All right, brethren, let's go
to Psalm 119. I'm sorry, verse 121. Psalm 119. David says, I have done judgment
and justice. Leave me not to mine oppressors. One of the oldest translations
makes this an address to God, and it says, O thou that doest
judgment and justice, leave me not to mine oppressors. And that
does fit this section of this psalm a little better. But the
Lord did bless David with spiritual judgment. He had spiritual discernment,
and David was a good king. He was a faithful king, and he,
by God's grace, exercise justice. Here's what it said of David. David defended the poor and fatherless,
and he did justice to the afflicted and the needy. Now he's in that
place, and that's what he's saying is, Lord, I've done justice to
the poor and the fatherless. I've been merciful to the afflicted
and the needy. And he says, Lord, lead me not
to mine oppressors. David is not putting confidence
in his works here. He knew he didn't do this in
perfection. He had made some errors in judgment,
sinned at times, and gave the oppressors some ammunition. And
he's not boasting in himself or trusting in himself, but David
is committing himself to the Lord that judges righteously.
That's what he's doing. He can't do anything to change
this and he's just committing his whole cause to the Lord.
We know he's not trusting in his own works or making a boast
because he asks the Lord to be surety for him and to be merciful
to him and to teach him. He said there in verse 122, be
surety for thy servant for good Verse 124, deal with thy servant
according unto thy mercy and teach me thy statutes. Now in
Christ, David was perfectly righteous. In Christ, when Christ did judgment
and justice, David and all God's elect did. did it perfectly in
Christ. And Christ put away all our sin
and justified his people. And God said, David is a man
after his own heart. And so this is how God, what
he said of David, God said, David reigned over all Israel and David
executed judgment and justice unto all his people. But in that
David, is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. David didn't exercise
judgment and justice and perfection. Our Lord Jesus Christ did, and
he does. And David being a king over political
Israel is a picture of Christ our king, the king of kings,
the Lord our righteousness being the king and savior over his
spiritual Israel. If you want to look there, Jeremiah
23.5 says this, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I
will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign
and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely,
and this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. So David here is a type of Christ. Now our Lord Jesus could say
this, and he could say this and mean it in perfection. He could
say, I have done judgment and justice, leave me not to my oppressors. In Christ, His people did judgment
and justice, and He justified us. And He didn't leave us to
our oppressors, and He didn't leave Christ to His oppressors.
When He finished the work, the Father raised Him and raised
all His people in Christ. What I want you to see here is
how the Lord Jesus used... He was ruling everything that
took place here, and I want you to see how He used this oppression
that David was under for David's good. I've titled this Christ's
Use of Oppression. David was oppressed. He was being
required to pay what he couldn't pay. And he was pressed down
and oppressed, but the Lord blessed this to grow David in understanding,
to grow him in love for Christ. So David He's here committing
his cause to the King of Kings and the Lord, the Lord our righteousness,
who judges righteously. That's how the Lord can use oppression
to bring you where David was brought right here. Now let's
see this. First of all, Christ will use
oppression in this world to draw us to him, to call upon him to
be our surety. to depend upon Him who is our
surety. He said there in verse 122, be
surety for thy servant for good, let not the proud oppress me. David's asking the Lord to undertake
for him. Take up my cause, stand for me. Be surety for thy servant for
good. Christ is surety for all God's
elect. Now listen to Hebrews 7.22, by
so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament, a better
covenant. What is a surety? What is a surety? A surety binds himself to stand
good for another, to save another and protect another and deliver
another. You know the illustration in
Genesis 43. If you want to look there, Genesis
43, Judah became surety for Benjamin. And here's what he said. Listen
to this. This is what the Lord Jesus did in eternity for God's
elect. Genesis 43 and verse 8, Judah
