Well that song was perfect because
tonight we are literally hearing Christ teach us His way. That
scripture reading was appropriate because tonight God is showing
us that way of escape. If I could ask you brethren to
listen to some sermons, I would encourage you to listen to that
message from Romans 13 titled the day is at hand. I would encourage
you after that to listen to that sermon from Thursday night on
A Wilderness Worthwhile, and I'd encourage you to listen to
this one again. Psalm 64 verse 1 says it's to
the chief musician a psalm of David. But as we read this psalm,
I want you to hear Christ praying to the Father while He's in this
earth as the God-man mediator. He's describing his enemies and
he's describing what God does for those that do what he did.
This is Christ speaking. Now listen to what he says here,
verse 1. Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer. Preserve my life
from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel
of the wicked. from the insurrection of the
workers of iniquity, who wet their tongue like a sword and
bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words, that
they may shoot in secret at the perfect. Suddenly do they shoot
at him and fear not. They encourage themselves in
an evil matter. They commune of laying snares
privily. They say, who shall see them?
They search out iniquities. They accomplish a diligent search. Both the inward thought of every
one of them and the heart is deep. But God shall shoot at
them with an arrow. Suddenly shall they be wounded.
So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves. All that see them shall flee
away. And all men shall fear and shall declare the work of
God. For they shall wisely consider
of his doing. The righteous shall be glad in
the Lord and shall trust in him. And all the upright in heart
shall glory. Our subject is the response of
the perfect. the response of the perfect.
We see there in verse 4, they shoot in secret at the perfect. Suddenly do they shoot at him
and fear not. The perfect is the one speaking. The perfect is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Nobody has ever endured the bitter
words of enemies like the perfect Lord Jesus Christ when he walked
this earth. Has anyone hearing this ever
been slandered or reviled by men? What was your response? We failed miserably. We reviled
back. We defended ourselves. Probably
did some reviling of our own. And if we didn't do it with our
mouth, we did it in our heart. You ever been there? But we see
here the response of the perfect. Christ is not only our salvation,
but He's left us an example to follow. And here's the point. When our Lord Jesus was attacked
by His enemies, He committed all to God the Father, and we'll
see what God did and what He does for those who commit all
to Christ. Now first, we'll look here at
Christ's description of His enemies. And then we'll see the response
of the perfect. And then what God does for those
who commit all to Him. Now first of all, Christ describes
His enemies. And as we look at this, I want
you to be sure to remember, this is you and this is me. This is
the sin nature of every sinner as we come into this world. His
enemies were the workers of iniquity. under the power of the devil. Verse 2, he says there, he calls
them the wicked. Hide me from the secret counsel
of the wicked. And that's in the singular. And
first and foremost, that's the devil. But he has many workers. He describes them there as the
workers of iniquity. The Sanhedrin and the Pharisees
and the Sadducees and a host of wicked sinners all sought
to kill our Redeemer. We read it in scripture reading. They were sinners under the power
of the devil. Now they were children of the
devil. Many of them were. Our Lord Jesus said, year of
your father the devil and the lusts of your father you will
do. And here it is. He was a murderer
from the beginning. And he abode not in the truth
because there is no truth in him. Now all are not children
of the devil. Some of us, by God's grace, were
chosen before the foundation of the world in Christ, and we
come into this world children of God. However, we all come
into this world walking according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedient.
Christ describes how they worked iniquity. Verse two, he describes
it as the secret counsel of the wicked. They thought they could
plan and scheme and no one would see. Natural man doesn't believe
that God is all-knowing. He doesn't believe God knows
everything, even the heart. There are no secrets before God.
Verse 2, he speaks of the insurrection of the workers of iniquity, insurrections
of violent uprising against authority. It was a tumult. That's a loud,
confused noise. They wanted others hating the
one they hated. That's what it boils down to.
They wanted others to hate the one they hated. And so they stirred
up insurrection and they stirred up a tumult against the Prince
of Life. Bitter words were their weapons.
