Psalm 40, verses 16 and 17. Let me read that and we'll call
attention to some of the other verses in that psalm. But verses
16 and 17. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice, and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation,
say continually, The Lord be magnified." I want you to notice here, those
that seek ought to rejoice and be glad in the Lord, be glad
in Him, in the Lord Jesus. And then he kind of fortifies
what he said that I've repeated in the next expression, when
he says, Let such as love thy salvation, say continually, The
Lord be magnified. Now, here's one thing I see in
that sixteenth verse, that it's necessary that all of us who
are seekers and worshipers of God understand that our salvation
is only in the Lord himself, not in the Lord plus something
in us. Because as long as there is a
plus, the Lord God cannot be magnified. For the Lord to be
magnified, he must receive all the honor and all the glory.
And if the truth of The salvation of God is known to our hearts.
We'll say, let God be glorified. We'll say, God hath found me
when I was lost. God himself hath brought me home. God hath redeemed me. God hath
provided all that he demands. And I have escaped the tormentor. I have been delivered from the
wrath to come. Let God be magnified. All honor
and glory belongs to God. But if I've got any part in it,
I don't care how little it is, if I've got a little part in
it, why, I cannot magnify God as He ought to be magnified.
I'll retain a little of it for myself. I'll have to bestow a
little honor. on the flesh and say, I did this,
and I did that, or I did something else, and if it wasn't for me
doing this, this wouldn't have happened. But if we understand
that the salvation that the Bible is talking about, which is deliverance
from the penalty, power, practice, dominion, of sin and brought
to rest in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, then
we'll give him all the glory for it. In verse 17 he says, But I am, this is what every
man is, I am poor and needy, yet in spite of what I am, the
Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tearing." That is, don't
wait. Make no tearing. Oh, my God! Well, verse 17 says, "...but
I am poor." I said one time as I thought about this, I said,
well, there's no crime. There's no credit to be poor.
Everything in regard to a man being poor depends upon the occasion
of his poverty. Now, some men are poor and are
to be pitied, for their poverty came upon them without their
own making. You've known people that are
industrious, thrifty, and hard workers, and are not slackers,
but yet They're poor. They're poor people. Those that
are poor because of that reason certainly are to be sympathized
with and to be pitied. But that's not the kind of poor
this verse is talking about. The poverty to which this verse
relates to or talks about is one that our Lord Jesus Christ
had pronounced in the fifth chapter, I believe it is, of the book
of Matthew, he said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of God. Now, the poverty that this word
poor relates to in verse 41 is the poverty that our Lord Jesus
Christ pronounced a blessing upon. He said it's a blessing
to be poor in spirit. It's a blessing to be poor in
spirit. Why? For theirs is the kingdom of
God. The kingdom of God is not reserved
for the haughty and high-minded. The kingdom of God is not reserved
for those that esteem themselves. The kingdom of God is given to
and reserved for only those that are poor in spirit. They're poor. The poor in spirit are always
blessed by God. Theirs is a poverty which is
better than wealth, better than riches. A man is truly rich who
is known as a sacred beggar at mercy's gate. Notice this man's confession.
He said, blessed, or he said, I am poor and needy. That's his confession. I am.
That's what I am. I confess that I am poor and
I am needy. Now, most men do not object to
confess that they are poor in worldly goods. They'll readily
tell you, I haven't got much of this world's goods. But this
confession here is one which only he who is the truth can
make known to our hearts. Over there in John chapter 6,
I was looking at this verse right after Daryl read from chapter
5, chapter 6 of John, and verses... Let's see, what verse is it now? Verse 45 of John 6. Keep in mind, that's what we
said now about this man's confession. He said, I am poor and needy. That's his confession. And I'm
saying in this confession, the confession of it is the result
of the fact that the Lord God Himself is the only one who can
reveal this condition to us. Everybody will will readily confess
that he's poor and worldly good, but not many confess that I'm
poor and needy in the spiritual realm. That is, my soul's lean. My soul's not fat, it's lean.
My soul has needs. No man, I'm all right. Don't
worry about me. I'll make it. That's the flesh's
attitude. God's got to teach him something.
