Turn with me this morning to
Psalm chapter 43, continuing our study in the book of Psalms.
While you're turning, let me tell you something that you already
know. Sinners who profess to be believers believe one or two
things concerning salvation. Salvation is either by the works
of man or salvation is by the grace of God. One of the two. It can't be both. Salvation is
granted or merited by man's own worth, or salvation is merited
only by the infinite worth of the Lord Jesus Christ. It can
be both. One or the other. You are saved by keeping the
law perfectly, or you're saved by the keeping of the one who
did. How arrogant and prideful for
a sinner to think that their filthy rags righteousness can
atone for sin. It's amazing to me to hear men
brag on all they're doing for God when they can do nothing
that God will accept. Why? Because it's got to be perfect
to be accepted. God will not accept anything
less than perfection. That's something we know very
little about, if anything. By experience, nothing, we know
nothing about it. This morning, we'll again look
at this Psalm as we had the first 42 Psalms. Hard to believe we're
already in Psalm 43. And we'll consider the words
here both as the words of David and the words of our Lord. So
let's look here at Psalm 43, first at the words of Christ,
as the words of Christ, and then as the words of David. Look at
the first four words of verse one. Judge me, O God. You know, as I read that, I read
it again and again, who but Christ, who but Christ would and could
say to the Almighty, judge me, O God. Who but the Lord could say that? Only a perfect Christ would desire
that, and only a perfect righteous Savior could provide that. You
and I don't want judgment. I can assure you that. As fallen
sinners, we want and need mercy and grace. You know, people always
say, I want justice in this matter. Well, not when it comes to the
condemnation of self. Now, when it comes to the judgment
of oneself, you and I don't want justice. We want compassion and
we want mercy. We don't want what we deserve,
do we? I just want what I deserve. People
say, no, you don't. Not if you see what you deserve.
God shows you what you deserve. We want mercy. I don't want what
I deserve. We won't claim the worth of our
righteousness because it's filthy rags. A menstrual glove. We won't sugarcoat it. A filthy
leper's napkin. That's what our righteousness
before God is. We bow and trust in God, our
Savior, because He provided, now listen to me, He provided
a perfect righteousness for us. when He was made to bear the
penalty of our sin, and this is what makes it such a double
blessing, a double cure, as the songwriter said. Not only has
my sin been put away in Christ, my Lord and mercy has made me
one with Him, and His perfect righteousness is now mine. And
do you believe that? Oh, believe it, it's so. That's
what this book teaches. He who knew no sin was made to
be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. That's substitution. That's the
gospel. I've lived long enough to know
this much. If God has not given you a sense
of your sin in the glorious act of Christ's substitution, Christ
being made sin and the chosen sinner being made righteousness,
It won't mean anything to you. Substitution won't mean anything
to you. It'll be just another doctrine. Who has need of a physician?
One that's sick. A self-made man has no need of
a physician. He hasn't seen his condition. Sinners will never have a desire
for Christ until they see their need. A healthy and whole person
doesn't need a doctor. And men by nature are healthy
and whole when they have no need. And that's why self-worth and
arrogant pride and self-righteousness and self-glorification, all those
words that we can stick self in front of, are at the top of
the list of the things that the Lord God hates. Proverbs 6, 17,
a proud look, first thing on the list of the things that God
hates. How can one who is so full of
sin and self be made perfect and accepted when they're nothing
but sin? Well, you answer that question
from the scriptures and you have the gospel. And that's why sinners
love the gospel. That's why it's good news to
sinners. That's how a rich like me can be reconciled to God,
no other way. Now, you start giving me a list
of things that I need to do, you're not gonna keep my attention
for long because, like I said a moment ago, I've lived long
enough now to know that I can't do them. I've tried and tried and tried.
Lord, I'll never do that again, only to do it again and again
and again. And pretty soon it just gets
plumb embarrassing, doesn't it? You don't even want to make any
promises to God. Well, my Savior made a promise
to God for me. And that's my hope of redemption.
To some, sin's just a part of life. They say, well, it's just
the way we are. I've heard it said so many times. After all, nobody's perfect.
How many times you heard that? Well, then nobody's going to
be saved. Because you've got to be perfect to be accepted.
