Let's look at our text tonight.
Just one verse in 2 Samuel chapter 22. 2 Samuel chapter 22. We've mentioned
throughout this study that 2 Samuel 22 is the same language as Psalm
18. It's one of David's psalms. It's
recorded in the context of his life toward the end of his life
in the book of 2 Samuel. So let's look at just at verse
33. Think about this tonight. God is my strength and power
and he maketh my way perfect. God is my strength and power. Let's pray together. Gracious Father, we pray tonight
that you would meet with us, your family, your people. Teach
us, Lord, your word. Teach us of your son. We know
that your book is concerning your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. His perfect salvation for sinners
accomplished for them. Complete, ordered in all things
and sure. May we rest in him tonight. Get
a glimpse again of how glorious you are. Mighty to save and gracious
to sinners like us. Christ name we ask these things,
amen. God is my strength and power. I think I've said this to you
before. Learning. Learning the Word of God is not
about searching out deep truths. Learning the Word of God and
growing, I guess, in the grace and knowledge of the Savior is when the Lord begins to teach
you the most simple, basic truths of the Gospel. God is my strength and power. This does not say God gives me
strength. People say, I've heard people
say, God, give me strength. Well, there's nothing wrong with
that. I need strength from him. There's nothing wrong with that
at all. But I want to see what this does say. I want us to see
first though, that he does give us strength so that we'll understand
the difference. I want to see both. So we understand
the difference. Remember verse 30, look at In
2 Samuel, in our text, look at verse 30
again. For by thee I have run through a troop. By my God have
I leaped over a wall. And then verse 38, I have pursued
my enemies, I destroyed them, and turned not again until I
had consumed them. And I have consumed them and
wounded them that they could not arise, yea, they have fallen
under my feet. Now David did some wonderful
things and we've seen his life throughout this study. David
killed a lion and a bear that tried to attack his father's
sheep when he was just a boy and of course everyone knows
the story of David and Goliath and as David led the armies of
Israel into battle they sang Saul has slain his thousands
and David his ten thousands and When he became king, he led the
people into battle and won victory after victory. Anyone who knew
David or just of David would probably have said David is a
mighty warrior and he's a good king. He's a smart strategist
and a good king, mighty warrior, but that's not what David said.
David didn't say I'm a mighty warrior. Look what I've done. He never said that. It's important
sometimes to remember that though we go verse by verse through
the scripture, and I believe it's important to do that, these
verses though are not separate statements. He didn't make separate,
David didn't write, Samuel, all of these books of the Bible,
Paul, whoever wrote them. They're not, and David wrote
this song in this chapter that we're looking at, But he didn't
write separate statements in order. Those designations are
put there to help us define things in the scripture. And that's
it. And it's important to remember that because think about this.
Taken alone, verses 38 and 39, seem like David's bragging on
himself. Look what I've done. I've pursued my enemies. I've
destroyed them. I wouldn't let them get up. They're done for. Look what I
did. But look at verse, let's read verses 33 through 41 together
and see who David's bragging on in this as a whole, this song
that he's singing. Look at verse 33. God is my strength
and power. He maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds
feet and setteth me upon my high places. He teacheth my hands
to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. Thou
hast also given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy gentleness
hath made me great. Thou hast enlarged my steps under
me, so that my feet did not slip. That's why I didn't fall. I have
pursued mine enemies and destroyed them, and turned not again until
I had consumed them. I have consumed them and wounded
them that they could not arise. They are falling under my feet
for thou has skirted me with strength. See, they're not separate
statements. This is a song that David wrote
and sang. And you see who gets the glory
in this. I did what I did because of what God did for me. So first we're seeing that God
does give us strength. He does give us power. He said
you girded me with strength to battle them that rose up against
me has thou subdued under me You did it and somebody it came
up recently in a discussion and God hardening Pharaoh's heart."
He said, Paul concluded from the story of Pharaoh in the Scriptures
that God has mercy on whom He will, and whom He will He hardens.
