Psalm 17. Psalm 17 is a prayer
of David. Now, we saw that Christ teaches
us, and Christ is the one teaching us. Christ is teaching the believer. And He teaches us through the
Holy Spirit, through Peter, that whenever we suffer to follow
Him, in the example that He set before us in the way that He
suffered. Let me read that to you again from 1 Peter 2.20.
He said, When you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently. This is acceptable with God.
When you do well and you suffer for doing well. For even here
unto where you call, because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps. who
did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when
he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously."
He committed himself, it means himself and his cause, to him
that judgeth righteously. We're told in chapter 3 and verse
12 of 1 Peter, For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous,
And his ears are open unto their prayers, but the face of the
Lord is against them that do evil." Now, the question might come
about, what is it to commit myself and my cause to the Lord? How do I do that? What is that,
to commit it to Him? Well, we see in this prayer in
Psalm 17 what it is to commit ourselves and our cause to Him
that judges righteously. I've titled this, Commit it to
Him. Commit it to Him. First of all, to commit ourselves
and our cause to God is to come to God with a true heart asking
God to receive us and hear us in Christ on our behalf. That's the first thing. Look
here in verse 1. Hear the right, O Lord. Attend unto my cry. Give ear unto my prayer that
goeth not out of fanged lips. He says, Hear the right, O Lord. Now, David is a type of Christ
here. He is throughout these Psalms.
So we can look at this prayer as Christ's prayer to the Father
whenever He was suffering on the cross, whenever He committed
it unto Him that judges righteously. We could look at it that way
and hear Christ praying the Father. Or we could look at this and
we could see Christ standing between us and God When we pray
to the Father, we could see Him standing between us and God and
interceding for us with the Father, praying the Father on our behalf.
We could see it that way. Or we could start with David.
Let's do this. Let's start with David and let's
see how it is that we pray unto the Father, how we commit it
to Him. And then let's follow it to the Father. He says here,
Hear the right, O Lord. It means hear the righteous.
Hear the righteous. Christ is the righteousness of
every believer. He's our only righteousness.
And we come to God asking Him to hear the righteous. Oh Lord,
to hear Christ our righteousness. Isn't that what you want? And
you want God to hear Christ. I want him to hear Christ on
my behalf. We ask him to attend unto my
cry, give ear unto my prayer by hearing Christ my righteousness.
That's how I want him to attend unto my cry. That's why I want
him to give ear unto my prayer. And if the Holy Spirit has regenerated
us, if Christ has been formed in our heart, which is the only
way we can come to God with a pure heart is if He's made us have
a pure heart, if He's given us a pure heart. But if He has,
we can pray this. We can say that our prayer goeth
not out of faint lips. It's not deceitful. I'm coming
to you in sincerity, Lord. You're going to see as we go
through this psalm, you're going to see that this whole thing
has to do with the heart. A heart made new by God, a right
heart, a pure heart, a true heart, an honest heart. And still, though
we can say that, our prayers are full of unbelief and full
of sin because that's all we are in our flesh. That's why
we ask God the Father to hear us in Christ the righteous. That's
why we're coming in Christ. That's why we have to ask Him
to hear us by hearing Christ. Now, the believer and God the
Father, or between the believer and God the Father, standing
between us and God the Father, is Christ our advocate, Christ
our intercessor. There He stands. And when Christ,
our righteousness, presents our petitions to the Father, we pray
and it's full of unbelief and it's full of sin and wavering
and doubting and what have you. But when He prays, when He prays
the Father on our behalf, He can say on our behalf, hear the
right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer
that goeth not out of faint lips." And he has no sin. He is the righteous one. His
prayer goes out of not out of faint lips. So, first of all,
to commit ourselves and our cause to God is to do so with a true
heart, not in deceit, not with a faint heart. is to do so sincerely,
asking God to hear Christ and receive us in Christ our righteousness. That's the first thing. Secondly,
to commit our cause to Him is to have our heart content for
our sentence to come from Him. We have to be content for our
sentence to come from him. Look at verse 2. Let my sentence
come forth from thy presence. Let thine eyes behold the things
that are equal. You see, David is appealing to
the Lord as a judge. As a judge. God our Savior sits
in heaven and he rules from his throne in heaven as our sovereign
judge. He was our sovereign judge. You
know the respect and the reverence is given to an earthly judge.