said unto Israel, and Judah said this to Jacob, his father, He
said, send the lad with me. Benjamin's the youngest son and
Jacob loved him. He didn't want to see anything
happen to him and he needs, Joseph's requiring him to be brought down
into Egypt. And he says, Judah says, send
the lad with me and we will arise and go, that we may live and
not die, both we and thou and also our little ones. I will
be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him, if I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee,
then let me bear the blame forever. Christ. In eternity, he willingly,
voluntarily placed himself in servitude to God as the surety
of all God's elect. He entered a covenant to obey
God's will for his people, to fulfill the law of God for his
people. He entered a covenant to make
his people righteous by his obedience, justifies from all our sin, put
away all our sin, And he promised, I'll be surety, I will bring
each and every one of these elect children to you, Father, without
spot and without blame. And whenever Christ stepped forth
in eternity and said, I'll be surety for them, For each and
every single child that God chose in Christ, for each one of them,
when the Lord Jesus did that, God said, deliver him from going
down into the pit. I found a ransom. I found one
that'll be surety for him. I found somebody that'll be surety
for them. Now scripture says, Psalm 1115
says, he that surety for a stranger shall smart for it. If you're
surety for someone, it's gonna be painful. And the Lord suffered
divine judgment on the cross in place of all His people. Now,
when the Lord Jesus cried from that cross, and you could hear
Christ speaking here, in a sense the Father was surety for the
Lord Jesus in that He entered covenant that He would, when
the work was finished, He would raise the Lord Jesus, set Him
at His right hand, give Him glory above all, power above all as
the God-man. And you can hear Christ pray
here, be surety for me. Lead me not to my oppressors. Mine eyes fail for thy salvation. You just see him on the cross
suffering under the wrath of God in darkness, his eyes failing. I'm waiting for the word of thy
righteousness. Deal with thy servant according
to thy mercy. But when our Lord Jesus Christ
is finished, when He said it is finished, you know what He
said? He said what verse 1 says, I have done judgment and justice. And He said it in perfection.
That was the prophecy in Isaiah, He shall not fail until He has
set judgment and justice in the earth. And He did that on Calvary's
cross and He does that in the hearts of His people when He
gives you a new heart. And when He did this, Christ
delivered His people from every oppressor. Sin oppresses, He
delivered us from sin. Satan oppresses, He delivered
us from Satan. The world, death, hell, all these
things that pressed us down and was a weight too heavy for us,
the Lord delivered His children from these, and He raised victorious,
came victorious to God's right hand, and when He had by Himself
purged our sins, He sat down. And now God's just to show mercy
to his people in Christ for Christ's sake. Because before God, before
the law, we have no sin. The law made nothing perfect.
Hebrews 7.19. The law made nothing perfect.
Nobody ever was made perfect by anything done in the law. But the bringing in of a better
hope did. Christ made his people perfect. by the which we draw
nigh unto God." The only way to come to God. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only way. The only
way God will receive a sinner is through faith in His Son.
Through faith in His Son. And that truly is the evidence
that the Lord did it for you, is if you're brought to cast
it all on Christ and believe on Him alone. David had been a faithful king. He'd been a faithful king. But
this is one way right here, you know, yes, he had done judgment
and justice. He had been merciful to the poor
and the afflicted and the needy and those that were incapable
of doing anything to save themselves. He'd been just in his dealing
with them. But this is one of the ways the
Lord keeps his servant from being puffed up in pride. the Lord
sent these oppressors, or just permitted them to come. It was
in their heart to do it, and he just let them do it. And by that, he drew David to
cast all his care on Christ. He's praying, be surety for thy
servant for good. He doesn't even tell him what
to do. He just says, Lord, be surety for me for good. However
you do it, it'll be fine. Let not the proud oppress me.
John Trapp pointed out that this verse, in all this long psalm,
this is the only verse that doesn't mention God's law, it doesn't
mention God's statutes, it doesn't mention the word of God at all.
