We turn for our text this morning
to the book of Psalms and in Psalm 71 and the 7th verse. Psalm 71 and the 7th verse. I am as a wonder unto men that
thou art my strong refuge. Last time, last Lord's Day morning,
we considered something of Paul. as he declares himself to be
a pattern of Christian experience there in 1st Timothy chapter
1 and verse 16. Those words, albeit for this
cause I obtain mercy, that in me first, in me as a prototype,
Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern
or a type to them which should hereafter believe on him to everlasting
life. And I did on that occasion also
make some reference to these words that I've now announced
as our text this morning, that in a certain sense we can say
that this verse is the Old Testament counterpart of what Paul is saying
with regards to himself there in the New Testament. And so
here, as we come to consider these words this morning, I want
us to consider how David is also a pattern of the believer's experience. I am, as a wonder or as a margin
indicates, a sign. I am as a sign unto many, but
thou art my strong refuge. The Book of Psalms, as we've
said before, is a remarkable portion of Holy Scripture for
a number of reasons and amongst them we have that observation
that is made by the reformer John Calvin where he says of
the Psalms that they are an anatomy of the soul Here we learn something
of what soul religion is, as the psalmist time and again is
pouring out his soul unto God. We have those psalms that are
clearly messianic, they speak of the Lord Jesus. And so, as
we've said also on other occasions, we're permitted in those psalms
to look into the soul of Christ. And David, the author of so many
of the Psalms, is clearly to us a great pattern, a pattern
of what it is to believe. And so, as we come to consider
the words that I've announced, I want first of all to say something
with regards to how here in the Psalm we are reminded of some
of the marks of the believer. And we see it, first of all,
of course, in the miracle of the new birth, how that experience
of regeneration is essential if there is to be any experience
of salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ himself,
in the course of his preaching, declares that great truth in
the third chapter of John's Gospel as he addresses that Jewish teacher,
Nicodemus. We have the words there, verse
3, verily, verily, except a man be born again he cannot see the
kingdom of God. How clear and explicit are the
words of the Saviour. It is impossible for a man to
see God's Kingdom, except He is born again, born from above,
and He prefixes that statement, of course, with that double,
verily, verily, verily, truly, truly, literally it says, Amen,
Amen, so be it. So be it, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And see how here in the
psalm, at verse 6, David acknowledges, By thee have I been holden up
from the womb, thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels. My praise shall be continually
of thee. I am as a wonder unto many, but
thou art my strong refuge. How David speaks of the natural
birth, We see it on other occasions of course. We see it in the words
of the 139th Psalm and there in verses 15 and 16. My substance, he says, was not
hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought
in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written,
which by continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of
them." David is describing the fetus in the womb and the finger
of God at work in that remarkable thing which is a natural birth. Clearly we see how wicked it
is then that men can abort so many babies in the womb and feel
that there is nothing really immoral or unethical in what
they're doing, so contrary to the clear teaching of God's work. It is the work of God, is it
not? And David is acknowledging it there in those words in the
139th Psalm, and as I say, here also in this 71st Psalm. By thee have I been holden up
from the womb, thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels. My praise shall be continually
of thee. Now, if the natural birth is
a wonderful thing, a remarkable thing, so too is a spiritual
birth. And when the Lord Jesus is speaking
to Nicodemus and he doesn't understand that Christ is speaking of spiritual
things, you remember how he responds initially to Christ. Can a man
enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born again,
he asks? Well, the natural man doesn't
receive the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to
him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned. And Christ goes on to speak so
plainly that he is not speaking of natural things. He is speaking
of that that comes from heaven, of that new birth. The man is
born again, or as the Margin said, he is born from above. And it is a mighty work of God.
Or if a man has no say with regards to his natural birth, How much
more is that the case with regards to a man's spiritual birth? Christ
says, The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor
whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. So is everyone that is born again. It is a mighty work of God. It is the sovereign work of God
again. There in the opening chapter
of John we have that verse, verse 13, which were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. The miracle of that new birth,
it is a mighty display of divine power that we see in the making
of a Christian. When a man or a woman become
the true child of God in their experience, when they are brought
to life, when they begin to savingly believe. Again, those words of
the Apostle writing in Ephesians chapter 1, Paul speaks of the
exceeding greatness of his power to us for to believe, according
to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ. when he raised him from the dead. There's a blessed connection
between Christ and his people, the same power that was there
when Christ was raised again from the dead, is what God demonstrates
in the soul of that person born again. "'Thy dead men shall live,'
says Christ, "'together with my dead body shall they arise.'"