When he enters that courtroom, everybody stands and nobody sits
down till he sits down. And that's just a man. We're
talking here about God our Savior. He's the righteous judge. Rather
than opening his mouth before our adversaries, before his adversaries,
David here is committing his cause to the Lord to litigate
between him and his adversary. Asking God to give the righteous
sentence. That's what Christ did. That's
what Christ did when we saw that this morning, when He hung there
on the tree and He opened out His mouth and He committed it
to him that judgeth righteously. He was saying, verse 2, He was
saying, let my sentence come forth from thy presence. He wasn't
opening His mouth to His adversaries, but He was opening His heart
to God. And this is what He was saying, let my sentence come
forth from thy presence. Let thine eyes behold the things
that are equal. Thou hast proved mine heart,
Thou hast visited me in the night, Thou hast tried me, and shalt
find nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall
not transgress." God the Father proved Christ's heart. He proved
His heart. He proved it in the night. He
proved it and tried Him. In the night means unsuspected
times. At all times. You know, we come
here and everybody's on their best behavior and their, you
know, at all times. God tried him at all times and
found nothing but perfect righteousness, nothing but perfect holiness.
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Christ was
purposed, that with his mouth he would not transgress. Where
did that purpose come from? Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh. It came from his heart. His heart
was purposed not to transgress. So he was purposed in his heart
not to transgress with his mouth. So he opened not his mouth. I
read that fruit to you from Isaiah 50. He said, He's near that justifies
me. Who's going to contend with me?
Let us stand together. Who's my adversary? Let him come
near to me. The Lord God's going to help
me. Who's going to condemn me? You see, that's what Christ did
when He committed it to Him that judges righteously. He committed
Himself and His cause to Him, saying, He's going to help me.
He will justify me. And God judged righteously. Psalm
9 verse 4 says, Thou hast maintained my right, And my cause, thou
settest in the throne judging right. That's what God the Father
did when God the Son hung on that tree. In due time, when
Christ had satisfied divine justice and the judge of heaven and earth
deemed it himself to be satisfied, he said it's enough. Christ said
it's finished. And it was finished. He justified
his people. And God raised him from the dead
declaring him just and the justifier. Listen. Who was delivered for
our offenses and raised again for our justification? Without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh.
God came in the flesh. And God was justified in the
Spirit. That don't seem right, does it
Eric? God was justified? Yes. Christ, our substitute,
is God. And when He bore our sins in
His body on that tree, and He poured out His blood to redeem
His people, and He went into that ground, God justified God. He raised Him from the dead and
said, He's just. He's just. And I've justified
my people in Him. My people are just in Him. Justified
in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto Gentiles, believed
on in the world, received up into glory. The God-man, the
God-man highly exalted the triune God, and the triune God highly
exalted the God-man. You see, we've been made one
in God, in the God-man. We're man and He's God. And we've
been made one in the God-man by what He did. And all His people
were raised in Him and we all were justified in Him. That sentence
came forth. whenever God, the judge of all
heaven and earth, was satisfied. But David had to be... This didn't
benefit David yet until Christ was formed in David's heart.
We get to thinking about time. How could this be before Christ
went to the cross that David had this experience? Because
Christ has been the surety from the foundation of the world.
The works were finished from the foundation of the world.
God looked upon it as done in Christ because there was no possibility
Christ would not accomplish the work. And so as he assured that
Christ had to be formed in David's heart in order for Christ to
be the hope of glory to David. I rejoice in the fact that Christ
died. I rejoice in the fact that he
laid down his life. But that's not the end of his
mediatorial work. He finished his work on the earth. He finished his work of fulfilling
the law and the prophets and justifying his people and making
us righteous in his work and what he did in himself. but there's
a work he must do within us in order to bring us into union
with him to be able to have this hope in our heart. And with Christ
formed in David's heart, in the heart that God made, in the heart
that he created and tried, David was satisfied with Christ just
like God was satisfied with Christ. And when that's our case, then
we're made willing to commit our eternal well-being into the
hand of Christ who judges righteously. When that's the case, when Christ
is formed in our heart and He's made us to see that on the cross
we behold God judging righteously, there was no other way His people
could be brought to Him. No other way than that God come
in person and fulfill His law and put our sin away and honor
and uphold and magnify His law. And He had to take upon Him human
flesh because it was a man that sinned in the garden. And so
He did that and now by what He's done, God's made us to see in
our heart that we're just with God. That'll make you stop trying
to look to your wisdom and stop trying to look to your works
and your will and your way. When He does that, I guarantee
you, you're sitting there going, how can I believe this? How can
I believe? You'll believe it when He enters into your heart
and makes Himself known and makes you to see that your case is
settled in heaven. He'll convince you of your sin
because you believe not on Him. He'll convince you of your righteousness
because He's gone to the Father. And He'll convince you of your
judgment is settled because the prince of this world, his head's
been crushed. How was his head crushed? He
took away your sin. He took away the curse of the
law. Saints got no more ammunition.
