Now, here in Psalm 53, I want
to read it again and probably not make many comments on it,
but I want you to hear it again. It's pretty clear what it means.
The fool hath said in his heart, No, God. He's not denying the
existence of God, although many do. but he's actually saying
no to God. When he hears the gospel preached
in truth, he says no to God. I will not be saved that way.
I will not have Christ Jesus reign over me. Corrupt are they
in heart, therefore they've done abominable iniquity. There is
none that doeth good. God looked down from heaven upon
the children of men. He saw some would believe and
so he chose them. No. He looked down to see if
there were any that even did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them has gone back. They not only didn't seek God,
they went away from Him. They all together become filthy.
There's none that do us good. No, not one. Have the workers
of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat
bread? They have not called upon God. There were they in great
fear, where no fear was. For God hath scattered the bones
of him that encampeth against thee. Thou hast put them to shame,
because God hath despised them. God's always protecting and preserving
his people, and that terrifies the enemy. Verse 6 is the believer
crying out, Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion.
Oh that Christ, our salvation, would come out of Zion. When
God bringeth back the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice
and Israel shall be glad. Whenever God sent Christ forth
out of Zion, He put away the sin of His people on the cross
and took away those that were captive under the devil and let
us captive Himself. When He comes through the Spirit
to regenerate, He delivers us out of the captivity of our sin
nature and brings us to faith in Christ. He makes us glad.
And He continues this work from that first hour all the way to
the last hour. Now, we're accustomed to looking
at this psalm. This is the same psalm we looked
at in Psalm 14. And so if you want to hear me preach the psalm,
just go back and listen to Psalm 14. But tonight, I want to look
at this psalm a little differently in a way that some may even be
surprised by. I want to apply this psalm to
a believer. First of all, there is in every
born-again child of God a sin nature. And that very sinful
heart constantly says, No, God. No, God. When we were dead in
sins, the only thing we said was, No, God. Because all we
had was a sin nature. But even now, every regenerated
child of God has a sin nature. And from that corrupt heart,
from that corrupt fleshly nature, we see God's Word, we see the
revealed will of God in His Word, and when we choose to sin, and
every sin is a choice, when we choose to sin, when we choose
to walk contrary to God's Word, we are saying, no, God. I won't do what you said to do.
No. I'm going to have my way. Corrupt are they. As believers
in whom Christ abides, we have a new heart which has no sin. It's holy. Everything made of
God is righteous and holy. And this new man is made of Christ. It's Christ in you. The hope
of glory. but we still have that corrupt
sin nature. And while the new man delights
in God and delights in God's Word, our old man hates it. And therefore, from that heart,
we have done abominable iniquity. There's none that doeth good.
When we heard the gospel for the first time, In our fleshly
sinful nature, we cried out, no God, no. We did abominable iniquity by
trying to justify not obeying God's Word which told us to believe
on Christ and cast all our salvation into His hand. We said, no God. The so-called atheist falls back
on his pretending that God doesn't exist. And he says, this is how
he tries to justify not believing on God. He says, well, I don't
even believe God exists. Why should I believe on God?
The self-righteous man uses the law. He says, God wouldn't give
a law that men couldn't keep. I don't need Christ to be all
my righteousness. We have a law. The will-worshipper uses his
will to justify not believing on God. From beginning to end,
it's his will. He's constantly exalting his
will. That's why the scripture calls
him a will-worshipper. He worships his will. I can make
myself be born again anytime I want to by my will. I can learn who God is by my
will. I can learn by searching. No,
God. This is what we said. This is
what we said when we heard the truth for the first time. Some used family to justify not
believing on God. If I believe the gospel you're
telling me, then I'd be saying my great-grandmother didn't believe
the gospel. I need to constantly remind myself
that every believer has this sin nature. And I need for you
to constantly remind yourself that I still have one. Now stay with me, I'm going to
give you some good news. But I want to show you something
here concerning this sin nature. Turn to Romans 7. Now this is something that every
believer hates. Every believer hates that this
is true of himself. But here's the thing, God did
this on purpose. God left us with these two natures
on purpose to make us continually look to Christ and continually
to depend on Him instead of our own strength. So listen to what
Paul says. He's saying this as a regenerated,
sanctified child of God. He says in verse 14, we know
that the law is spiritual. can only be kept spiritually.
But I am carnal, sold under sin. He's speaking about his old nature. Though I have a new regenerated
nature and my old nature, I'm still carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. That which I do, I don't want
to do. For what I would do, that do
I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, watch this. Now then, it is no more I that
do it. It's not the new man born of
God, but sin that dwelleth in me. It's my corrupt flesh saying,
No, God! I'm going to have my way. I'm
going to sin, I'm going to disobey your word. For I know that in me, that is,
in my flesh, in this sin nature dwelleth no good thing. God said there's none good, no,
not one. And even to a believer in ourselves,
because we have this sin nature, if just looking at us in ourselves,
God would say the same thing. There's none good, no, not one.