Look here what it says. Verse 44, it says, No man can
come to me. Now, look at that. Man says, Well, will I live my
life as I want to live it? And when I come down to die and
I get sick, then I'll come to Christ. Will you? The Bible says,
No man can come to me. No man can come to me. I'll come
when I want to. No man can come to me. Well,
I'll come when I feel like it. No man can come to me. No man
can come to me except. There's an except in here. No
man can come to God. There's not a man among the sons
of Adam, there's not a man who's a member of this human race,
can by his own choice and free will, come to God in Christ except. Except what? except the Father
which hath sent thee putting, drawing, bringing." He can't
come. He can't come. Mark it down. You say, well, I'll come when
I want to. No, you won't. You'll come when God draws you.
How do I know when God's drawing me? Well, you know when you come
to the place that you feel in your heart and your soul that
you're pouring me. When God's taught you who you
are, when God's revealed unto you, Oh, I'm a sinner before
God and need a Savior. When God's taught you that you're
lost without God and without hope in this world. The Lord
Jesus Christ died for sinners. That's when you'll come. That's
when the Spirit of God's drawing you. You see what I'm saying? I'm saying that it's Not an unusual
thing for a man to say in his confession, as far as material
goods and gain in this world, I'm poor, I haven't got much.
I don't own too much property, got a little old house over there
and about a 50 by 100 lot and that's about it. It's not worth
anything. I ain't got no money in the bank and my job don't
pay much. My car's broke down the biggest
part of the time and I just live from hand to mouth. I'm poor. But I'm telling you, anybody
and lots of people will make that confession, but there's
nobody who'll make this confession until God teaches him something. I'm poor and needy in my soul. No man can come to me. Tell me you'll come when you
want to. Or when I get sick and go to the hospital, I'll call
the preacher and then I'll say, Preacher, it's about time for
me to get right with God. Oh, no. Oh, no. A fellow stopped
here one day, come up, prancing in here, he and his wife. And
he said, Boy, how are you? And this and that and so forth.
And I said, Well, that's fine. He said, Would you go see my
mother? Oh, he said, She needs to be baptized. Would you go
see her? Well, I tried to talk to the fellow about the gospel
and so forth, but oh, he insisted. I said, Well, I'll go up there
and talk to her. So I went up and talked to her. She didn't know the first
thing about God saving sinners. She thought that everything that
she needed in order to make her accepted before God was to go
down into the water. Her heart wasn't right towards
God. She wanted to get right as to baptism. She thought, well,
if I was baptized, everything would be all right. Actually,
I've never committed adultery, or I haven't stolen anything,
and I'm a pretty good neighbor, and I've been a pretty good husband.
I'm all right. I don't need what other people
need. I'm okay. I can get this thing fixed up. Now, would you go down there
and would you baptize me in the river? And I began to preach
the gospel to her, and she forgot about baptism. And I said, well,
you come down. You come down and listen to the
preaching of the Word. Come down, and then we'll talk
about it. You come down. Never have, never seen or say
it. Never heard tell, ever. Oh no, you can't get this thing
fixed up until God fixes it up. That's what it says. No man can
come to me except the Father which hath sent me, sent the
Lord Jesus, draw him. And when the Father draws him,
it's an irresistible force. You cannot resist it. You say,
well, I'll hold on to the seat. I will not come. You will come.
I won't come. He says, you will. In the day
of my power, I'll make you willing. I'll make you willing to come.
If I have to kill you, if I have to break both of your legs, if
I have to do this and do that, I'll bring you. I'll bring you.
You see? He'll bring you. He'll bring
everyone for whom Christ died. He'll bring them. He'll send
forth the power of the gospel through the Word and make it
effective in your heart. He'll teach you some things about
yourself. And He'll reveal unto you the
Lord Jesus. And you'll come. People say,
well, how come you never give no invitation? I'm giving invitation
right now. Every time I preach is an invitation. From start to finish, the whole
discourse is an invocation for sinners to come to God. The end
of the service doesn't mean anything. You don't get to God by coming
up here and shaking my hand. You get to God when the Holy
Spirit draws you and you resign yourself to the plea of God and
you rest your case in the mercy and in the loving hands of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Draw me, I'll raise him up at
the last day. I'll raise him up. It is written
in the prophets, and they, who is he talking about here, the
they? The they refers back to verse 44 that I just read. Those
that the Father hath drawn unto himself, that is come, they come
as the result of the Father's drawing. It says, and they shall
be part of God. God will teach them something,
and every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of
the Father, God teaches them this, they come unto me. So what I'm saying about verse
17 of Psalm 40 is that in his confession, in his confession
is one that relates to his soul, and it's a confession which only
He who is truth can teach a man. I'm poor and needy. Poor and
needy. What's all involved in that? Let me try to tell you. He confesses
that he's poor, and he also indicates by what I've read to you from
John 6 and 45 that he's taught of God, because he won't say
it unless he's taught of God. If you're here this evening and
you're the recipient of God's Son, you've embraced the Lord
Jesus Christ, magnified God in the salvation of a sinner, and
you've got some assurance in your heart that the Lord saved
you, well, your confession is the same thing. I'm poor. I'm
poor and needy. Well, let me tell you why we're
poor and needy. Most people don't know this.