Here is the first wonder then. that remarkable thing which we
call the new birth, that great work of God. And so if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature, he is a new creation. This is
what we see, is it not? It's a new creation, when the
man is born again. And we sometimes sing those words
in the hymn of Walter Sherlock, Love I much, I much forgive,
and I am a miracle of grace. Isn't that what the child of
God is brought to feel and to acknowledge before God? If we're
true believers this morning, if we're those who are born again,
we are miracles. Miracles have not ceased. Every
regenerated soul is truly a miracle of grace. And this is what David
is saying with regards to himself. He is a wonder unto many, not
only because of that that occurred in his natural birth. That is
true of all, but this is a man who is a spiritual man. He was
a man born again. But then David furthermore is
seen to be a wonder, is he not, in his experiences. And as we
think of the marks of the Christian, we might have to recognize the
mystery of the believer's experiences. It is a strange life that the
Christian lives in this world. We have that expressed in some
of those gospel sonnets by Ralph Erskine. I remember right, the
sonnets are divided into a number of sections. He speaks of various
truths concerning the child of God, and amongst them he speaks
of the believer's life as something that's paradoxical. And he says
there, my life's a maze of seeming traps, a scene of mercies and
mishaps. I'm in my own and others' eyes,
a labyrinth of mysteries. I am as a wonder. It is a truth. It is a truth that that life
of the Christian is a wonderful life, and yet it is a strange
and a mysterious life. And how David knew this, how
we see it in what's recorded in Holy Scripture concerning
this man, the man after God's own heart. He says in the 119th
Psalm on one occasion, my soul is continually in my hand. My soul is continually in my
hand. Now Joseph Carroll tells us that
that is a Hebraism and it signifies the state of extreme peril. That's the force of what David
is saying when he uses that particular expression, speaking of his soul
being in his hands. He knew what it was to be in
the most extreme of situations. He knew what it was to be in
perilous conditions. And we saw it, did we not, in
that portion of scripture that we read there right at the beginning?
of that 20th chapter in the first book of Samuel, he says to his
friend Jonathan, there is but a step between thee and death. Also perilous was his state that
his next step he feared would be his last step. He was a man,
you see, who knew extreme experiences. How this man was one who suffered,
even when he was a young boy, of course, he had the charge
of his father's sheep, he was a shepherd boy, and how he was
so faithful in discharging his responsibilities, in caring for
the sheep of his father, Jesse, and he would jeopardize his own
life on occasions. when he volunteers to go out
and fight against the champion of the Philistines, against the
giant Goliath, he seeks to persuade King Saul there in the 17th chapter
of the first book of Samuel. And this is what he says, verse
34, he said unto Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep, And
there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock,
and I went after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of
his mouth. When he arose against me, I caught him by his beard,
and smote him, and slew him." Oh, here was one, you see, who
was willing, ready to put his life in great danger. in order
that he might save the sheep of his father." And here he is
now, he's going out against this giant of a man called Goliath
who's taunting the armies of Israel. And it's his friend Jonathan,
is it not, who on a previous occasion to chapter 20, which
we read in chapter 19, we see Jonathan speaking good of his
friend David. unto his father Saul and he says
there in verse 5 of chapter 19 he did put his life in his hand
and slew the Philistine and the Lord wrought a great salvation
for all Israel thou sawest it and didst rejoice wherefore then
wilt thou sin against innocent blood to say David without a
cause he put his life in his hand He was pleased to serve
God by jeopardizing his own life. For now Saul was constantly bent
upon his destruction. Again there in that same 19th
chapter we read of Saul having the house watched where David
was. He was married of course to Saul's
daughter Micah. But David has the house watched
because he will slay him. And it's not only Saul who will
persecute him. He's persecuted by others. As
he flees from Saul there are those that he runs to and yet
they betray him. He's betrayed by the Ziphites. We could refer to so many incidents
that are recorded there in the books of Samuel concerning the
experiences of this man in chapter 23 of the first book of Samuel. At verse 19 we read of the Ziphites
who they came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself
with us in strongholds in the wood in the hill of Hackelah,
which is on the south of Jeshimon? Now therefore, O king, come down
according to all the desire of thy soul to come down, and our
part shall be to deliver him into the king's hand. And Saul
said, Blessed be ye of the Lord, for ye have compassion on mirth. Men, you see, turn against David. Oh, there are those who will
betray him. And it's not only in that first
book, but even in the second book of Samuel, when David is
established upon the throne, there is conspiracy against him,
even from his own household. In chapter 15 and the following
chapters, in that second book of Samuel, we read of the conspiracy
of his son Absalom, how he seeks to seize the kingdom, and David
has to flee for his life from his own city of Jerusalem. Oh,
David knew what it was, you see, so often to be in trouble. My soul is among lions, is his
confession. There in the 57th Psalm, when
he fled from Saul in the Cay, he says, My soul is among lions,
and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons
of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue
a sharp sword. All of these things recorded.