It says verse 3, who wet their tongue like a sword, bend their
bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words, that they may shoot
in secret at the perfect. Suddenly do they shoot at him
in fear not. Spiritually dead sinners have
no fear of God before their eyes and no fear of Christ as God.
And they do what they do secretly and suddenly. They want to be
a surprise and secretly and suddenly inflict the most damage. Spiritually
dead sinners commune with each other, encouraging each other
in ways to work evil against Christ. Verse 5, they encourage
themselves in an evil manner. They would embolden themselves
that this is going to work, this will work to get him. They commune,
that means their hearts were taken up with this and this was
their communion. You know, they didn't agree with
each other, Pharisees, Sadducees, but they were in communion on
this. Hate Christ and destroy Him.
To lay these snares privately, they say, who shall see? But
our Savior knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. This
is Him right here describing the thoughts and intents of their
heart. Dead sinners search diligently to find ways to commit iniquity
against God. Verse 6, they search out iniquities. They accomplish a diligent search. That means they do their homework
on how to best accomplish it. But here's the thing, they only
accomplish it if it's the will of God for His glory and the
good of His people. That was so with Christ. Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee. The remainder thereof shalt
thou restrain. Now, what's the problem in all
this? Where's all this coming from? Here's the problem. It's
the natural sin-dead heart in a sinner. Verse 6, he says, both
the inward thought of every one of them and the heart is deep. Now, brethren, unless the Spirit
of God irresistibly, graciously create in us a new heart, an
upright heart, that is the enmity against God in every carnal mind. Everything we just read there. Jeremiah said, the heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. Our Lord
Jesus Christ said, from within, out of the heart of men. Out of the heart of men proceed
evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness,
wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness. All these evil things come from
within and defile the man. God says through Solomon, now
listen to this, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil
and madness is in their heart while they live. And after that
they go to the dead. Now you think of this madness.
What madness would it reveal about a man if he was on life
support and he did everything he could possibly do to try to
destroy that life support machine? That would reveal madness. And
that's what we do by nature as sinners. Our natural life comes
from Christ and he sustains it. And yet, just like these scribes
and Pharisees, while dead in our sins, we spend our lives
fighting against the Prince of Life, who gave us life and sustains
it. We take the breath He gives us
and curse Him with it. And we wouldn't have that breath
if He didn't give it to us. That's the utter madness of our sin
nature. Now, God's the only one who can
reveal to us the depravity of our hearts. He's the only one
that can make us see our sins. But when He does it, you know
it. You know it then. You can revile
a man and point a finger at a man and curse a man and browbeat
a man and it won't work. But when God reveals it, it's
done. Only God's irresistible grace
can save a sinner from himself and from his hatred of God. And
that's why salvation must be all of God's grace. Knowing this about ourselves,
brethren, knowing this is what we are right here, this should
help me and you when we're reviled by others, accused and slandered. It ought to help us because we
should remember they're sinners just like we are. That same thing
is in me and comes out of me far too often. And that ought
to help us, and it should help us do what Christ Jesus the perfect
did. So secondly, what was the response
of the perfect? How did the perfect Lord Jesus
respond to his enemies? And I pray God would give us
grace to respond this very same way. I need that grace. Verse 1. Here's how he responded. Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer. preserve my life from fear of
the enemy, hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked, from the
insurrection of the workers of iniquity. And we see Christ's
condescension here. Christ is God. He is God. He is the creator of heaven and
earth. He is God. And He could have
summoned more than twelve legions of angels right here to come
to His defense at any time when He faced His persecutors. But
as the representative of God's elect, the Son of God took flesh
and He became entirely dependent upon God the Father. He walked
by faith. This is Christ the perfect. This
is perfect submission. This is perfect faith and fidelity. This is perfect holiness and
righteousness. This is the perfection of every
believer. Christ the perfect. Now notice
what He did not do. When he was reviled, he did not
revile again. He didn't defend himself. He
didn't explain anything to anybody. He didn't try to attack his attackers.