Most people don't know it. We may well be poor, for we came
from a poor father. We came from a poor father. Our
father Adam had a great estate, but he soon lost it. Our father
Adam was placed in the garden of paradise. Everything in that
great garden, all the beauty of that garden, everything that
he needed was provided for right in that garden. God called it paradise, called
it the garden of Eden, the garden of paradise. Everything which
was needed to make a man happy and comfortable was provided
for by God from that garden. Everything. I'll tell you, Adam
had a great estate, but he soon parted with it. He soon lost
what he had. And he was cast out of it. The
Bible says that God cast him out of that paradise. Now who
is this man that God cast out? He's my father. He's my natural
father. I got my nature from him. All the evil that I've ever known
and ever gotten involved in came from this nature that I got from
my father, Adam. That's my father. My father in
the flesh is dead and buried. My grandfather in the flesh is
dead and buried, and my great-grandfather. But my father, who my father,
and grandfather, and great-grandfather, and myself, and my sons, and
your sons, our father was Adam. He had a great estate, but he
lost it, and God kicked him out. kicked him out of the garden,
forced him out. He said, you can't come back
here anymore. And you know what he done? He
was to soon earn his bread as a day laborer. And the first
job that he ever had was he took up a needle of some sort and
began to, he was a tailor. That's the first job, he was
a tailor. He began to make clothes and he took some fig leaves He
is naked before God, and he tried to cover his nakedness, and so
he understood something of the art of tailoring, and he measured
himself, and he measured his wife, and he got some fig leaves,
and he sewed them together, and he made them a coat to cover
their nakedness. Well, that's our Father, you
see. I say that we're poor because we came from a poor Father. We
didn't inherit any good thing by natural descent from our father. Some of you, maybe you have,
but your earthly father died and left you some money. That
was good. You say, that's a good thing. You didn't inherit anything
from your real father, whom you got this hall of nature from,
who had paradise in his right hand. You didn't inherit any
good thing from him. by natural descent. You know
what the Scriptures say about you and I, the reason we're so
poor and needy? It says, Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. That's what
we got from our first father. Yeah, we're poor. You're poor. You know you're poor. You say,
I'm not like it. Oh, you're proud. Well, listen.
The Bible says, and I've already repeated and repeated again,
that the blessing declared by the Lord Jesus Christ is to those
that are poor in spirit, for thine is the kingdom of God.
If you're not poor in spirit, you don't understand what I'm
talking about, and you don't need it. He ain't talking to
you. He ain't talking to you. The
blessings are those that are poor in spirit. You see, our parents, Adam and
Eve, they didn't have nothing. They forfeited everything. Every
claim and right that they had to God Almighty who made them,
they forfeited. They lost everything, and they
were absolutely bankrupt. They didn't have nothing. And
they left us nothing but a mess of debts. You see, we lost all
in Adam. We lost everything. We was well
far in Adam before sin entered in, and when sin entered in,
He plunged us from there down to there, all the way down, and
didn't leave us nothing but a ruined nature and a mess of bad debts
that we couldn't pay. We were poor. I said that He didn't leave us
anything, we lost all in Adam, and worse yet, our poor human
frame, our poor human nature has no power left to retrieve
that which we lost. You see, as long as a man has
strong arms, he's not left without hope. of raising himself from
the dung heap, as long as he's got strong arms. But the Scriptures
say, we who are outside of Christ, we are without what? Strength. We'll have a strength. We're
without God and without hope in this world, without strength. Our Lord said, without me. You
can do nothing. You can't even think a good thought.
I'm poor and needy. You mean, preacher, I can't even
fashion a good thought in my mind and heart this evening that
would be acceptable unto God? No. Not apart from God you can't. That's how poor you are. You're
so poor you don't know how poor you are. Oh, you're a beggar. You're a beggar. My soul. I'm poor. I'll tell you that. That's my
confession. I'm poor. I'm poor. I'm a professional
beggar. Begging has been my profession. I started it a long time ago.