He said to Moses, I'm going to harden Pharaoh's heart. He's
not going to let him go. Somebody said, well it also says that
Pharaoh hardened his heart. Ok, so you're going to forget
about the one and hang on to the one you like? That's not
unclear, is it? We act these things out, but
it's God that does it. David won battles, but how did
that happen? God did it. God won the victory. He said, you subdued my enemies
under my feet. And I beat him, sure did. I swung
the sword all day. But God gets the glory. And Pharaoh
hardened his heart, but look, God said the hearts of men are
in my hand, and I turn them whithersoever I will, like the rivers of water.
Is that confusing to you, that Pharaoh hardened his heart, but
God hardened his heart? That doesn't confuse me, and
I'm pretty easy to confuse. That's not complicated. So you see what he's saying here.
Yeah, I did these things. He shed some blood and he gave
some blood too. For thou hast girded me. Look
at verse 41. Thou hast also given me the necks
of mine enemies. Yes, David participated in it. But God's gonna get all the glory
now. That I might destroy them. That
I, you, that I. Religion loves to say, if you
will, God will. It's just the other way around,
isn't it? If God will, I will. Boy, that's just simple, isn't
it, in the scriptures. That's not complicated. And I
think that people love to say, well, I don't understand that
about things that they just hate. It's not that they don't understand.
They just don't like God being in charge. That's the thing about
it. Because you can't hate somebody you don't understand. You can't
hate the truth that you don't understand. And they simply hate
the truth of God being God. David said, God teaches my hands
to war in verse 35. God teaches my hands to war. What is that really saying? You
don't teach hands, do you? You teach minds. And the result
is that the hands do what they need to do. So that's clearly
what he's saying there. So look at these verses in another
way. Verse 35. is really talking about David's
understanding. He taught me. The reason my hands,
and he was a skilled warrior, but he said, the reason that
I'm able to do what I do is because God taught me. So he's talking
about the understanding. Verse 29, he mentions the eyes,
because he says, God's my light, and I can see because God is
who he is for me. And by the way, verse 29, let's
look at verse 29 for a second. This is a perfect example of
what we're talking about now. It's a perfect example, if you
think of it this way, it's very simple. There's the is and does
when it comes to God. Is and does. Verse 29 is a perfect
example of that. Look at verse, at the first part. For thou art my lamp. That's
something God is. He's my lamp. And the Lord will
lighten my darkness. That's what he does. He is something
and he does something. All right, that's what we're
talking about with regard to God. He's my strength and my
power. He does give us strength and
power, but there's more to it than that. And that's what I
want to get at now. It's simple, but this is not
something you're going to get unless you apply your heart now
The scriptural exhortation from Solomon, my son, apply your heart
to the wisdom of God. Look at it, for thou art my lamp.
The first part, God is. And the second part, you will
do something. You will lighten my darkness.
That thing of is and does runs all through this chapter. And
that's what we're gonna see. And all through the Bible, really.
God lights my darkness. That is, he gives me the ability
to see. I see things I couldn't see before.
Bless God, I see, don't you? If you're his, I see the truth
of God. I understand. He's given us an
understanding that we may know him that is true. He is my He is the giver of that,
but also he is when I can see. What do I see? Him. And how is
it that he makes me see? What is it that causes me to
see? He is what I see when I can see,
and he's the only reason I can see, and he sees for me too.
You see, he does everything for me too. What I can't see, I don't
have to worry about because he does. And he sees what I see
better than I see it. And he shows me what I need to
know when I need to know it. He not only lightens my path,
but my path is lightened with him. Does that make sense? What lightens my path? He's the
light. He gives the light and he is
the light that he gives. And this is the message of this
whole book, really. He gives it, but he also is it.
The title of this message is God is. The Lord is my strength. We understand that, you'll understand
the gospel. God is. And that's what we're
seeing here with regard to strength and power. He gives it, but he
is it. So as David talked about being able to see, talked about
his might being taught, his feet in verses 34 and 37 are affected. He maketh my feet like hands
feet. He sitteth me upon my high places. Verse 37, thou hast enlarged
my steps under me so that my feet did not slip. That's when
my feet are sure and swift and capable because of what God did
for me. And look at verse 35, he teaches
my hands. We already saw that, didn't we?
But we're looking at all the different aspects. Everything
about me is what it is because he is who he is. And he gives
what he gives. Legs in verses 30 and 38. I've
run through a troop, for by thee I have run through a troop. By
my God have I leaped over a wall. That's talking about his legs.