And the question of all questions is, is how can one who is imperfect,
wretched, depraved, be made perfect? We can't make ourselves that
way. Whosoever offers a sacrifice
or peace offerings or free will offering unto the Lord, it shall
be perfect. to be accepted, and there shall
be no blemish therein." Well, that's all we are, wounds, bruises,
and putrefying sores, blemishes from the top of the head to the
sole of the feet. Only one who is perfect, holy,
righteous, just would dare ask God to judge them. Christ is the only perfect one
who would have no reason to fear the judgment of God. But the
gospel of the good news is this, those who are in Christ and have
Christ in them have no reason to fear the judgment of God either. And that's why Christ in the
believing center is the hope. of glory. Christ send you the
hope of glory. No other hope. He's the hope,
the only hope. Is that not what the Lord was
talking about in John 17, verse 21? They, that they all be one
as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may
be one in us. You think about that, it'll make
your teeth white. Make you happy. One with God and one with Christ. Not just a picture, you know,
not just pasted on righteousness. It's really mine. What a union we have with Christ. Loved of God with an everlasting
love, chosen in Christ before the world began. Christ is our
mediator and our surety and our representative while he's the
one who stood in our place instead. And he brought us nigh to God,
did he not? He bought us with a price. Our
Lord said, here as thou, Father, art in me, I in thee, and that
they may be one in us. Again, verse one, judge me, O
God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver
me from the deceitful and unjust man. I was thinking as I read
that, what a description of man we have there. Ungodly, ungodly
nation. That's why nations are ungodly,
because the men that live in it are. Deceitful, unjust, You
want to know what you are? There it is. You and I both. Verse two, for thou art the God
of my strength. And here we see something of
our Lord's complete trust in his Father. These are the words
of Christ. Thou art the God of my strength.
Our Lord is saying here, the strength that I have comes from
my God. Verse two, for thou art the God
of my strength. Why dost thou cast me off? Cast off here means the same
as forsaken. You remember what our Lord said
from the cross? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why
have you cut me off? You know why. You know exactly
why. So that he wouldn't cut me and
you off. Somebody has to pay that sin debt, doesn't it? There's only one that could pay
it. There's only one whose sacrifice God will accept. Why hast thou forsaken me? Why
have you cut me off? Put away the sin of his people. You know, sin is so atrocious
that when it was found on the son of God, God cast him off
and forsook him. It was for the sin of his people
that God forsook his own son. Does that stir your heart? Does
that help you to see how horrific our sin is? Friend, we need help. We need help. Our Lord says there
in verse two, why go I mourning because of the oppression of
the enemy? When I think about God the Son,
the perfect God-man mourning and grieving and sorrowing, I
admit that I'm in deep waters that I can't explain. But I know
this, it was for the sin of the people that God put on him. that caused our Lord to cry,
my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death, because death
is what it took to put our sin away. The wages of sin is what?
Dead. The soul that sins, it shall
what? Die. Our Lord was a man of sorrows.
Grief had been such an enemy to our Lord that he was well
acquainted with it. That's what the scripture said,
well acquainted. Acquainted with grief. Verse three, O send out thy light
and thy truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring
me into thy holy hill, into thy tabernacles. I think about what
God said. He said, I've set my king upon
my holy hill. My holy hill Zion. That's what
our Lord's praying for here. What men meant for evil, God
meant for good. Don't you love that? I love when
God does that. Men mean it for evil. Well, give
me an example. Men with their wicked hands took
and crucified the Lord of glory, but it was by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God. What men meant for evil,
God meant it for good. And good it was. And that's,
All part of setting the Lord Jesus Christ, God's King of Kings,
on the holy hill of Zion, where all the elect of God will dwell
forever. Verse four, then will I go unto
the altar of God. What's an altar for? For sacrifice. Christ was a sacrifice. Who was
the sacrifice made to? It says unto God. Then I will
go unto the altar unto God. Who was God the Father to the
Lord Jesus Christ? He said, my exceeding joy. Yea, upon the harp will I praise
thee, O God, my God. Do you see Christ as your only
sacrifice for sin? He was a sacrifice made to God
in your stead. Redemption is Christ providing
for you what you couldn't provide for yourself. We say that all
the time. I don't think there's much of a better definition for
redemption than that. Christ doing for me in my room
instead what I can never do for myself. God's not gonna accept
anything, as I said a moment ago, any of my filthy rags righteousness. Christ will be your exceeding
joy. You'll praise him upon the harp
of your heart. And then we have the same question
that we considered in our last study in chapter 42, verse 11,
verse five, why art thou cast down on my soul? Boy, that's
a question we could ask ourselves often, isn't it? Why are we cast
down? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Here's the solution, hope in
God. Hope in God, that's the only
place there's any true hope. For I shall yet praise him who
is the health of my countenance and my God. When our Lord was
totally cut off and forsaken of God, his hope was still in
the one who had forsaken him and cut him off. And immediately
comes to mind the words of Job to me when he said, yet though
He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Being the only perfect man, our
Lord Jesus must tread the winepress alone, and He did so for all
the sins of all the elect throughout all time, and a just God must
forsake His Son. If He's gonna redeem us. And
God was just in doing so when He pursued His Son. Well, He
was perfect, no? He had all my sin and your sin
upon Him. Yes, He knew no sin, He did no
sin, He thought no sin, but He was made sin. The sins of the elect, God's
elect were upon Him. All the sins of God's elect throughout
all time. No wonder he was sorrowful, no
wonder he was cast down. And because our sin was laid
upon him and he was made sin, God's holy law was fulfilled. God's holy justice is satisfied
and the child of God is made perfectly righteous, accepted
forever in the beloved Son of God. There's nothing hard to
understand about the gospel message we preach. Nothing hard about
it. It simply takes a broken, humiliated
sinner to need it, and it takes a divine revelation from God
to believe it. But it's not hard to understand.