I started begging a long time ago. About thirty-some years
ago I started begging. I began to beg. for mercy from
God, and I've been constrained to continue begging mercy from
God every day since that. I've begged for mercy, and I
hope to die begging for mercy. I have nothing to glory in or
nothing to boast of. You look at one this evening
that's a penniless I'm a beggar. I'm poor. I'm a beggar. I've
lost all. I haven't got anything in myself
to raise myself. I'm poor. I'm poor. Well, he
also says that he's needy. I'm poor, but I am poor and needy. What does he mean by that? Man,
I need ten thousand things, don't you? I need this and I need that. Well, I need this, you see. Oh,
you need a lot of things. The fact is, we need everything.
We need everything. By nature, the sinner needs to
be healed. By nature, he does. He's sick. He's sick unto death. And I go
farther than that. He's not only sick unto death,
he is dead. And he needs life. He's needy.
He's a dead sinner before God. And he needs that which is vital
to his eternal existence. He needs life. If he doesn't
have this life, he's doomed to spend eternity separated from
him who said, I am the way and the truth and the life. Well, he's full of sin and his
foul with sin. He needs clothing because he's
naked. He needs to be filled because
he's empty. He needs food because he's hungry.
His needs are great. He needs everything. As a matter
of fact, you might say this about him. Just write this on his forehead. This describes him, his needy.
He's poor and he's needy. He needs everything. He hasn't
got anything. He needs everything. You've seen
some folks maybe like that. Most people have got to learn
something. If you go to a man's house and
say, well, could you help me out just a little bit? Well,
he says, I haven't got anything. Well, you mean you haven't got
a scrap of bread in the house? Oh, yeah, we can scare you up
a scrap of bread. We haven't got no chicken, we
haven't got no meat, we haven't got no beef, we haven't got no
pork, we haven't got no hot dogs, we haven't got no this and that
and so forth, but yeah, I can give you, I can scare off a scrap
of bread. Now it may not be French, and
it may be a little mold on it, but I can scare off a scrap,
some crumbs. I can give you something. I wouldn't
want to eat it if you're that hungry. But what about a man
that hasn't got anything? He said, I haven't got nothing. That fellow's needy. I haven't
got anything to give you. I haven't even got a scrap of
bread. I'm needy. He's all needs and nothing but
needs. Not one thing that his soul wants
can he himself supply. Boy, he's needy. I'm poor and needy. My soul needs
to be right with God. But there's not a thing that
I can do to right that wrong or to reconcile myself to God. Not a thing I can do. Not anything
I can do. No wonder he said, I'm poor and
I'm needy. That's the way we all are. Poor
and needy. Finds no comfort in himself.
He's poor and needy. This is the top and the bottom.
I'm poor and I'm needy. in my flesh is no good thing,
not a single solitary thing that's solid or good that I can stand
upon. And if I have any comfort and
if I have any joy whatsoever, I cannot find it in myself. I've
got to find it in another. I'm poor and needy. No comfort
in myself, Bob. You can't find any comfort in
yourself, if you're honest. See, if you ever come to the
place that you're poor and needy, you can't look at your heart
and say, well, I can draw some satisfaction that I'm living
right. I'm living right. At least I'm
not living like that fella. I'm doing better and I feel better. You can't draw any comfort from
yourself because you say, there's nothing in myself. I'm poor and
I'm needy. I haven't got anything there
to draw any comfort from. And if there's any comfort or
any hope or any joy or any peace or any satisfaction to this poor,
shriveled, gawed-up, lean soul, It must come from another. It
must come from outside of me. I'm poor and I'm needy. Oh, my soul, let me quit by saying
this. You're talking about comfort?
