Turn with me to Psalm 69. Psalm
69. I'd like to look at the first
four verses of this blessed chapter. Psalm 69. And these words, we're going
to see, these words are penned by David, King David, they were. But these are the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Only as we see Him do we truly
see the message of this book. This Bible, these holy scriptures,
are written by God, inspired of God, and they're given to
God's people. The Lord Jesus Christ had told
two of his disciples in John 12, verse 23, he said, the hour
is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. The hour of his
crucifixion was at hand. It was time. And then he said,
now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say concerning
the crucifixion? What shall I say? Father, save
me from this hour? Is that what I'm going to say?
He said, but for this cause came I. unto this hour. According to God's everlasting
covenant of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah, made flesh, was chosen by Jehovah, the Father,
The Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah. He's God. One God. And the scripture
sets forth one God as manifest in three persons. The Father
is Jehovah. The Son is Jehovah. The Holy
Spirit is Jehovah. And they're set forth in the
scriptures in the different persons. These things are too high for
us, but this is the way it is. And the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking,
says, my soul, my human soul is troubled. And what shall I
say? Jehovah in human flesh says,
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. So I know this. I know that the
Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah made flesh, never asked to be delivered
from the certainty of death. That's not what he asked. Now
he did pray. Father if it be possible let
this cup pass from me. What was he talking about? He
was talking about being made sin. Not asking this cup pass
from me concerning dying. Even in that prayer. Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
as I will, but as Thou wilt." Not praying for deliverance from
death, but he was praying concerning being made sin. He who is holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher
than the heavens. was to be made a curse for His
people that He might redeem them from the curse of the law. As
I've told you, I can't even tell you what sin is. I know this,
it's the very opposite of who God is. God is holy. God Almighty is just. And sin
is the very opposite The transgression of everything that Almighty God
has set forth concerning His character in the Law. It's the
transgression. It's the refusal to hear or to
obey Almighty God. And he who alone knew the exceeding
sinfulness of sin must be made sin that his people go free. He must be made that which His
people are. He must absolutely stand as their
perfect substitute. What they are, He must be made
that. And Almighty God deal with Him
in absolute justice and judgment. He did not pretend to be sin. He was made sin. And hanging upon that cross as
our absolute substitute was sin. Sin. The holy, harmless Lamb
of God. He said in that hour of prayer
in the garden, Mark 14.33 described his state as being, listen to
this, sore amazed and very heavy. Those words there set forth of
the trembling and the horror of the Lord Jesus Christ at the
point of being made sin, to that point that the Scripture says,
Luke 22, 43 and 44, there appeared an angel unto him from heaven,
strengthening him. And being in agony, he prayed
more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of
blood falling down to the ground." You and I don't even know what
sin is. And we drink it like water. We
drink iniquity like water. God have mercy. The Lord Jesus
Christ, who knew no sin, and was made sin, the scripture
says, in horror, sore amazed and very heavy, sweat
as it were, great drops of blood, And God sent Him an angel to
strengthen Him and to help Him. Well, with these precious thoughts,
Psalm 69 verse 1 to 3, I'm going to look at verses 1 to 4, but
verses 1 to 3 says, Save me, O God, for the waters are come
in onto my soul. I sink in deep mire where there
is no standing. I'm coming to deep waters where
the floods overflow me. I'm weary of my crying. My throat
is dried. My eyes fail while I wait for
my God. I know that these are the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll look at verse 4, but just
look at the very last line of verse 4 as he continues to speak. It says, Then I restored that
which I took not away. Who else but the Lord Jesus Christ
could restore that which He took not away? I'm going to tell you
what He restored in a minute, who could restore but the one
who never took anything away. His crying and his humility set forth the
weakness of flesh. Now I'm talking about God in
human flesh. Holy flesh Obedient flesh. Precious flesh. Conceived by
the Holy Ghost in the womb of a virgin. No man in Adam had
anything to do with his birth. Flesh. I'm talking about just
like this. This right here. Flesh. He hungered. He thirst. He felt. He wept. He sorrowed. Almighty God in human flesh felt
the weight of sin. Almighty God in human flesh felt
the weight of God's wrath and spoke of it. You know, by the time you or
I, without the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, would know
anything about the wrath of God, it's too late. It's too late. You leave this world and face God without a substitute,
it's over. Here, by the grace of God, the
Holy Spirit of God has been pleased to have the hand of a man moved
upon by God to write down what it is to experience God's judgment. And by the grace of God, we hear
something about it this morning. I pray God teach me something
about this. Save me, O God, for the waters are coming to
my soul. Now I can tell you this without
a doubt. I know, I know. that in the prayer
of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is praying for the Father's sustaining
hand to keep Him in the hour of His suffering. I know that. I am absolutely. But let me tell
you, I know that I've already read where He said, the hour has come. And what shall
I say? Father, save me. He said, for
this hour, I came unto this hour. He said, am I going to say, save
me, deliver me, keep me from having to suffer this death upon
the cross? Is that what I'm going to pray?
