Psalm 71 one, we'll just look
at a few. This is a fairly lengthy psalm,
so we'll look at just a few verses tonight and go through this verse
by verse. In thee, oh Lord, do I put my
trust. Let me never be put to confusion. In thee, oh Lord, do I put my
trust. I want us to notice again that
trust is something that is consciously put in something, or as in David's
case, someone. And we know from Hebrews chapter
11 that it was by faith that Moses chose the reproach of Christ. It was by faith that Noah moved
with fear and made an ark. It was by faith that Enoch walked
with God. Put your trust in Christ as an
act of faith. And faith is God's gift. His
free gift of grace, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. Faith is the fruit
of God's spirit, Galatians 5, 22. Christ is the author of faith,
Hebrews 12, 2. And so we see what Paul is saying
here, I mean David is saying here, and we know why he's saying
it. We know how it came to that place
where he would put his trust in the Lord. God gets all the
glory for our resolve. If you've done this also, put
your trust in the Lord. You've resolved to trust him. It's a conscious resolve. If you're trusting yourself,
that also is a conscious resolve. It's the way that you reckon
things. How do you, what's your way of
thinking on this? Can you trust yourself? Are you
up to the task of pleasing God and doing what God requires? Believers have a way of reckoning
things that we see in the scriptures. Romans 6 11, likewise reckon
ye also Yourselves to be dead unto sin. My brother just read
about that but alive unto God Through Jesus Christ our Lord
because of what God wrote I reckon Myself now in Christ alive unto
God and dead to sin just the opposite of what I used to be
used to be dead to God and alive unto sin but because of Christ
because of one man's obedience and By God's grace, I'm alive. Paul said in Romans 8, 18, I
reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy
to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Do you reckon things that way too? Second Corinthians 5, 14,
the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge. You
see what we're seeing here? This is the believer's way of
thinking. It's our way of reckoning things. I thus judge that if one died,
that one man who was obedient, if he died for all, it's because
we were dead. He died for all that they which
live because of his death should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him. That's the way we reckon things. And this is what David is saying.
I've put, I've consciously resolved I've placed my trust in somebody
outside of myself. I have no confidence in the flesh.
I trust him. And he said in verse five, David
said in verse five of our text, I've been seeing things this
way since I was a young boy. I've been trusting him from my
youth. When God gives you eyes to see
the Lord Jesus Christ in a heart to rest in Him, you will not
go away. Where are you going to go? He
has the words of eternal life. This is a lifelong trust. This
is a faith that the gifts of God are without repentance. They
don't go away. If you worked up some kind of
faith in yourself, then it'll go away. Because Christ now, see, if He's
anything to us at all, He's life. He's everything. If He's anything at all, He's
everything. He's our meat indeed, our drink indeed. And trust has
to do with ability. You see that? I put my trust
in God. Why? Because He's able. 2 Timothy
1.12. I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that he's able. I know whom I trust. I trust
the one that's able. The king asked Daniel, is your
God able? And that's a question we all
have to ask ourselves. Is your God able? Paul said,
mine is. I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him. He's worthy of my trust.
I've committed, I've entrusted my soul to him. I said a while ago, we are resolved.
It is a conscious resolve. Our trust is placed somewhere. And our resolve is a product
of faith. And faith is God's gift. And
our resolve is based upon his ability. I trust him because
by his grace I know him. And I know what the trouble is.