Instead, you have a sinner crying out to Christ his surety. He's the word. You have him crying
out to Christ the surety. And here was John Trapp's scripture
to go with that. what the law could not do and
that it was weak through the flesh. You don't see any mention
of the law in this verse, but you see Christ the surety. What
the law cannot do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God
said in his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, enforced sin,
condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit. If the Lord left us to the demands
of the law, we'd be oppressed to the dust. If the Lord left
the devil, and we had to contend with the devil, we'd be oppressed
to destruction. He was successful in beguiling
Eve and Adam sinned and plunged the whole world into sin. If he left us to our sin nature,
we'd be oppressed until we completely and totally fell away. If he
left us to the enemies of this world, we'd be oppressed and
we'd perish. that the Lord Jesus entered covenant,
not only to make His people righteous, not only to bring us to the Father
in Him when He arose and sat down, but also to quicken each
one of His children that He redeemed, and to preserve them, and to
bring every single one of them to the Father without one spot,
unreprovable for the all-seeing, all-knowing eye of God. If I
bring him not unto thee and set him before thee, then let me
bear the blame forever. That's the covenant surety word
of our Redeemer. Believer, you see, sometimes
we don't think of surety in this regard as David being troubled
in just a daily trial and season he's going through. But he's
our surety to save us in those times. just like he's our surety. And he's a surety at hand. He's
nigh at hand. Cry out for Christ to be surety
for you in every trouble. If he comes in spirit, he comes
in spirit and he comes through this gospel just as real as if
he came in bodily presence to you. And he makes you know that. He won't let you be plucked from
his hand. What a blessing to be brought to where David was
brought right here. For the Lord to use oppression
in this way, to bring his child to leave all his matters in the
hands of Christ his surety. You see how good that was for
David? Now secondly, Our Lord on the cross, he had to wait. He had to suffer till justice
was satisfied, and he waited in darkness. And our Lord learned
as a man what he suffered there. He learned what's best in teaching
you and me. And our Lord will wait to the
appointed time, and he does it for this reason, to make us look
only to him. to make you look only to Him.
Look at what David's doing in verse 123. Mine eyes fell for
thy salvation. The Lord waited. The Lord didn't
come to David right away. And David's looking. He's looking
for the Lord with the eyes of faith. He's looking for the Lord. And his eyes began to fail, looking
for Christ his salvation. He wept, and he was watching,
and he's waiting, and his eyes became halt. He got to the point where he
was just about to fail. But child of God, though, our
eyes fail, and here's the lesson. Our eyes fail. Everything about
us will fail, but Christ's eyes never fail. He's looking upon
His children at all times, and He knows what's best for us.
And that's what He's teaching you and me. That's what He's
teaching you and me. And not only did He look, His
ears were waiting for the Lord's Word. The ears of faith. He's waiting for the Lord to
speak. Verse 123, He said, And for the word of thy righteousness. He's waiting for Christ His righteousness
to speak into His heart, to use His Word. because he don't know
what to do. David don't know what to do.
Now, what did the Lord bring you to do the very first hour
he ever called you? He brought you to do what David
did, to cast your care on Christ, to beg mercy from him, to beg
him to be your surety and save you, and then you had to wait
for the Lord to give the righteous verdict in your heart. That's what we did the first
hour we believed. We looked to the just judge to
give the verdict. The word of his righteousness.
This is what God brings his child to do when you're oppressed. We look to Christ and we wait
for Christ and we're waiting for his word of righteousness. We want him to instruct us in
our own heart and we're waiting for him to teach us what to do. through his gospel, through his
word. David doesn't appeal to God on the foundation of his
righteousness. That's not what he's appealing
to God on. He's appealing to God on the ground of Christ's
righteous covenant word. That's how Christ is a surety.
This all has to do with the covenant. And that's the word, righteous
word, he's waiting on for the Lord to speak to him. David here,
he's very simply, he's committing his cause to the Lord that judges
righteously. He's leaving his reputation entirely
in the hand of the just judge, the Lord is righteousness. That's
what salvation is. Salvation is you being brought
to trust Christ with your entire spiritual, eternal salvation. To be the just judge who declares,
he's justified, I made him righteous. And everything you're going through
in this world, the Lord will put you in positions where you
can't deliver. And he brings you there to trust
Christ. to vindicate and to trust Christ
and your whole self into his hand. That's what David's doing.
That's what is committed to him that judges righteously. David
had been faithful, but he knows this. He knows if the Lord marks
iniquities, he can't stand. He knows that about himself.
You know that about yourself. I know that about myself. If
the Lord marks iniquities, I can't stand before him. So what does
he ask the Lord? He asks the Lord for mercy. He
asks the Lord in verse 124, deal with thy servant according unto
thy mercy. He will show mercy. The Lord
Jesus satisfied justice for his people, so mercy is an act of
justice for him. It's an act of God's justice
to show his people mercy. And to send justice not to. This
is Christ our intercessor who's made us righteous and he pleads
with the Father and it's an act of justice for him to be merciful
to his children. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Think about that. It's God that justified them. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, rather that's risen again, who makes intercession
for us. He's before the Father. He's
our righteousness before the Father. And he's the one that's
going to speak the word of righteousness into our heart to make us cast
it all on him and to keep casting it all on him. David didn't know what to do.
