Psalm 70 this evening. God's salvation. David speaks
in this psalm of God's salvation and I pray for wisdom to speak
of that to you tonight. This is a brief psalm, so we'll
take it a verse at a time, and I pray just a thought at a time,
and we'll miss a lot like we always do, but maybe the Lord
will give us something to bless our hearts tonight, to build
us up in the faith, and to make us grateful. Cause us to praise Him. Make haste, O God, to save me. Make haste to save me. Make haste
to help me, O Lord. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans
10-13, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. I believe that's what David's
doing here. Now people have used God's name
and called upon His name in some sense as a good luck charm or
called on God to satisfy their desire for earthly prosperity
or to get them out of the consequences of some evil they've done in
this life. But Paul said there in Romans
10 that in order to call upon God in the sense that he's talking
about, you have to believe on Him. How shall they call upon
Him in whom they have not believed? So you can't call this way without
faith. And that comes from God. Faith
is the fruit of the Spirit. Christ is the author of faith
and the finisher of it. By grace are you saved through
faith and that's not of yourselves. And you can't call on Him like
this without that faith. And of course in order to have
faith you've got to hear about Him. He said in that same chapter,
And in order to hear about him, somebody got to preach him. And for somebody to preach him,
God's got to send them to do it. And that's a beautiful... But faith's cry also is born
of a great need. David now, when you're bold enough,
does it seem bold to you that David says to God, hurry up?
Hurry up and save me. That's a little bold. When you're that bold, maybe
you're there. Maybe you're to that place where you're needy enough to cast all caution to the wind.
It may seem a little bold, a little forward of David, because it
is. But remember that the Lord Jesus Christ himself told Jacob,
let me go. And Jacob said, I will not. I'm
not going to do it. I can't. How are you going to
let him go? How are you going to let him
go? And Jacob said, I can't do it. I'm not going to do it. That
woman of Canaan in Matthew 15 was told by the Lord Jesus himself
that it wouldn't be right for him to have mercy on a dog like
her. And she just kept asking. She just kept begging. Got to
have it. It says in Mark 10 48 that when
Bartimaeus cried to the Lord for mercy it says many told him
to shut up But he couldn't do it it says
he cried the more a great deal When you've got to have mercy
from the Lord you'll have it Whosoever shall call with a heart
of faith, having heard the truth of God, shall call upon the name
of the Lord." God said, I'll save you. I'll save you. It sounds like David was to that
place where he had to have God's mercy. And when you are to that place,
there's just one place to go. It has been called, And I like this,
being shut up to Christ. When you're shut up to him. That's a good place to be. And
only Christ himself can take you there. Verse two, let them
be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul. Let them
be turned backward and put to confusion that desire my hurt.
David had many enemies. It seems that he was almost always
in some kind of a life and death conflict. Even when he wasn't
involved in an organized war against an army, he was in danger
from some treacherous enemy or another. Of course, the spiritual
lesson there is that only God can overcome our enemies, our
true enemies, our spiritual enemies. David resigned himself to God,
even in his physical trouble, but sure enough, and that's true
too, but sure enough now, when it comes to spiritual things,
we've got some serious enemies, and it is life or death, and
it's constant. And so we cry, we cry to God. I heard in a message recently
something that's been very helpful to me. It's been a blessing to
my heart. But very helpful also in a practical way to me. Paul
said, and we're talking about our enemies now. Our enemies.
Crying unto God in the face of our enemies. Listen to what Paul
said in Ephesians 6, 10. Finally my brethren, let's turn
over there. I want you to look at this. There's a couple of
things I believe the Lord showed me, especially in this chapter
tonight, that I want us to be careful to see. And I pray that
God would bless it, because that's everything. If He doesn't bless
it to our hearts, then it's just going to be gone before you go
out that door. And it'll be gone from me, too.
