71 we'll look at verse 7 to begin
with this evening now in this psalm already In the first six
verses David Has confessed his trust in the
Lord He He said that even from his
youth up he's Placed his trust in the Lord And then we saw in verse 6 that David understood why. He knew something of the sovereignty
of God in salvation. David knew that salvation's of
the Lord. He knew why he loved God, because
God first loved him from the very womb God had held him up,
and he knew that. The Lord reveals that to his
people. Loved and upheld by God before
we were ever born. And then in verse seven, he continues
this progression of thought here. You'll see a progression, I believe.
He said, I am as a wonder unto many. He's confessed his trust
in the Lord. He's given glory where it's due. And now he's talking about his
relationship with the world, his place in the world, I guess,
if you will, how he's received by the world. That's dealt with
quite a bit in the scripture, you know that. Because God has
chosen me and loved me and held me in his hand and because I've
trusted him. I'm as a wonder unto many. Because I'm a believer. Because
by his grace, I've committed my soul to him. That's what trust
is. Paul said, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that
he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him. I've
trusted him with my very soul. And there is a reaction to that
in this world, isn't there? Always is. Because he said, I
praise him continually. In verse six, I praise him I desire to praise Him all the
time. That's not just in public worship
now, continually. We praise Him in song here, I
pray. We try to choose songs that are honoring of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we praise Him in song. We praise Him, I pray, in the
preaching and in the worship and in all of the worship. But David said, I praise Him
all the time. in all of my actions, in all of my life, in all of
my relationships, in all of my circumstances. And David is given
the reasons now, or he's giving the result of it in verse seven
here, and we see the reasons before. This is why he's a wonder
to many, because he's one of those rare creatures in this
world that actually loves God. that really trusts the Lord,
that really acknowledges now and honors Him, acknowledges
that all the glory is due unto God. He held me up before I even
knew Him. That's rare in this world now.
Few there be that find it. And perhaps most particularly,
David had just mentioned this in verse 6 and so I believe this
is most particularly what he means the way that God had dealt
with him The way that God deals with his people that causes those
who don't know the Lord to wonder That David that God's hand from
the womb that he had been in his hand and Perhaps this is
it most of all, not David's behavior, not David's trust, not David's
praise, but the way that God dealt with David. Perhaps most
of all caused him to be a mystery and a wonder to this world. Can you see that? Have you experienced
that at all? The word is miracle. A miracle
and the root word is beautiful. But it's used here. They marveled
at him. He was a mystery to the world. People looked at David and they
were astounded. They were mystified. It was unbelievable
to them. You look at David's life and
tell me it's not unbelievable. How did he even ever get to be
king? He was the least impressive among
all of his brothers. You see what he said? I was as
a wonder unto many Because God has held me up from the womb.
He held me up the day that the prophet came to anoint a king
for Israel that God had chosen. And I was the last choice of
men, but the first of God. And don't you imagine they wondered
at that? His brothers wondered at that. His own father wondered
at that. All the people wondered at that. His own wife didn't
understand him when he danced before the ark. He was as a wonder
unto her. From his youth he had been as
a wonder to people. This scrawny kid, he's not the
one that killed Goliath. Oh yes he is. That's him. Saul has slain his
thousands, but David is tenth out. David? And he's a picture
of Christ our Lord in this. Misunderstood by the world, they
couldn't believe it. They were astonished at his doctrine.
Did that just come out of his mouth, this Nazarene? The Pharisees talked about how
in the world does he know anything about God? He didn't go to our
schools. No man ever spake like him. He's a walking miracle. He performed miracles, but he
himself is a walking miracle. And we, all believers now, We
don't perform outward miracles today like the apostles did.
It's clear in the word of God that the apostles were the only
ones that were able to confer those gifts of the Spirit on
anyone. And so when they died, nobody
else, the ones that had those gifts conferred upon them by
the apostles endured for a while perhaps, but then we have God's
complete word now. We have the full revelation of
God. There's never been a greater
miracle than that. We don't perform outward miracles,
but we're walking miracles also. Miracles of His grace. The greatest
miracle that God ever performs upon a man was not making the
lame able to walk or the blind to see or even raising the physically
dead. But when He spoke life to the
soul of a dead in trespasses and sins, sinner. That's the
greatest miracle of God. And we're walking miracles. We've
experienced that. You have he quickened, given
life, which were dead in trespasses and sins. If that doesn't astonish
you, then you just hadn't seen it. We're walking miracles of
God. Sometimes that shows a little
bit. No, don't look at yourself. Don't look in the mirror. You
won't see it. You may see how good God's been to you, but you
won't see yourself as anything if you're a true believer. The
more I look at myself, the more I see my wretchedness about you.
