Anybody know if they're reading
or not? I don't have July and I don't
know if I just didn't print one. Let's read our text in 2 Samuel. Let's see here. 22 and verse. 2 Samuel 22, 44. Thou also hast delivered me from the
strivings of my people. Thou hast kept me to be head
of the heathen, a people which I knew not shall serve me. Strangers
shall submit themselves unto me as soon as they hear. They
shall be obedient unto me. Strangers shall fade away and
they shall be afraid out of their close places. The Lord liveth
and blessed be my rock and exalted be the God of the rock of my
salvation. It is God that avengeth me and
that bringeth down the people under me and that bringeth me
forth from mine enemies, thou also hast lifted me up on high,
above them that rose up against me. Thou hast delivered me from
the violent man, therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord,
among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name. He
is the tower of salvation for his king, and showeth mercy to
his anointed, unto David, and to his seed forevermore. Let's pray. Father, thank you
again for your blessed word. I pray your presence, Lord, and
teaching of your Holy Spirit tonight, Lord, that we might receive the truth of your son
tonight in our hearts and hide your word in our hearts. To his
glory and honor, to the good of your sheep, comfort your people.
In Christ alone, in his precious name, amen. This seems a little
bit louder, Todd. I think that may be the problem.
I think this might have gotten turned up. See if I can figure
it out. Yeah, I think that's the whole
problem. I think that got, is that better? That got turned
up. I think that's probably causing
it to pick up on the recorder. So verse 44, thou also hast delivered
me from the strivings of my people. Now, Over the years, as we've
studied the Psalms here and there, we've been going through the
Psalms. We've gone through the Psalms.
We've been going through this chapter, which is Psalm 18. In
the Psalms, it's the same thing. But as we went through the Psalms,
we saw how that they apply both to us and to Christ. David is
writing in the Psalms of his own experiences as a believer.
But also, though it is more obvious in some places than others, The
words apply to the Lord Jesus as well. And here's one of those
places where it's more obvious. Thou hast subdued the people
under me. God the Father gave the Son of people and caused
them to bow to him. He causes the people to come
to Christ. No man can come unto me except
the Father draw them to me. But he does do that. And that's
what we just read about. In verse 44 of 2 Samuel 22. From David's perspective, this
verse is a particular blessing for two reasons. David's talking
about how God has saved him all of his life. That's what this
chapter is about, this song that David wrote. It begins in verse
one talking about that, how the Lord had saved him from all of
his enemies. When David finally had rest as
an older man, toward the end of his life, he finally had defeated
Saul and all of his enemies, Up to that point he had a time
of rest and he sang this song. He wrote this song to the Lord
in praise and adoration and is saying all through it that God
saved me and here in this verse he speaks of being saved from
the strivings of his own people. We've seen that in his life,
haven't we? The very people of Israel whom God put him over
as a wonderful king to rule over them. Much of his trouble was
from his own people And that's what he's praising
the Lord for here in spite of all that you remember they spoke
about stoning him at Ziklag Of course David was not faultless
in that But because All of the women and children
and all of their possessions had been stolen and they talked
about stoning David they blamed David for it and and he was greatly
to blame for it. How many rose up and started
rebellion against David when he was enthroned as king finally? Remember all the fighting around
the time and conspiracies and people saying this and that and
people choosing sides and a lot of people in Israel were killed
killing one another and David was having to deal with all that
and then when he was restored to the throne after Absalom's
rebellion, again there was strife, there was division, turmoil,
trouble, the strivings of my own people. God saved me from
that too. David's own son Absalom, as I
mentioned, mounted the most serious of all those rebellions and what
a heartbreaking thing that was. But here are the two reasons
I mentioned that this is a particular blessing for David of all of
the things that are out of our control. And that's what salvation
is. It's God doing for us what we
can't do. We just can't do it. We can't overcome our sin. We
can't stop sinning for one thing. And if we could, we couldn't
make up for it for what we've already done. It's God doing
for us what the law could not do and that it was weak through
my flesh God sent his son. And he is salvation. But of all
of the things that are out of our control, At the top of the
list of things that we can't do anything about is the treachery
and evil of other people. Think about that. We can't even
do anything about our own evil, much less somebody else. And
so he's thanking God, particularly for this, the evil of my own
people. You've controlled, you've used
for good, you've overturned, you've kept it down. You brought
me through it. And the second thing is this,
why this is a particular blessing. Saving from my own people, you
saved me from my own people. People that ought to have loved
him and bowed to him and served and been. But the second thing is this,
the worst evil on this earth is man. Of all the monsters that have
been spawned in the darkest imaginations, there is no monster that can
compare to a human being. There just isn't. Remember when
God gave David a choice as to what punishment God would give
him and the people of Israel when David numbered the people,
God said you got three choices. What an unusual and interesting
passage of scripture that is. We saw that I guess it's been
quite a while now. Or actually we're going to see
it. We saw that before. We've looked at it before a couple
of times actually I saw. But also we're coming to that
I believe. But listen he gave him three choices. A pestilence.