Our very best religious deeds are mixed with evil. All of them. Because we have this sin nature.
He says, for to will is present with me, that's in the new man,
but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good
that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not, that
I do. He says it again. Now if I do
that I would not. It's no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. He's not going to blame God.
God's made a new man and in that new man there is no sin. It's
not the new man when I sin. Sin doesn't come from the new
man. Sin comes from the flesh. I find then a law, a standing
rule that will be the case till the day I die. that when I would
do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law
of God after the inward man. The inward man, every believer,
would do everything God says do in His Word. That's what Paul's
talking about when he said, that which I would do, that which
I really want to do. Every word in this book is in
that new man. He wants to do it. But I see
another law in my members. in my flesh, warring against
the law of my mind, warring against the law of my mind, bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
For some believers, this captivity to sin is more easily visible
outwardly. For others, it's hidden in the
heart. self-righteousness, envy, jealousy,
whatever it is, but it's hidden in the heart. For some believers,
it's both. But here's the truth about me,
and here's the truth about you, and here's the truth about every
other sinner, a wretched man that I am. I am a wretched man. I am, and I'm not saying this
In any way but to speak the truth, I'm the worst sinner ever. I hate my flesh. I hate my sin. I'm the chief. I am. I'm not
I was. I am the chief of sinners. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Who's going to deliver me from
this captivity? Here's the good news I promised.
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's who's going
to deliver me from this captivity. The end of our psalm said, Oh
that the salvation of Israel will come out of Zion when God
bringeth back the captivity of his people. Jacob shall rejoice
and Israel shall be glad. There's no ifs, ands, or buts
about this. When Christ comes and He delivers
me, I see the law and my members warring against the law of my
mind and bringing me into captivity to sin. But when Christ comes
forth through this gospel and the providence He works, when
He comes forth, He brings back that captivity. and makes us
glad and makes us rejoice in Christ. And He continues this
work. He continues it to the end. Brethren,
I hide my sin. I do. I don't want you to know
about it. I don't want to bring reproach
on the gospel. I don't want you to look at me differently. I
try to hide it. And still it influences some. But God knows all the sins of
our flesh. We're not hiding from God. We're
open right before His eye. He sees all our sins, even sins
we don't even recognize in ourselves. God sees them. He sees your sins. He knows you are but dust. He knows that in your flesh you
are vile. Yet He never casts out His child. Never. Aren't you thankful? You know what He does instead?
He loves us to Christ. Listen to this. The Lord hath
appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. He won't kick us out. Therefore, I'll love you to Christ. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. closer to Christ. Now secondly, the good news is
God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, constantly delivers His
regenerated saints from our sinful flesh, from playing the fool. And He draws us closer to Christ.
This is the good news. God may allow His child to go
a long time crying out in our flesh, no God. He may allow it
for a long while. He may make you cry out from
your inward nature for a long time. Lord, please deliver me
from this. Please give me a new heart. While
your flesh keeps crying out, no God, no. But thank God our faithful Father
chastens the children whom He loves. He really does. Look at
Hebrews 12 verse 5. And you have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son... Isn't that a wonderful thing? This is God speaking. My son. My son. Despise not thou the chastening
of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom
the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and he scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. What does that scourging mean?
He's going to whip us. God chastens His child in order
to grant us repentance. Do you know what repentance is?
It's a radical change of mind and heart concerning our sin,
concerning our walk, concerning our relationship to God. A radical
change of mind and heart. Only God can grant it. He chastens
us. He sends trials. He sends things
in providence. And He really does whip us. He
chastens us. It's not in judgment. Christ
is going to the cross. He's borne the judgment of His
people. He bore the fierce anger of God's offended justice. He
bore the forsaking of God for His people so that God will never
forsake His people. When He chastens us, it's not
in judgment. It's in love. It's in love. Brethren, we ought to never segregate
our lives into temporal life and spiritual life. There's no
such thing for a believer. Everything that happens to us
in our temporal life is by the direct hand of our sovereign
God. Everything. Let us learn to recognize that
the trouble and the trial is God's chastening hand. If we're
His, everybody goes through trouble in life, but if we're His, it's
God chastening us in love. When we come into trouble and
trial and are hurt and cast down, that's God's chastening hand.
