I'll read this morning here from
the 23rd Psalm. It's always been a favorite chapter
in the Bible for me. One of the first verses of the
Bible that was made known to my heart Psalm 23 says, The Lord
is my shepherd, and I shall not want. And you could say a whole lot
about that, couldn't you? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul, leadeth
me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear
no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely,
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Well, if that's all we've got
here this morning, we've got enough. Over here again in this 31st
Psalm, This has come to my attention. Psalm 31. It says, In thee, O Lord, do I put
my trust. Let me never be ashamed, and deliver me in thy righteousness. Not in my righteousness, but
in His righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be thou my strong rock for the
house of defense to save me, for thou
art my rock and my fortress. Therefore, thy namesake, lead
me and guide me." Thank you, merciful, loving Father
in Heaven. Thank you for your grace, and
thank you for your mercy. Thank You, Father, that You are
our everlasting God and our Shepherd to keep us safe. We bless and
praise You for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Bless the Word to our heart and
to our understanding, and bless This congregation this morning,
Father, as our shepherd tells us more about the great shepherd
of the sheep, our Lord Jesus the Christ, in His name we pray,
Amen. Turn with me to Proverbs 2. Proverbs chapter 2. As a believer contemplates the mercy of God to him, as he
thinks on it, These scriptures that Brother Scott just read,
the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I'll have no lack. He makes me to lie down, makes
me to settle down. I'm not trying to establish anything
before God, recipient of His mercy. Surely goodness and mercy. It
followed me all the days of my life. I'll dwell in the house
of the Lord forever." You know, as a believer contemplates those
things, thinks on them, he finds great joy and peace in that the Lord would reveal
Himself to him. He thinks, Lord, You're so wonderful. to teach me of myself and to
teach me of you. Thank you. Thank you that I even
stand here and that I'm able to contemplate the unsearchable
riches of your grace, to even think on that. Lord, don't pass me by. Disciples saw
him out on the water that night and said, it appeared, it appeared
that he would pass them by. And he cried out. That's where
a believer is. A believer says things like,
take not thy spirit away from me. David said that concerning His
desire. Lord, make Your presence to be
intimate to me. Lord, cause me to be able to
enter in to just a keen fellowship. You know, isn't it good when
two friends can talk together and fellowship, you know? One-on-one. A believer desires that. It's not just kind of a dry,
empty speech. A believer truly wants
to speak to the Lord. He wants to know Him. That's
what Paul said. Oh, that I might know Him. Don't
you find that desire? in the passage today. I'm going
to look at Proverbs 2, verses 6 to 8. There's three things,
three glorious truths that bring honor and praise and dignity
to our blessed Savior. Here's the first one. God Almighty
must be just. in salvation. Now, we know this. Lord, for my salvation, I truly
desire that my sin has truly been put away. When He said,
I'll cast it as far as the east is from the west, I'll remember
no more. It is the greatest comfort to
my soul to know that God has put away my guilt and has done
it justly and has put it away, that He satisfied Himself. God
must be just. And I know that this is going
to be only accomplished in my federal head. I know that
for me, to go free. One had to die as
me. Not merely die with my sin and
bear the penalty, though he did. I'm talking about one had to
become me and die as my substitute. He had to be me. He made sin. That's the summation of me. He
hath made him sin. God must be just. in salvation. Now, when you contemplate that
man, as all men, have come short of the glory of God, all have sinned. When I know
that the soul that sinneth is going to die, when I know that there is none
righteous, no, not one, not man born In Adam, when I know that no man can come
unto Him except the Father which has sent Him, draw that man. So the great question is, when
it comes to God's justice, this is what I know. This is the first
point. God must be just in salvation. So the great question when it
comes to salvation, God's elect, is how can man be justified with
God? How can a man not have sin charged
to his account? I mean, if I've sinned, how can
God be just and not charge me? How? How can a man be clean? A man which is born of woman.
How? Well, here's the answer. Here's
the answer to that first question that God is just. Here it is.
