Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Psalms, chapter 31. Psalms 31. I'd like to preach out of the
first verse. Psalm 31.1. In thee, O Lord, Do I put my trust? Let me never
be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness. Now that's the heart of every
believer. That's his cry, that's his plea
before the Lord. And the reason that that is his
heart is because he knows three things. Number one, he knows
that he's a sinner. You say, well everybody knows
that. No. Not every man knows that
because man by nature is dead spiritually to that knowledge. Doesn't see himself. as a sinner. He doesn't see himself as one
in rebellion against God and subject to the penalty of God.
So every believer knows himself to be a sinner. Secondly, he
knows that the Lord came into this world to save sinners. That's the only people that the
Lord saves, is sinners. You say, but again, isn't everybody
a sinner? Yes, but not everybody is made
to know that they're a sinner. Which brings me to my third point.
He knows that he needs for the Lord to save him. Every believer
knows himself to be one in need of salvation, of rescue. I need the Lord to rescue me.
because I can't do it. Man doesn't see himself truly
in need of salvation. A publican and a Pharisee went
into the temple to pray. And the publican cried this,
God be merciful to me, a sinner, A sinner. What is a sinner? It's one that is devoted to sin. That's my life. That's what I
do. That's what I want to do. One that is preeminently sinful. And while that publican cried,
Be merciful to me. I'm guilty. I need mercy. I'm guilty. Be merciful to me,
a sinner. And the Pharisee prayed thus
with himself, God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men are. And so therefore, man by nature
that doesn't see himself as a sinner and sees no need of a savior,
This is the one that he sees no beauty in. Isaiah 53, 2 and
3. He shall grow up before him as
a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no
form nor comeliness. And when we see him, there's
no beauty that we should desire him. He's despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it
were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
Him not. When the Lord came into this
world, He came and He didn't come as men expected Him to come. They knew that the Messiah was
coming. They knew that the King was coming. They thought Him
to be one that was going to come with beauty and pomp and splendor. When He appeared on this world,
He came as as a servant, a humble man. He was a man of anguish and pain
and his worth was not appreciated. Nobody saw him by nature for
who he really is, but to all that are chosen by the Father
unto salvation, all that have been given to the Lord Jesus
Christ in electing grace, something amazingly wonderful has been
revealed to them concerning the Lord. He is altogether lovely. And He's precious. He's precious.
His worth cannot be told. And they're going to come to
Him. The Lord said, All that the Father giveth me. They're
going to come. He's been given power over all
flesh. That He should give eternal life
to as many as the Father has given Him. So, the Holy Spirit,
when it pleases God, is going to effectually cross the path
of the vessels of God's mercy. And He's going to cause them
to hear the Gospel. And they're not going to just
hear it with the natural ear. They're going to hear it in power.
And He's going to make them willing in the day of His power to come
because He's going to call them out of darkness. And they're
going to know that the gospel, the gospel of Christ, the gospel
that sets forth who they are by nature, who He is, how God saves sinners, they're
going to come. And they're going to know Him.
And they're going to rejoice that the Lord's been pleased
to send His only begotten Son into this world to save sinners
because they know that's what they are, that this is what I
am. I'm a rebel against God and they rejoice in Christ Jesus
for the first time in their life and they absolutely have no confidence
whatsoever in their flesh. No believer wants to talk about
what he's done for God. He knows better than that. So
they cry from the heart, as David penned, right there. They said,
in thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness. Now, I just want to consider,
just for a few minutes, this cry from a needy sinner. One that's just, he's been made
honest. He's just honest about it. He's
honest before God, he's honest with himself, and he's honest
before men. He's going to call on the Lord
as a beggar, who's laying it all on the line. This is it. This is where it all comes down,
right here. I was thinking, so you'll just
know what just went through my mind. I was thinking about our
dear brother, in Christ, Brother Glenn, that Lord was pleased
to receive unto himself a little over two weeks ago. Carl and
I, Lou. A couple of months ago, whenever
it was. And I was just thinking to myself, when it comes right
down to it, now listen. Let's just be honest. We've just
recently witnessed the sure end of all men. Now this is where
we're going. I mean, we're just, you know,
we talk and we say kind words and we say things and we're so
thankful that the Lord allowed us to know them and things like
this, but let me tell you something. We're going to die. We're going
to die. And in that day, at that moment, let me tell you
What is going to matter? What think ye of Christ? Is He Lord to you? Oh, He's Lord. He's Lord. I'm telling you. He's Lord. God
made Him Lord. But He's your Lord, my Lord.