He didn't know what to do. So he did the one thing we should
always do. If you don't know what to do,
don't do anything. But there's one thing you should
always do. He asked the Lord to teach him. He asked the Lord
to give him understanding. He said, verse 124, and teach
me thy statutes. I am thy servant. Give me understanding
that I may know thy testimonies. This is what the Lord Jesus did
when he walked this earth. He depended on the Father entirely
to teach him. Now, he did it in perfection,
and he's our righteousness in this. He's our acceptance in
this. But he's teaching us, too, to
do the same thing. Here you have the servant, he's
looking to his master to teach him. Christ is our King, but
he comes lowly and teaches his servants. And he says here, I
need mercy because at my best state, I come short of the glory
of God. Lord, I'm going to need mercy and I need the Lord to
teach me and give me an understanding due to my own ignorance. That's what the Lord is showing
us. We need mercy due to our sin and we need him to teach
us and give us understanding because we're ignorant. That's so of every single body
he saved, and that's never not so of us in this life. We never
do arrive at a point where we're so wise that we don't need him
to teach us. And he didn't just ask God to teach him, he asked
him to give him understanding. He wasn't asking this through
acquired knowledge. He's asking the Lord to graciously
teach him and give him the gift of understanding, spiritual discernment,
to know what's best. That he might know thy testimonies. Only the master, only Christ
can do both of those things. A man can teach you, but a man
can't give you understanding. Christ can do both, and he does
both for his child. He teaches us and he gives us
understanding, spiritual judgment. that I might know thy testimonies."
When you're where David was, that word testimonies is witnesses,
the record. When you're where David was,
you know what you need again? You beg God again for, you're
begging God to one more time give you the record. This is
the record. God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life's in his Son, and he that hath the Son
hath life. Lord, I need you to teach me and give me spiritual
understanding, give me spiritual discernment to know you're telling
me I'm accepted in the Beloved. You ever been where you need
to hear that again? You need the Lord to give you
that again in your heart. And give me understanding that
I might know and run the way of your commandments. Do what
you've taught me. This is the spirit of one who
sees his own weakness and his own insufficiency. You know,
David's not praying and asking God for this and then trying
to accomplish it himself. He's dependent on the Lord. This
is the spirit of somebody who's truly been humbled and broken
in their heart. This is the spirit of absolute
unworthiness, of knowing I'm unworthy for the least of God's
mercies. This is a spirit of submissiveness,
asking there for God's grace to do good for him and just trusting
God to do it however he's pleased to do it. This is the faith of one who's
looking for the friend that sticks closer than the brother, for
Christ in the wisdom and power of God, who's promised that he
will succor us, he will give you comfort and help in time
of need. That's who he's looking for. You see how the Lord did good
for David in this? That's very good for a sinner
saved by grace to be brought there, right there. If your child
was brought right there, wouldn't you be happy? Wouldn't that just
thrill your soul if that's where your child was brought, right
there, to look to Christ just like David's doing? That's what
pleases God, the Father. for us to look to his Son. The
Lord drew him to cast all his care on the Lord. The Lord made
him more diligent to want to know and understand the word
of the Lord and walk after the Lord. And the Lord does this. He just keeps doing this for
you and that's how he grows you. Now here's the last thing I want
you to see. And this is most important of everything we've
seen. David was at a place where the Lord had shown him anew. The Lord's the only one that
could work these works. The Lord's the only one that
could do it. He said in verse 126, it is time for thee, Lord,
to work, for they have made void thy law. David looked all about
him. He realized he couldn't do one
thing. The righteous man was scarce in the nation. Men were running after sin, love
sin, and David knew only the Lord could save him and save
his people from the oppressor. David knew that. It's time for
Thee, Lord, to work. The Lord's always working. He's
always working and He's always on time in what He does. to work his good pleasure. I
love Galatians 4, verse 4 says, when the fullness of the time
was come, that's when the Lord came forth. God sent forth his
son, made of a woman, that's when he came forth and redeemed
his people, when the fullness of the time was come. The Lord
works when things are at their very worst. Now, He's always
working, but you see this over and over in Scripture. The Lord