Disease. A pestilence. A drought. Famine. Or three months of getting
hammered by your enemies. Those aren't good choices. Which
one would you pick? Your enemies just routing you
for three months. That's a long time, isn't it?
And the Philistines, all of the enemies of Israel were always
looking for, you know, an opening. So disease, a drought, that'd
be a horrible thing. All of that's horrible, isn't
it? Or your enemies having their way. for three months. Here's what David said in 2 Samuel
24 14. And David said unto God, I am
in a great straight. Let us fall now into the hand
of the Lord. For his mercies are great and
let me not fall into the hand of man. That's always been really
interesting to me. That's been my experience. I
don't want to be at the mercy of people. Do you? So the Lord sent a pestilence
upon Israel. He chose the disease because
that way God is in control of all of it and David knew that.
But even as a secondary means, he didn't want man involved in
it. That tells us something. David knew something about what
we are, didn't he? And so the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel
from the morning even to the time appointed. And there died
of the people from Dan even to Beersheba 70,000 men in that
disease. 70,000 men dying was preferable
to being at the mercy of man. What would you rather face tonight?
The coronavirus? Would you rather get the virus
or would you rather have to face the people in the streets that
are murdering people? And burning things down and tearing
everything up, just monsters, absolute monsters. Give me the virus, how about
you? My goodness, I wouldn't even
have to think about that one. Even if I died with it, I would
rather do it if I knew I was gonna die with it. Don't drop
me in the middle of that. No way. And that's what David
chose. So David says, thank you, God,
for saving me from my people. Myself, of course, too. We're
part of that, but by the people, this evil world, this wretched,
evil, horrible, monstrous world that we live in. Thank you, Lord,
for saving me. And of course also, this is Christ.
People tried to kill him from the day he was born. His father kept him from the
evil of his own people, didn't he? Can you imagine being stoned
to death? They tried that several times, tried to stone. Can you
imagine being killed with rocks? That's a horrible, horrible thought. They tried to throw him off of
a cliff in Luke chapter 4. And then we know what ultimately
they did. We did. I say they. We know what ultimately
we did to him. But that was him laying down
his life. But it didn't excuse our evil, did it? Not for one
second. So our Lord was delivered by
his Father from evil. What is evil? You're looking
at me. And I'm looking at it too. Notice the word head in the verse,
that's a key word too. That's who Christ is. Christ
kept me, preserved me as the head of the people. Christ is
the governmental head of all of his people now, especially
his people. There's a sense in which he governs
all people, clearly, because he made everybody, he made everything,
and he runs all of it. Everything and everybody, he
runs it. Isaiah said in verse 6 of chapter 9 in Isaiah, the
government shall be upon his shoulders. What government? The
government. All of it. The governing of governments.
Because he is king of kings. But he governs his people for
their good. There's a difference. He governs
them out of love and for their eternal Good and
the verse says my people in it notice the words my people in
that verse there verse 44. I guess it was or Where'd we
start? Yep But also says my people but
also the heathen Again we think of our Lord Jesus
Christ Jew and Gentile he's the head of a people and Those who
were called the people of God in the Old Testament to picture
the elect of God, but also the heathen, those who were not a
people, he said, now are my people. Romans 3.28, therefore we conclude
that a man is justified by faith. Not by being a Jew, by faith,
without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only?
Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Seeing it is one God which shall
justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith. So we see that in the verse,
that he's the head of a people. of Jew and Gentile. First Corinthians
12, 12, for as the body is one and hath many members, and all
the members of that one body being many are one body, so also
is Christ. For by one spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether
we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one
spirit. So as governmental head, Christ
is representative of his people. As in Adam all died, even so
in Christ shall all be made alive. Have you ever thought about that
verse? I think I've mentioned this before from the pulpit over
the years a few times maybe. First Corinthians 15, 22, for
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Does that mean everybody that died in Adam is made alive in
Christ? Then what are we preaching for? There's no hell, there's
no damnation, there's no problem. Obviously doesn't mean that.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive. The only way that can be true
is that all is everyone that is represented by those governmental
heads. Everybody that Adam represented
died, and that's everybody. Every man, woman, and everybody.
Even so, in Christ, everybody he represents shall all be made
alive. Who does he represent? Well,
he said, as high priest in John 17, I don't pray for this world,
I don't intercede for this world, but for those that you've given
me. All of those are gonna be made alive. He said, I'm not
gonna lose any of those. It's just clear, isn't it? Clear.
As governmental head, Christ is sovereign over his people.
Not only representative, but sovereign. His word is law. His will is done. His glory is
paramount. He is sovereign. You see the
word serve in the verse? There's a lot in that first verse
there, verse 44, isn't there? There's a lot in that. They're
gonna serve me. Look at verse 45 and that continues
that thought. Strangers shall submit themselves
unto me as soon as they hear. Did you catch that part? Do you
realize the power that that implies? As soon as they hear, they're
gonna bow. They shall be obedient unto me.
Now think about the power. But that clearly implies, as
soon as they hear, they're going to bow and obey. Hear what? Think
about David first. David's writing this. What would
cause this to be true of David? For everybody to hear of him
and submit to him, want to serve him, want to be in on David's
kingdom. Well, they heard who he is. This
is David and what he had done. Two things. Don't you imagine? David, oh man, I've heard, I
know about him. I know something about him. And
they heard all the things that he had done. And they would submit. Listen to 1 Chronicles 14, 16.
David therefore did as, turn over there with me, I wanna show
you something in that. 1 Chronicles 14, 16. This is a really interesting
verse because we're talking about this as David, but we're gonna
see this also as Christ. First Chronicles 14.16, David therefore did as God commanded
him, and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon
even unto Gaza. So God had told him how to win
the victory. He did what God told him to do,
and he won the victory. And the fame of David went out
into all lands. And the Lord brought the fear
of him upon all nations. David was the most powerful man
on earth at this time. All nations feared David. That's
what our text is talking about. He knew that, he understood that.
As soon as they hear who I am and what I've done, they'll submit. And that's because of you, Lord.
He was thanking God for that. He was thanking God for that.
But now let me read that two verses again in First Chronicles
14 while you're still there. And think of Christ as I read
this. Christ therefore did as God commanded him. What did he
say? I do always those things that
please my father. And what was the result of that?
And they smote the host of the Philistines from giving. He destroyed
every enemy of God and his people. Did he not do that as a man?
Destroyed every one of them. And the fame of Christ went out
into all lands. And the Lord brought the fear
of him upon all nations, out of every kindred, tribe, nation,
and tongue under heaven. He did all that was necessary
that for every enemy of his and his people to be destroyed by
his life and by his death. Every enemy's vanquished. The
last one is death itself. And he was preached, and people
out of every kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue under heaven
have bowed to him, and all are gonna bow one way or the other
one of these days, sooner or later, are they not? Fear of
him on all nations. Think particularly back in our
text now, that word obedient. Think about that word obedient,
and again, the power of Christ that's displayed in that. He
said to men who were just going about their business in this
world, what if you just walked up to somebody and said, quit
what you're doing and come with me? What do you think they would
say? I don't think I would get many, do you reckon? He walked
up to 12 and said, you come follow me. No explanation. He told Simon and them, I'm going
to make you fishers of men. They didn't have any idea what
that was. They followed him. They followed him. As soon as
they heard his voice, as soon as they heard his voice, they
obeyed. He said to lame men, rise up and walk, and they did. That's power now. He said to
the dead, I say unto the arisen, they did. Remember what the centurion
said and what our savior said in response. Turn with me there
too, I want us to look at some scripture tonight. What a blessing this is. He said,
oh, they're going to obey me. They'll be obedient unto me.
