All right, brethren, we'll begin
Psalm 109. I've got to adjust my hearing
aids here real quick. All right, Psalm 109. The Lord says here again, let's
read this in verse 30. This is the Psalm of David. He writes, I will greatly praise
the Lord with my mouth. Yea, I will praise him among
the multitude. For he shall stand at the right
hand of the poor to save him from those that condemn his soul. Judas betrayed the Lord. There was a host around the cross
that condemned our Lord Jesus Christ as He hung on the tree. They made a party out of it,
and they condemned Him, they scorned Him, mocked Him. And
we saw in John 15, our Lord said that this was the fulfillment
of Scripture. He said in John 15, 25, but this cometh to pass
that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law,
in their word. They hated me without a cause. Now here in Psalm 109, we find
a place where it's written. This is the judgment of the one
and only just judge, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is his judgment. This is His judgment toward His
seed, toward Judas and his seed, toward the serpent and his seed,
who hated Christ and who judged Him to be worthy of death without
a cause. Our Lord Jesus, the only righteous,
sinless man that ever walked this earth, with no sin. And he was judged and hated and
condemned by vainly religious men without a cause, as well
as by the irreligious world without a cause. Now look what he says
here. David's writing, but let's hear
the word of our Lord. Hold not by peace, O God of my
praise, for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
are open against me. They have spoken against me with
a lying tongue. They compassed me about also
with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause. There it is, without a cause.
For my love, they are my adversaries. But I give myself unto prayer. And they have rewarded me evil
for good and hatred for my love. Our Lord Jesus Christ is sinless. He walked this earth sinless.
He is God in human flesh and He is the just judge. He alone
knows them that are His and He alone knows the heart of men. Our Lord Jesus does. He is the
one and only judge. All judgment has been committed
to the Son. He's not only able to save His
elect and keep us and correct us and correct us and keep us
and keep us, He's also able to destroy those who reject Him. Now, we're going to read here
about some judgment. And this is just against Judas
and all the non-elect who have the same hard spirit as Judas. This is just. This is a just
judgment of God against all who love not the mercy of God, believe
not on Christ, rest in His unchanging grace, and find no righteousness
anywhere but Christ. Those that reject Him. And only
Christ can judge this judgment. But this was Judas' judgment
right here. And all the non-elect, the seed
of Judas, this is their judgment. Listen to our Lord speak. Verse
6, Set thou a wicked man over him, and let Satan stand at his
right hand. When he shall be judged, let
him be condemned, and let his prayer become sin. Let his days
be few, and let another take his office. The apostle Peter
quoted this concerning Judas in Acts He said it is written
in the book of the Psalms, let his habitation be desolate and
let no man dwell therein and his bishopric let another take.
And he's speaking of this Psalm right here of Judas. Verse nine,
let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his
children be continually vagabonds and beg. Let them seek their
bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch
all that he hath, and let the strangers spoil his labor. Let
there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be
any to favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off,
and in the generation following, let their name be blotted out.
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord,
and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before
the Lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them
from the earth. This is speaking of Judas and
his seed, all the non-elect who God shall judge. Now why? Why
such judgment against Judas and all who are like him? Why such
judgment? This is what the Lord said, verse 16. Because that
he remembered not to show mercy. but persecuted the poor and needy
man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. And first
and foremost, that poor and needy man, that broken in heart, is
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's all his people who he
saves by his grace who he makes broken and contrite in heart. He remembered not to show mercy,
but persecuted the poor and needy man that he might even slay the
broken in heart. As he loved cursing, that is,
as he loved to vilify and condemn, so let it come unto him. As he delighted not in blessing,
delighted not in the blessing of God, delighted not in Christ
and the mercy and grace and longsuffering and compassion of God to poor
and needy sinners, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing
like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like
water and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment
which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he's girded continually.
Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, and
of them that speak evil against my soul. Now that's God's judgment
of Judas and all his seed, all like him, who loved judgment
rather than mercy, who spoke against Christ and against those
Christ justified, and those Christ made righteous, those he chastens
and makes poor. He said there again in verse
16, because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted
the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken
in heart. We saw Sunday, our Lord said
that His children shall be hated. They'll be hated by the world.
And He's going to tell us in John 16 that they're going to
do this thinking they do God's service. He said in John 16.2,
they shall put you out of the synagogues, yea, the time cometh
that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. That's what they thought of Christ.