works when things look their very worst and absolutely impossible. When the earth was without form
and void, the Lord created the earth and then it was without
form and void. That's about as bad as you can
get, without form and void. And that's when the Spirit moved
upon the face of the deep, and God said, let there be light,
and there was light. The Lord said beforehand what was going
to happen to the children of Israel, and to the day they ended
up in Egyptian bondage, and when it got the worst it could possibly
get, and there was absolutely no doubt about it that they could
not free themselves from Egyptian bondage. to the very day that
God told Abraham 430 years before he would do it. He sent Moses,
and he delivered him. When Christ came the first time,
Israel had been cut down to a stump. None of the glory they had before,
and they're in bondage to Rome, and the witnesses are falling
in the street, nobody's preaching the gospel. And the Lord sent
John the Baptist and Christ came to town. And he does this individually
in his children. When the Lord saved you, I know
what he did. Because I know what he does for
his people. He brought you to the end of yourself. He brought
you to see, it can't get no worse with me. And then he quickened you. Called
you, showed you that he'd done the work. Now every generation
I know thinks that their day is the worst. And we see the
world, we see how just quickly things went. And we cry, it's
time, Lord, for thee to work. The Lord knows it's time. He
knows it's time. This was a little bit of the
reason David needed to pray for mercy because he was waiting,
he was tired of waiting. He said, Lord, it's time. The
Lord knows it's time. The Lord knows it's time. God's
faithful. He always works in the right
time according to the counsel of His own will. You see, He
was working all this together. We read the Scripture, He works
all things together for good. This right here that David was
suffering was all being worked together for David's good. That's
what we're seeing. It was even worked for his good
using oppressors. David was made more dependent
on the Lord. He was made to love God's commandments
more and to hate every false way more. He said there, verse
127, therefore, because the Lord had worked this, therefore, I
love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. Now again, Christ is the only
one that can say that in perfection. He never had a place to lay his
head. He who made everything never owned a home. Somebody said, the wicked are
hurt by the best things, but the godly are bettered by the
worst things. And that's true. That's true. This is how God wins us from
this world. He said, therefore I love thy
commandments above gold, above fine gold. By God's blessing this, rather
than turn David from God, this oppression drew him to Christ
and made him love God's word more. Listen to what Cowper wrote
on this. He said the psalmist could not
boast that he had always kept the commands, but he could declare
that he loved them. He was perfect in heart, that
new man in which is no sin. And he wanted to be perfect in
life. He judged God's holy commands to be better than the best earthly
thing. Yea, better than the best sort
of the best earthly thing, better than fine gold. Now get this
part. And this esteem was confirmed
and forced into his expression by those very oppositions of
the world which drive hypocrites to forsake the Lord and His ways. The very oppression that will
make men leave the gospel and go out for the world and love
fine gold and hate God's commandments, that very suffering that he sends
his child makes him just submit to the rod and makes him love
God's Word more. This is one of Copper's writings.
He said, The dealer for their rage, thy words I love and own,
a wealthier heritage than gold and precious stone. Are you oppressed? Are you oppressed? Cast all your
care on Christ, our surety. He settled judgment for His people. He delights to show mercy because
it's just. He'll teach you and give you
understanding, only He can. He'll make us love His commandments
more than fine gold and hate every false way except Christ
the way. That's what He's doing for us
more and more as we go. And He won't lose one. He will
not lose one. He is not going to lose one.
He's going to present each one to Himself in His righteousness,
in His holiness, so that we are without spot before God. Ask Him to be surety for you.
Have you done that? When you're troubled, have you
just asked Him, Lord, would you be surety for me? If God be for us, who can be
against us? You see how the Lord used this
suffering of oppression and taught David. I'm telling you, that's
what the Lord's working in every single... What happened? When
you got that news, Ravi, what happened? Went to call it on
God, didn't you? When you heard it, what happened?
You went to asking God, have mercy. That is the purpose. Teach me,
Lord. Teach me. And now that he has,
there's another purpose in it. Thank him. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. It's good for
me that what? I've been afflicted. That I might
learn your statutes. All right, I pray God will bless
it.