He's got no more weapon to charge you with. Those for whom Christ
died, that's what He makes us to see. And when He does that,
we commit our eternal well-being, our whole selves and our whole
cause into His hand. And we say, though He slay me,
yet will I trust Him. Is that not what Christ said
on the cross? Christ is the true Job. He's
the true Job. He's like no man like Him in
the earth that escheweth evil. loves the good. He's the true
Job, and he said, though he slay me, though I've taken the sin
of my people upon myself, and though I'm going to bear stripes
and condemnation at his hand, though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. That's where he'll bring you,
to a lesser degree. That's where he brings us. And
when our adversary the devil rages against us, and when wicked
men revile us, and when our flesh rises up against us, and when
we face all kind of trial and suffering in this world, we'll
commit our earthly cause to him too. And we'll say, let my sentence
come forth from thy presence. Let thine eyes behold the things
that are equal. Now, what David says here about
his heart, it doesn't mean that David thought he was without
sin. You know that. If you're a believer, you know
that. David knew that in his flesh dwells no good thing. He's
saying right here, he says, when he says, Thou hast proved mine
heart, Thou hast visited me in the night, Thou hast tried me
and shalt find nothing. You think, boy, that's a bold
statement. Here's what he's saying. Lord,
You know my heart. You know the heart that you've
created in righteousness and true holiness. You know it. He's
saying, Lord, you tried me, you've proved me, and you found nothing. You found nothing good in me
except for your presence dwelling in me. That's the only thing
about me that's good. If Christ dwells in us, He's
our life. If Christ dwells in us, He is our life. He is the righteousness and holiness. And so that's why he says, I
purpose that my mouth shall not transgress. Peter, you know,
Peter boasted that he would not forsake the Lord. He said, I
won't do it. Now the Lord knew his heart.
The Lord knew he wouldn't do it. The Lord knew he would forsake
him. Peter didn't know it, though.
Peter was sincere when he said, Lord, I won't forsake you. The
Lord said, Peter, it's written. It's written in the prophets
you're going to forsake me. And Peter still said, no, I'm
not. They might. I'm not. See, Peter didn't know
his own heart. And so the Lord proved his heart.
He proved Peter's heart to Peter. So Peter could know his heart.
And then when he came to Peter later, and he asked him three
times, he said, Peter, do you love me? Peter said, Lord, you
know all things. Now I realize that when I'm boasting
about what I know, and boasting about what I'm going to do, boasting
about what I won't do, in reality, you know my heart. You know all
things. And knowing my heart, Lord, you
know that I love you. That's what David's saying here.
That's exactly what he's saying here. Well, look here now. So first of all, we commit ourselves
and our cause to God with a true heart asking God to receive us
in Christ Jesus our righteousness. To hear us in Christ our righteousness
on Christ's behalf. And secondly, to commit it to
Him is to be content that our sentence come forth from Him
that judges right. Now are you content? Are you
content for your sentence to come forth from God? Whether
we are content with it or not, it's coming forth from God. We're
going to meet Him one day and our sentence is going to come
forth from Him. I want mine to come from Him,
don't you? I want to be found in Christ. And I want to trust
that whatever He does for me in this life, it's right, it's
right, it's good, it's best for me, it's best to bring glory
to Him. Alright, thirdly, to commit it
to Him is to do so with all confidence that it will be by His Word that
He keeps us. It will be by His Word that He
keeps us. Everything God does for His people is by His Word.
Look at verse 4. Concerning the works of men,
by the word of thy lips, by the word of thy lips, Have I kept
me from the paths of the destroyer? Hold up my goings in thy paths
that my footsteps slip not." The works of wicked men and the
works of the destroyer, Satan, the devil, they're one and the
same. The works of wicked men and the
work of the devil, the paths of the destroyer, they're one
and the same. Now, men will judge for you. If you want men to give
you counsel, men will be happy to give you counsel. Preachers
in our day want to be the counselor. There's one counselor, that's
Christ. I told somebody this not long ago, that preachers
in our day want to be the counselor and they want to be the high
priest. And he said, I just don't agree with that spirit. Well,
Christ said, leave them alone. How about that spirit? Christ
said the blind leaders of the blind. How about that spirit?