Proverbs 2, verse 6, For the Lord giveth wisdom. The Lord giveth wisdom. The L-R-J-H-O-V-E
giveth wisdom. How? Can God be just? Here's how it
is. The Lord gives wisdom. The Lord
gives Christ the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1.24, But unto
them which are called, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ, the power
of God and the wisdom of God. So when it says here, the Lord
giveth wisdom, you just write this down. That word wisdom right
there, that's Christ. The wisdom of God, the infinite
wisdom, does not wisdom cry, blessed is the man that heareth
me. I was ever before him. I came up with him. I was ever
his delight. Wisdom. How can God be just and justify this sinner? He giveth wisdom. God so loved the world, the order,
the arrangement, that He gave His only begotten Son. He gave
wisdom that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. How can God be just in the salvation
of His people? He gives wisdom, sent wisdom. Isaiah 9, 6 says, For unto us
a child is born, unto us a son is God Almighty gave His only begotten Son. God
gave Himself. God gave Himself. The Word made
flesh as the surety. I'll make good. That's what it
means. That's surety. You know what surety means. I'll
make good on this everlasting covenant. How can God be just? God the Lord, Jehovah, giveth
wisdom. The obedient servant who earned
the righteousness as a man, that righteousness imputed to everyone
that Almighty God is going to call out of darkness that is
going to believe Him, everyone that believes. You write this
down. They're robed in the righteousness
of wisdom himself. How can God be just? He's going
to send wisdom. The Lord giveth wisdom. And He's
going to deal with Himself. God will deal with Himself. God Almighty will deal with the
Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this concerning wisdom. That word knowledge right there,
it means to know by experience. To know by experience. The Lord
giveth wisdom. He sends Christ. And when He
speaks, Christ Himself speaks. He has come into this world and
all that He has to say concerning His work, His obedience, everything
that He has to say, has to do with that which He has by experience
known. Out of His mouth cometh knowledge
to know by experience. Hebrews 5.8 says, Though He were
a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.
That is, yet He experienced everything. As a man, he experienced them. Somebody called somebody up and
got a question. Do you know who you want to talk
to? You want to talk to somebody that's been there. You want to
talk to somebody that's experienced something. I don't want to talk to somebody
that has never walked in a path that I've got a question about.
I want to talk to somebody that knows what they're talking about.
And I'm telling you, you only know what you've experienced.
Somebody may say, you know, well, I know how you feel. Well, if
you haven't been there, you don't. No, you don't know how I feel.
No, you don't know what I've experienced because you've never
been there. When wisdom himself speaks, he speaks from experience. We have a great high priest.
And I'll tell you this, he's been touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. He's experienced as a man. He knows out of his mouth cometh
knowledge, experience. Out of his mouth cometh understanding,
discretion, ability in the great work of redemption. Psalm 147.5
says, Great is our Lord, and of great power. His understanding
is infinite. The Lord said concerning Himself
and His Father. John 10.15, As the Father knoweth
me, understands me. Even so, understand I the Father. And I lay down my life for the
sheep. I know the Father. I know His
demand. I know His expectation. I know Him and He knows me. Out of His mouth, knowledge and understanding.
So for God Almighty to be just in the salvation of His people,
the Lord giveth wisdom. He sent His Son into this world.
to put away my guilt. He sent His Son into this world
and He, by experience, He must learn by experience for Him to
truly be my surety. Man disobeyed God. Man must obey
God. Man must lay down his life in
exchange for man. Man, he must learn. He came to this world born of
a woman. And I'm telling you, he was in
subjection as in his human nature. As Brother Scott has so truthfully
said, as much man as if he were not God. And God as if He were
not man. Totally, man, totally. And I'm
telling you, when he came up in that house there under Mary
and Joseph, when they told him as their parents, this is what
I want. He was in subjection to his parents. He came up and he learned by
experience And He that learned by experience, that experienced
what it was to go through what His people go through. That was
our substitute. The Word made flesh. So here's
the first thing. God is just. Here's the second
thing. Almighty God has shown mercy.