No. So when He says, save me, O God, I know that He's speaking
of God's sustaining power to uphold me. as I, in human flesh, and that
shows you the weakness of flesh. Men speak of man having a free
will, being able to deal with God. Are you kidding me? Are
you kidding me? Here is the Lord of glory crying
unto His Father, sustain me. Help me, keep me, save me. So I know he's praying, but let
me tell you what he's ultimately praying. When he says, save me. He's talking about his people.
He's talking about his body. The body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's talking about his bride.
Save me. my body, those that you've everlastingly
loved, and gave me, those who are mine, eternally,
guard them, keep my bones, save those that I came into this world
to save. Save me. There were those that
railed on Him on the day of His crucifixion. He said He saved
others. Himself, He cannot save. That's
true. That's true. He can't save Himself, be delivered
Himself and save those that God gave Him. For them to be saved,
He's going to have to die. Why? Because they're guilty. Everyone in this room by nature
is nothing more than an absolute rebel against God. We've never
done anything good. There's none good. Not one. No,
not one. There's not one person in this
room that does not deserve in themselves to be sent to hell
under the judgment of God. There's not one in here that
doesn't deserve it. And here he cries, Save me. Save me. Here is the one in perfect
submission that speaks of that which He bore in the stead of
His people. He says, the waters. Save me,
O God, for the waters. Waters of what? The waters of
God's judgment. The waters of God's wrath. The
waters of God's affliction are come unto my soul. That which He willingly bore,
that's what Isaiah 53 verse 4 says, Surely He hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows, for His people He was stricken. Yet
we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Song of
Solomon 8 verse 7 says, Many waters, what? The waters right here, God's
wrath had come into His soul. Many waters. cannot quench love. He bore that which was our due
in His own body. He absolutely bore what was our
due. You know, that was an amazing
thing. When He was made sin, you know, if you owed some money
at the bank and you just couldn't pay, And I, you know, out of the kindness
of my heart, said, well, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll go
down and pay that debt for you. I could do that. And the bank
would accept it. And the debt would be paid. So
I could satisfy a debt. But let me tell you what I can't
satisfy. I could never satisfy that I was the one that incurred
the debt. The bank would say, well, I sure
do appreciate you giving me that money, Marvin. He owed it, but
you paid it. That's not what happened at Calvary.
He was actually made what his people are, what they are. He was made what they are. He
was actually made the guiltiness himself. He was made guilty. He who knew no guilt He said
the waters of God's affliction, judgment, and wrath, if He was
not actually made the guiltiness, then what God did to Him wasn't
just. God's just God. If He absolutely
was not made sin, then Almighty God would never have killed Him. He died. He died. Why? Sin was made Him. He was made sin. Oh, the love
of Christ that passeth knowledge. He willingly sunk Himself into
the mire and the filth of what His people are. And found in
that state, He could say truthfully, I am come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me of the judgment and the justice of Almighty
God. Praying for the Father's sustaining
power. Praying according to that perfect
degree of our need. What He prayed right there, that's
what I need right there. Save me, O God, for the waters
are coming to my soul. I sink in deep mire where there
is no standing. I'm coming to deep waters where
the floods overflow me. He said, I thought you said that
was the Lord Jesus Christ praying. It is. And that's the need of
His people in Him. I gave you that illustration
last Sunday of Noah's Ark. When the judgment of God fell
on this earth because every imagination of the thoughts of men were only
evil continually. Who deserved the wrath of God?