God's given me strength. to run and to leap, verse 38
is the same way. And think about this, even that
intangible thing that we all struggle with, we have all these
faculties physically as human beings, mentally and physically,
but there's that intangible thing that everybody struggles with
and it's everybody else. You think about that for a second.
What part of yourself do you employ, hands, eyes, ears, legs,
feet, to solve this one? Those things are helpless when
it comes to the problem of other people, the problems that exist
outside of you. Not all enemies can be killed
with your hands, nor run from or pursued with the feet. or
figured out with your mind. They can't be necessarily, look
at verse 44, and this is what I'm talking about. Thou also
hast delivered me from the strivings of my people. And when he says
my people, he's talking about his king. He led the entire nation
of Israel, and God fixed that for him too. Yeah, that takes everything,
doesn't it? And you can't, what are you gonna
do about it? Well, you're going to depend
on God. That's what you're going to do.
The same thing you do with everything else. Just because I have hands
doesn't mean I don't need the Lord to teach my hands. Stravings, disputings, controversy,
conflicts, quarrels, the incessant problems that people are. People are a problem that we're
almost always helpless to do anything about. God takes care
of that too, for his people. So God fits us, he qualifies
us, he enables us, he gives us ability. We see that clearly,
don't we? Believers know, just even in
temporal terms, what others don't. And I'm not bragging on us. Did
David brag on himself? He said, look what I did, but
here's why I did it. We're not bragging on us. This
is because of the work of salvation that God has done in the hearts
of his people. But even in temporal matters,
believers understand things that others don't. When I'm just dealing
in earth, I'd rather deal with somebody who knows what's important
and what's not, wouldn't you? When dealing with even the things
of this earth, got their priorities straight. They know what's important. They know how things really are,
what this is all about. They know all the answers to
the questions that philosophers ask. Why, you know, where do
we come from, Christ? Where are we going, Christ? How
did we get here, Christ? You know that if you know Christ,
don't you? And that affects everything, the little stuff, doesn't it? They do what they do for the
right reasons. And you know, we're capable of
falling into sin and doing... But God sees to it. You see, my hands are skilled,
but God taught me how to use them. Motives. deal with somebody that
has an honest motive in things?" Paul was able to say, we didn't
come to you with enticing words of man's wisdom. And we didn't
come to you trying to deceive, with the deceivableness of unrighteousness
trying to get you to manipulate you and to benefit from you.
We came honestly with a message from God. An unbeliever can't
do that. Can't do that. They can know
this Bible a lot better than I can, just about anybody does.
They can't do that. Because that's what God does
for his sheep. But our text goes beyond what
God does in us and to us and with us. Our text says this,
God is. And we're not only gonna take
it beyond what he does, with us and through us and in us but
we're going to take it from the earthly to the spiritual by the
grace of God and may he teaches this, when God gives me strength
to swing a sword, like David talked about, and the skill to
do so better than my enemy can. If I can't, I'm not going to
last long in battle. That's a wonderful thing. He's
to be praised for that, isn't he? Thank you, Lord, for teaching
my hands to war. We're in a war too, aren't we?
In this world. But when God prearranges everything,
Every person, every event, every detail, every contingency, every
circumstance, every physical reality, when he worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will, when he controls the
hearts of men, like we said, as the rivers of water, he turneth
it in his hand. Now, he controls, he said, I'll
call a ravenous bird from the east if I want to, to feed my
prophet. other birds He controls, the winds and the waves, the
rolling of the dice. When He makes it so that all
things work together for good to those that love Him, to those
who are called according to His purpose. We can't just say the
Lord gives me strength and think we've covered it. It's beyond
that isn't it? He is my strength now because
we understand something this world doesn't understand and
they never will unless and until God turns the light on. The vital
lesson here, as I said, is a spiritual one. We might say the Lord saved
me, and that would be true. He did that for me, didn't he?
And we'd be right about it, but how did he save me? With what
did he save me? In what manner did he save me?
The answer in every case to those questions is him. So that we have to go beyond
just saying he saved me and acknowledge with all of our hearts, he is
my salvation. He is my salvation. The woman
with the issue of blood is a great illustration, I believe, of this.