God has shown mercy. He said to Moses, I'll have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. Mercy. Mercy, simply speaking,
is God sending the Lord Jesus Christ, the mercy of God. He
is the mercy of God. I mean, if you stop and think,
whenever God says, I'll have mercy, I mean, it comes right
down to this. There He is. That's Him. Psalm 85, 7, "...show us Thy
mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation." Show us Christ. That's what I want to see. I
want to behold the mercy of God this morning. It's in Him. It is Him. How does God show
mercy? That's the second point. God
has shown mercy. How? Well, here's verse 7. He layeth up sound wisdom for
the righteous. And He's a buckler to them that
walk uprightly. How does God show mercy? He layeth up sound wisdom. That is, He hides. That's what it means to lay up
sound wisdom. He hides, reserves, are hordes
in a secret place, all that is needful for the righteous. My God shall supply all your
need. How does God show mercy? He lays
up in sound wisdom that is the abiding success. That's what
that means, sound wisdom. How much do you think will ever
pass away concerning the obedience of Christ? None. Almighty God has laid up
in Christ, reserved, that's what it means. He lays up. How does
God show mercy? He's laid up. All that is needful
for the eternal and glorious salvation of God's people is
laid up in the success of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's exactly
what that passage means. How does God show mercy? David
said, Psalm 31, 19, Oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou hast
laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them
that trust in thee before the sons of men. How wonderful is
your goodness that you've laid up as heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. Believers possess an inheritance,
incorruptible, undefiled, reserved in heaven for you who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time. Where is our salvation? It's in Christ. You know that.
Laid up, reserved, kept, incorruptible, undefiled. God's going to show
mercy. God's going to be just. He's going to show mercy. How's
He going to show mercy? He's laid up, reserved, all that
the Lord Jesus Christ has ever done. If there are yet those
yet to be born who are the objects of His Mercy. Children that have
yet to be born, if God tarries. I'm telling you, those who are
yet to be born. Objects of God's electing grace.
I'm telling you right now. God's mercy is laid up for them
in heaven. Incorruptible, undefiled. You
said that was the future. Friend, you and I were in the
future. He's a buckler to them that walk
uprightly. The shield, the protector, the
defense of those who have been made to walk after the Spirit,
not after the flesh. God's going to show mercy. Everything
that they need before Almighty God, accepted in the Beloved,
Christ has supplied. And it's laid up. It's kept.
It's kept. It's kept. Thanks be unto God
that He didn't leave it up to me. I'm telling you, when Noah
and his family got in that ark, when God's judgment, the rain
fell on that ark, that ark was a buckler unto Noah and his family
and all that was in there. A buckler. That's what it means.
He layeth up sound wisdom. He's laid it up in reserve. all
that Christ has accomplished. He's laid up sound wisdom for
the righteous. He's a buckler. He's a shield.
He's a protector. He's a coverer. He's an atonement
for all that walk uprightly. God has satisfied Himself justly
by giving wisdom. He's shown mercy to His people
by laying up sound wisdom, the Lord Jesus Christ, for the righteous,
providing all of their need, and thirdly and lastly, God Almighty,
this is the last truth, shall keep His own to the end. Verse 8, He keepeth the paths
of judgment and preserveth the way of His saints. He watches over, guards. He guards His people in this
life. When I think back, I've mentioned
every once in a while that I was on the rebellious side. I think my mother would probably
attest to that. There's nothing to be proud of.
I'm telling you, there's nothing to be proud of. When I think
back of how Almighty God kept me, how many times I can think
back on things that I did that honestly it wouldn't have surprised
me if I would have been killed I can think of incidents right
now that only for the sustaining grace of God, that I wasn't in,
one of them in particular, in an automobile accident, that
I was supposed to be in the car. And I mean at the last minute,
just providentially, I didn't get in that car. And three boys
left that night. And the police got after him. It was on MacArthur Drive there
in Alexandria. Had a friend of mine that was
killed that night, Scotty McCann. You remember that moment when
Scotty McCann got killed? I was supposed to be in the car that night.
And I didn't go right to the last minute. And I think but
for the grace of God, I'd have been out of this world without hope,
without a substitute. God Almighty is going to keep
His own, preserve some. His judgment has been to show
them mercy. He put away their guilt by the
blood of Christ, imputed to them the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus, and He will keep their path, that He keepeth the paths
of judgment. When He said, before the foundation
of the world, I'm going to show mercy and compassion to Marvin Stoniker. And I'm telling you, He kept
me by His grace. and sustained me by His mercy,
and would not let me perish. Preserveth hedges about their
journey through this world. David said in Psalm 119, 105,
Thy word a lamp unto my feet, light to my path. By Him, we shall be all of those
that He's everlastingly loved. We're going to be kept. And He
said, Father, all that You've given Me, I'm not going to lose any of
it. Almighty God is going to be just
in salvation. He's going to show mercy. He's
going to show mercy. And He's going to keep all that
He's kept, all that He's saved, all that He's left. And He's
going to do it for Christ's sake. To Him, honor and glory and praise. Amen.