And I know he can do something about it. The Bible tells me that Christ
can present me faultless before God. You know where that is? That's in Jude verse 24. Now
unto him that is able, that's what we're talking about, his
ability, that's why I trust him. He's able to keep you from falling
and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy. It says he's able, and I buy
that. I buy that, don't you? Proverbs 23, 23 says, buy the
truth and sell it not. I'm buying it. He's worthy of
our trust. And if you know who he is and
what he did, that's all you have to know, is who he is and what
he did for sinners. You'll trust him. He'll just
reveal himself to you. Himself crucified. You'll trust
him. David said never let me never
be put to confusion. The word is ashamed. Let me never
be ashamed And I believe David is saying here don't ever let
me doubt I trust you I Pray that never never will change. I'll
never stop trusting you I'll never be ashamed of you. I'll
never be confounded. I'll never question. I'll never
doubt I'll never be put to confusion. I'll never be I divided or wavering
concerning this thing of trusting my Lord. Don't let me waver. Don't let
me falter. He's saying I believe, help my
unbelief. I trust, help my doubt. Don't
let me, don't let me doubt. The Lord said in Mark 8, 38,
whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words
in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall
the son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his
father with the holy angels. Lord, let it never be. This is
a prayer of somebody that knows something of the deceitfulness
of his own heart. Lord is it I, don't let it be
me. Don't let it be me. Verse two, deliver me in thy
righteousness. Never think of salvation as a
suspension in any way of God's righteousness. When he saves
you and doesn't pour out his wrath upon you, he's not withholding
his righteousness. His mercy is never at the expense
of his righteousness. You say, well, it would be right
for God to put me in hell. Yes, but there's a sense in which
that's true. But there's also a sense in which
if it's right for God to put you in hell, then guess where
he's fixing to put you. And we need to understand both
sides of that now. We need to understand mercy and
that yes, we deserve hell by nature. And it would be right
by nature for him to put me in hell. But God's gonna do what's
right. And the only way he can save
me is if it's right. And that's what David's referring
to here. Deliver me in thy righteousness. If God's gonna save me, he must
do so in his righteousness. It may sound wrong to say that
it's righteous for God to save me. It's right for him to save
me. It's righteous for God to justify me. I'm gonna be in heaven
with him forever because I deserve it. Well, that sounds wrong,
doesn't it? And there's a sense, as I said,
in which we would never say that. We don't deserve his mercy and
his righteousness by nature, but in Christ we do. The difference
between it's right for him to send me to hell and it's right
for him to save me is Christ. It's not complicated, is it?
We don't have to be confused about that. Both are true. It's
just that one of them is true outside of Christ and one of
them is true in Christ. And that's the difference. It's
life and death. It's light and darkness. It's
righteous for God to justify me. Who is he that condemns me?
It's God that justifies. Why? Because it's Christ that
died. I'm saved in his righteousness. God cannot be in the presence
of somebody that's not worthy. This is our need of Christ. We
must have him as our righteousness. You know, it's interesting. I
know that this is not grammatically the way that this verse is written,
okay, what I'm about to say. I know that this is not the way
that it's written. But notice this. If you divide it into two thoughts,
deliver me in thy righteousness. Take the first word by itself,
save, save, deliver, save. That's the goal, right? That's
what we want. That's what we're praying, Lord,
save. Well, who's God gonna save? Who
do I want him to save? Me in his righteousness. You see, that's who God saves,
me in his righteousness. The only me he can save is me
in his righteousness. Now Christ died for me when I
was yet a sinner. Romans 5, 8. But in order for
me to go where he is, in order for me to live with him forever,
I must be in his righteousness. So that's who he's gonna save,
me in his righteousness. If I'm not in his righteousness,
I can't be saved. Not ultimately. And as I said,
that's not the grammatical structure of the sentence, but I just noticed
that and I tell you what it is. It's the message of this whole
book. It's the message of the entire Bible. God saves me in
his righteousness. In other words, he's righteous
to do it. That's who I am when he saves me. I'm me in the righteousness
of somebody else. Immersed in him of God, are you
in Christ Jesus who has made unto us Four things and one of
them is righteousness. Me in His righteousness. God
sent forth His Son. Romans chapter 3, He sent forth
His Son to be a propitiation, a sin offering through faith
in His blood. Why did He do it? To set forth His righteousness
for the remission of sins. To set forth the fact that God
remits sins. He puts away sins and does it
in righteousness. that God might be just and justifier
of him that believeth in Christ Jesus. That's what David's talking
about here. And then he said this, cause
me to escape. Don't just give me a chance to
escape. You see the language here. This is so significant. The scriptures
are so clear and so many people miss the What is it that Paul said they
would deny? The power, the authority. They say God, but they deny his
power, his authority. David doesn't. He says, Lord,
you caused me to escape. Don't just make a way for me
to escape. Don't just make it possible for me to escape. Don't
just show me how to escape. Cause me to escape. That's what's
got to happen. Don't you show that man the way
to the end. The good Samaritan's got to pick
him up and take him there. That's what David's talking about
here. Cause my escape. Bring it to pass. And he said
this, incline thine ear unto me and save me. And this is interesting. One of the commentaries I read
Pointed out that how many of the attributes of God you can
see in this verse of scripture in verse 2 here look at it deliver
me What is that? That's the sovereign self. He
saves whom he will David's calling on the one who said my hands
not short If I want to save you, I'll save you David said save
me Are you willing Lord? I know you can And then righteousness, he saves
in righteousness. He's holy, he can't compromise
his holiness to save me. Cause me to escape, what's that?