Christ did for me what I couldn't do for myself. Is there anything
hard to understand about that? When our Lord died on the cross
in our room instead, he took the full blow of God's justice,
judgment, condemnation, and wrath as a man. And that's why God
can justly accept his sacrifice. The blood of a man was shed,
but it was also the blood of God. And only God's blood could
satisfy God's justice. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination
to the Lord. Proverbs 17, 16. Because Christ
was the God-man, because he was a perfect man, a just and righteous
man, he could not be condemned. Just as it is an abomination
to the Lord to justify a wicked person, just to turn your head
the other way and say, ah, he's okay. God can't do that. It's
an abomination. It's also an abomination to the
Lord to condemn one who is just. That's why death, the grave,
and hell couldn't hold the Lord Jesus Christ. He had to come
out of that grave. God must provide for himself
a lamb and God must provide himself as the lamb. And it's got to
be perfect to be accepted. He's the only perfect one. That's
not hard to understand. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold. Silver
and gold couldn't begin to pay our sin debt. God's not impressed by silver
and gold. He owns it all. But with the precious blood of
Christ is of a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's how
we're redeemed. Now let's consider these words
as the words of David. Again, verse one, judge me, O
God. That's David speaking. David
says, judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly man. Nation, you know every commentator
that I read on this passage said that David here is talking about
a specific incident of sin Whatever David's referring to he's saying
judge me on that. That's that's what the commentators
say, but that's not what David's saying here David said in Psalm
143 verse 2 and enter not into judgment with thy servant Don't
judge me Not according to what I deserve. No, sir. Don't judge me. For in thy sight shall no man
living be justified. We, the sinners that we are,
do not want to be judged on anything that we do. You can take my best
thought, my best sermon, my best prayer, and all of it's wicked. My best thought is altogether
vanity. David's saying, don't judge me
on anything that I do. Everything I do is bad. There's
none that do it good. There's none righteous, no, not
one. Not one action, not one thought,
not one desire that comes from this mind of enmity and this
body of flesh do I desire to be judged on, do you? Do you
want God to judge you on anything that you've done or do? David
is speaking here concerning the justification of a believer.
If you believe what Christ actually, that He actually justified you,
you have no fear of being judged. You'll be justified. It's based
upon His perfect work. And that's why we can have confidence
and assurance and a good hope. You will be made perfect, sinless,
holy, just, and righteous, so much so that you're accepted
and brought to God. If you believe Christ justified
you before God, that the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
bought you, and that you're not your own, as we looked at just
last week, you're not your own. You've been bought with a price.
That you belong to Him. You can say, judge me, oh God. The righteousness of Christ will
stand before God's judgment and before God's justice without
guilt. And that perfect righteousness
belongs to you. Well, you've already said that.
Well, we got to hear it over and over to believe it, don't
we? Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. I've heard a lot of folks say,
preacher, you said that more than once. Meant to, meant to
say it more than once. Oh, how I pray that God give
us a true revelation and a true understanding of our true standing
before God. David said, plead my cause against
an ungodly nation, my advocate with the father. Now listen,
he never lost a case. Not one, he's got a perfect record.