They thought they were doing God's service. They were killing
one they considered a blasphemer and a sinner. And he says they
will do the same to his people. Apart from God, making each of
us see. We are the sinner. Apart from God making us see,
we are the sinner. And then God showing us mercy
for Christ's sake. He shows us we're the guilty
one. And then He shows us mercy for
Christ's sake alone. And except He do this in the
heart of a sinner, Sinners never understand, they never understand
this, that in condemning others, they are only condemning themselves. One, we're all guilty in ourselves
of everything that we condemn others for. All of us. And two, condemning
others is doing exactly what Christ condemns in this psalm
and throughout his days. It's the proud spirit of an impenitent
heart that hasn't been made poor and broken. Turn to Romans 2,
Romans chapter 2. One, we're all guilty in ourselves
of everything we condemn others of. So God makes us see that,
and see we are the sinner, so thoroughly sinful in our flesh,
and yet shows us mercy. We'll never see that, but we
have to see this by God's grace, that we're guilty, we're guilty. And everything we condemn others
of, we're guilty. And not only that, but by condemning
others, we're guilty, because that's what Christ is condemning
here. Judgment belongs to the Lord. We're not the judge. We're just
not. That's Christ's business. Read
here in Romans 2.1. Therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judges. For wherein thou judgest
another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the
same thing. He's not just speaking to the
Pharisees here. He's making a statement about
us all. He ends up concluding, what shall
we say then? We're all guilty. We all sin
and come short of the glory of God. That's the point he's working
toward. But we're sure that the judgment of God is according
to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou
this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest
the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest
thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering,
not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. But after thy hardness and impenitent
heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath
in revelation of the righteous judgment of God. It's that hard,
impenitent heart that hasn't been broken, that hasn't been
made to see self as the only chief sinner, so that we can't
even utter a word. We can't lift our mouth in condemnation
against anybody. The only thing we can cry is,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Until we're there, the heart's
not repentant. It hasn't been brought to repentance.
It hasn't been broken. We haven't been made poor yet.
Now, God's saints, you and I, we know this to be a fact, we
can fall into a judgmental spirit because we have a sinful, pharisaical
sin nature in us. Not one of us have not done so.
Not a one of us. But Christ, for his child, now,
when that happens, just like it is with every other sin that
we're guilty of, He chastens his children in love. He chastens
us in love and he brings us to repentance over it. And it's
only those that he leaves alone that go on and on and on with
this impenitent, hard heart, refusing to show mercy, refusing
to forgive. The repentant are the poor. They're
the poor, they're the broken and the contrite by God's chastening
hand. And when we get puffed up and
we start thinking too much of ourselves and deceiving ourselves
and forget that we're nothing, God puts his chastening hand
on us again, strips us, brings us low, afflicts us, and brings
us to be the poor man. And we repent and we trust him
and we rejoice in his mercy. But those who condemn and cast
out Christ said they will go on in it to the end and they'll
even stand before Him in the judgment day and say, and boast
about it and say, Lord, didn't we cast out devils in your name? We cast them out. And yet, please
get this, please get this. Vainly religious men never realize
That is the very spirit Christ casts out. The only ones Christ ever warns
us of and says must be cast out are those that are not made to
mourn and not made to repent what we are in our own selves
and come to God's throne of grace begging mercy from Him. And Christ said it in his Sermon
on the Mount. He said, they'll come to me boasting,
didn't we cast them out? Didn't we cast them out? And
then he will say, depart from me. I never knew you that were
iniquity. That's the spirit our Lord will
cast out. Those at the foot of the cross,
going around the cross, and they're scorning, they're sitting in
the seat of the scorners, and they're reproaching Christ, and
they're mocking Christ. And they made their judgment
of Christ based on what they saw. Based on what they saw. Christ did no sin. There was
absolutely no cause in Christ for them to judge Him. but they
deemed him to be smitten of God. You know why? Because God put
him on the cross. God put him on the cross. They
were used to do it, but they judged God is killing him. God's doing this to him. Surely
he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Yet He
was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities,
and the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes
we're healed. Now let me ask you this. There
was many that day at the foot of the cross doing the exact
same thing, and Christ interceded for them, and said, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do. Why did He intercede
for them and then yet condemn Judas and the rest? Why? If we've done the same, and we
have, it's just certain we have, we have condemned, we've judged
brethren, those that profess to be Christ, and spoke evil
of them, and if we've done the same, why does God not condemn
His child? Why does Christ not to call for
the same judgment upon his children. Why? Because God gives more grace. And grace is the only reason.