It would not have been perfect submission. It would not have
been faith. It would not have been holiness
to the father to revile again. And he didn't. None of us likes
for someone to malign our character and our reputation. None of us
likes it when things are said about us that are not true. But
you and I are sinners. Now we don't want things to be
said about us that are true and we're guilty, but we're sinners. And if someone misses us with
one accusation, they can get us with another one. Because
we're sinners. But this is Jesus Christ the
perfect. In Him is no sin. He said, which
of you convinces me of sin? Nobody did. He knew no sin. He had a character and a reputation
worth defending. And yet when He was reviled,
He didn't defend it. He didn't revile again. I pray
God to help us to remember, if our perfect Savior did not revile
again, and let us, the imperfect, learn not to revile again. But what was the response of
the perfect? What did he do? He committed
himself to God who judges righteously. Did you see those three requests? He asked, hear, he asked, preserve,
and he asked, hide me. First of all, he said, Hear my
voice, O God, in my prayer. He used his tongue for the very
best purpose. He committed himself to God his
Father. And when he asked this, he said
not simply, Hear my prayer. He said, Hear my voice in my
prayer. We never want to pray to be seen
of men. And we never want to pray to be seen of God. We don't
want to be heard for our much speaking. The Pharisees stand
on street corners and they make long prayers for those very reasons.
And Christ went against it. We want God to hear our voice.
That's what we want. We want God to hear our voice.
The earnestness, the hunger, the need, our utter dependence
upon the Father. That's what He means. And since
our perfect substitute is our intercessor, most importantly,
we want God to hear Christ's voice when we pray. His is the
voice. The watchman, thy watchman shall
lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing. If
all you hear is my voice preaching, even if I lift up my voice in
agreement with every preacher on this earth, it will do you
no good. But Christ said, My people shall
know My name, therefore they shall know in that day that I
am He that doth speak. Behold, it is I. Thy watchman
shall lift up the voice, with Thee voice together shall they
sing. The same is true of prayer. If
all God hears is my voice, I'm in trouble. But Christ is the voice that
makes our preaching and our praying effectual. And when we pray,
we want Christ to intercede and we want Him to say this, Hear
my voice, O God, in their prayer. That's what I want. I want Him
to say, Hear my voice, O God, in their prayer. He's our advocate
with the Father. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, the perfect. And
He is the propitiation for our sins and for His people all over
the world. But you see there, He didn't
revile. What did He use His tongue for? He cried out to God, Hear
my voice, O God. See the humility in that? The
Redeemer. the perfect one, the sinless
one, asked God to hear his voice in his prayer. And two, he committed
all to the Father by asking God, preserve my life from the fear
of the enemy. He asked God to preserve him.
Not only from the enemy, but from the disquieting fear they
caused. Fear has torment. You know, sometimes
the fear that the enemy causes you can put you in a worse place
than the enemy actually puts you in. And again, we see here our Lord's
humanity in this. He was touched with the same
feeling of our infirmities, yet without sin. He had a fear of
the enemy, just like we do. But He wasn't a sinner. And I
just read that passage to you and it said there that when the
Jews sought his life, what did he do? He walked no more in Judea
until the time came. And in that we see our Redeemer
was really a man. He was really a man, the same
as he was really God. Now why is that important? As a man, he could fulfill the
law for his people. As a man, he could bear sins.
As a man, he could bleed and he could die. And as God, everything
he accomplished for his people was in power and eternal. Wherefore,
in all things, it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. And
for this reason, in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he's
able to succor, to comfort them that are tempted. When we fear,
we're tempted to take matters into our own hands. But not Christ. He submitted perfectly in perfect
faith to the Father. Saying, preserve my life from
the fear of the enemy. What was He doing? He was working
out perfect faith for His people. That's what He was doing. The
same as He went to the cross and put our sins away, the same
as He made us the righteousness of God before the law of God,
He worked out a perfect faithfulness to God for His people. He's the
author and the finisher of our faith. But now understand this. He never asked to be preserved
from the cross. Christ never asked to be preserved
from the cross. He came to lay down His life
in place of His people to declare God just and the justifier. When He was in the Garden of
Gethsemane praying, Father, if it would be possible, save me
from this hour. He was sweating as it were great
drops of blood. His soul was in agony. He was
at the point in that very hour of perishing. And that's what
he was praying for. Save me from this hour. Save
me so I can go to the cross. Save me from this hour. That's
when the devil was unleashing on him everything he could possibly
unleash on him. And he committed it to the Father.