Anybody else? I'm not just saying that now.
It's not false humility. It's just the truth. Wretched
and vile and weak. But I tell you what, sometimes I catch a glimpse of
it in somebody else. And God, the way that God deals
with us does make us a wonder to the world. He prepares his
table before us in the very presence of our enemies. And they wonder
at that. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2
about how that the believer is a great mystery to the unbeliever. And I know some people that are walking miracles, don't you?
I knew them before. And I'll tell you this, they're
in this world, the world, the scripture says the world's not
worthy of them. I know a few like that, don't you? God's grace is upon them, and they're a delight to be around.
I'm blessed to call them my friends. But you know the mystery, the
wonder, is easily explained. David said, the world just looks
at me and wonders, how in the world? Look at his life, look at who
he is, and look at how he's been blessed. You know what the explanation
is? The last phrase of that verse,
God is my strong refuge. It's not me, don't look at me.
I don't brag on the flat when I
see and are friends with those who are amazing people to me,
exceptional in this world. I know why, because God's their
refuge. To put it in common language,
what was the secret to David's success? God. His God. Do you remember what
the Apostle Peter said in Acts chapter 2? Listen, let me read
it to you tonight. Acts 3, 11. You remember Peter
and John, Peter spoke and healed that lame man. He said, I don't
have any silver or gold to give you today. That's what the lame
man was begging for. He wasn't even looking for God. But Peter said, I don't have
any money to give you, but what I do have, I give it freely. The Lord said to his disciples,
didn't he, freely you have received, freely give. And he said, I'll
give you what I do have, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
rise up and walk. And listen to it, as the lame
man which was healed held Peter and John, can you imagine? And
all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called
Solomon's, greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it, he answered
unto the people, you men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Why
are you looking so earnestly on us as though by our own power
or holiness we had made this man to walk? Are we a wonder
to you? The God of Abraham and of Isaac
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son
Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied him in the presence
of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. But you denied
the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted
unto you, and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised
from the dead, whereof we are witnesses in his name. Through
faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom you see and
know. Yea, the faith which is by him,
the faith which he gives, Christ the author and finisher of our
faith. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves, it's God's gift, lest any man
should boast. The faith which is by him hath
given this man this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. This
is not God glorifying me and John. This is not God glorifying
this lame man. This is God glorifying his son,
Jesus Christ. That's what God has always done.
That's what he's gonna do tonight. Whether we're in on it or out
on it, out of it, he's gonna glorify his son. Now as I said, believers don't
have miraculous power like that of the Holy Spirit anymore. to
do things like this, but as I said, I know some people greatly blessed
of God, and they're a wonder to me, much less this world. But I know the secret. God is
their refuge. He holds them in his hand, and
he gets all the glory. He's gonna get the glory now.
And his people like it that way. Verse eight, he said, let my
mouth be filled with thy praise. People are wondering at me, oh,
David killed Goliath, he's slain his 10,000. If they do look at me, let them
see me praising you. Let your light shine before men,
that men may see your good works and glorify your Father, which
is in heaven. That's what it's all about now.
God's gonna glorify his son. Now, this is my desire also,
verse eight there. Let my mouth be filled with your
praise and with your honor all the day. Now think about this
with me, because this is something that I feel is very, very important
in our day. There's very little honor given
to the Lord in this world, in this day, on our watch. I desire this, and let me remind
you now, remind myself, you don't praise the Lord by going around
saying praise the Lord. When David says praise the Lord
in the Psalms, that's not praising the Lord, he's telling you to
praise the Lord. Praising the Lord is to speak highly of him. to talk of his exploits, of his
accomplishments, to brag on him, to say something good about him.
That's praising the Lord now. To honor him. Did you see the
word honor in our verse? Oh, what a desert we live in today
when it comes to this. You don't praise the Lord with
religious catchphrases now. People ask you, how are you doing
today? Well, I'm blessed. That's not how you praise the Lord.
Here's how you praise the Lord and honor him. Let me give you
some examples, just a few examples. You're hanging on a cross because
you're a wretched criminal and you're getting what you deserve.
You're dying for your crimes. And there's another one just
like you hanging on another cross just a few feet away. And of
course there's the Lord Jesus Christ in the middle. He always
is. He always is in every conversation. And he's right here tonight.
He always is. He's the center of everything.
