Good evening everybody if you
have a Bible turn with me if you would to 2nd Samuel chapter
22 2nd Samuel 22 18 We're in the middle of studying this
song that David wrote and sang unto the Lord toward the end
of his life in verse 18 says he delivered me From my strong
enemy that word delivery. He saved me. He's saying he saved
me. I from my strong enemy and from them that hated me for they
were too strong for me now this part of the song harkens back
to verse one the beginning of the song where he said it says
there in verse one and david spake unto the lord the words
of this song in the day that the lord had delivered him out
of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul he
saved me from my strong enemy We need to always remember, and
this is easier to forget than you would think, we need to remember
who saves and who don't. Those whom God saves, they sing
songs to Him. In other words, they worship
Him. And they sing this, the Lord saved me. This is true in
temporal matters and in spiritual. He saves us in every way that
a person can be saved. David was a strong and skilled
warrior, but David's song is, the Lord hath saved me from my
enemies. Others at one time singing about
David, you'll remember back in 1 Samuel 18, seven, it says that
they sang about David and they said, Saul has slain his thousands
and David, his 10 thousands. They praised David, but David
didn't. They sang to honor David, but
David sang to honor the Lord. People recover from a terrible
illness or they're facing a terrible illness and they say, I'm going
to beat this thing. I'm going to beat it. No, you're not. You're
going to stand by and see if God will let you live or not.
That's what you're going to do. That's what I'm going to do.
We're not going to beat anything. Our enemies, all of them are
too strong for us. We're going to wait to see what
God is going to do. The vice president of our country
has said over and over during the crisis that faces our nation
right now, he said, if we do this and this and this, we will
heal our land. No, we won't. We're not going
to heal anything, and we can't be talking like that. We need
God to heal our land, and that's what we need to say. God, have
mercy on us and heal our land, and our land needs healing in
a lot more important ways than to have this virus go away. But
we're not going to heal anything. Now I'm thankful for our president
and our vice president. They are who they are and in
the position they are because of God. God ordains the powers
in this world and we're to respect them. It could be a whole lot
worse. But we're going to have to glorify God. And we're going
to have to acknowledge that our enemies, both visible and invisible,
are too strong for us. And we're going to have to wait
on him. We're going to have to call on him. And if he does save
us, we're gonna say he saved us. We're gonna give him the
glory in all of it. This is what our Lord said in
2 Chronicles 7, 12 through 16, that a lot of people are quoting
right now. If my people, which are called
by my name, he said, if I send pestilence in the land, and he
has, But if my people, which are called by my name, shall
humble themselves, saying, we're going to beat this thing is not
humbling yourself. Saying God, crying out to God
and saying, Lord, we're waiting on you. We depend on you. We
need you. That's humbling yourself. And he says, if they'll pray,
praying is asking. It's not telling God what you're
going to do. It's asking God to do something for you and waiting
on him. That's what prayer is, and listen,
we're gonna glorify him either way. If this virus goes away
in a few weeks and we're not seeing the numbers of people
getting sick and we get past this, people are gonna say, God
is good. Well, what if this thing kills us all? Is that because
God's not good? God's goodness doesn't depend
on outcomes or results. He's good, and he doeth all things
well, whether he kills or whether he makes alive. whether he has
mercy or not he has mercy on whom he will and blessed be his
holy name and this is of course true in spiritual things and
this is especially the message of scripture where he said there
in Romans 9 15 as we just quoted I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy that's talking about the salvation of a sinner God
saves whom he will. Jonah cried in Jonah chapter
two. He said, I cried to the Lord out of the belly of hell
and he heard me. And here's my testimony, Jonah
said, salvation is of the Lord. So what David says here at the
beginning of this verse, at the beginning of this chapter, and
then in this verse, he saved me. He saved me from my enemies.
When I couldn't save myself, I was overwhelmed. I was a goner. I lose, I fail, I'm out of money
and getting sicker. The woman with the issue of blood
said, I'm sinking beneath the waves. I can't walk on water
unless he bids me to, and I can't stay walking on it unless he
sustains me. And when I look at my own ability
or inability rather, and I take my eyes off of him and I fall,
he's gonna have to catch me or I won't get back up. This is
what all whom he saves say. Everybody he saves says this,
he saved me. And we sing him a song about
it. That is we worship him for it. and give him all the glory he
says I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy in Romans 9
15 and you know what we say in the next verse Romans 9 16 therefore
it is not of him that willeth it is not of him that runneth
or striveth it is of God that showeth mercy that's where salvation
comes from salvations of the Lord so let this be our song
from now on I had no chance. And he didn't give me a chance.