Father, preserve my life from this hour. Brethren, we have
many enemies. And every one of them seek to
devour us. and we fear the fiery darts of
the wicked. But let us always follow our
substitute. Let us always commit the preservation
of our life to God our Father. We preach the perseverance of
the saints by the preserving power of God. Let us act like
it. And I'm saying that to me because
I haven't been acting like it. I need God to preserve me. were kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. And then this third petition,
the third petition our Savior made was, verse 2, he said, hide
me from the secret counsel of the wicked, from the insurrection
of the workers of iniquity. And you know what happened? God
hid him. God hid him. God made it so men
could not do what entered their heart to do. He hid Christ from
them. We're constantly reading about
Him going in and out between the people and no man laid hands
on Him because His hour wouldn't come. That's God hiding Him.
God hid Him from the counsel itself as well as from the wicked
who counseled. God hid Him from the noisome
trouble as well as the workers of iniquity who created the insurrection. No man was able to lay hand on
our Redeemer until the time appointed by God. No man. That's going to be so of you
and me. I don't care how the workers of iniquity might roar
and rage and what they might threaten you with and how fearful
you might be. No man is going to do anything
to one of God's people unless it's God's appointed time and
His appointed work. That's just so. And the same
will be true of all His people. But now go with me to 1 Peter
2. I want you to see in all these requests, I want you to see what
our Lord was doing right here. 1 Peter 2 and verse 19. Servants, be subject to your
masters with all fear. not only to the good and gentle,
but also to the frail one. For this is thankworthy if a
man for conscience toward God, and that's all we can do as believers. We have to do what our conscience
toward God would have us do. If a man for conscience toward
God endure grief, suffering wrongfully, and I'll say this, this is on
my heart, and I'll say this. I know in our homes we feel like
we should probably have a little more liberty. But I'm going to
tell you something. In your home, especially you
men that preach, in your home, live your life blamelessly. Seek to be blameless in the way
you live in your home. Because if anything ever happens,
that's what you're going to be nailed with. I guarantee you. What glory is it if when you
be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently?
But if when you do well and suffer, you take it patiently. This is
acceptable with God. I can guarantee you this. Enemies
are never going to come forth and tell folks all the good things
you did. They're never going to do that.
They're going to tell them the wicked things. But you take it patiently, and
that's acceptable with God. For even here unto where you
call, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that you should follow His steps. Now that's what we're seeing
in our psalms. who did no sin, neither was guile found in his
mouth. They had no reason to accuse him. You know how badly
that hurts, don't you? If you've done something right
and done something well that's for their good and they buffet
you for that, that's painful. That hurts worse than if you
did something wrong. But Christ did no sin. Imagine
how painful that was to our Redeemer. He had done nothing of which
they were accusing him. But look at this, verse 23, who
when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered,
he threatened not, but he committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Who his own self, now here's
what he did, here's why he did that and here's what he accomplished
by doing that. who his own self bare our sins
in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,
should follow his example. That we should live unto righteousness
by whose stripes you were healed. You were sheep going astray.
It used to not be as, it was sinful and it was an offense,
but it wasn't as big an offense as it is now, when you were going
astray. But now, your return to the shepherd
and bishop of your souls. In other words, that ought to
be our constraint to follow His steps in every way. Some believers hearing this right
now and you're saying, I failed at this. In fact, I expect probably
every believer hearing this is saying that. I failed at this.
Well, so have all your brethren. We don't say that to excuse it.