Turn over to Mark chapter five with me and let's look at that
account of it. And think about this. Mark chapter five. Verse 24, she had a terminal
condition. For many years, she had had internal
bleeding, insomuch that she had consulted many, many doctors
about it and had spent all that she had and only gotten worse. She was in desperate, desperate
condition. Look at verse 24 with me, and
let's begin reading there. And Jesus went with him, and
much people followed him and thronged him, and a certain woman,
which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many
things of many physicians." It almost sounds like not only did
the physicians not help her, but they hurt her. No telling
what kind of wacky, you know, cures they had back then, and
they tried different things on her, but she had spent all that
she had. It was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. When she
had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind and touched his
garment, for she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall
be whole. And straightway the fountain
of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she
was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing
in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about
in the press and said, who touched my clothes? And his disciples
said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and
sayest thou who touched me? And he looked round about to
see, and you know what they're saying there? They're just, about
everybody here has touched you. They're all banging into us,
and there wasn't no social distancing that day, was there? But there's a difference, isn't
there? She touched him. And he looked round about to
see her that had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling,
knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him
and told him all the truth. She told him her problem. She
told him why she had come there. She told him probably the hope
that she came with in her heart. Because look what he said to
her. Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace
and be whole of thy plague. She had consulted doctors who
clearly didn't have any idea what was wrong with her or how
to do anything about it. Did the Lord know what was wrong?
Did he know what to do about it? He could have told her what
the doctors couldn't. He might have said, here's what's
wrong with you and here's how they can fix it. And that might
have resulted in her healing. And she could have said, the
Lord saved me. She was out of money. The Lord could have done
something like he did when their taxes were due. He could have
told her, go fishing. And the first fish you catch,
look in his mouth. And then go to a good doctor.
And she could have had what she needed. someone who could help
her. And you know what she would have
probably said? The Lord saved me. If He hadn't done that. He
controls everything and everybody. He could cause her to cross paths
with the one person on this planet that understood what was wrong
with her. and knew what to do about her
condition. And the Lord does do things like that. He does.
I'm not saying he don't. And that's glorious and wonderful,
but that's not how he saves sinners. And this is what all this teaches
now. How does God save sinners? Look what happened in verse 30. He knew when she touched him
that virtue had gone out of him. Do you know what that word virtue
is? It's our text. The Lord is my strength. That's
what it is. It means strength, power, might. And one more word in the definition.
Miracle. You look that word up in the
Greek. If you have a strong concordance. It means power, strength, might,
but it means miracle. The Lord doesn't just perform
miracles. He is the miracle. That's what
we're talking about tonight. Something that the Savior is changed her. He is. He is. He didn't just give her
medicine. He didn't just perform an operation.
It was Him that saved her. And He was the
salvation. You see the difference in why
both are so important? And the result of it is, she
was made whole. Not just because of what he does.
What he does is what it is because of who he is. That's how sinners are saved. And that's what we're still learning.
I'm not interested at all in all of the complex infralapsarianism
supralapsarianism, and millennialism, amillennialism, I'm not any of
that. And I don't ever want to be one
of them. If you are one of those, I think you're in trouble. I
really do. I think it's a problem to be any of that. Forget all
of that. And may God teach us the simple
truth that salvation's a person. The Lord is my salvation. That's
what it says in Matthew 8, 14. Listen to this passage of scripture.
When Jesus was coming to Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother
laid and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand and the
fever left her. And she arose and ministered
unto them. Where did it go? Does fever,
does it just go out into the air or something? Think about
this. left her and she arose. She was
fine. She cooked dinner or something. It says she ministered unto them.
When the even was come they brought unto him many that were possessed
with devils and he cast out the spirits with his word. That's
how he saved sinners with his word. healed all that were sick
that it might be fulfilled." This is what happened. Something
that was prophesied way back in the Old Testament is what
was happening on that evening. That's what the writer is saying
here. Which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, himself took
our infirmities. He didn't just make them go away.