Everybody on this earth. How about Noah? Noah too. Noah
was a wretched sinner against God. God saw that every imagination
of the thoughts of men's heart. Did that include Noah? Well,
if he's one of the every imagination of the thoughts of men's heart,
then yeah, Noah was just like everybody else. There was only
one difference between Noah and everybody else. Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. God chose to show mercy to him,
Fred. That's it. What? Because there was some good in
Noah? No. Noah was a wicked rebel against
God. Wretched sinner. And God Almighty
showed mercy. And put him and his wife and
his three boys and their wives and those animals in a boat.
And poured out his wrath upon this world. And one thing saved
Noah and his family. One thing. The grace of God.
The grace of God. Here's the Lord Jesus Christ.
The ark of his people. With God's wrath poured out upon
him. Now verse 4 says, They that hate
me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head. They
that would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restored that which I
took not away. The Lord Jesus Christ never blasphemed
God. He never injured man. He did
only always those things that pleased His Father. He was the
obedient servant of Jehovah. Jehovah in human flesh pleased
Jehovah the Father, who from heaven said, this is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. You hear Him. From the time He
came into this earth, Herod to Judas, He was despised and rejected
of men, and there was no cause found in Himself. None. They
hated Me without a cause. But in the midst of man's hatred
of Him, He'd come into this world to save His people. God had given
Him a people chosen for the foundation of the world. Every one of them. Every one of them before the
foundation of the world was written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Every
one of the names. Every one that Almighty God would
ever save in Christ was recorded. That's what Revelation says.
Names written from the foundation of the world. All of that the
Father was pleased to set His affection on. That the Father
adopted, predestinated unto the adoption of sons. That's what
Ephesians 1, 4 says. Every one of them he gave to
the Lord Jesus Christ and put them in the ark and said, you're
mine. I'm your God. You're going to
be my people. And almighty God sent his son,
Jehovah in flesh, into this world to do one thing, to restore for
them that which Jehovah in human flesh never took away. I restored
that which I took not away. I gave back what I didn't take. In closing, what did he restore? Well, obviously I can't tell
you everything because I don't know them all. But I can tell
you a few. The first thing he restored for
his people was God's glory in their eyes. Now God's glory is
God's glory. Now I'm going to tell you this,
nobody's going to take his glory away from him. But here's what
he restored in the eyes, the spiritual eyes of his people. He restored God's glory to them. Before Adam's fall, mankind,
which was Adam and Eve, that's mankind, there was only two.
Before the fall, God's glory was beheld in mankind. Every man and woman beheld the
glory of God. It wasn't but two, but every
one of them did. And in the day that Adam ate
of the fruit, God told him. He said, in the day you eat,
you're going to die. And the day that he ate, he died
spiritually. and beheld not the glory of God,
hid himself from God. But Almighty God and the glorious
person of His Son did something for men, those that He's everlastingly
loved, that they could not do for themselves. I read this all
the time. I'm going to just read it to
you. Ezekiel 36. Here's what he said, I'm gonna
do for you. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you. That clean
water is the blood of Christ. And you shall be clean from all
your filthiness, from all your idols. I'll cleanse you. New
heart also I'll give you. New spirit I'll put within you.
I'll take away the stony heart out of your flesh. I'll give
you a heart of flesh. I'm going to put my spirit within
you and cause you to walk in my statutes. You shall keep my
judgments and do them. And you shall dwell in the land
that I gave your fathers. And listen to this. And you shall
be my people. I'll be your God. Until the Lord
Jesus Christ gives man new eyes to see, new ears to hear, they
don't behold the glory of God. You that know Him, isn't it refreshing
just to buy the eyes of faith? Behold something. I know we see
through a glass darkly, but bless God, we see. We see. We see something. We say, one
of these days we're going to see perfectly. But he said, I
restored that which I took not away, God's people. Behold, second
thing that he restored was man's life. And the day you eat thereof,
you're going to die. Now you know Adam didn't die
that day, physically. Lived about 900 more years. But you know what happened eventually?