But this is, I believe, important. Ephesians 6.10, talking about
our enemies. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of his might. Be strong in the
Lord, not in the flesh. The flesh profiteth nothing.
Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. And listen to this, for we wrestle
not against flesh and blood. but against principalities against
powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against
spiritual wickedness in high places now clearly there is other
application of this passage than what I'm about to make he's talking
about Satan he's talking about wickedness in high places he's
talking about the conflicts that were that the church endured
in those specific times certainly but think about this and this
is how it was applied and was blessed to my heart. Our enemies
are spiritual. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood. When we have a conflict with
somebody, whether it's someone in this world, or at our job,
or one of our brothers and sisters in Christ, or even our wife or
our husband, whoever it is, you're not fighting that person. The
fight is going on in your heart. And we need to understand that.
Our enemies are spiritual. They're not physical. My brother's
not my enemy. My wife is not my enemy. Even
if we're fighting, she's not my enemy. My enemy's right in
here. And how are you gonna win if
you haven't even identified who the enemy is? The Lord teach
us that. Let's remember that. I pray that
God would remind us of that often. This is the battle that's got
to be won. And we need his grace to win it. Verse three, let them
be turned back for a reward of their shame. that say, ah-ha,
ah-ha. Just a thought or two on this,
this expression, ah-ha, ah-ha, that's the ultimate expression
of scornful pride. Even little children say that,
don't they? Ah-ha, you know, ha-ha. It's saying to your enemy,
look how much better I am than you, look how pitiful you are,
look how much stronger I am than you, look how much bigger I am
than you. You don't have a chance against
me. This is the very enemy that haunts our own hearts now. It's
pride. It's the pride of our own hearts
that we fight with more often than not. And it says, aha, aha. I want to be thorough here. There's
nothing wrong with desiring God's judgment against Satan and those
that work for Satan. And David was primarily, I think,
doing that here. But let's don't remember now,
let's don't remember that one of the times when David said,
he's saying here, let them be punished. Do you remember him
saying that before? One time he said, let him be
punished. And he was talking about himself
and didn't know it. Do you remember that? Let's remember that. When the prophet told him of
a great, wretched, vile sinner and something that he did that
was so repulsive that David said, whoever that is, you bring him
to me and I'll kill him. That's what he said. And Nathan
said, it's you, David, it's you. Let's remember that here now. Verse four, let all those that
seek thee rejoice. and be glad in thee. And let
such as love, by salvation, say continually, let God be magnified. Can we say that all the time?
All the time? In this situation, in that situation,
in this relationship, in that one, today, tomorrow, let God
be magnified. Now if God has, by His grace,
defeated all of our enemies, even our own wicked heart of
unbelief and pride, He suppresses it. He puts down the rebellion
of our own hearts. He said to us, He promised us,
sin shall not have dominion over you. Not my sin. It won't have
dominion over me. So He's defeated our enemies.