You find a fence with that spirit? Men want to be counselors. The
Pharisees wanted men to come to them. They wanted to be the
priests. That's why we're told in James,
don't be many masters. Don't try to lord over men. Don't say, we got one master.
We got one father. We got one high priest. We got
one counselor. That's Christ. So, but the end
thereof, when men judge you, when men counsel you, the end
thereof is going to be destruction. It's going to be destruction.
There's a problem from the get-go when it's a man we're coming
to rather than Christ. It's going to end in destruction.
But the words of God's lips will keep you from the path of the
destroyer. The Word of God lives. For the true believer that's
been born of the Living Word, Christ is the Incarnate Word.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. That Word is God. He
came down and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. He's the Living Word. He's the incorruptible Word.
He's the Incarnate Word. And when that Word, we're born
of that Word, brethren, Then this Word right here, this written
Word we hold in our hands, becomes the living Word. It becomes the
Word of His lips. And this Word, for the believer,
it really and truly is our only rule of faith and practice. I
know men put that in their creeds, but their creed is their rule
of faith and practice. You come down to it, between
the Word of God and what their creed says, and they're going
to choose their creed. But this right here is the rule of faith
and practice for the believer, because this is the word of God's
lips. Now look at this. How do we know,
how do we recognize the paths of the destroyer? Read verse
4 again without the italicized words. Concerning the works of
men, by the word of thy lips I have kept, or the word could
be is marked, recognized, I've marked, I've recognized the paths
of the destroyer. You see what he's saying? Take
the salicides down. By the word of thy lips, I have
marked the path of the destroyer. You see, to recognize a crooked
stick, you lay a straight stick down beside it. Well, this is
the straight stick right here. And so this is how you're going
to recognize the crooked ways of the destroyer. You've got
to be in this word and read this word. This is the word of God's
lips. This is a word of God's lips. God's not going to speak
to us audibly. He's going to speak to us through
his word, through his gospel, through his spirit in our hearts.
That's how he's going to speak to us. So we need to be in this
world. We need to read the word of his
lips. You know, if you got a letter from some powerful, noble ruler
in this world, wouldn't you read it? When you just feel honored
that you have that letter directly from him, you can pick it up
and read it. That's what this word is. That's what this word
is. But we need his word to be made
effectual in our hearts. We need it to be made so that
we can hear him speaking his word into our hearts. So he has
connected with this, saying this word is how I've recognized the
path of the destroyer. He also says, hold up my goings
in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. Jeremiah 10.23 says,
Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walketh
to direct his steps. You see, there's your straight
line right there. You read that statement? The
way of man is not in himself. It's not in a man that walketh
to direct his steps. That's the word of his lips.
That's the word of God's lips. Now, are you going to stand there
and say, Well, I believe I can choose my own way. Are we going
to stand there and then, after we've heard it, say, but I believe
I can direct my steps. I've got a will. I can direct
my steps. The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord. Don't you want Him directing
your steps? We need this continually, brethren. Hold up my goings in
thy paths. I needed him to take me out of
that path of thinking I could direct my steps and to put me
into this path where I know now I can't direct my steps. And
that's what every absurd person sitting here needs. And until
he has directed your path into his path, you won't know that.
And then once he's brought us into that path, I need him to
keep me so that my footsteps slip not. We're like a car that's out of
line. God's holding the wheel. And
as long as He's holding the wheel, we go straight down. But if He
lets His hand off the wheel, we're right off in the ditch.
We need Him to hold us and keep our footsteps from slipping.
Let me give you this. We know the Scripture. We know
the Scripture that says, "...let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall." We know that Scripture. We know that,
we believe that script. We know that we need to trust
Christ all the time to keep us. We know that. But we really do
get to thinking we can stand by ourselves. We do. I'll tell you how real it is
that we get to thinking we're standing by ourselves. When I
made that statement, somebody here said, oh, I don't get to
feeling like that. See what I mean? We really do get to think and
we can stand by ourselves. It's only when our footsteps
slip that we learn that we made our Savior to hold us up in His
path. And so from time to time, He
sends the devastating news. The hard trial. The psalmist said this, As for
me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped.