This is what David said. He said, Oh Lord, do I put my trust. Do you know what this means?
I don't have anything else to fall back on. I have no backup. There's no other plan. There's
no other way. There's nothing else. It's in
Him or without Him. In Thee. In Thee, oh Lord. I kept trust in my faith. My faith is so fickle. I have
no works worthy. They're all self-righteousness,
filthy rags. My will, I don't have a free
will in thee. I'm casting all of my
hope upon the one who alone can be trusted. In Thee, O Lord,
do I put my trust. When I take my last breath, who
can be trusted? Me? You? Who are we going to trust? We just left
this world. And our soul was separated from
this tent, this little temporary tabernacle. And all of a sudden,
what we thought never mattered, now it matters. Now. In Thee, O Lord, I'm a sinner. And how does a sinner know that? How did he come to that knowledge?
Well, the Lord gave him a new heart. He gave him life, and
now he knows to whom he's coming. I'm coming to God. I'm going
to have to stand before God. And I know everybody talks about
knowing who he is, I know they say they love Him,
but when it comes down to me, when it comes down to me, and
I know you can say this, we're going to stand before God Almighty,
and now everything that we just passed off and thought was insignificant,
Right now, we're going to realize I am truly standing before the
person. I'm not trusting. I was talking
to somebody the other day, and I was listening to what they
were saying. And I knew, I knew they were saying the right words,
Don. They were saying the right words. They were using words
like predestination and election and stuff. And I was listening
to what they were saying. And I tell you, based on what
I was listening to, they were trusting in a creed. They were
trusting in a doctrine. They were trusting in... We trust in Him. We're trusting in Him. God Almighty shows mercy and
compassion to whomsoever He will in Christ. the sovereign of this universe,
the Lord, who has revealed himself, when I say the Lord, I meant
Jehovah, who has revealed himself to his people in the person of
his blessed son, who is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He's the
faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead, the prince of the
kings of the earth, and he doesn't change. God's people come to Him. They
come to the Christ, the Holy God, who is the image of Him
who is of pure eyes, than to behold iniquity. He who swears
by His holiness. That's what the Scripture says,
Psalm 89 and 35. And has magnified His Word above
all His name. Psalm 138 verse 2. We're coming
to a person. And even now, a believer is going
to say, Lord, don't let me trust. Don't let me trust in anything.
I don't want to trust in five points of Calvinism. I love preaching the truth. John
Calvin would come up with that. That was out of the scriptures.
I'm not resting because I know five points. I'm not resting
because I can dot all my I's and cross all my T's and everything. in thee, in thee. Lord, reveal
yourself to me. Lord, teach me of you. Teach me of who you are. Somebody
said, well, I thought you've already done that. A believer
does that every time, every day, every day. He comes to Christ
every day. A believer is going to say this,
Lord, had you not chosen me, I'm assured I'd have never called
on you. I'd have never chose you. I know
I'd have never chose you. Had you not redeemed me from
the bondage of my sin and my debt and taken my sin unto yourself
and making it your very own, I'd still be under your righteous
judgment. Had you not come to me in regenerating
grace and power and effectually called me without any efforts
on my part and imparted life to me and saved me by your grace,
I'm assured that I would be on my way to hell. Thinking in myself, I went to Katie Baptist Church.
I knew Scott Richardson. In thee, O Lord, Father, Son,
and Spirit, do I put my trust. The sinner cries unto the Lord
that he knows must show him mercy. Next, the sinner cries unto the
Lord knows what's at stake if he don't cry. He knows what he
is. He knows first he's a sinner.
And he knows what's gonna happen if he doesn't cry. What's gonna
happen? Look at that next part in there.