You've got to have it. Who gives this comfort and this
joy? Well, look at it right in the middle of verse 17. But I'm
poor and needy. Yet, see that little word? Three letter word there. Yet,
the Lord thinketh upon me. The Lord God, the Father, thinks
upon my person. I am in the thoughts of God. Boy, what do you think of that? The Lord thinketh upon me. Upon
who? Him that is poor and needy. You
mean that God Almighty who keeps this thing from blowing up? The galaxies? The stars and the
sun and the moon and that which is seen and unseen in space and
outer worlds? You mean God who's in control
of everything? active in his engagement of keeping
this thing on an even keel? You mean that God himself has
got time for me? And that I'm in his spots when
I'm not even in the parts of those that love me very much? But I'm in God's thoughts. Remember I told you this morning,
maybe someone possible, highly improbable,
maybe someone doesn't care too much for you. Maybe, there may
not be ten people in this world that give a feet for you whether
you live or die. And I expect that's right with
you and I both. Apart from our immediate family,
and for those that love us for Christ's sake, there's not a
single solitary soul. in this whole world of four billion
souls that would give a damn whether you lived or died. And when you're gone, a week
after you're gone, that's it. Ain't nobody cares. But if you're poor and needy,
if you're poor in spirit, listen to this man. Yet the Lord thinketh
upon me." Boy, that's a help to me. I underscored that a long
time ago. The Lord thinketh upon me. I'm
in God's thoughts. I may not be in nobody else's
thoughts. And oftentimes you can say that to yourself. That's
not true. Most of us are in the thoughts of one another here.
But I'm saying it could be possible. But brother, if we weren't in
anybody's thoughts, That wouldn't make any difference as long as
we're in God's thoughts. That's what it says. And the
Lord thinketh upon me. He regards me with thoughts of
boundless, immeasurable love. Listen to me now. Before I was born, I was 59 years old,
December the 19th. I found out that God loved me
back when I was in my twenties. I found out that God loved me.
He loved me so much that he sent Christ to die for me. I got to
reading the Bible and listening to preachers preach. I desired
to know the truth, and I found this out. I found this out on
the authority of the Word of God that I was in the thoughts
of God boundless innumerable, immeasurable part of God before
the foundation of the world. God loved me. According as He
hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
God was thinking about me. Boy, that's something to think
about, isn't it? God was thinking about me then.
Before I was born, before you was born, before this world was
born, before time was born, before the sun and the stars and the
moon was born, before the waters were born, before anything that
was, I was in the thoughts of God. And the Lord thinketh upon
me. Listen. You not grown cold sometimes
in your feelings towards Him? He's never grown cold in His
affection towards the poor and the needy. The Son of God to
whom we owe our hope. We're in His thoughts. It was for you who are poor in
spirit that he poured out his bloody sweat on Calvary. You know about the nails that
pierced his flesh and nailed him to that tree. You know about
the mockery. You know about the spitting.
You know about the false accusation. You know about that dying. Listen,
it was for you that Christ suffered. And he was there by himself and
he said, My God, why have you forsaken me? Why did you forsake
me? Why do you leave me alone to
myself? It was for you. You see, you was in the thoughts
of God, and you was in the thoughts of the Son of God, and He died
in your stead, in your place, in your room, poor and needy
people. Listen, our Lord Jesus Christ
reigns on high. You've heard me preach on that
numerous times, that He ever lives. on God's right hand for
one particular reason. Well, more reasons than I know,
but one particular one that I do know of, God raised Him from
the dead and highly exalted Him and gave Him a name which is
above every name. I know that. And I know one day that every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, that He is on God's right hand and He is Lord over
all flesh and every Edward Tongues is going to confess that one
day, I know that. But I know that while he's on
God's right hand right now, he rules and he reigns in power,
and he's there to intercede. He's there, the Bible says, to
make intercession for whom? The poor and needy. Remember
we talked there in the book of Romans last week about how the
Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groans and utterings that
cannot be intelligent to our thinking, but yet He makes them
intelligent, and our prayers go according to the will of God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ lives there to intercede for us. Oh, listen,
He thinks of you. Well, that means He upholds me.
That means He provides for me. That means He defends me. All
of this is in that declaration, and I'll quit. But I am poor
and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. And now this man in
his confession, he says, Thou art my help. You're my help.
I've got no other help but You. You're my help. O Lord, help
me. When all around me, when all
around me falls, when all around me fails, Lord, You're my helper.
You're my helper. I can't be helped nowhere and
by nobody else. You're my help. Lord, help me! I need help! Lord, help me! You're
my help, and You're my deliverer! Oh, don't waste any time, Lord!
Oh, my God, come to me! Help me! Comfort me! Deliver me!" Who? Poor and needy. You're poor and
needy. You're poor and needy. Bless God. Our Lord Jesus Christ
pronounces a blessing upon you. said, Blessed are those who are
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Who's the
poor and needy? That's my confession. I hope
it's your confession, that you're poor and needy. All right. Lord bless you. Our feeble effort.