We say it for this reason. God forgives for Christ's sake. This is grace. God forgives for
Christ's sake. And not only does He forgive
for Christ's sake, He gives His people more grace. He grows us in grace and knowledge
of Him by letting us fail. And then He'll use a man to tell
you all your failures. And when he does that, don't
hear that sinner reviling you. Hear God saying it. Hear God
telling you what you've been doing wrong. And He makes you
hear it that way. He makes you learn from all your
failures. And He reminds you, you're forgiven
for Christ's sake. Now, go and sin no more. Don't do it again. Don't do it
again. And when you fail again, He does
it all over again. That's grace. That's grace. He
never gives up on you. Now lastly, what did God do for
Christ and what does God do for His people for the sake of Christ
when we commit everything to Him? Here's the first thing. God dealt with Christ's enemies
and God shall deal with our enemies. Verse 7. But God shall shoot at them with
an arrow. Suddenly shall they be wounded. So they shall make their own
tongue to fall upon themselves. Brethren, it's easy. Well, I
won't say it's easy, but it's by God's grace, when He gives
you grace and understanding, it's easy to trust Him for righteousness
and holiness. and to have put away all your
sin and trust Him for all aspects of your salvation. But you know,
brethren, this is as much an aspect of our salvation as that
is. And when my enemies are coming
against me, if I feel like I have to put my hand to it and save
myself, it's no different than saying, well, give me the law
and let me work out a righteousness for myself. Is there any difference? You remember those four sword
judgments of God that we saw famine and pestilence and war
and wild beasts? You know what they're described
as in Scripture? God's sword and His arrows. That's what He's
talking about right here. God shall deal with the enemies
of His people. We do not have to fight them
and we should not fight them. God will make their own tongue
fall upon themselves. And for that reason, we're told
in Scripture, taught of God, to commit ourselves to God and
trust God to deal with our enemies. That's right. Listen, Psalm 710,
my defense is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth
the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If
he turn not, if he will wed his sword, he hath bent his bow and
made it ready, he hath also prepared for him the instruments of death,
he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. We never want to put ourselves
in the place of the Pharisees who did all these things to Christ.
And when we do, it's a shameful thing. But remember, God will defend
His people, committed to Him. He will defend His people. And
then look at this, God used the trial of Christ's enemies to
bring honor to Himself. Verse 9, And all men shall fear. Now, when you see what happened
with Christ on the cross, do all men fear? Who is He talking
about here? All His people will. By His grace,
all His people will. All men shall fear and shall
declare the work of God. For they shall wisely consider
of His doing. Men did to our substitute only
that which God had before ordained to be done. That's all they did.
And Christ consented and allowed them to do what they did. Nothing
else, just what God foreordained. And you know what? We're still
declaring the work of God 2,000 years later. We're still talking
about it. He made that come to pass, didn't
he? All men are going to see and they are going to declare
the work of God. And those that are wise are going
to consider His doing. What did He do? Christ conquered
the devil for His people. The devil thought he was laying
his trap and he had all his workers and he was going to put an end
to the prince of life. He was going to bring God on
his throne and I will ascend to the throne of the Most High,
he said. The only thing they did was wound
our Savior's heel while our Savior utterly crushed the devil's head
and conquered all our enemies. Christ conquered putting away
the sin of His people. He brought in everlasting righteousness
for His people. He made reconciliation between
God and His people. When you look at the cross, you
see His enemies triumphing over Him. So to the natural eye it
appears that Christ was conquering all the enemies of His people
in that. Christ conquered death for His people. Christ says to
you, believer, if you believe on Christ, right now you have
eternal life and you shall never see death. He conquered it. And by God's grace, Christ shall
conquer our sin nature. Where does this fear of God come
from? He is talking about all His people shall have. What makes
them wise? What makes them consider the
work of God? What makes them declare the work of God? Christ
comes and conquers our sin nature with giving a new heart. Now
brethren, go to Romans 8 with me just a minute. Why can't I
get this? You preach it, and preach it,
and you preach it, and you think if you preach this week in and
week out, and told this to sinners week in and week out, when God
puts you in the trial, you practice what you preach. We all need
God's grace. We all need God's grace. We're
all sinners. But look at this. Knowing God conquered our greatest
enemies. And that's what I just talked
about. Sin, Satan, death, and hell. He conquered all our greatest
enemies. That is done, brethren. And knowing
that. Will He not conquer all workers
of iniquity who come up against us? Will He not? Romans 8.31,
what shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who
can be against us? Was it Gamaliel who told them,
fellas, if this thing's of God, you're fighting against God.