He saved me. He saved me. And in verse 19,
David's saying this, they prevented me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my stay. They prevented me. Everybody,
what we learn here is that people can't help you when it comes
to salvation. People can't help you. Now God
uses people in temporal things. I'm thankful for the doctors.
I'm thankful for all the means that God uses, but we're going
to have to cry to him. He's going to have to save us
or we're not going to be saved. In salvation it's the same. The
Lord can use other believers to be a witness and he does do
that. The Lord can use his preachers to proclaim the gospel whereby
he saves sinners. It pleased God by that means
to save them that believe and he does do that. But that's the
Lord using that which in and of itself is not only worthless
but harmful. People are not the answer when
it comes to the salvation of a sinner. People don't get people
saved. People are the problem. Sinners
don't save sinners. Salvation is of the Lord. And he said, the Lord was my
stay. Nobody can stop God from saving
who he wants to save. The Lord was my stay. Isaiah
50 in verse two. Wherefore, when I came, was there
no man? The Lord asks. When I called,
was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all,
that it cannot redeem? Is that why? Or have I no power
to save? Behold, at my rebuke, I dry up
the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness.
Their fish stinketh, because there's no water, and dieth for
thirst. When God saves, nobody can touch you. And when he damns,
when he condemns, Nobody can help you. Daniel 434 Nebuchadnezzar. He said at the end of the days
that the Lord you remember the Lord took away his kingdom from
him because he was so boastful and proud of the kingdom that
he had built the Lord took it away from it took his thinking
his sense away from him and he was crawling around out in the
field and he began to look like a beast and act like a beast.
And Nebuchadnezzar said, when that was all over, I lifted up
mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me,
and I blessed the most high. I didn't say I beat this thing,
I blessed God. And I praised and honored him
that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and
his kingdom is from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. That's what David said in this
song. They prevented me, but God was my stay. And if everybody's
against me, if God's for me, who can be really against me?
And all the inhabitants of the earth, he doeth according to
his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? At the same time, Nebuchadnezzar
said, my reason returned unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom,
mine honor and brightness returned unto me, and my counselors and
my Lord sought unto me again. And I was established in my kingdom,
and excellent majesty was added unto me. I was given authority.
I was given my throne back. But I'll tell you what, he said,
now, instead of walking around bragging on what I've accomplished,
now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King
of heaven. All whose works are truth and his ways judgment and
those that walk in pride, he's able to bring them down. Verse
20 in our text, and he brought me forth also into a large place. He brought me into a large place. This signifies both freedom and
luxury. You see, when the Lord saves
you, you don't just make it. In Christ Jesus, we are not only
not condemned, as wonderful as that is, but we are beautiful
for situation. David sang in Psalm 48, one,
great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of
our God, in the mountain of his holiness, beautiful for situation. The joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion. That's God's church, his elect.
on the sides of the north, the city of the great king. Zion
is God's church, his elect of every age, and we are beautifully
situated because we are in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Where God's
love is, where justification and redemption are, where we
are the very righteousness of God in him. First Corinthians
1.26, you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many noble, not many mighty are called, But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise. God hath chosen. God hath chosen. God hath chosen.
That's your calling. Not I made a decision for Jesus.
God chose me. And he chose me in spite of me.
The weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. The base things of the world and things which are
despised hath God chosen. And things which are not to bring
to naught the things that are. That no flesh should glory in
his presence. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, of him he chose you and put you in his son. And of him
are you in Christ Jesus, who is of God is made unto us wisdom. He didn't choose wise people,
but Christ is made unto us wisdom. He didn't choose good people,
but he's made unto us righteousness. He's made a sanctification and
redemption that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. That's why David is singing this
song. He's glorying in the Lord. Look what God did for me. And
look at the last part of verse 20 in closing. He saved me because
he delighted in me. That's why he did it. Not because
I was delightful. No, I was wretched and miserable
and hell deserving. but it made him happy to save
me anyway. Religion said God wants to save
you. They say that to everybody indiscriminately. God wants to
save you. Let me tell you something. If God wants to save you, he
will save you. He does as he pleases in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and
none can stop him or even question him. That's what we just read. If he saves you, it's because
he delighted in you. And if he does not save you,
it's because he didn't want to. God does not try to do anything,
and what he wants, he has. What he desires, he does, he
accomplishes. Psalm 135, six, whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did he. In heaven, And in earth, it doesn't
say he did what he wanted to in heaven, but on earth, he didn't
want to violate man's will, you know, so he waited for man to
do. No, he does what he pleases everywhere. In heaven and in
earth and in the seas and all deep places. Isaiah 46, 9, remember
the former things of old, for I am God and there's none else. I am God and there's none like
me. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times,
the things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand.