He's defended the chief of sinners, thieves, extortioners, adulterers,
fornicators, you name it, murderers. He's defended them all. in the
holy court of God's justice and every single soul that had the
Lord Jesus Christ to plead their cause has been found innocent,
not guilty, justified and acquitted. Deliver me from the deceitful. My margin there says a man of
deceit and iniquity. An unjust man. Verse two, for
thou art the God of my strength. Has God shown you that you don't
have any strength? See, that's men's problems. First,
they imagine that they've got some strength to do something
good in order to be saved. Well, that's the first mistake
that we make, because we don't have any strength. We don't have
any ability. No ability whatsoever. No man
can come to me. No man has the ability to come
to God. You want to talk about man's
will? First and foremost, you don't have the ability to come
to God. And then you add on top of that, no man will come to
me that he might have life. You're not willing to come. You're
unable and unwilling. You can't save yourself. You can't keep yourself. The only way we can be saved
and kept is by the strength of God. Paul said, I can do all
things. How, Paul? He said, through Christ
which strengthened me. The Lord said, without me, you
can do nothing. He didn't say, without me, you
can do a little or most things. He said nothing. Can't do anything,
nothing. You know, I looked up this morning
out of curiosity what the definition of nothing was, and you know
what it was? Not a single thing. Without me, you can not do a
single thing. Isn't that something? It's truth,
isn't it? Can't do a single thing. How
can anyone say, haven't we, haven't we done many wonderful works
in thy name? Do you remember what the Lord
called those work? Or them that did them? Workers
of iniquity. That's what they are because
that's all they can do. All our work is iniquity. David
asked, why call us or why dost thou cast me off? Have you ever
felt that way? That's the way David felt. And I tell you, you'll feel cast
off and you'll feel forsaken if you look within. And this
is something that, uh, that I've learned. The Lord is, let me
re-say, the Lord's taught me by his grace over the last few
years. Man, don't look within for anything. David says, why go I mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy? David is talking about
mourning over sin. You know, sin is our greatest
enemy. Sin so oppresses us. But what a blessing it is to
mourn over sin when you think about it. Only God can make you
mourn over your sin. Sin is something that the true
believer mourns over. Sin causes us deep sorrow and
regret. That's what oppression is. If
it doesn't, then God is yet to show you who and what you are. It mourns me to know that I too
would have been a part of Christ's crucifixion. I knew a man, I've
told you this before, and I mean he was quite proud of it. On
several occasions he said, if I'd have been there the day they
crucified the Lord, I would have stopped it. No, you wouldn't have. You'd
have been right there yelling, crucify him, crucify him with
the rest of them. And I, by God's grace, know that. And I'm so sad over that. But God's made me to mourn over
it. We mourn because we know that in and of ourselves there's
nothing, not a single thing, that we can do to make it any
better. And I know David is speaking
of mourning over sin because he exposes his enemy here as
the enemy. Do you notice that? We read over
these little words and I need to slow down. He exposes sin
as the enemy. Sin is the enemy. Specifically,
the sin in me is my greatest enemy. The enemy, the sin within,
caused Job to abhor himself. The great enemy of sin, the sin
within Isaiah caused him to cry, woe is me. I'm undone, I'm a
man of unclean lips and everyone around me is in the same condition. Woe, great sorrow and distress
to me and within me. Sin is what I am. Isaiah said,
I am undone. And the only way we can be done
is if Christ finished it for us. The enemy, the sin within,
calls Paul to cry, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? And oh, what oppression comes
from the enemy of sin. My old man, my old nature, my
sin, who shall deliver me from these enemies? I say with Paul,
I thank God through Jesus Christ, my Lord. He's the only one that
can, Chris. Every good and perfect gift coming
from where? From above. that come from our
God, the Father of lights. It is with Him who there is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning, and of His own will
beget He us with the word of truth. The word is Christ and
Christ is the word. Christ is the truth. In other
words, of His own will beget He us with Christ. This is the
teaching of the word of God, and this is the good news of
the gospel. And God saves sinners for his own great name's sake,
and it pleases the Lord to make you his people. Every gift we
have comes from him, from above, and they come because of our
union with Christ, and as with Christ as our advocate with the
Father, he will plead your cause, and it's gonna be a good verdict. The verdict's in. Not guilty. That'll mean something to you
if you see what you deserve. Well, Brother Preacher, what
about Satan and Satan, our greatest enemy? Well, let me ask you a
question. Did Christ die to put Satan away? Satan's already on God's chain.
He and the angels which kept not their first estate are reserved
in everlasting dark chains under darkness until the judgment of
the great day. Christ died to put sin away. I want you to look at what David
prays for in verse three, and I'll hurry along. He says, oh,
send out thy light and thy truth. Let them leave. Let them bring
me into thy holy hill, into thy tabernacles. What is David here praying for?