And he goes on and he talks about why his feet had slipped. He
was looking at the world, he was studying the world, he was
looking at rich men and so on. What was his cure? Listen to
this. Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood. He went to the house of God where
the Word of God was read and preached, and then by God's Word,
speaking into his heart and bringing him into that holy sanctuary,
into Christ himself. Then he understood. Then he understood. Our trials, you see, we get sick. We get sick in our trials, we
get sick in our troubles, we get burdened down and weighted
down and we say, I don't feel like going to the Lord's house
today. Now, you're going to get sick, especially if the Lord's
laid on you some infirmity. You're going to be like that
and you can't. I understand that. But a lot
of times when we can go to the Lord's house, we'll say, I just
don't feel like I can go. I can't go. And you know what
that's like? That's like saying, Oh, I'd go
to the physician today, but I'm just too sick. I can't go. Isn't that where you need to
be? It's the only place you're going to get well. You need to
be at the physician. Oh, I'm sick and when I get better
I'll go. Well, you won't need him then. Won't need him then. Our trials are always to remind
us that we need Christ. We need his gospel. We need the
effectual power to hold us up. We need our brethren. This is
how he keeps his body compacted Brethren, it's just not good
times, though He does use good times, but He uses trial too. He uses trial too. And He'll
hold us up by His Word through the Gospel. So when He gives
us His Word, maybe He's giving it to you now. Heed it. Heed it. Hide this away in your
heart and feed on it. Feed on it. And we will when
He speaks in our hearts. Now, so first, we commit our
calls to God by asking Him to receive us in Christ, hear us
by Christ. And then secondly, is to have
a heart content for His sentence, whatever He gives, His sentence
for it to come from Him. And thirdly, is to have, is to
know that He's going to keep us, He's going to give us His
sentence, He's going to keep us, He's going to comfort us
through His Word, through His Word. Now fourthly, commit our
cause to Him is to do so believing that He will hear us and that
He will save us through Christ. Look at verse 6. I have called
upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God. Incline thine ear
unto me and hear my speech. Show thy marvelous lovingkindness,
O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust
in thee from those that rise up against them. Believer, you're
weighed down in a heavy trial. He will hear. He will hear. He will hear. He will have us
to ask Him. You see there He says, He says,
I've called on you for thou wilt hear. Thou wilt hear me, O God. And then He says, incline thine
ear unto me and hear my speech. He will hear, but he'll have
us ask him. I was home at Thanksgiving, and
I noticed something. I noticed something. My mother
and my father, my grandmother, they delight to have their children
and their grandchildren ask them something. They like that. Don't we? God's the same way. God our Father's
the same way. He made us. He made us. Who is
a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his people, his heritage? He retaineth not
his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy. Let us therefore come boldly
unto his throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. He delights to give it. He just
says, come ask me. Come ask me. And He's given us
open access by Christ. And so He says, now come. And
you come to Him and you say, Lord, hear me. And He delights.
He delights for you to hear Him. What are we asking for? Listen
to what the Scriptures say. This is the confidence that we
have in Him. And if we ask anything according
to His will, according to what He's willing, He hears us. Now, from our standpoint, he
says, ask according to what he's willing to do. And he says, and
he hears us. Now it says, and if we know that
he hears us, whatever we ask, we know we have the petitions
that we desired of him. If we know he's hearing us, and
we've asked him to do what he's willing to do, then we're content
just with the fact we know he's going to hear us. That's all. What He does, I'll be content
with that. But I'm content with knowing
He's going to hear me. And He's going to do His will.
So here's what God's willing to do. This is what He's willing
to do right here. This is what He asked. This is
what we're sure to receive as long as we ask Him for this.
Verse 7, "...show thy marvelous lovingkindness." O thou that
savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee
from those that rise up against him. If you ask in faith to see
his marvelous love and kindness, you're asking according to God's
will. You're asking something that
God's willing to show. That's right. Have your sins risen up
against you? Has Satan and wicked powers risen
up against you? What about your flesh? Disease? Weakness? Believer, It is to
have you, child of God, is to have you to come to God and cry
out, Father, Father. Will you save me? Will you show
your loving kindness, your marvelous loving kindness? You know what's
marvelous about His loving kindness? It never does change towards
them He loves. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love, therefore in loving kindness have I drawn
you. Has He drawn you? Has He justified
you? His right hand is Christ. He
saves by His right hand. His right hand is power. His
right hand is Christ Jesus, the Son of God. Has He saved you
by His right hand? Has He justified you by His right
hand? Has He made you righteous by
His right hand? Has He sanctified you by His
right hand? Has He called you by His right
hand? Has He lovingly drawn you by
His right hand? Then shall he not with his right
hand freely give you all things? Shall he not give you what you
need? That's his everlasting kindness, brethren. So we ask
him in faith. I'm just going to read this.