Job's friends did to Job the exact same thing that Judas and
all the hellish hosts did to Christ on the cross. Job is an
eminent type of Christ. Job, besides our Lord Jesus,
no man ever suffered having everything taken from him Job did. He's an eminent picture of Christ.
And those men that came and condemned him did so just like men condemned
Christ. But God rebuked and chastened
Job's friends and had mercy on them. Look at Job 42.7. Let's look at this. Job 42.7. until you left there, Job 42.7.
Now why did the Lord do this? Listen to what He said, and look
at the picture here, Job 42.7. It was so, He brought Job, the
man, to repent in dust and ashes himself, and then Verse 7 says,
It was so that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job,
the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled
against thee, and against thy two friends. For you have not
spoken of me, the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven
books and seven rams. That's the number of perfection.
Take you seven bullocks and seven rams and go to my servant Job
and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. And my servant Job
shall pray for you, for him will I accept, lest I deal with you
after your folly, in that you have not spoken of me, the thing
which is right, like my servant Job. Why did God show them mercy
and not pour out judgment on them? God's grace. God's grace. In great mercy, God corrected
them. He corrected Job. He chastened
Job. That's what He was doing throughout
all Job's affliction. And what they saw in Job made
them come and condemn Job. And then He turned around and
He chastened them. He didn't condemn them like He did Judas
and the rest. He chastened them, He corrected them, and He sent
them to Job with these offerings, that Job might make the offerings
on their behalf and intercede with God for them, because God
said, Him I will accept. And that's an imminent picture
of Christ. Our Lord keeps bringing us to Christ, who intercedes
for us, who is the sacrifice God will accept, and for His
sake, He shows us mercy. And that's what He did to them.
So that for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, rather than judge
us and condemn us and cast us out because Christ has borne
the judgment of God and the justice and satisfied it completely and
His people are justified, righteous in Christ Jesus. When we sin,
God chastens us in love to bring us to see what Christ has done
for us. And in beholding what it took
to put away our sin, that's where we see how we have sinned over
and over again, and he shows us mercy rather than condemnation. As guilty as Job's friends were
in condemning Job, and as guilty as we are in doing it to one
another, God keeps showing mercy because Christ has justified
his people. The only just thing to do. It
just keeps going on. Cycle after cycle after cycle.
Division, division. Judging, condemning. Judging,
condemning. When is it ever going to stop?
When God brings His child to show mercy. If we all showed mercy and loved
as Christ loved us, it would stop. Is that not right? But toward those who never repent,
they never go to Christ broken and begging mercy. They go on
condemning those Christ has chastened. The same just judge shall condemn
them. Why? Go to Psalm 69. I want you
to see this. Here's why. This too in Psalm
69 is Christ speaking from the cross. He's speaking of himself
and he's speaking of those he chastens. Psalm 69, 26. Here's why. Same reason as we
see in our psalm. Psalm 69, 26. For they persecute
him whom thou hast smitten. And they talk to the grief of
those whom thou hast wounded. Christ is praying to the Father.
He himself has been persecuted by men like Judas and those that
were around the cross. And he's praying there in Psalm
69 just like in our psalm, imprecating those that are not his own and
calling for judgment upon them. And here's why he says it. Because
they persecute him whom thou hast smitten. And they talk to
the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. Those who crucified
Christ, they nailed him to the tree, they did what God before
ordained for them to do. But they meant it for evil. God
meant it for good to save much people alive. God smoked Christ
in place of His people. God took the sin of all His guilty
people and made Christ bear the sin of all His guilty people. And rather than condemning us,
He condemned Him. But in scorn, with Christ bearing
that affliction, bearing that being smitten of God in place
of His people. In scorn, they persecuted Christ
who God had smitten. And when Christ chastens His
children in love, strips us, strips us of everything we need
to be stripped of, makes us poor, Poor, poor in spirit, poor in
heart, so poor that we can't come to God with anything. He
doesn't do us good. But beholding our affliction,
they talk to the grief of those whom God has wounded. You've seen it happen. You've
experienced it happen. You're chastened, you're afflicted,
some terrible thing has happened and God has chastened you. And
they go about speaking about it and speaking and condemning
more and persecuting more and scorning more when it's God who's
smitten you. God will use us to speak a word
in season to a fellow believer. He certainly will. He'll use
us. He gifts his people in a measure,
some above others, to have this gift of his grace, to be able
to rebuke and to admonish and to exhort. But we must remember
Christ is the one lawgiver. He is the one judge, and we're
not. He alone is able to break our
heart. He alone must break the heart
of His child and bring us to Christ repentant and begging
mercy. Poor, poor, poor. And when His
child comes to Him confessing our sin and confessing our absolute
need of Christ, God delights to show mercy for Christ's sake. He's smitten us for that purpose.