Soon as they hear. All you've got to do is hear
Him. People say to me all the time, boy, I just want my loved
one. Did you record that? I want to
send it to so-and-so. I just want them to hear it.
I don't know if they'll ever hear. If there's somebody you
love that doesn't know the Lord, they just have to hear the gospel
one time. One time. Isn't that a blessing? Just hear
His voice one time. If he's pleased to speak in power
now, they'll do whatever he says. He says, come, they'll come. Looking at Matthew 8, 5, did
I even tell you where to turn to? I'm sitting here telling
you to turn. Matthew 8, 5. Think about this now. When Jesus was entered into Capernaum,
there came unto him a centurion beseeching him. That's what you
do to the master. You beseech, you beg him. You're
a mercy beggar. And saying, Lord, my servant
life at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus
saith unto him, I will come and heal him. There's a whole lot
in this, isn't there? Just that the man loved his servant that
much. Said something about him. Why
didn't he just get him another servant? Say, well, you're obviously
not good any good anymore. You're just laying there groaning.
Look, we're gonna have to replace you. Hope you get better, you
know? No. He's grievously tormented. And
Jesus said, I will. I will. The centurion answered
and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under
my roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed,
for I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. I've
got a boss and I am a boss. I'm under authority and there
are some under my authority. Isn't that how it is in this
world? And I say to this man, go, and
he goes. And to another come, and he comes.
And to my servant, do this, and he doeth it. And when Jesus heard
it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I
say unto you, I have not found so great faith. No, not in Israel. Not like that. And look, think
about what that centurion said, and think of Christ again. David is saying that God made
me and he's praising God. He saved me from my own people
and saved me from my enemies in so much that every nation
fears me. As soon as they hear my name,
they obey. Think about Christ now. That
centurion, he said, all I have to do to say is somebody has
come and they come. Has Christ ever said that to
you? What'd you do? Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Out of my bondage,
sorrow, and night, Jesus, I come. Jesus, I come. And what did you do? Now, that's
what I did. The centurion said, I say to
this man, go, and he goes, as the Lord said that to us. Go
ye into all the world, and tell everybody who I am. and what
I've done and what I've said to you. Preach the gospel to
every creature. And here we are. Here we are. And he said, I say to my servant,
do this and he doeth it. What has the Lord told us to
do? Well, he told us to go preach, didn't he? But also he took bread
and gave thanks and break it and gave to them saying this
is my body Which is given for you this do so what do we do
we do what he says? That's what we do Because he's
the Lord Verse 46 in our text strangers shall fade away and
They shall be afraid out of their close places in other words.
They're gonna shut themselves in out of fear and Because this
is a reminder here that not all men will bow to Christ in the
preaching of the gospel. Everybody's going to bow eventually,
but not the way his people do. There are those that are never
going to bow that way, out of love and adoration and worship,
willing obedience unto him. There are some that are never
going to do that. And that's according to his will that they're
not going to do that. But this is a reminder of that. Strangers
shall fade away and they shall be afraid and shut themselves
in out of their close places. I looked that up, it means to
shut yourself in. And I've gotta ask you to turn
again, 2 Thessalonians 3, this is beautiful now. I want us to
look at these together because there's some key teaching here. That refers right it directly
to our text And again the scriptures shed light on scripture 2nd.