Omnipotence, power. Cause me to, that's his sovereign
omnipotence in salvation. And then incline thine ear, what's
that? His compassion, his love. You remember what he said about
Israel and to Moses and the burning? He spoke to Moses from the bush
and he said, I've heard the cry of my people. And I'm here to
save them. And this is David asking. Ask
and you'll receive, our Lord said. And this is David asking. He said, I trust in you. That's
a good statement. But this is asking. He said, I trust God. Trust him
for what, David? To save me. I'm gonna ask him
to save me. To cause me to escape. Salvation's
an escape. Do you realize that? We're not
in some state of neutrality by nature. You're in deep trouble. You're gonna have to escape from
it. You see the difference? You're not just, you know, in
neutral and you can go one way. No, you're already You condemned
already if you believe not. The Lord said. But there's a
way of escape. The Lord Jesus Christ. We're
born in the bondage of seeing how should we escape? Paul said
if we neglect so great salvation. There just one escape and it's
the salvation that Christ has accomplished that he wrought
that he gives. That he purchased. with his precious blood. How
are you going to escape any other way? It boils down to this, doesn't
it? How many times have we seen these
words? Save me. Save me. Verse three, be thou my strong
habitation, where into I may continually resort. You see that? David said, I've
trusted you from my youth. I trust you now, and I want to
trust you from now on, and I want to be able to come to you. I
want to come in and out and find pasture. I need you every hour. I always continually resort. I don't just need God every once
in a while now, just when I'm in trouble. I'm always in trouble
in a spiritual sense. I always need him. Thou hast
given commandment. What a wonderful statement this
is. Thou hast given commandment to
save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress. That first phrase there, be thou
my strong habitation. Again, notice the language. Don't just provide a strong habitation
for me, be it. Be it. I know that I'm not gonna
be safe unless I'm in you. Salvation, also, it's a habitation. It's a place you live. What did
David say? This is my one desire, to dwell
in the house of the Lord. I got to live there. We don't
just visit God's house on weekends now. If you do, you've never
been to God's house. Salvation is where we live. And
it's not a structure of wood and stone. It's a person. And we got to dwell there now.
He got to dwell in us and we dwell in him. Thou has given
commandment to save me. Now that's salvation there when
God says. He issued he issues commandments
and they're done. Who did God command to save me? Our Lord said in John 637, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. This thing of salvation,
it's not by chance. Everybody in that covenant is
going to be saved. And everybody that comes to me
is in that covenant. I'm not going to cast you out.
And here's why it's that way. Because I came down. Isn't this
a beautiful passage? I should have had you turn there
and look at it, but just listen. Here's why salvation is certain. Because I came down from heaven
to do the will of my father. Condemnation is certain because
of your doing of God's will. Or not doing it. Because you're
doing of his will is you not doing it. Certain salvation is him doing
it. The old covenant is all about
you doing it. The new covenant is Christ doing
it. And he came down and did it. And that's why he said salvation's
certain. Because I came down to do the
will of my father. And this is what he sent me to
do. That of everybody in that covenant, everybody he gave to
me. Every sinner that's mine. Because the father gave them
to me. That not a single one of them will ever perish. But
I'm going to raise him up. At the last day. The certainty
of salvation rests upon the shoulders of God the son. He said it's
it's it they shall they shall be saved and here's why because
I can't The Father commanded me and I've obeyed. Read John 17 again. For thou art my rock and my fortress, you are. Here
it is again. You cause me to escape. You don't
just provide it, you cause it. You be my strong habitation,
and you are my rock. You're my rock, you're my fortress.