He's pierced us in our heart for that purpose. To bring us
by His chastening hand so that we're not separated and lost
into this world, but we come to Christ and continue partaking
of His holiness. It's the only way we will. But
the Pharisees overstepped and attempted to take to themselves
the glory that belongs to Christ alone. The paradox is this. Here's the paradox. The Lord
said they will do this thinking they do God's service. Here's
the paradox. The Pharisees did this to Christ
and to his people, claiming a zeal for God's holy law, claiming
a hatred for sin, claiming that they were doing it for God's
glory. But the law that Christ's children are under is the law
of faith and love. That's the law we're under. We're
not doers of His law when we speak evil of one another and
condemn. We're not trusting Christ, we're
not trusting our brethren to Christ, and we're not loving
as Christ loved us. That is the service of God. That's the service Christ taught
His people that night when He kept saying over and over, love
one another as I've loved you. Don't let anything separate you. Look at James 4. I'll show you
that we're not doers of Christ's law when we become judges one
of another. James had to learn this, and
I've said this many times to you, that James' whole epistle
is what he learned when he tried to coerce the Jews to receive
Paul by asking Paul to take that vow. That's what this whole epistle
is about. He wasn't trusting the Lord.
And he learned from that, God chastened him and he learned
from that. Now listen to what he said here, James 4.11. Speak
not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his
brother and judges his brother speaketh evil of the law and
judges the law. He's speaking of Christ's law,
the law of love, the perfect law of liberty, the law of faith
and love. But if thou judge the law, thou
art not a doer of the law. but a judge. There's one lawgiver
who's able to save, and as we see in our psalm, that judgment
he's declaring, he's able also to destroy. But who are thou
that judges another? That's not our seat. That's Christ's
seed. Every child of God is taught
by our falls. Look back at James 2. Every child
of God is taught by our falls and Christ's continual mercy
to us. We're taught over and over and
over that Christ is the only one who has fulfilled the royal
law. He's the only one. He's the only
one. But by his mercy, he keeps teaching
it. And this is what James is reminding
us of, James 2.8. Let me see. Hold on one second,
let me get there. Maybe I had the wrong scripture,
let me make sure. Yeah, James 2.8. If you fulfill
the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself, you do well. But if you have respect of persons,
you commit sin and are convinced to the law as transgressors.
Is anybody here innocent? Are we not more lenient on our
own flesh and blood than others? That's respect of person. That's
what James is saying. We haven't kept it. Christ kept
it. We're righteous in Christ alone.
But listen to what he said. But if you have respect to persons,
you commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, yet offend in one,
just one point, he's guilty of all. For he that said, do not
commit adultery, said also, do not kill. Now if thou commit
no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor
of the law. So, here's the conclusion of what he's teaching. So speak
ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. That's the law of mercy. That's
the law of grace. That's that law of faith and
love. For he shall have judgment without mercy that is showed
no mercy. That's what he said in our Psalm. He loved to condemn, so give
it to him, condemn him. He didn't want mercy, don't give
him mercy. That's what Christ said of Judas
and his seed. He shall have judgment without
mercy, that is, show no mercy. And mercy, you that know something
about Christ's mercy to you, God's mercy to you for Christ's
sake, mercy rejoiceth against judgment, against condemning.
God may have to chasten us, but he's gonna keep us rejoicing
in mercy rather than judgment. We may start rejoicing in judgment,
and be puffed up, he gonna chase us and he gonna show us mercy
because he gonna keep his children rejoicing in mercy. You understand
what I'm saying? The Lord again makes us see that
in ourselves, we're the sinner. He makes you see this over and
over, and He continues though to draw you to Christ in loving
kindness, bringing you to Christ to His mercy seat, to His throne
of grace, and He keeps showing you grace. And by that, He keeps
making us love mercy. He keeps making us love mercy.