He's praying for light and truth. The light of the gospel. The truth of the gospel. I've seen her in my mind so many
times. caught in the very act of adultery,
the scripture says, and brought before the Lord. And the scribes
and the Pharisees said to the Lord, said, she was caught in
adultery in the very act. And you know, when I've read
that, I've always wondered, what were they doing there to have
caught her in the act? At least two of them had to be
witnesses, otherwise the accusation wasn't legal. They said Moses
and the law commanded us that she should be stoned, but what
do you say? And you know they were doing
this, just try to catch him in a mistake or whatever so they
could accuse him. And he said, he that is without
sin, let him first cast a stone at her. This is what I say. We'll leave Moses out of it right
now. If you're without sin, then you
cast the first stone. Did nobody hurl any rocks? And as our Lord Jesus stooped
and wrote on the ground, they one by one, from the eldest to
the youngest, the scripture says convicted by their conscience, they left. And that poor adulteress
was left alone with the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, that's where
all of us got to be brought. And that's a good place to be
brought. Our Lord said, woman, where are
thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? And
she answered, no man, Lord. No man. And our Lord said, neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Then our Lord said this, I am
the light of the world. And he that followeth me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Light
and life, light and truth. It's all Christ, all of it. Oh, Lord, send us light. Send
us truth. Continually give us Jesus Christ,
who's both. Oh, what light's found in the
truth. In Christ, the believer is without guilt. Isn't that
a wonderful truth? Not long ago, I heard a sportscaster
call a highly touted athlete, he's the truth. He's the truth.
And I've sat there going, no, he's not. He's not. No, I don't care how good he
is. He's not the truth. That title belongs to my Lord
and no one else. He is the truth. Verse three again, let thy light
and thy truth lead me. Don't lead me to lead myself. If you do, I'm heading for a
ditch. And not only let the light and
truth lead me, but Lord, let them bring me. You see that? I need to be brought. I must
be brought or I'll never come. I cannot come, as I've already
said. No ability and I will not come because I don't have any
willingness. I must be made willing when in the day of his power,
in the day of his strength, as we've already read. Gotta be brought. Jesus Christ
died, the just for the unjust, that he might what? Bring. Carry is what the word means.
Carry us to God, like that sheep upon the shepherd's shoulder. Being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit. Let me be found in Christ. That's
the desire of every believer. Isn't that your desire? Verse
four, then I will go unto the altar of God. We've already asked
this, what's an altar for? It's for sacrifices, speaking
of the work of Christ. You know, even in heaven, when
we have no sin, we'll be worshiping the Lamb slain. Now, I don't
understand this either. When in heaven, without the consciousness
of sin, we're still gonna know that the only reason that we're
there is because of the Lamb that was slain. He's the priest
that offers the sacrifice. He's the altar and he's the mercy
seeker. Christ himself is the sacrifice.
Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin.
You take Christ out of all that, we have no hope. Then I will go to the altar of
God and to God my exceeding joy. Oh friends, there's no joy without
going to the altar. And that ain't talking about
coming up here. Save your legs and save your feet. Stay right
where you are and come to Christ. David repeats what he said in
Psalm 42. Why art thou cast down on my
soul? And why art thou disquieted with
me? Hope in God. For I shall yet
praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God.
I heard Brother Todd say concerning this, that David here is speaking
to himself. He's not listening to himself.
He's speaking to himself. You see, if you listen to yourself,
it'll always bring you down. If you listen to yourself, it'll
always be contrary to the gospel. Why are you cast down? Every look within was going to
cast you down. Told a dear brother here recently,
still struggling with assurance. Don't look within. Quit looking
within. Look to Christ. Brother Mahan once said, if you
look to yourself, you'll be discouraged. If you look to others, you'll
be disappointed. But if you look to Christ, you'll
be saved. Isn't that the truth? You know, just last week someone
was, something was weighing heavy on my heart and I just said it
out loud without thinking about it. That's happening to me more
often lately. I just hope it don't happen in
public. But I just said out loud before I even thought, David,
what's wrong with you? I was talking to myself. Why
are you cast down? What's wrong with you? Why are
you feeling sorry for yourself? I was cast down because I was
looking to myself. I was looking to within. We can't
do that. So what do we do? It's always
the same thing. We hope in God. The God who is glorious. The
God in whose hand we are. The God that is too wise to err. The God that is too kind to be
cruel. the God who makes you accepted and the beloved. There's
always a reason to hope in God. He's the health of my countenance.
I'll leave you with this. That word health there in verse
five, in the original translation, it comes from the Hebrew word
that means salvation. And the word, that's the word
health, and the word countenance means acceptance. So Jesus Christ
is the salvation of my acceptance. Accepted in the Beloved. Same
thing Paul was talking about in Ephesians. Jesus Christ is
the salvation of my acceptance. No other way to be accepted except
in the Beloved. Oh, may God be pleased to make
it so for God's glory, our good, and for Christ's sake.