It's on purpose. Let us recognize it. Don't just
say, you know, spiritually is when I'm sitting there hearing
the gospel preached, but now when I go out, then it's all
just temporal. It's all spiritual. And God's
teaching us something spiritual in everything we face. I know
you know that. I know you know that. That's why He brings us through
trial. He's teaching us, He's granting
us repentance to turn from ourselves and our way, whatever it is we're
walking in. And He's turning us to Christ,
to follow Christ, to walk in love toward Christ and toward
our brethren as Christ loves us. And every time he does it,
he grows you a little more in grace and knowledge of the Lord
Jesus. He makes you see the Lord a little
more high and magnified and lifted up. And then you see yourself
in that light, you see yourself as a little more sinful. A little
more in need. Desperate need of Christ. Is it recognizable when God grants
repentance? Oh, it is. Yeah, it is. When God first converted us,
we heard this gospel. We heard the preaching that salvation
is of the Lord. You be turning to Acts chapter
9. We heard the preaching that salvation
is the Lord. We heard the message that from
beginning to end, salvation is of the Lord. From God choosing
His people in Christ, to Christ coming forth and redeeming His
people and making us righteous and holy, to the Spirit of God
regenerating us and sanctifying us in Christ, separating us from
our darkness into His light, to God preserving us throughout
our lives so that we persevere in faith in Christ. We heard
it's all of God, that we're not going to be able to boast in
anything. And our fleshly nature cried out, no God. But God came out of Zion. Christ came out of Zion in this
Holy Spirit and He came into our heart and He brought back
the captivity of His people. He showed us Christ. He showed
us what He'd done for us. He showed us what we are by nature. He showed us the vileness and
the sinfulness of the way we're walking and what we're doing
before God. And here's what happened. Verse
1, Saul, this is, you know, the Apostle Paul. Saul, yet breathing
out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the
Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to
Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound
unto Jerusalem. Here's the fool. The fool has
said in his heart, No, God. That's what the fool's doing.
I want to kill believers, because I don't believe God. And as he
journeyed, he came near to Damascus. And suddenly there shined round
about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth, and
he heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It's hard
for thee to kick against the priest. And he, trembling and
astonished, said, No, God. No. Not when Christ has come
out of Zion. He turns his child from saying,
no God, to this. He astonished and trembling said,
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? There's where he brings
you. Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do? On the day of Pentecost, 3,000 people were hearing the
gospel preached and they had been crying out, no God, no God! And through that gospel, Christ
entered their hearts and pricked them in their heart. And they
went from crying, no God, to crying out, men and brethren,
what shall we do? That Philippian jailer, he had
been making his living and getting along just fine without God.
And one day, God in His providence arrested one of his saints and
threw Paul in prison and threw Him in there, and there He is
singing praises to God in the night, and God used it, and He
blessed the heart of that Philippian jailer, and that Philippian jailer
went from crying, no God, to crying, sirs, what must I do
to be saved? David went a whole year crying,
no God. He looked upon Bathsheba and
he said, No, God. I know what your word says, no.
And he committed adultery with her. And to hide his sin, he
brought her husband back from the battlefield. This man was
so faithful, he laid down at the door of David and wouldn't
even go home to his wife because he wanted to protect David. David
said, No, God. And he sent him into the very
front of the battle so he'd be killed. And then he took his wife Bathsheba
to wife. And he thought he had gotten
away with it. He thought he had hid the fact that he committed
adultery and got this woman pregnant out of wedlock. He thought he'd
hidden it. And God came to him through his prophet. and turned
Him from saying, no God, to this right here, Psalm 51. Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according
to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. wash me throughly from mine iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin for I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sins ever before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest.
That's where he brings you. That's where he brought David.
Only God can grant this repentance. Only God can do it. Only God
can change a man. Only God can change the heart.
Why didn't He just do this from the beginning and just change
us completely? We've got to go through this
process. We've got to experience His all-sufficient grace. We've
got to be brought down. We've got to be made, as we walk
through this wilderness journey, we've got to be made not to look
to ourselves. Not to be puffed up and think,
oh, I'm doing a good job. We got to be made to continually
say, I haven't ever done anything in myself but wickedness. That's
all I've ever done. I might hide it from God, hide
it from men, but I'm not hiding it from God. And when God grants
repentance and brings you down, The first time, He doesn't stop. He continues this work right
up to the day that He makes us literally put off this old man
of flesh in death. You all have heard me speak about
that 2003 when the Lord chastened Melinda and I and brought us
so low. Oh, it was just, at the time it was horrible, but afterward
it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness. It was the
greatest thing we'd ever had happen. The Lord's been chastening me,
and he's brought me lower than I was in 2003, far lower. He said in Hebrews, faint not
when you are rebuked of him. I nearly fainted. I almost fainted this week under God's rebuking hand. And today I was sitting here
at 5 o'clock I didn't have a message. I didn't know what I was going
to preach, where I was going to preach from. And I was fainting. And I opened my computer and
I opened Brother Frank Tate's bulletin. And I read this. What do I do now? That caught
my attention. What do I do now? What do I do when I'm under severe
trial, enduring pain of body and mind, and I'm full of fear? What do I do when dying seems
to be easier than living with the circumstances the Lord's
given me? The answer for the believer is
simple. Do the same things you do when the Lord blesses you. Worship publicly, pray, and read
God's Word. What do I do when I don't understand
what God's doing or how He could possibly bring good out of my
painful situation? Go to the house of the Lord in
the public worship service just like you do when the Lord blesses
you. And He gives an example. Psalm said, when I thought to
know this, it was too painful for me. Until I went into the
sanctuary of God, then understood I. What do I do when I'm so full
of fear? Trust the Lord just like you
do when the Lord blesses you. He gives an example, Psalm 56.3.