That's the true service to God that Christ taught that night
to His apostles. That's what He was saying when
He said, love one another as I've loved you. Do you need mercy? Did you need any today? Every
moment, every hour, and did you receive it? Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy, Christ said. But here's what he taught
us. He taught us to pray, forgive
us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And then he said, for
if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you. But if you forgive not men their
trespasses, neither with your Father forgive your trespasses.
That's what we see in our Psalm. Judas and his seed would not
be merciful, and they didn't receive mercy. Now, we sometimes
discern wrongly when we see the outward chastening. Go back to
our Psalm, Psalm 109. We discern wrongly when we see
outward chastening, wherewith the Lord chastens one of his
children whom he loves. That's what the problem was on
the cross. They judged he was smitten of God and afflicted.
Well, he was, but it was for his people's sake. But they judged
it was in God casting him out as they were casting him out.
But listen to Christ's description of himself here in this Psalm. The enemies only saw his outward
affliction on the cross, but listen to Christ's heart here,
too. Not just his affliction, but his heart. They couldn't
see that. They couldn't see his heart. They couldn't see where
he was in his heart. Listen to this, verse 21. But
do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake, because
thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me. The word wounded there in
this verb tense means pierced, pierced through. I am gone like
the shadow when it declineth. I am tossed up and down as the
locust. My knees are weak through fasting,
and my flesh faileth of fatness. I am become also a reproach unto
them, When they looked upon me, only seeing Christ's outward
affliction on the cross, they shaked their heads. They shaked their heads at Him,
and scorned, sitting in the seat of the scorner, condemning. Here
was His prayer. Help me, O Lord my God, O save
me according to Thy mercy, that they may know that this is Thy
hand, that Thou, Lord, hast done it. That You have come, and by
this You have saved all Your people from their sin. And this
is what every child of God is praying, Lord, make them to know
You've done this. You've done this. You've chastened
me. You've corrected me. And You've
done this for the salvation of me and all Your people. That's
what every believer is praying God would make others see about
themselves. just as the Lord has done for
them, just as Christ prayed. Verse 28, let them curse, but
bless thou. When they arise, let them be
ashamed, but let thy servant rejoice. Let mine adversaries
be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their
own confusion as with a mantle. He said, let them curse, let
them do what they will, Lord, but you bless. But you bless, Lord. Save your
servant. Every believer has to be careful
not to pray this imprecatory prayer against an individual
or even think it. It's one thing to pray for the
Lord to deal with our adversaries, our enemies in general, It's
wrong to pray so against anyone in particular. Had believers
prayed such a prayer against Saul of Tarsus or against Peter
when he denied the Lord, they'd have been dreadfully wrong, because
that was one Christ loved, and doing that against Christ, against
one he loved, would be doing it against him. But child of
God, now listen to this. If you suffer this, here's the
good news. Verse 30, I will greatly rejoice,
I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth, yeah, I will praise
him among the multitude, for he shall stand at the right hand
of the poor to save him from those that condemn his soul.
God is spirit. Who's this standing? Who's this
standing? The same one that was condemned
on Calvary's cross, who God our Father delivered. That's who's
standing by His people. Whenever they got ready to stone
Stephen and they were condemning him, Scripture says, he being
full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly into heaven and
he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of
God. And He said, Behold, I see the
heavens open, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand
of God. He's Jehovah Jesus. He's the
one spoken here of capital L-O-R-D, the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And though Christ stood in heaven at God's right hand, He was standing
at Stephen's right hand, too, in spirit. And when they began
to stone Him, He delivered Him from them, and He fell asleep.
And He took Him up to glory. Our Lord suffered preeminently
everything His people suffer. He did. He suffered it on the
cross. He was the poor. He was the poor
in spirit. He said there, I'm poor and needy,
my heart's wounded within me. He made Himself the least to
save us from our sins, to bear the wrath of God in our place,
and He is the greatest in the kingdom of glory. He said that.