If you don't know that, it's time you knew that. He is the
center of everything. Every conversation, every relationship. And he's mocked and ridiculed
in most of them, just like he was here. And that other thief,
he begins to ridicule and mock the Lord Jesus Christ and dishonor
him, just like you were just a few minutes ago. He's blaspheming
God, just like you used to do, just a little while before. But
when you hear what he's saying, all of a sudden you can't take
it anymore. And you say, hold on a minute. Don't you have any fear for God
whatsoever? You're getting what you deserve,
but not him. That's honoring the Lord. That's praising the
Lord in your experience now. Not just spouting some religious
catchphrase. His honor is important to you. You're jealous for his glory.
That's what this is talking about. Maybe when somebody's talking
about how they won their battle with some disease or something.
I fought this disease and I won. Really? Maybe we ought to thank
God. How about that? Maybe you didn't
win anything. Maybe you were laying there absolutely
helpless to see whether God would kill you or let you live. And
he let you live a little bit longer. Maybe that's what happened.
And maybe it's time we honored him in that. Instead of saying,
I fought this and I won that. You see what I'm talking about
in our daily lives, in our experiences. Praise him, let your mouth be
filled with his praise. With good things about him, with
just the flat truth. All you gotta do to praise him
is just tell the truth of the matter. Can we do that? Can I
do that? Instead of lying about it and
talking about something we did Maybe you just praise him and
honor him in your heart privately That's important to all day in
everything But there are times David said when when I want I
want it to come out of my mouth, too You see that in the in the
verse with my mouth now the mouth is meaningless without the heart
and But let it come out of your mouth. Let the redeemed of the
Lord say so. Let's honor him in our lives now. I believe that people can be
obnoxiously religious, holding hands in a restaurant, you know,
and praying outwardly. The Lord condemned that. He said,
you're praying before men to be seen of men. He said, when
you pray, go in your closet and do that. But I also believe that
it's never inappropriate to thank God for what you have. Never. When somebody brags on the free
will of man or tramples underfoot the precious blood of your Savior,
can you tolerate that? Of course. when considered in
his redemptive character, when the Lord Jesus Christ is considered
in his redemptive character, and religious people dishonor
him by talking about him dying to try to save everybody. Well,
he died to try to save everybody. He's not gonna get it done, but
he's gonna settle for honorable mention, and that's fine. No,
he's gonna save everybody he died to save. Can we really go all day without
thanking God? Can I really do that? You see
what David's talking about? This isn't just some religious slogan or something. This is everyday, this is a nature,
this is our heart, this is who we are. Or not. Instead of complaining about
having to do something, anybody guilty of that here? Oh, I gotta
go do that. Got to mow the yard. Isn't it
a blessing to have a yard, a nice yard to mow? And the strength
to do it? I'm talking to myself now tonight. Let's praise him, let's honor
him in everything, with our mouth. And then David said in verse
nine, cast me not off in the time of old age. Listen to the poignant words.
Don't forsake me, Lord, when my strength fails. Don't forsake
me then. I know what David's talking about
here now. A little bit. A lot of my friends laugh at
me when I say I'm getting old. I got several birthday wishes
the other day on my birthday that went something like, happy
birthday young fellow. And that was well taken. Point
taken. I told my buddy Glenn that I
had passed the half century mark and he said something like, I
refer to that as back in those days. But I'm starting to feel it.
I'm starting to feel it a little bit. And I know what David's
talking about here. He's talking about, when my strength
faileth, Lord, you be my strength. You be my strength then. Don't
leave me then. And here's the thing about that.
Our strength never had anything to do with anything. Just forget about that. Our strength
never had anything to do with anything. We were helpless in
the hand of God on our strongest day. You mark it down. That's just the truth now. But
let me tell you something, when your strength does begin to fail,
physical strength, mental strength, emotional strength, whatever
strength you thought you had, When it really does begin to
fail you and you begin to feel, you experience a whole lot better
the truth that you are in God's hand. You start to realize more
how dependent you are upon him, how desperately you need him
every moment. That's where David is right now. And so you, if you experience
the same thing, you'll cry just like David is, Lord, don't leave
me now. My strength is failing. Verse 10 for my enemies speak
against me. And they that lay wait for my
soul take counsel together. They say God hath forsaken him. Persecute and take him for there
is none. To deliver him. There were times
in David's life when it appeared apparently to his enemies and
David himself. How many times did he say in
the Psalms, Lord, have you forgotten me completely? Have you cast
me off forever? But I want you to see here, the
trouble here in these two verses, verses 10 and 11, the trouble
here is not what the enemy is saying. What difference does
it make what the enemy is saying? How are they going to hurt you
with what they're saying? You know what the problem is? The problem
is David was beginning to believe them. That's why he's crying out, Lord.