Why is it that we have such a record Here in Holy Scripture we are
told, are we not, how all these things happened unto them for
examples, for types, and they are written for our admonition
upon whom the ends of the world are coming. In what we read of
David and his very real literal physical experiences, are we
not to discern certain spiritual truths? The Psalms, remember,
are an anatomy of the soul. It's not only what is taking
place outwardly in the life of David, but these things have
a lesson to teach. And David sees, you see, he is
a wonder. What a remarkable life it is,
this life that the king is called to live. The same truth we see
in David, as we could observe something of last time in the
experiences of the Apostle Paul. David's life was a strange, paradoxical
sort of a life, and actually it was in the case of Paul. He speaks of it, In writing to
the Corinthians, of course, we have those portions, as we said,
in the Corinthian epistles, where he does have to speak of himself,
because he has to defend his reputation as a faithful servant,
a true apostle. And so, writing in the second
epistle to the Corinthians, and there, in the sixth chapter,
Amongst other things he says this at verse 9 concerning himself,
this is Paul, "...as unknown and yet well known, as dying,
and behold we live, as chastened and not killed." There weren't
those truths also the case with regards to David's experience? David was dying, as it were,
soul continual in his hand, and behold, we live. He doesn't die,
he lives. As chastened and not killed rather,
as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing as poor, yet making many rich
as having nothing, says Paul, and yet possessing all things. Oh, the riddle, you say. The
riddle of that life that these men had to live. And it is, I
say to us, a pattern, a type of the life of believers. Lord, what a riddle is my soul!
Alive when wounded, dead when whole. All the strange experiences
of the God. And it's not just Paul and David,
we see it in others also. we have the language of the Apostle
Peter when he writes in his first epistle and there in the fourth
chapter at verse 18 he says, if the righteous scarcely be
silent where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? He speaks
of the righteous man that is the justified man that man who
has had the righteousness of Christ imputed to him by faith,
the saved sinner, and he speaks of him scarcely being saved. And we might say, well what then
of the truth that we so often speak of, the perseverance of
the saints? Do we not say that it is impossible
to be lost when one is truly saved? None shall pluck them
out of my hand, says Christ. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all. No man can pluck them out of
my Father's hand." Surely they're not scarcely saved. They're saved. They're safe. They're secure.
Well, what then are we to make of those words of Peter concerning
the godly man if the righteous scarcely is saved? Well, I believe that the Puritan
Richard Sibbes has the answer, because he remarks with regards
to that word scarcely, that it is not a word of doubt, but a
word of difficulty. And what a world of difference
there is between those two words. It's not a word of doubt, it's
a word of difficulty. The righteous are scarcely saved
in that sense, you see, that their whole life here upon earth,
the life of faith, is such a mysterious life, such a peculiar life. It's
a life that seems to be constantly under threat. There's that warfare
that is taking place always in the soul of the godland, that
conflict between the old man and the new man, the old nature
and the new nature. There's Satan walking about seeking
whom he may devour. There's a world that lies in
the wicked one with all its allurements. Surely it is so obvious that
that life is going to be one filled with many troubles. And
isn't the believer told as much by the Lord himself? In the world
he says, you shall have tribulation. These things cannot be avoided.
In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, says Christ.
I have overcome the world. And then, the words are, as it
were, re-echoed by the Apostle in Acts 14. We must, says Paul,
through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. all
concerning the believer, then we see it when his pardon is
signed and his peace is procured from that moment his conflict
begins. I am as a wonder unto men, but
thou art my strong refuge." How David is brought to see that
his hope, his confidence, his trust must be all together in
the Lord and only in the Lord. And what is true of David? It
is true of all believers. Is David a wonder? While we read
of other men who are wonders, look at what is recorded in the
book of the Prophet Zechariah, there in Zechariah chapter 3
and verse 8. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
It's God who is speaking, as we see from verse 7 then. He
says this, Hear now, O Joshua, the high priest thou, and thy
fellows that sit before thee, for they are men wondered at. For behold, I will bring forth
my servant the branch. Of these, you see, who have any
relationship with him who is called the branch, and that is
Christ, spoken of again there in chapter 6 and verse 12, Thus
speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, Behold, a man whose name is the
Branch, it's one of the names given to Christ, and these are
those, you see, who are the followers of Christ, thy fellows that sit
before thee, for they are men wondered at, or men of a sign. It is the experience, I say,
of all the godly. They know that miracle. that
miracle of the new birth, and they walk out that mystery of
the life of faith. They walk by faith and not by
signs. The same truth then in the Old
Testament that we saw something of last time in the New Testament,
is the Apostle Paul a type of the believer's experience. Well,
so too is David also the type of the believer's experience.