He that's least in the kingdom of God is the greatest. That's
Him. That's Him. And God the Father stood at His
right hand and He delivered Him when He had satisfied justice
for His people. And so when God chastens His
child, when He chastens you, when you're poor, when you're
broken and contrite in heart, when He's afflicted you and wounded
you and stripped you, just like we read of Christ in this psalm,
similar to it where you're just stricken and you're smitten and
you're afflicted, this right here, When He does that to you,
and you see that done to a brother or sister, we should rejoice. Not that God's done that to them,
but that God's done that to them. Because that's His love and mercy,
to save His people. And we don't make ourselves poor
and contrite. He does it by His grace. He strips
us of all legal righteousness. He strips us of our tradition.
He humbles us down from our pride. He makes us see there's not one
ounce of good in our sinful flesh. And for every believer He chastens,
He makes us see our sins today. Today. Unbelief, pride, backsliding,
Our sin of speaking to the hurt of those Christ has chastened.
Speaking to the hurt of those Christ has chastened. And when
He's made us the poor man, that's when we'll justify God and condemn
ourselves. That's when we'll stop condemning
others. We'll justify God and condemn our own self. That's what it is to be poor.
The poor has nothing, absolutely nothing to bring to God, but
to beg for mercy. That's all he has. Verse 21,
he prays, Do thou for me, O God, the Lord, for thy name's sake.
Because thy mercy's good, deliver thou me. I'm poor and needy,
my heart's wounded within me. I'm gone like the shadow when
it declineth. I'm tossed up and down as the
locust. My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh faileth
of fatness. I became also an approach unto
them. When they looked upon me, they shaked their heads. Help
me, O Lord my God! O save me according to thy mercy,
that they may know that this is thy hand, that thou, Lord,
hast done it." And when you're in that place, Christ shall stand
at the right hand of the poor to save him from those that condemn
his soul. When the law brings a charge,
our advocate with the Father is Christ Jesus, our righteousness,
and He's our mercy seat. When the poor man's own flesh
and your own unbelief and your wicked heart begins to charge
you and say, you can't possibly be a child of God, the Spirit
of God's going to strengthen us in faith and hope by shedding
abroad the love of God in your heart. And you know then, you
didn't do it. When Satan accuses, Christ stands
at his right hand, just like he did Joshua the high priest,
and he says to the Lord, rebuke thee. This is one of mine. I've
robed him in my righteousness. And when men see God chasing
you for your sins, And they go about misrepresenting
the poor man's motives and speak to the hurt of God's child who
is wounded. Christ stands at his right hand
to save him from men that condemn his soul. And he does it because
Christ has stood there. He stood there. And brethren, Christ is that
friend that sticks closer than a brother. He is that brother
born for the adversity, for the adversity of his people. And
he's that brother who delights to show mercy because he experienced
it from God the Father when he bore our sins and stood as the
guilty one before God and God poured out justice on him and
when he satisfied his own justice, God justified him and raised
him and had mercy on him. He knows. He even knows what
that is preeminently. and he delights to show mercy.
And he does it for his own righteousness sake. So what are we to do? Child
of God, I'm not speaking to you as somebody
that's not done this. I'm speaking to you as somebody
that has done it. And I'm saying, let's never do this to brethren. Don't ever speak to the evil
or to the hurt of one that Lord has smitten and chastened. The
Lord's the judge. He knows what's best, He's doing
what's right, and He's gonna save His child. Don't doubt Him.
Don't doubt Him. But if you're enduring condemnation
from men, won't be merciful, won't forgive, and just incessantly
gonna, as Paul called it, what'd he
call it, overmuch sorrow. Do not do the same to them. Trust them to the Lord. Trust them to the Lord. And as you do, you trust the
Lord. You trust the Lord to save you.
Trust Him to save you. Christ is at the right hand of
the poor to save. And when you think you're going
to fall and that you just can't bear up any more under it, you
will find out His everlasting arms are holding you up. and
He's your refuge, and He's having mercy, and He's saving. Trust,
if those that are condemning are His children, He will chasten
them and bring them to repentance, just like He has chastened you
and has brought you to repentance, for which they are speaking to
your hurt. He will do the same for them.
And if all enemies that are not His He will cast them out. Trust your enemies to Him. And
you trust your own self to Him. And soon, very soon, He will
bring all of His people to sing this right here. He'll make you
sing, I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth. Yea, I'll
praise Him among the multitude. For He shall stand at the right
hand of the poor. I know it. That's what you'll
tell Him. I know He will. You can tell Him, I know He will.
He did it for me. He'll stand at the right hand
of the poor to save Him from those that condemn His soul.
Christ put away our condemnation. He's not going to let anybody
condemn His people. Amen.