Let me never be ashamed. Here's what's gonna happen if
I don't cry unto him. God hadn't given me a heart to
cry to Christ. Here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna be ashamed.
I will be. I'm gonna be, that is, embarrassed
or guilty because of my crime. Oh, I tell you this. A believer
is ashamed of a lot. He's ashamed of himself, what
he sees as being born in Adam. He's ashamed of the presence
of sin, but I'll tell you what he's not ashamed of. He's not
ashamed of the Lord. He's not ashamed of the gospel,
but he's thankful for what God has promised to his people, that
they will not be ashamed Listen to what the Lord said. His sheep
are not gonna be put to shame. They're not gonna be disappointed. When it says ashamed, that's
what it means. Disappointed. Think about this. I go back to that passage all
the time in Matthew 7. Many were saying to me in that
day, Lord, Lord, prophesy, cast out devils, many wonderful. I
never knew you. Here's what the Lord said. They hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. I give unto them
eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand. They're not going to be ashamed.
They're not going to be ashamed when they stand before Him. They're
not going to be ashamed. They're not going to be guilty.
The confidence of calling upon the Lord and therefore not being
ashamed, disappointed, confounded, is because of the promise of
the Lord. Him that cometh to me I'm not
going to cast out. Let me tell you what a believer
is doing right now. Let me tell you what you're doing right now.
You're saying exactly what David's saying. Lord in you. Lord in
you. In you. Like old John Newton.
I love that last line of, you know, tis a point I long to know.
John Newton just kept me just honest. He said, Lord, if I've
never called upon you truly, let me call right now. I'm so
thankful that you've given me the moment that you've given
me right now. Lord, I call on you. You'd say, well, does he
ever get tired of doing that? Him that cometh to me, I'm not
going to cast out. A believer never quits coming. He never quits calling. He never quits seeking. He never quits trusting. In fact, I'll be honest with
you. I think the older I get, the more I realize, Lord, call me again. Lord, draw me
to yourself. Draw me to you. Draw me. I know
they're going to be ashamed and disappointed because they've
trusted in themselves, but not the sheep. But why does a believer
cry and ask for that which he knows the Lord's already promised?
Because he wants to. He wants to. He's got a desire
to ask. A desire. You that know him,
let me ask you this. You tire of hearing this? Do
you tire of hearing this? Paul said, you know, for me to
say the same things to you. He said, to me, not grievance.
He said, it's safe for you. What else does a believer want
to say? You tell me one more time. Tell me again. Tell me
again of the Lord in whom I trust. Tell me again how he's loved
me. Tell me how he's drawn me. Tell
me how he's made me willing in the day of his power. Tell me
that one more time. because I need to hear it. I
am so prone to forget. I'm so prone to wander in my
mind. I desire. I want to come again. I want to come now. I desire
that. I was thinking about this passage
of scripture when I said desire. Psalm 37, for delight thyself
also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy
heart. Let me ask you something, you
that know Him. Do you desire to not be ashamed
in the day of judgment? Do you desire to not be ashamed
in that day when you stand before Him? I believe you're going to
say, I do. I desire to not be ashamed. I don't want to be ashamed. I
don't want the thought of standing before God and hearing Him say
to me, this is the most fearful thing I can think of. I'm reading
it in the Scriptures where the Lord said, many, many are going
to say it to me. And I'm going to say to them,
I never knew you. And in my mind for just a moment,
that thought goes through my mind and I think, if the Lord,
He's going to say it to many, He said. But I think, Lord, oh
please, don't say that to me. You're going to say it to many.
Lord, I don't want to be ashamed. In Thee, O Lord, I put my trust.
Let me never be ashamed. They ask because they're a sinner. They ask because they know the
consequences of not asking. They know what the Lord has promised.
And then lastly, They ask because the Lord has ordained that they
ask. We've read this many times. I'll
read it again though. Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36. Listen to what the Lord has said
He's going to do. Ezekiel 36 verse 24. For I will take you from among the
heathen, gather you out of all countries, and will bring you
into your own land. I'm gonna bring you to a realization
that you're in my Son. A new heart also will I give
you. I will give you a new spirit,
will I put within you, I'll take away the stony heart out of your
flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit
within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And you shall
keep my judgments and do them. And you shall dwell in the land
that I gave to your fathers and ye shall be my people and I will
be your God. I will also save you from all
your uncleanness. I will call for the corn and
will increase it and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply
the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field and you
shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
Then shall you remember your own evil ways and your doings
that were not good. And shall loathe yourselves in
your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not
for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord, be it known unto you.
Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Now did he not just say what
he was going to do? At verse 37, thus saith the Lord
God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to
do it for them. I will increase them with men
like a flock. This is what I'm gonna do. I'm
gonna take you out of the bondage of sin and unbelief, and I'm
gonna remove that heart of rebellion, and I'm gonna give you a new
one. I'll write my law on your heart, the law of my love in
Christ, I'm going to be your God and you're going to be my
people. I'm going to do all of this for you. And you're going to ask me to
do it. When David cried, in thee, O
Lord, do I put my trust, let me never be ashamed. Didn't the
Lord promise him that he was not going to be ashamed? But
God gave him a heart to ask for it. The desire to be kept now and
the desire to be kept then. We're ashamed. of our filthiness,
our weakness, and our frailty. But I'm not ashamed of the Father
who chose me. I'm not ashamed of the Son who redeemed me. I'm
not ashamed of the Holy Spirit who called me out of darkness.
I'm not ashamed of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus who
stopped me on my road to rebellion like He did Saul of Tarsus. And
I'm certainly not ashamed of my Lord. who betrothed me unto
Himself and promised me, I'm not going to leave you. I'm not
going to forsake you. And you know what I say? Lord, don't
leave me. Don't forsake me. He told me He wouldn't. He said,
you ask me. You ask me. Oh, but knowing something of
the presence of sin, the plagues of my old man, I continually
ask Him, let me Let me never be ashamed. I know your people
are not gonna be ashamed, but Lord, let me not be ashamed. And then he finishes by saying,
deliver me in thy righteousness. You know what a believer knows,
that one made to know his sin, one that knows what's at stake
if he doesn't ask, and the one who calls upon the Lord because
the Lord told him you're going to call. He knows what God demands. God demands holiness. I am holy, be ye holy. And only
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where else am I going
to find holiness? Nowhere. Nowhere. Believe me, I am not in myself. I am not faithful. I'm not. Not in me. Paul said, in me,
that is in my flesh. There dwelleth no good thing.
So David, knowing what God demands for deliverance, he says, deliver
me. I looked at that word deliver. Here's what it means. Carry me
safely. Carry me safely unto yourself
in thy righteousness. in your son, who is your righteousness,
and has given unto the sheep righteousness. No sinner made
sensitive of his sin wants to face God in his own righteousness. I know that. Like I said, filthy
rags. But he desires to be justified
from the curse of the law. What does that word mean? Justified. No charge. No record. No record of any charge. No record of sin. Justify from
the curse of the law by Him who was made a curse for His people,
putting away their sins, and then robes them in His holiness
and righteousness. Without righteousness. Deliver
me in Thy righteousness. Without righteousness in Christ,
there's no acceptance. The best of intentions, the best
of intentions, outside of Him is filthy rags. Apart from standing
in the Beloved, there's nothing but shame and suffering. But thanks be unto God in Him,
I'm free, delivered, carry me safely. Has the Lord shown any
of us what we are? We're sinners. That's where it
all starts, right here. There's where it begins, right
here. God's gonna show us what we are
in ourselves. Has the Lord shown us that we're
sinners by birth and choice and practice? Has the Lord shown
us our need of calling upon Him? What's at stake? Save me, I'm
gonna perish. Has the Lord shown us, given
us desire to call upon Him? Well, if he has, then I'll tell
you what you'll do. You'll cry just like David did.
In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness. And you know what he promised?
He will. Him that cometh to me, like that.
The heart made tender, he promised. I'm not going to cast you out.
I would tell you, come to Christ. And you know how you'll do it?
If the Lord gives you a heart to. And if you have a heart to
do it, he gave you a heart to do it. I pray the Lord bless
this to our hearts, to his glory and our good. Amen.