your sin, Lord, I can't justify
it. I can't excuse it. There's no
reason for it. And I see what it did to the
Lord Jesus Christ. They will mourn after Him whom
they had pierced as one mourneth for his only Son. Blessed are the meek. Well, if
I can just be meek, I'll be blessed. Oh, no. Meekness is the blessing. It is the blessing. If you're
a sinner and God's given you a broken and contrite spirit
over your sin, you're meek. You're meek. You're not proud.
You're not self-righteous. You're humble. That's the blessing. Blessed are they which hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Well, if I just hunger and thirst
enough, I'll be blessed. No, no, no. Hungering and thirsting
after righteousness is looking for more of Christ. And that
is the blessing. Blessed are the merciful. All
my salvation is by mercy, pure mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart. I've got a single eye towards
the Lord Jesus Christ. I've got a new nature that's
perfect, sinless, sinless. I'll take out that heart of stone
and put in a heart of flesh. My old man is still nothing but
sin, but I've got a new nature that's perfectly righteous before
God. The thoughts of my salvation
can only be on Christ. Single eye towards the Lord Jesus
Christ. Blessed are the peacemakers.
I have peace with God. I have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Prince of Peace. His
shed blood has given me peace with God. He's my peacemaker. I've been blessed with Christ. David started out with trouble,
didn't he? Started out with great trouble. The Lord Jesus Christ
went to Calvary's cross in great trouble. But he looked to the Father He
cried with his voice to the Father. He looked to the Father. And
God lifted up his head. And in the end, he was blessed. He was rewarded for his work
with the blessing of a bride. And in him, we're blessed. We start out with great trouble.
But we look to him to lift up our head and bless us with his
grace. Our Heavenly Father, we pray
that you would speak to our hearts and cause us, Lord, to believe
what you have said. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 12. Let's stand together.
Number 12. Upon my great and sovereign God,
I cast my soul and rest. My Father's hand controls the
world, and what He does is best. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Thee leave, and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. In raging storms and
fiery trials, He keeps me from all harm. He walks with me and
holds me in His everlasting arms. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. My God with skill infallible
and great designs of grace, with power and love that never fail,
shall order all my ways. So be still my heart and doubt
no more, ? Believe and find sweet rest ? God's wisdom, love, and
truth and power ? Combined to make thee blessed ? My life's
most minute circumstance ? Is ordered by my God Who promised
that in all things He will ever do me good. So be still, my heart,
and doubt no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. Thank you, Joy. You've been practicing? th th