That's not what he does. He took our And he bare our sicknesses. And the word bare means to take
up with your hands, to carry, to put upon oneself, to bear
something that's burdensome. When he bare these diseases,
the people that had borne them were made whole. They were well,
they were cured. They didn't just start to get
better, they got better. When he took their disease, they
didn't have it anymore. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel, my friends. When he bore my iniquities on
Calvary, when he took my sorrows and my shame and my sin, there
was a definite result. Listen to what Simon wrote in
1 Peter 2.24, who his own self bear our sins in his own body
on the tree. Chris, what does that mean? Well,
it's both plain as the nose on your face and totally unfathomable. I can both answer that question,
I don't know, and I can answer it this way. What do you mean,
what does it mean? It's clear as a bell. And both answers are
true, aren't they? I don't know how he does that.
I'd have to be God to know that. But I know this, he took my sin
in his own body. He bare our sins in his own body
on the tree. He bare our sins in his body
on the tree. It's simple, isn't it? I don't
understand it, but by God's grace, I believe. here's why he did that, that
we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness. And then
Simon quoted Isaiah 53. In talking about that subject,
he said this, by whose stripes you were healed. You were healed. There's a definite result of
him taking. He gives and he takes and he
is. And of course the scripture Simon
is referencing there is Isaiah 53, 4. Listen, surely he hath
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. That's what it was
talking about when he was talking about the physical healing that
he did. He took it up as a burden and put it upon himself as a
burden being borne. That's what he did with my sin.
The disease that all other diseases are just a glimmer of, just a
shadow of. All other disease are just symptoms
of the disease. My sin. And he took that too. He took my sins and borne my
griefs and carried my sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. We thought God was punishing
him. God was punishing him, but not why we thought. but he was
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And here's what Simon quoted,
and with his stripes, we are healed because of not only what
he did, but who did it. He is my salvation. Simon stresses, as we should,
the result of what our Lord did. By whose stripes you were healed. And more importantly, the result
of who he is. That's why we're healed, because
of who he is. Who saved you? Who saved you? Well, if you're saved, you know
the answer to that, don't you? The Lord Jesus saved me. The
Lord Jesus saved me. How did he save you? He's the
answer to that too, isn't he? You see what I'm saying? He not
only did it, he is it. I don't know any... David said
God is. How did he save you? Himself.
Himself. God is my strength and power. Listen to these two verses together.
John 1.12 first, and think about this, keep it in your mind while
I read the second one too. John 1.12, but as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name. He gives power to believe. He
gives power to become a son of God. He gives that. That's wonderful,
isn't it? But there's more to it than that. 1 Corinthians 121, for after
that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. And that verse there establishes
what Paul's talking about there in 1 Corinthians 121. He's talking
about the preaching of the Gospel and how God saves sinners by
that preaching. And he goes on to say this, For
the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified,
unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks. Remember
what we're talking about now. We're talking about the Gospel
preached and sinners saved by it. To everybody that's called
of God, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. He gave
the power to become the sons of God, but he is the power.
He is the power of God unto salvation. That word power is the Greek
equivalent of the word power in our text in the Hebrew there
in 2 Samuel 22. It's exactly the same meaning.
Strength, might, ability. Christ is the power of God. You see what David's saying?
The Lord is my strength. And you think about that. There's a lot of other ways to
say that, isn't there? God gave me strength. God provides
strength. He makes strength of it. The
Lord is my strength. It doesn't say any of that, does
it? Although all of those things are true. It says something more. Listen to this verse now. Romans 5, 6, for when we were
yet without strength. So what's David talking about
there? When he wrote that song, of course he was talking about what he had been, his life, what
he had lived, the battles that he talked about, and how all
of his enemies had been crushed, and God had given him the ability
to do that. And he was talking about that
kind of stuff, but remember also, he talked about he's given me
his salvation. He's given me his salvation.
That's not talking about just earthly enemies, but listen.
So what is David talking about? God is my strength there. It's
not just about ability to do things in this world. It's a
gospel problem not having any strength. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. It does not say when we were
yet without strength, he gave us some. It don't say that. What were we without strength
to do? The verse is talking about Christ dying for sinners here.
We're talking about the salvation of a sinner. What strength does
a sinner utterly lack? The power to please God, the
ability to measure up to God's holy standard, to perform righteousness,
to satisfy either the law or the justice of God, either one.