But of course, when we come to the words of our text, we have
to recognize that the greatest wonder of all is Christ. Is it not Christ that we see
here then in this particular psalm? When David utters the
words, I am as a wonder unto men that thou art my strong refuge."
If any man lived that life of faith, it was the Lord Jesus
Christ. For as a man he knew complete
and utter dependence, did he not, upon his Father. And what a wonder was the Lord
Jesus Christ. What a wonder was the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now the word, as I say, The Tuesdayer
literally means a sign or we might say a portent. The Hebrew word literally means
a special display of God's power and God's glory. That's the meaning
of the word, the truth. It's a special display of God's
power and God's glory. Now where do we see that display
ultimately? Where do we find it? Surely it
is in the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in Him. that we see the grace of God.
It's in Him that we see the glory of God. Everything about the
Lord Jesus Christ is a wonder. His birth is a remarkable wonder,
is it not? Never a birth like this birth. He was conceived in the womb
of a virgin, a woman that knew not a man. The angel said to
Mary, the Holy Ghost, that is God, the third person in the
Trinity, the Holy Ghost shall come upon them. The power of
the highest shall overshadow them, therefore also that holy
thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Oh, what a great mystery it is. What a remarkable miracle, the
display of God's power, that Christ should be thus conceived
in Mary's womb. There's a mystery in His birth.
There's a mystery also, of course, when we think of the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're told, as much are we not,
in the language of Paul, there in 1 Timothy 3, 16, he says,
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. Paul says it's a mystery. Here
is a person who is God and man. God in human form. The God-Man. As we said, the
greatest of all mysteries revealed unto us in Scripture is God Himself. For the mystery is the doctrine
of God. It should not surprise us that
God is altogether above and beyond our comprehending or our understanding. We cannot find Him out by searching. But God reveals Himself and we
see the mystery that God is One There is but one living and true
God here of Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and yet,
God is three. God is Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. Those three persons are but one
undivided God, one indivisible God. But then there is another
mystery, another great mystery, like unto that first mystery.
And it is that mystery of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What a wonder we behold! Here is a man who is also true
Almighty God. That little babe that was born,
even at his birth, as a child, so dependent upon his mother.
She takes that little one to her breast, she feeds him. He
dandles in upon her knee and so on and so forth, and He is
never anything less than true almighty God. I am as a wonder. All the wonder of the person
of Christ. And then when we come to His life, the wonder of the
miracles that He performs. And what is He doing in the miracles?
Is He not revealing something of Himself? We're told, are we
not, concerning that first of His miracles in Cana of Galilee,
this beginning of miracles, did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and
manifested forth His glory and His disciples believed on Him.
He revealed to them something of His glory when He turned the
water into wine. And what were those miracles?
Why, they were signs. As you know, that is the word
that is repeatedly used throughout John's Gospel. The literal meaning
of the word miracle as we find it there in John is a sign. It
was the beginning of signs. And what do these signs do? Why,
they point to this person. They point to Him as the Promised
One, the Messiah who has come from God. They point to the authority
of His ministry. And what preaching? All the wonder
of those words that fell from His lips. Never man spake like
this man. Here is the One who is truly
the Prince of all preachers. Never man spake like this man. Out of people were astonished
at his teaching because he spoke with authority and not as the
scribes. Oh, there was such an authority
in all the words that he spoke. A wonder, you see, in every part
of his ministry, not just the miracles. The miracles are simply an authentication
of his preaching, the teaching that he gives. And then, that
remarkable mystery that this man should die. He is holy, he
is harmless, he is undefiled, he is separate from sinners,
he is separate from sinners in his birth. What is that human
nature? The angel said it is that holy
thing. He is free from every taint of
Adam's sin, there's no original sin, In him there's no actual
sin in him, and yet he dies. And God says, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. How is it that this man can die? Here is the wonder, you see,
he dies to atone for sins not his own. Or the great truth of
his substitutionary death, that great atoning death that he dies. in the room, in the stead, in
the place of his people, bearing in his own person all that wrath
of God that was there just dessert. It's no wonder that we read such
remarkable events taking place upon the earth. Remember how
in Matthew's account we're told, now from the sixth hour there
was darkness over all the land, on to the ninth hour. What's
the sixth hour? To the Jews, the sixth hour,
counting the hours from six o'clock in the morning was high noon.