What time I'm afraid, I will trust in thee. What do I do when I feel hopeless
and helpless? Look to Christ just like you
do when the Lord blesses you. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills from whence cometh my help. What do I do when I
don't think I have the strength to endure for one more minute?
Trust the Lord to be your strength. He said, I will seek that which
was lost and bring again that which was driven away and will
bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which
was sick. Christ said, I'm going to suffer
alone, but I'm not alone. God the Father is with me. And
brethren, when we suffer alone, we have a brother, Christ Jesus,
a friend, Christ Jesus, that sticks closer than a brother.
He says, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I'm going
to draw you to myself in loving kindness. Frank went on to say, no matter
what our circumstances may be at the moment, let us say with
David, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall
continually be in my mouth. Look at James 4. Let's see what
James said. I'll end with this. When God grants repentance, brethren, He does it. He changes His child. He makes His child see what he's
done wrong. And He gives him the grace to
do what God says do. And it gives you grace to cast
all your care on Christ all over again. And if, you know, if we
hadn't been brought to that in the trial, we hadn't been brought
to the end for which God gave it yet. There's more lowness
to come if we hadn't been brought there. We're going to be brought
lower till we're brought to the end of ourselves to cast all
our care on Christ and to do everything God tells His believing
people to do in this world. James 4, 5 he says, Do you think
that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us
lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore
he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to
God. Submit yourselves therefore to
God. Resist the devil and he will
flee from you. Draw nigh to God and He will
draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you double-minded. How can a believer be double-minded?
Can a believer be double-minded? Yeah. By looking to the temporal
and not the spiritual. Or wavering back and forth between
the two. He says, purify your hearts,
you double-minded. See everything in its spiritual
light. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord and He shall lift you up. When God grants repentance, He
puts down our old man of sin and turns us from crying, no
God. And He brings us to cry out,
yes Lord, what would You have me to do? He heals the bones He's broken and makes you to see Christ and
makes you to say, Lord, what would You have me to do? God
grant us repentance. God keep granting us repentance.
We just sang it. Search me and try me. Teach me. It's so painful. It's so painful. But God said, but afterward it
yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. I got something
else I want to say to you and I just can't bring it to mind.
I've been sitting here trying to think of what it was, but
I'll probably think of it after I get stepped down out of the
pulpit. But I pray that's a blessing
to you. Amen. When I say God has chased me
and brought me low, I'm not saying that to feel sorry for me because
all my sin is my fault. Everything I've done, I've brought
it on myself. I'm the one that did the hurting
of others, just me alone. But God's granted me some light
to see that. He's granted me repentance to
say, yes, Lord, what would you have me to do? And he said, cleanse
your hands of this sin. Purify your heart. Quit walking
like a double-minded man. Set your affection on Christ
alone. That's what I intend to do. keep me. I know I'm going to sin. There's
a part of my old man saying, no God, justify yourself. But in that new man I'm crying
out, yes Lord, yes Lord, I want to do what you'll have me to
do. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for your word. Thank you for your providence.
Thank you for your chastening hand. Thank you for not ever
letting your child be separated from the gospel. Thank you for
not letting us continue in sin that will bring reproach on you
and hurt those around us. Cause us, Lord, to know that
We may sin and we may get away with it for a long time, but
you know, and you're going to keep your child, you're going
to chasten your child. Lord, chasten your children.
Chasten your children, as painful as it may be, it's exactly what's
needful for us. Lord, forgive me. Forgive us. Forgive these brethren. View us in Christ. View us in
the new man. Don't view us in our flesh. Keep
everlastingly loving us and everlastingly drawing us to Christ. We desperately,
desperately depend upon it. We ask it in Christ's name, amen.