It takes perfect righteousness in thought, word and deed to
satisfy God's law. And it takes perfect redemption to satisfy his justice. And we
don't have either one. And moreover, we can't even contribute
to either one. When he told the parable of the
debtors, remember he said this when they both had nothing to
pay. It don't matter which one you
are. You've got nothing. Nothing. When we were yet without strength,
what was the remedy for that? What did God do about that? Christ
died. What is the answer? To our utter inability as wretched
sinners before God, Christ crucified. See what we're talking about?
He is my strength. He is. He didn't just give me
strength. He is my strength. Christ died
for, he died for the ungodly instead of, that substitution. Substitution is the remedy and
Christ is the substitute. God's salvation is Christ crucified. That's why we preach him and
what he did. Turn with me to Luke chapter
two, we'll close with this. Luke chapter 2. You're familiar
with this passage. Of course, just about anywhere in
the Bible, I could just about flip pages and just stick my
finger somewhere. and it would teach what we're
talking about. This is not deep, dark, we have to search out some
weird, strange thing to worry about or figure out. This is
the message of all the scripture. Salvation's a person. And the
Lord's still teaching us that, isn't he? And I tell you what,
that's vital. It's vital. God told the, the
Lord Jesus Christ told the Pharisees that even the scriptures were
an idol to them. You cannot trust anything or
anybody but Him. They put their trust in the Scripture.
He said, you search the Scriptures and you think you have eternal
life, but they testify of me and you won't come to me that
you might have life. You see what he's saying? Martha
trusted in the resurrection. That's a wonderful thing to trust
in, isn't it? You know what his answer to that was? Martha, I
am the resurrection, and you need to understand that. We need
to know that. Don't trust an event. Don't trust a doctrine. Salvation is Him. Luke 2.25, and behold, there
was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same
man was just and devout. God had done something for him,
hadn't He? He was different. Like David was amazing, he was
an incredible human being. And God got all the glory for
that from David. Other people probably said, boy,
David's unbelievable. David said, look who gets the
glory here. He was just and devout, waiting
for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him,
and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should
not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came
by the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
then took he him up in his arms." Simeon took that baby. I guess Mary, you know, The Lord
just gave her an understanding somehow that he wasn't a kidnapper
or something. He just took that baby up in
his arms. And he blessed God. And he said,
Lord, now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to
thy word. In other words, I'm ready to
die now. He said, you're not going to die. The Holy Spirit
said, you won't die until you've seen the Lord's Christ. And he
said, I'm ready to go now. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. And again, he didn't say, I've
seen the Lord's Christ. Although that's who he was. You're
going to see the Lord's Christ. I've seen the Lord's Christ.
No, I've seen your salvation. I've seen God's salvation. It
just so happens that his salvation is the Lord's Christ. It's God's
son. My eyes have seen that salvation
in which thou has prepared before the face of all people a light
David said that to didn't the Lord is my life. He is my light. He is my light Simeon didn't
say I see how God can save sinners now. No, I've seen your salvation
There's a difference both are wonderful But I believe what God is teaching
us As we learn more and more, and we do, we grow in the grace
and in the knowledge, as believers, in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. I don't want to grow in much
other knowledge, do you? But I believe how that happens
is we're just finding out who He is. We're not going to get
off into a bunch of isms and all that kind of weird theories
and philosophies of theologians. He's just revealing to us what
we already know. But boy, do you remember what
Paul said? That I may know him. Don't you
know him, Paul? Well, yeah. I'm pretty sure Paul
knew him, otherwise he wouldn't forsake everything that he is
and has done and everything that he had and was. hoped in his
whole life and said, I'm pursuing Christ just as hard as I can.
I think he knew who he was, but what did he want to do? He wanted
to know who he was. Is that us? Is that the pursuit? A light to lighten the Gentiles
and the glory. The glory of God's a person. He gives light, but what does
he give himself? He is the light. Well, we didn't
even hardly get to the last part of the verse in 2 Samuel 22 there,
but let me just say this in closing. He maketh my way perfect. Think
about this, in verse 31, David said this, just a few verses
before our text, as for God, His way is perfect. And here
He says, He maketh my way perfect. How does God do that? By what
we've been saying all night. He is. He is. He is my light, He is my strength,
He is my righteousness, my sin offering, my salvation. My way
is perfect before God because of who Christ is for me. That's just the simple truth
of it. Let's pray together.