Thessalonians 3 1 We're talking about the response
to the gospel the verse 45 said strangers are going to bow strangers
are going to submit but here strangers are going to fade away
that means fall or be foolish and they'll be afraid and they'll
shut themselves in. 2 Thessalonians 3, 1, Finally,
brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free
course and be glorified, even as it is with you. Pray for me
that everybody that hears the gospel will love it as much as
you do. That's a good prayer. That's
a good prayer. And that we may be delivered
from unreasonable and wicked men. And that's what we've been talking
about too, isn't it? David said, thank you for saving me from
people, my own people. For all men have not faith. That's
what we're talking about. That's verse 46. All men have
not faith. Not all are gonna bow. Strangers
will bow, but not all strangers. Some are gonna be foolish. Some
are gonna fall. But the Lord is faithful who
shall establish you and keep you from evil. And we have confidence
in the Lord touching you, that you both do and will do the things
which we command you. That's verse 45. Some strangers
are gonna submit, aren't they? They're gonna do what the Lord
says. As his preachers say what God said, they're gonna do what
they say. And the Lord, and here's our
prayer, and the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God. Because there's not any difference
now between us and them. Strangers and strangers in verses
45 and 46. Strangers are gonna bow, but
strangers are gonna be foolish too. Which one are you? The Lord
direct your hearts into the love of God. And into patient, the
patient waiting for Christ. And that doesn't mean you're
sitting there waiting for him to come back. That word waiting means depending
on him. Looking to him for everything. That's what we're doing. May
the Lord guide you into that. Every hour, every moment. What
a prayer. Verse 47 back in our text. The Lord liveth. and blessed
be my rock, and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation. The Lord liveth. The Lord liveth. I couldn't help
but think of a song that we used to sing when I was a kid. You
may have heard that song. Because he lives, I can face
tomorrow. It's a song that religion uses
a lot But I couldn't find a whole lot wrong with it. I got to sing
it. Have you all ever heard that? Because he lives, I can face
tomorrow. Me too. I agree with that. That's
why I can face it. How about you? That's why I can
sleep at night. Because he lives, all fear is
gone. Because I know he holds the future. And life is worth the living.
Just because he lives. I kind of think that's the spirit
in which David said that, the Lord liveth. And the Lord liveth. And that's worth talking about. That's worth singing about. That's
what we hang all of our hopes on. Because He lives, I live. Not only does He live, but He's
life. You see, one thought takes us
to another one, doesn't it? Yes, He liveth. He liveth. But more than that, He Himself
is life. He said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. Everything and everybody that
has life got it from Him. Because He is life. And He gives
life to whom He will. And think about that. He gives
life to whoever He wants to, but when He's given life, what
is He given? He's the life that He gives. Listen, John 1.1, in
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God, and the same was in the beginning with God. And
all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made that was made. In Him was life. There wasn't any in me
till He put it in me. But He is life, and the life
was the light of men. That's our Savior. And there's people arguing about
stuff that doesn't make a hill of beans. Think about that. We could just sit there and think
about the attributes of our Savior for the rest of our lives and
never even come close. So why would you talk about anything
else from here? This is the place of worship.
Why would you talk about anything else? I would be though if it
wasn't for His grace. I would be. May we always praise and exalt
him, blessed be my rock. In the preaching, in the singing,
in our prayers, even in our conversation with one another, blessed be the God of the rock
of our salvation. In verse 48, it is God that avengeth me, and
that bringeth down the people under me." A reminder here that all of the
glory, all of it, is His. It is God. If anything good ever happens,
it's God. If anything good ever happens
to you, for you, in you, it is God. If anything good ever happens
in this church, like right now, I hope something good's happening.