They haven't been done yet, but because I've purposed them, they're
going to be. Saying my counsel shall stand
and I will do all my pleasure. That's the word in our text.
It delighted him. It pleased him to save me. That's why he
did it. I will do all of my pleasure,
calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth
my counsel from a far country, yea, I've spoken it, I will also
bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also
do it. And think about what David's
saying in this last part, he delighted in me. The God of heaven
and earth delighted in me. I know this, I know that God's
love is in his son. He delights in his son and all
those that are in his son and only them. Why did he choose
me in his son, put me in his son and bless me forever in his
son? Why did he make all spiritual
blessings mine in Christ Jesus, his son? Because he loved me.
Why did he love me? Because I'm in his son. I can't
explain that, but I know that's the truth. That's what this book
says. That's what the word of God declares. Christ is my righteousness. I am perfect in him because God
wanted me to be. It pleased him. He wanted me
to be perfect and holy. In Ezekiel 16, God speaks of
that baby that was cast out into the open field that nobody wanted,
nobody swaddled, nobody bound up, nobody cleaned up or did
anything for, cast out to the loathing of that person. And
God said, I saw you in your blood. He's comparing his elect to that
little baby, a dead baby in an open field, cast off, unwanted
and unlovable. I saw you in your blood, you
polluted, I saw you polluted in your own blood, but your time
was the time of love. And I said unto you, live. And
then he said this, you'll have to read the chapter for time's
sake. But he said this, I said unto
you, live. And he said, I clothed you, I
cleaned you, I covenanted with you, and I claimed you. You became
mine. You became mine, and listen to
this part, Ezekiel 16, 13. Thus was thou decked with gold
and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen and silk, embroidered
work. Thou didst eat fine flour and
honey and oil. Thou wast exceeding beautiful,
and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness,
which I had put upon you, saith the Lord God. He's my righteousness. I'm perfect and beautiful and
lovely in His sight because I'm in Christ. He washed me from
my sins in His own blood because He wanted to, because it delighted
Him to do that. We love Him because He first
loved us, 1 John 4, 19. And herein is love, not that
we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation, the sin offering for our sins, 1 John 4, 10. the
love of God, because he delighted in me. Could we with ink the
oceans fill, and were the skies of parchment made? Were every
stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade? To write
the love of God above would drain the oceans dry, nor could the
scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. And
Romans chapter eight, remember where it says, nothing shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus, my Lord. In Christ, we are loved, we are
blessed, we are righteous, we are clean, we are whole in Christ
Jesus and only in Christ. Somebody said if Noah had put
a sign on the outside of the ark that said, smile, God loves
you. And folks were banging and scratching
on that ark, trying to get in, and the rain is falling. That's
the judgment of God pictured there. It says that God saw that
the imagination of man's heart was only evil continually, and
he sent that flood to destroy man from off his earth. This
is God's judgment against sin, and it's falling upon man. And
if they looked and said, smile, God loves you on the outside
of the ark, that would not only not be true, it would be a mockery
of the souls of men. You can ridicule sinners on their
way to hell if you want to. But listen, that sign would be
perfectly appropriate on the inside of the ark. But they didn't
need a sign on the inside of the ark. They were experiencing
the love of God. They're in the ark. They're in
Christ Jesus. They're safe. They're secure.
God's judgment is falling on Him and not them. Not a drop
of God's wrath falls on those who are in Christ Jesus. Christ
is the ark. So before all of that, before
God shut the door of the ark, what would the message be? God
loves you? No! The message is this. Get in the
ark. Come to Christ. Bow to Christ. Trust Christ. Believe on Christ. And thou shalt be saved. That's
God's message to sinners. May God bless His word. to the
hearts of his people. And may he be glorified in all
things. Amen.