He died. He died. But what did he lose
in the day that he ate? He lost that spiritual life. But redeemed by the blood of
Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ says, I give unto them eternal life. I give unto them that which they
lost in the fall. That which was taken away by
their rebellion, I restored that which I took not away. Life eternal. Thirdly, because of sin, man
lost his fellowship with God. But by the grace of God, the
scripture says, in you that were sometime alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, now Hath He reconciled in the
body of His flesh through death to present you holy? Now let
me tell you, just bear hearing these words. By the imputation of His righteousness,
His holy obedience, His righteousness. Now all of my righteousness and
your righteousness is filthy rags. That's all it is. You know
what that is. You know exactly what that is.
But I'll tell you what His righteousness is. It's the righteousness of
God. What will God accept? I'm going
to tell you what He's going to accept. He's going to accept
absolute holiness. Holiness. Well, I thought he
would accept the best you can do. No. No, he's not. He will accept that which he
does. That's what he's going to accept.
And the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world in absolute obedience. And Almighty God, beholding that
absolute obedience, said of His obedience, as the man Christ
Jesus, as the man Christ Jesus. A man obeyed God. A man obeyed
God. And he said, this is my beloved
son and I'm well pleased with him. His righteousness, his obedience,
here's an amazing thing. Almighty God imputes, robes his
people in his righteousness and accepts them. on the basis of
His righteousness, accepted in the Beloved. Yet now hath He
reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present
you, now listen, holy. How holy? As holy as God. You mean to tell me that I will
stand before God and be accepted of God because I am as holy as
God. That's the only way you're going
to be accepted. I'll tell you that. In Christ. Holy. Unblameable. You mean there won't
be one infraction that God Almighty will behold in me? If there is,
you don't have any hope, I can tell you that. Unblameable. The law of God looks at God's
people in Christ and says, no charge here. Being born in Christ, given a
new nature, the nature of Christ Himself, the law of God looks
at that and says, not one infraction, not one thought. Here's an old
man that can't do anything but sin. And the Lord Jesus Christ,
robed in His righteousness, Christ in you the hope of glory and
the Spirit of God reveals unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Now you look pretty good to me,
all of you, I'm assuming, you know, bathed. You know, brush
your teeth. You all look pretty good to me.
But I'm talking about in the sight of God. Adam and Eve driven from the
garden because of sin. But in Christ, accepted. And lastly, man from the fall
lost his joy in the Lord. Every regenerated vessel of God's
mercy has a heart that says this, Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Here's what
David, that was out of Psalm 51, you know what he was, taken by Sheba, She committed
adultery with her. God sent a prophet, Nathan, and
told him. He said, you're the man. But
God's shown you mercy. You're not going to die. The
Lord put away your guilt. That's grace. That's grace. That's right. And you and I have
done the same thing. If not outwardly, we've done
it in our heart. So, Almighty God has had mercy. And David
prayed, restore unto me, return me, strengthen me, keep me in
the cheerfulness of thy salvation by your Holy Spirit. Lord, I
know this, in myself I deserve punishment, but according to
your everlasting covenant of grace, don't turn me away. Lord, don't cast me out. I know
that in myself. I deserve it, I know that. But
Lord, according to your grace, you said, He that cometh unto
the Son. And Lord, I want to come again. You say, well, I thought I came
when I was, you know, 9, 14, 18, 37, whenever. That's water
under the bridge. Do you want to come right now,
is the question. He that cometh unto the Son. On the day of Pentecost, the
Scripture says, those who are regenerated by the grace of God
were said to be continuing daily with one accord in the temple,
breaking bread from house to house, and did eat their meat
with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having
favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church
daily, such as should be saved. Bless God that Almighty God would,
according to His everlasting covenant of grace, restore for
God's people new eyes to see the glory of God. And be glad
that they see the glory of God. And be glad that they have new
ears to hear the gospel of God's grace. Be glad that they've got
a new heart that believes that their righteousness is not the
righteousness they earned, but that it was the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed to them. And faith and grace
to believe that their peace and their acceptance before God is
all according to God's mercy and compassion that He was pleased
to show them. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake. Amen. All right, let's take a
few minutes break.