The gospel's being preached. You know what? It's God. It's
God. Paul said, yet not I, but Christ
that dwelleth in me. In 1 Corinthians 15.10, Paul
said, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. And His grace
which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. I labored more than
they all. That's why He bestowed grace
upon me, so that I would labor, and so I labored. Yet not I, but the grace of God
which was with me. You gotta get all the glory,
doesn't he? There's some people that are
just fine with that. it is God. Verse 49 and that bringeth me
forth from mine enemies thou also has lift has lifted me up
on high above them that rose up against me thou has delivered
me from the violent man This verse refers directly to what
is said in Acts 2.36. Let me read this one to you,
because I've had you turn. Yeah, I'm just gonna quote a part of
it. So Acts 2.36 says this, therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. the one that you spat on and
scourged and mocked and murdered in the most humiliating way you
could think of to murder him, God put him on the throne. That's
a problem, isn't it? That's a problem. Now listen
to our verse again. And that bringeth me forth from
mine enemies, thou also hast lifted me up on high above them
that rose up against me. Thou hast delivered me from the
violent man. That's what that's exactly what I don't know if
they had that verse in mind in Acts 2 there But that's what
it's talking about Christ is exalted above his enemies He's got the father's gonna make
you all of his enemies his footstool That's what it says Christ's
exaltation is our exaltation We are seated in the heavenlies
in him and We want to see him exalted, but also we're exalted
with him. We suffer, we'll reign with him,
it says. We're seated in the heavenlies in him as he is, so
are we in this world. Is he spotless in the sight of
God? Then so are we. Is he the apple of his father's
eye? So are we. Didn't he say in that prayer,
you love them as you've loved me? Will God save us from all the
evil in this world? Will he deliver us from the violent
man, as David put it? He already has, if you know him. He's already done it. You see,
the victory that is ours in Christ is not won or lost in this physical
world. He's already won the victory
and given it to us. First Corinthians 1555. Turn
there with me if you would. We've still got 20 minutes. Don't
get excited. First Corinthians 1555. I'm talking
fast tonight. First Corinthians 1555. We're talking about thou bringest
me forth, you've lifted me up above them that rose up, you've
saved me from the violent man, there it is again, from the evil
of man, my own and those around me. But listen, oh death, where
is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Is everything gonna
be all right? Everything already is all right.
And it always will be with his people. He's already given us
the victory. And so victory is ours. Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be you steadfast. Don't worry about what happened.
The victory is not won or lost here in this present evil physical
world. It was already won by him. It's
a spiritual victory. You say, well, boy, not everybody
wins. You know, old Stephen, he was stoned to death. What
a horrible thing. Yeah. And the Son of God was standing there
waiting on him. Sounds kind of wonderful to me. And he was able to pray, Lord,
lay not this sin to their charge. Because he saw what mattered.
He saw what mattered. In the time of great, great trial,
he saw what mattered. Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord. We know how it turns out.
Does it discourage you from doing anything to know how it turns
out? Then you don't know how it turns
out. Always abounding in the work
of the Lord for as much as you know, you know that your labor's
not in vain. Isn't that a good thing to know?
Paul said it's always a victory when Christ is preached. He's
the saver of death to some, maybe tonight. The saver of life to
others. But God always gives us the victory
because it's a sweet saver of Christ. Every time. Every time. Your labor is not
in vain in the Lord. How encouraging. See, The reason I want you to turn
there is that therefore in verse 58. First Corinthians 15 58. Let's read 57 again and then
that word therefore. Thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore. Therefore. Be. Therefore be. What we are is
because of who he is and what he did. Got to be that way. See that therefore there? We
have the same therefore in our text. For exactly the same reason,
verse 50 back in our text. Therefore. Therefore, why? Because he's giving me the victory.
He's been saving me. He was saving me before I was.
And he's still saving me. Therefore, I will give thanks
unto thee, O Lord, And I don't care who hears it among the heathen. I don't care what they say about
it. I'm going to give thanks unto you among the heathen. And
I will sing praises unto thy name. I'm going to glorify you
by your grace. And that's why we sing. That's
why every once in a while I get on y'all a little bit, don't
I, and say sing. When we open the hymn book, we
sing songs about him. We sing what we preach. Don't
mumble it or just sit it out. We don't sing because we have
a good voice. Some do and some don't. Therefore
will I sing because you saved me. We've got a lot to sing about. Verse 51, he is the tower of
salvation for his king. Now think about that. Who is
his king? Of course David's talking about
himself. He was King David. He was God's anointed king. But
think about Christ. You know what the word Christ
means? It means anointed. God is the tower of salvation.