Here is the sun at its zenith, and yet there is a strange darkness
from twelve noon till three o'clock. And then the Lord Jesus Christ
cries. About the ninth hour He cries. And why does he cry, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? What a mystery. There is
a mystery in that because he could never be forsaken when
we think of him in his Godhead. God is one. And there is and
there can be no division between the persons in the Godhead. And
yet he is forsaken. and he feels it and he cries
out in all the agonies of his soul as he bears that punishment
the darkness that is over all the face of the earth here is
a wonder here is a great mystery in the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ but it doesn't end there there is the resurrection and
the wonder of the resurrection On the third day the tomb is
emptied, and he is risen again from the dead. And o'er the significance
of his rising again, he is declared to be the Son of God with power,
says Paul, by the resurrection, according to the Spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead. It was not possible that
he should be holden of the grave. He breaks through the bars of
the grave. He rises again victorious from
the grave. The wonder of it. It's not so
much David, is it? Time and again when we come to
the Psalms, yes, we see David and we see something of David's
remarkable life and David's strange experiences. But as there is
a greater than Solomon present, so there is a greater than David
present here. It is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And all of the work of that Savior is of course for others. The
Lord Jesus in all his work is ever a public person in everything
that he does. He is the head of the body, the
church, which is the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. And so, as Christ is a wonder,
so every believer is a wonder. David is a wonder. David is a
wonder. And he says it. But not only
David, as we said, all believers. Now, we referred just now to
those words in the third chapter of the book of the Prophet Zechariah. And there at verse 8, remember
the words, Here now are Joshua the high priest thou, and thy
fellows that sit before thee, for they are men wondered at,
men of wonder, men of sign, as the margin says. But what is
the context here? Remember the opening words of
this chapter. The Prophet says, He showed me
Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord,
and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord
said unto Satan, The Lord rebuked thee, O Satan, even the Lord
that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuked thee. Is not this a brand plucked
out of the fire? There Joshua was clothed with
filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and
spoke unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy
garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with chains of raiment." How significant are these words
in relation to what he said subsequently concerning Joshua the High Priest
and his fellows, they are men wondered. There in those opening
verses do we not see the great doctrine of justification. Now that those filthy garments
are removed and Joshua is clothed upon with a chain around And
that is the blessed gospel exchange, is it not, how the Lord Jesus,
when He died, took to Himself all those filthy garments of
His people, and as it were, being clothed in all their sin, He
became sin for them who knew no sin, that they might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Now His righteousness is that
that is reckoned to their account in putative And their men wandered
out. All the great doctrine of justification
by faith, how it was that precious truth that was as it were rediscovered
at the time of the Reformation. And how we see Martin Luther
there as the great champion of this truth. That the just man
is the man who lives by faith. He lives his life by faith in
the Son of God. And here we have David, you see.
Thou art my strong refuge. All his hope, all his trust,
all his confidence is in the Lord. He flees to the Lord. He
hides himself in his God as that strong refuge. Now, the doctrine
of justification is in this psalm, is it not? Our David rejoices
in justification. Look at the language that we
have, verse 15. my mouth shall show forth thy righteousness
and thy salvation all the day for I know not the numbers thereof
I will go in the strength of the Lord God I will make mention
of thy righteousness even of thine own and then again at the
end of the psalm my tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness
all the day long." And these words express something of David's
mature judgment. David is here an old man. Verse
18, "...now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake
me not." until I have showed thy strength unto this generation
and thy power to every one that is to come. Thy righteousness
also, O God, is very high. Who has done great things, O
God, who is like unto thee." What is David rejoicing in and
glorying in? Is it not the truth of justification
and justification by faith? It's the same as Paul. Paul's
desire to be found in Him, to be found in Christ. Not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, he says. The righteousness which
is of God by faith. And so it was also, I say, with
this man, with David. Always a pattern to us. Pattern
of the believer's experience and is a wonder. Or that we might
be those who can, by God's grace, enter in some measure also into
these things and feed upon what David declares here in the psalm,
I am as a wonder unto many. Many will look at us, they'll
wonder at us, they'll despise us, they'll reject us, they'll
ridicule us, they'll scoff at us or whatsoever. I am as a wonder
unto many. Ah, but thou art my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled with thy
praise and with thy honour all the day. Amen.