Give it some time and let's see if this man is who he says he
is. Because if he is of God and you are fighting him, you are
going to be fighting God. If God is for us, brethren, who
can be against us? They are fighting against God.
He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? I
need to remember this too. If my brother offends me, I don't
want to start reviling him. I don't want to start going against
him. Why? I don't want to fight against
God. That's why. But concerning accusations men
bring against God's people and our standing with God and Christ
does not change. You fail, you fumble, you fall,
and men jump on that and point out everything negative about
you. But here's the good news. Our standing with God has not
changed. Look at this. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect is God that justifies. Who is He that
condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who's
also making intercession for us. That poor believer that you
see, that's down, and God's doing it! Every bit of it! Nothing
about it is not of God, it's all of God! And God's got him
hedged about, and God is doing everything, and God's teaching
him. God's revealing his sin to him, God's bringing him down,
and God's teaching him the power and glory of God. And Christ
all the while is praying, hear my voice, oh God, in his prayer. And God's hearing him make an
intercession. Shall the enemy separate us from
God in Christ? If God in Christ has done all
this, now is the enemy going to separate us from Him? Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword.
As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. We have no defenses
in ourselves. Are they going to separate us? in all these things. We are more than conquerors through
Christ that loved us. Now, here's the next thing, one
last thing, go back with me to Psalm 64. For you who are righteous
in Christ, that's who the righteous are, for you that are upright
in heart because Christ the Holy One dwells in your heart, this
shall be the sure end after God has dealt with all our enemies. This will be the sure end right
here. Verse 10, the righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and
they shall trust in Him. And all the upright in heart
shall glory. Who do you think we are going
to glory in? We're going to glory in the same one we're made glad
in. We're going to glory in the same one we trust in. We're going
to glory in God and talk about His work. I picture, and I hope
it's this way, by God's grace, 15, 20 years from now, we're
all a little more gray-headed, sitting around talking and saying,
you remember that? Wasn't God wise? Didn't He do
right? Why do we ever worry? Why do
we ever fret? Isn't that how it is when you
look back on everything you've ever been through? God did right. He made us glad. He made us trust
Him more. He made us glory in Him more.
Now brethren, turn with me to Psalm 37. I want to end with
this. And I ask you this with reverence. Was Christ disappointed
for committing Himself to God our Father? Was he disappointed? Of course not. But being made
righteous by Christ, being made upright in heart by Christ, we
won't either. We won't either. Now listen brethren,
in every trial and at all times, do this right here, what I'm
about to read. In every trial, I don't care
what it is, do this. And if you see me being overcome
by my sin nature and getting sideways, remind me to do this. Alright? This is our salvation. This is our salvation in every
trial and at all times. Psalm 37 verse 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord. But not that only. Not that only. Don't miss the next part. Trust
also in Him. And He shall bring it to pass. Now watch. And he shall bring
forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the
noonday." Are you right? In this matter, whatever it is,
then God will bring it forth. That's right. He'll vindicate,
He'll defend, He'll justify, just like He's done in Christ
on the cross, and like He'll do in that last day. So commit
thy way unto the Lord and trust in Him. And that means you wait
on Him to bring it to pass. Amen. Father, we thank You for this
Word. Make it lodge in our hearts, make it become one with us so
that it's the very first instinct that jumps up in our hearts whenever
something happens. Make us follow Christ by committing
all to you and trusting you, confident you'll bring it to
pass, that you'll defend, that you'll justify. Lord, we ask
it in Christ's name. Amen. You're welcome.