Keep me, verse 8, keep me as the apple of the eye. That's
the pupil. The pupil. And that's how... You know how
you protect the pupil of your eye? It's protected. It's protected. That's the most
protected thing on our body. The pupil of the eye. That's
how protected God is of his people. He protects us like the apple
of his eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy
wings. Hide me under the mercy seat.
Under the wings of the mercy seat. That's where I want to
be hid. I want to be hid under his wings of omnipotent power
like a hen takes her chicks under her wings. From the wicked that
oppressed me, from my deadly enemies who compassed me about,
they are enclosed in their own fat, with their mouth they speak
proudly. They have now compassed us in
our steps. How do, when I pray and I say
they've compassed us in our steps, why would I say that? Why would
David say that? Why would Christ say that? Why would he say they've
compassed us in our steps? Because Him and His people are
one. You're one with God. We're one with Christ. When we
say our enemies are compassing us, Lord, they're not just compassing
me. It's not my salvation that's
going to be in jeopardy here. It's Your glory. They're compassing
us. They've set their eyes down to
the earth like a lion that's greedy of its prey. Like a roaring
lion, Satan walks about seeking whom he may devour. As it were,
a young lion lurking in secret places, arise, O Lord, disappoint
him, cast him down, deliver my soul from the wicked which is
thy sword, or by thy sword. From men which are thy hand,
or by thy hand, O Lord, from men by thy hand, O Lord, from
men of the world which have their portion in this life, whose belly
thou fillest with thy hid treasures. They are full of children, leave
their rest to their substance, to their bait. Now listen, We
first commit it to Him by trusting Him to receive us in Christ.
Secondly, we have a heart content for His sentence, whatever His
sentence is. Thirdly, we have confidence that
He's going to save us by His Word. And fourthly, we ask in
faith, believing that He shall hear and He shall save us by
Christ His right hand. Now remember, Remember that second
thing. To commit it to Him is to be
content with His sentence. It's to be content with His sentence.
It's to rest content that however He shows His loving kindness
to me, however He chooses to save me, it'll be right for His
glory, for my good, for the good of my brethren. However He chooses
to do it. So lastly, Lastly, while the
men of this world, he said, they look into this world, they look
into their earthly riches, they just want to heap up riches and
then leave them to their children. Here's what's different about
the believer. This is the last thing of what
it is to commit ourselves to the Lord. It's to commit all
to Him. To do so is to be satisfied with
nothing else but Him. Him. Let me ask you this. Would you
be content if He gave you your health, but He withdrew Himself
from you? I want Him. Would you be content
if He took you out of poverty and gave you substantial living
in this life, but He removed the riches of His grace from
you? I want Him. That's what it is to be content
with Him. Read verse 15 with me. As for
me, He said, they're looking for these earthly things. He
said, but as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I
shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Now brethren,
He saved us. Christ hung there on that tree
and He prayed this Himself. He said, they've come past me
about, I don't want anything. I don't want to be just saved
from this cross. I don't want to be just taken
down off this cross. I don't want to be just spared
from these lines. That's not what I want. I want
to awaken your likeness. I want to see your face. That's
what Christ prayed for. And by that faithfulness, brethren,
He saved us. He saved us from our sins. He
saved us from our flesh. He saved us from the curse of
the law, from the dominion of sin, from all condemnation. And
we rejoice. That's great salvation. And brethren,
He is saving us from trials, from our enemies, from our flesh,
from our sicknesses and our deaths. And that is great salvation.
But brethren, one day He's going to save us from this world and
this life into His presence. And that's going to be the greatest
of all salvation. That'll be the greatest. I will
behold thy face in righteousness. I will be satisfied when I awaken
thy likeness. So turn to 1 Peter 5, 6. I'm
going to give you this. 1 Peter 5, 6. This will be our
application here. 1 Peter 5, 6. So now that I know
how to commit it to him that judges righteously. Now then,
1 Peter 5, verse 6. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because
your adversary the devil has a roaring line walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist steadfast in the
faith. Heed this word. Heed this word. Knowing, know
this too, that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren
that are in the world. Oh, nobody suffered like I have.
Nobody's going through anything like I'm going through. That's
Satan wanting you to know that, wanting you to think that, wanting
you to exalt yourself even in your trial. It's the same thing. Your brothers are suffering the
same thing. Whether it's difficult or not as difficult to them,
it's as difficult as yours is. We're all suffering the same
trials. Look at this now. Verse 10. But the God of all
grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. All right, brethren, let's... We'll be...