And of course the consequences of anything they do will never
suffer them. He said, let all those that seek
thee and those who have sought him have found him. Whosoever
calls upon him will be saved. If that's you, then rejoice and
be glad in the Lord now. That's a command. And you know
why? You know why? It's a gracious
command now. It's a gracious command. Our
God insists that we be happy. You know, you understand, you
parents understand that a little bit. I'm determined my children
are gonna be happy. Sometimes I'll even make them
do something that doesn't make them happy, and I'll say, you're
gonna like it, you're gonna be happy with it. Because I'm determined
that they're gonna be happy, one way or another. Well, that's
God, and He knows how to make us happy. But He commands us,
even in trouble, Rejoice in the Lord. Count it all joy when you
suffer divers troubles and trials. Count it all joy when you're
chastised. It's not joyous for the present,
but the Lord's dealing with you as one of his sons. You can't
rejoice in that. Now, rejoice and be glad. You
know why he commands that? Because it's just evil not to
rejoice. If you know, it's just evil,
isn't it? It's unbelief. And what a gracious command this
is. And all believers now, you think
about this. You may have heard this illustration
before, but it's a good one, I think. All believers, we're
fellows in the same ship. That's what fellowship is. We're
all fellows in the same ship. And we're all going to the desired
haven now. We're all traveling to the desired
haven. And we know how it ends. We're gonna arrive there. And
there is Christ. And it don't get any better than
that. We're carried upon the waves of this life. to our ultimate
port, to be with Christ forever. Now, on that ship, you can worry,
you can look at the icebergs and see the storms and fret over
the waves and perhaps wonder sometimes with great concern
whether we may be off course, or you can rest easy. You can
sit out on the deck and enjoy the sunshine. You can dine with
the captain himself. You can dance. You can enjoy
the journey. Either way, you're going to get
there. You're going to get there either way if you're on the ship
with him now. And I'll tell you this, I'm not
much of a dancer and I'm a great worrier. I'm a great worrier. But I'd sure like to learn to
dance a little bit more, wouldn't you? I would love to learn to
dance. Those who have experienced God's
salvation love God's salvation. He refers to that here, doesn't
he? Such as love thy salvation. If you've ever experienced it
now. What do they mean by God's salvation? Well, that's Christ.
Christ is the wisdom of God in saving sinners. He's the power
of God in saving sinners. He is himself salvation. We learn
that everywhere we look in this book. Those who love God's salvation
love Christ, who is Himself. The salvation of God. They love
that precious blood. We love to sing about it. That
purchased our salvation. We were bought with His precious
blood, redeemed, the love. We love free grace, don't we?
In Christ, that's salvation. You know, free grace makes us
savable. That's the only way God can save me, is by grace.
I love the love that moves God to save me. Don't you? I love
His love. Because it's free love. That
even though I was, while I was yet a sinner, He died for me. He loved me and gave Himself
for me. And I love that. He loved me
so that He sent His only begotten Son. Doesn't that just cause
you to to love him and his salvation. I love God's way of salvation,
don't you? I'm glad it's not like religion
says because I got people I love and there's no hope for them
that way. There wouldn't have been any hope for me if that's
the way sinners are saved by me taking the first step. I was
a dead man when Christ came where I was. I wasn't taking any steps. How about you? I love the way
that he says. I love the good Samaritan and
how he came right where that wretched man was. And you find
me one place in that whole passage of scripture about the good Samaritan
where that man did anything. The Lord picked him up and carried
him to the inn and paid his way and poured in oil and wine and
said, if he owes you any more, put it on my account. I'll be
back to take care of it. I love God's way of salvation. Accomplished. Finished. I love the means of salvation,
don't you? God's not going to save you now
apart from His Word. He can save sinners any way He
wants to, but the way He wants to, He declared, is by the preaching
of the Word. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching, and faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. I love the gospel, his means
of salvation, and sending a preacher, we talked about that from Romans
10 a while ago. God's got to send somebody, he's
got to preach, you've got to hear him, you've got to believe,
and you've got to call on God. And God arranges all that, I
love that, don't you? What a beautiful arrangement.
I've seen it happen right there before now. I've seen it happen,
and I delight in that. I love that it is God's salvation. What do you mean by that, Chris?
Well, David said this in Psalm 3, verse 8. Salvation belongeth
unto the Lord. It's His salvation. What does
that mean? Well, it's attributable unto
Him, all of it. He gets all the glory for it.
I love that. That doesn't happen by nature
now. Me getting no glory doesn't sit well with me by nature. But
now that Christ has done His work in us, I don't want any
glory to you. Not unto us, O Lord. Not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory. God, what does it mean specifically? Let's think this through. First
of all, God purposed salvation. It's His in its origination,
isn't it? In the very source of it, He purposed it. 2 Thessalonians
2.13, We're bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning.