They're saying you've forsaken me. Don't forsake me. Don't forsake
me. Do you see that here? Have you
ever experienced that? When we look to ourselves, we
see every reason to believe that God would cast us off. Why would
he not cast me off? That's the question. Why would
he not forsake me? But that's the problem, see,
quit looking to yourself. Quit looking to yourself. Look
to him that said, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons
of Jacob are not consumed. You're not consumed, you are
saved, you are blessed. You are safe because of who I
am. That's what God said. Now that
I can rest in. That I can rest in. If I'm safe
as long as the Lord doesn't change, then I'm safe. You see what he's
talking about? I'm safe. Don't forsake me, Lord, for your
own sake, for your own glory, for your own name. Continue to hold me up. You've
held me from my mother's womb. Don't let me go now in my old
age. Look to him who said this. Listen to the language of this.
This is who we look to now. Not inwardly. You're not going
to find any comfort inside. You're not going to look at your
life and your so-called Christian walk and all that and have any
comfort whatsoever. You're just not. Not as a believer
you won't. If you're self-righteous now,
you may take quite a bit of comfort in your own works. But if the Lord has saved you
and ruined you, as far as that is concerned, if like Paul, you count all that
but dung that you may win cry, here's where you're gonna have
to look. And we still tend to look at ourselves now. But listen
to this, look to him who said this, hearken unto me, O house
of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which
are born by me from the belly. This sounds just like what David
said, doesn't it? It's almost like David had heard
it. And there's more to that, too. Listen to this. which are
born by me from the belly." That's the remnant of Israel. That's
how we're talking about the salvation. When David says, you've upheld
me from my mother's womb, he's giving glory to the sovereign
God of saving grace, free electing, distinguishing grace. The remnant
of Israel, his people, his spiritual Israel, that's who he holds from
the belly. born from the belly, which are
carried from the womb. And even to your old age, I am
he. Even to whore hairs, gray hairs,
will I carry you." You hear David's language in that? Lord, you've
borne me from my mother's womb. Don't forsake me now that I'm
old, my hair's gray, my strength is gone. Be with me now. God's
own confession. His own promise, His own decree
is, I born you from the belly and when your hair is gray, I'll
still be carrying you. I have made and I will bear,
even I will carry and will save you. Isaiah 46, three and four. That's where we need to be looking
right there. When we start believing the enemy When we start believing
satan when he says you're Would the lord really shed his
precious blood for you would he really save a worm like you Verse 12. Oh god be not far from
me. Oh my god Make haste for my help
Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul.
Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor that seek my hurt. You deal with my enemies, here's
what I'm gonna do. This is just what I wanna look
at as a final thought tonight. Can you do that? Can you honestly
do that? I'll tell you this, when you have no strength and
you don't have any choice, What are you going to say? Lord,
you deal with my enemies. I can't even lift my sword anymore.
You're going to have to deal with them. That's always true. We just know
it more when we get old now. It's always true. You deal with my enemies, and
here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to hope continually
in you And I'm gonna praise you more
and more. This is not a boast now. It's
clear from the language of this psalm that David knew something
about what he was made of. He's not boasting in his flesh.
He confessed that the Lord was his strong refuge. He prayed
that the Lord not cast him off, that the Lord stay close. Don't
let me go for a second, Lord, or I'm gonna fall. He's not bragging
on his flesh here. And we're still praying, don't
we pray that way? Several of you men say often, and I'm thankful
for it, Lord, don't leave us alone. When you pray and you
say, Lord, don't leave us to ourselves, that's a good prayer. Because we know what'll happen,
don't we? We know what'll happen. And David knew that. But this
is our desire. This is our desire. I wanna praise
you, Lord, more and more. I will, I want to, I desire to
praise you More and more. I want to grow in God's grace
and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's what Paul talked
about. Growing in grace and in the knowledge
of the Savior. And as we do that, we'll praise
him more and more. And this is just the truth. Now,
the more you know him, The more you're gonna praise him, because
everything about him is worthy of praise. Everything. He has
done all things well. And the more you know of him
and what he's done, you're gonna do what David aspired to do.
Praise you more and more. I desire that, don't you? John
Newton wrote this, let me love thee more and more if I love
it all, I pray. And if I have not loved before,
help me to begin today. We love him because he first
loved us and how he has loved us. How he's loved us. May we indeed love him more and
more. Let's pray.