Salvation is Christ himself. And then in verse four, he said,
Lord, deliver me, save me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man, for you are my
hope, O Lord God. Thou art my trust from my youth. Just a thought or two here in
these last two verses. David said he was in the hand
of the wicked. By nature, we're in Satan's hand. Paul said that we're taken captive
by him at his will, 2 Timothy 2.26. We're in God's hand by nature,
not in a good way. Hebrews 1031, it's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And the context
of that verse in Hebrews 1031 is talking about the vengeance
of God against his enemies. You don't want to be in his hand
like that. But listen to the language of
our Savior in John 10, 27. My sheep hear my voice. That kind of goes with the verse
we just read. All that the Father giveth me,
my sheep, they come to me. Why? Because they hear my voice. I'll tell you this. My voice doesn't have any power.
But if you ever hear His voice, and how do you hear His voice?
By hearing this voice. But don't just hear this voice. Hear his voice. By God's grace,
may we hear his voice. He said, my sheep will, they
do. And I know them. And they follow me. This is that
certain salvation. And I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man. It says
any. It doesn't say man there by the
way that's in italics. This is neither show any plucked
him out of my hand that's man devil fallen angel Satan himself. Death. Neither show any plucked him
out of my hand. My father which gave them me
is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand. David said, Lord, deliver me
out of the hand of my enemies. And how does he do that? Well,
he takes you out of the hand of the enemy and hold you in
his. The hand of the omnipotent creator. The hand of the God of all grace,
the hand. Of Christ, the Almighty Savior. And David said, you're my trust,
oh Lord. You are my trust, oh Lord God,
and have been since my youth. God's gracious. You know, he
saves the thief on the cross in the last hour, at the last
moment. And that's unusual, isn't it?
How many people in your experience, and we don't know anything for
sure, we know that thief was saved because the Lord said,
you're going to be with me today. But even in our experience, how
many people do you know that have even confessed Christ after
cursing Him their whole life? Pretty rare, isn't it? But God
can save anybody. He'll save all of His sheep.
no matter how old they are, or how far gone, how far astray. But what a blessing, like David,
to be able to say from my youth, you revealed yourself to me,
Lord, a long time ago. And by your grace, through the
gift of your, of faith, the faith that you author, I put my trust in you a long
time ago. And I trust you today. And everywhere
along the way, all in between that, through all the trials
and troubles, through all the heartaches, through all the dark
times, on the mountains and in the valleys,
I've trusted you. And you know, there's a couple
of things about that We've been able to trust him all our lives.
Those of you who he revealed himself to in their youth, I
believe I was a pretty young man when the Lord began to, began his work in me. And I know
if he began it, he'll finish it. And all these years now,
I've been able to, he's proven trustworthy and still, I'm full
of unbelief. And yet by His grace, I do trust
Him. I trust the Almighty, the Sovereign. I have no confidence that the
God of this religious age can save anybody. God that's waiting on me, I don't
have much use for, but the God of this book, he's able. And our trust is based upon his
ability, our knowledge of him and who he is and his ability
to save. And by his grace, I trust him and I have for a good while
now. And I want to just close by repeating the prayer that
David prayed in verse one, don't ever let me put my trust anywhere
else. Don't ever let me be ashamed.
Don't ever let me be confounded. Don't ever let me confuse. Paul
said, I don't frustrate the grace of God, and may that ever be
so. Don't ever let me be confused
about how a sinner is saved. Don't ever let me be confused
about who God is, about his godhood, his almighty power to save. Don't let me deny the authority.
thereof, as religious people do. Don't let me ever have any
illusions about myself. Don't ever let me put any confidence
in this wretched flesh. Don't ever let me be confounded.
But by your pure, simple, clear gospel, teach me and keep me. Keep me close. Don't let me go. Uphold me by the word of your
power. Until the close, Lord, abide with me. That's David's
prayer and mine. Let's pray together.