That's before there was ever time. It's a beginning without
a beginning. That's what that word's talking
about. From the beginning, he chose you to salvation. And he's gonna save you by making
you holy and by giving you faith through sanctification of the
spirit and belief in the truth. He purposed it before we was
ever born. And then secondly, God purchased
salvation. Acts 20 28 take heed therefore
unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy
Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which
he hath purchased with his own blood with his own blood he purchased
us he purchased our salvation and we are a church because he
saved us Paul said in Romans 3 that we are justified freely
by God's grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The
redemption that is in His precious blood, through faith in His blood,
God saved us. And redemption is the purchase
price of freedom. He redeemed us with His blood.
He purchased salvation. And then God presented salvation
to us. He declared it. He set it forth. There in Romans 3, where we've
been quoting from, He set forth His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins, to declare His righteousness through the remission
of sins. He declares, He presented salvation
to us. We know of His salvation because
of His grace. We're saved because he purposed
to save us and purchased us, and now we know about it because
he presented it to us in his gospel. Our Lord said in Luke
4, 18, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
bruised he came to declare to set forth to present The salvation
of God Paul said in 1st Corinthians 1 17 Christ sent me to preach
the gospel to he sent me to present the gospel not to just baptize
people to just get people to come do something religious but
to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest the cross
of Christ should become of no effect and I'll tell you this, God presides
over salvation. He presides over it. What does
that mean? He doesn't leave it up to you. You know, to preside
means to govern, to manage. He's in control of it. The Lord
Jesus Christ, God the Son, said in John 17 to, Father, you've
given me power, authority over all flesh, that I should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. He presides over
it. He has the authority to cause
it. God the Holy Spirit produces
salvation in us. He brings it to pass. He said
to Nicodemus, you've got to be born from above. You've got to
be born of the Spirit, born again of the Spirit of God. Your experience
of salvation is not a decision on your part. It's a creative
work on God's part. God the Holy Spirit produces
life within you, new life. If you're in Christ, you're a
new creation of God. He produced somebody that didn't
exist before, a new you. And thank God that he does. And then finally God perpetuates
salvation. It continues because of Him.
He's the author, and He's the finisher. If He began a good
work in you, He will perform it. Paul said,
we're confident of that. We're confident of that. If He's
begun a good work in you, He'll perpetuate it. He'll finish it. He'll continue it. 1 Peter 1.5, we are kept by the
power of God, through faith, unto salvation, that's just ready
to be revealed. We're already saved. We just
don't even know yet how saved we are, but we're gonna find
out. It's ready to be revealed, isn't it, Dave? It won't be long
now. We're gonna find out what it
means. John 10, 27, my sheep hear my
voice, and I know them. And they follow me. And I give
unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Can you hear
the Son of God saying that about you? That's why I'm pretty sure
we're going to make it. I said we're going to make it.
We're not going to make it on our own. We're going to make
it because He said we're going to make it. He said my father which gave
them me is greater than all And no man is able To pluck them
out of my father's hand who my sheep that I laid down my life
for they'll never perish You see what David calls it God's
salvation In all of these things and for all of these reasons
we love his salvation And thank God Such is love, thy salvation, verse 5, but I
am poor and needy. Make haste unto me, O God. Thou
art my help and my deliverer, my Savior. O Lord, make no tarry. He often ends the way he begins,
but this is, this is, there's one, one lesson here now. to
keep in mind we who have been saved if you
have been saved and you love his salvation you haven't stopped
crying you haven't stopped saying lord save me have you those are the ones that say lord
save me the ones that have been saved you know that about him
don't you and about you You're not ever going to say, Lord save
me, until He saves you. And then when He does, you're
not ever going to stop. You're not ever going to stop. Are you
any less poor and needy than you were the day you met
God? Yeah, me neither. You and I are in urgent need
of Him. Right now. Right now. I need Thee every hour. O gracious
Lord. He gave us a heart to call upon
Him. May He give us a heart to call
upon Him. To urgently call upon Him. Let's pray.