And you know why he does it? For his son. He does everything
he does for his king. That's why he does it. And we
get in on it don't we we get in on it And show us mercy to
his anointed unto David and Well, that's a big hand right there
And to his seed First of all before we talk about that last
part tower there he is the tower of salvation That's a compound
word tower, and it means great fortress And the most important
words there, though, are he is. He is. He doesn't just provide
safety. He is our safety. We're in his hand. That's why
we call him a great fortress. He is our great fortress. Isn't
that beautiful? He personally is our security.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. No enemy can touch me And he is that to us and for
us because of his mercy look at that and show us mercy He
show us mercy To his anointing that's David. He anointed David
to be king. He had Samuel anoint him Think
about that though for a second mercy When we think of verse
49 From Christ's perspective there, the word enemies includes
us. Thou hast raised me up above
mine enemies. You've saved me from the violent
man. That's us by nature. We are the violent man. That
means cruel and unjust. We killed the prince of life
and we did it even though everything he did and said was perfect. That's the definition of unjust. We judged the only just one worthy
of death. That's what unjust is. We are
that violent man, but here is mercy. Here's mercy, Colossians
121. And you that were at one time
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death. To present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight Well now we got to talk about
it and to his seed and to his seed do you remember why Paul
Says that the scripture says seed and not seeds You remember
that it's in a different scripture. It's back in Genesis when God
spoke to Abraham that Paul's referring to and In Galatians
3.16 he says this, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises
made. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. That's
why that's singular right there. If that's true in Genesis when
God spoke to Abraham, you reckon it's true here in our text. And
to his seed. exactly the same truth applies. I tell you this, if you're gonna
have mercy from God, that better be part of your story right there,
and his seed. Because I'll tell you this, it
is because of our association with Christ that we have anything
good from God. Remember what it said about Abel
and Cain in Genesis 4-4? Listen to it. And Abel, he also
brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof,
and the Lord had respect unto Abel. If you put a period right
there, it's a false statement. God did not have respect unto
Abel. He had respect unto Abel and his offering. That's our
text. There was mercy. Abel was spared. His sins were put away. Because
of what that picture, that lamb pictured. But unto Cain and to
his offering, God had not respect. And Cain
was very wroth, and his countenance fell. That's the word from before
in our verse. They shall fall away, or whatever,
I forget what the exact wording was there. The strangers will
fade away, that's what it means, they'll fall. Be foolish, that was Cain. And
this is the same significance of these words in our text, and
to his seed, Christ didn't need mercy. Think about that. Read it again. He is the tower
of salvation for his king and showeth mercy to his anointed
and unto David, and to his seed forevermore.
Well, mercy is shown to David and Christ. Christ don't need
mercy. He didn't have any sin. He was
sinless and perfect and pure. But I have mercy from God because
of that and, and his seed. That's where the mercy comes.
That's why I have mercy. That and joins my savior in me. And so there's mercy for the
sinner. just like I never did anything righteous, ever. But
listen to what our Lord said in Matthew 3.13. John the Baptist
never did anything righteous either. He's a sinner just like
me. Listen to what he said. Then
cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized
of him. But John forbade him, saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
That's like Simon when the Lord told him to wash his feet. No. And Jesus answering said unto
him, suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all right. John didn't fulfill anything.
He didn't do any righteousness. Nobody, no sinner ever has. There's no good in us, so no
good's coming out of us. And then he suffered him, he
baptized him. But the Lord said, us, we're going to fulfill all
righteousness. What's my part in that? I'm yoked to the Savior. A yoke yokes two people, two
animals that are going to work together. So Christ and I are
yoked together. What's my part in there? He said,
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and do
nothing. We're going to fulfill all righteousness.
That's our text. Christ didn't need mercy, but
because of that and, We're joined, we're one. And there's going
to be mercy because of that, because of Him. Look with me at one final verse
in Romans 8.16 and I'll close with this. This is what we're talking about
now, that and to his seed. We have mercy because of that
and because of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans
8, 16, the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that
we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we
suffer with him, that we may be also glorified, and that's
a beautiful word right there, together. That's why there's
mercy for me, because we're together. That's why all righteousness
is fulfilled in us, because we're together. We are one with the Lord Jesus
Christ, and every blessing that God has is ours by virtue of
that union. I think I might sleep all right
tonight, what about you? If I don't, it's my fault, isn't
it? Boy, let's thank the Lord.