Good morning, everyone. I'm just
going to read our text and then you'll come up and read us a
couple of hymns. I'm going to read from Psalm
12. Psalm 12. This will be our text
this morning. Psalm 12. Alright, Psalm 12. Verse 1. Help, Lord, for the
godly man ceases, for the faithful fail from among the children
of men. They speak vanity every one with his neighbor, with flattering
lips, and with a double heart do they speak. The Lord shall
cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh
proud things, who have said, With our tongue will we prevail,
our lips are our own. Who is Lord over us? for the
oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy. Now I arise,
saith the Lord, I will set him in safety from him that puppeted
him. The words of the Lord are pure
words, as silver tried in the furnace of earth and purified
seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord.
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. We could
walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. That's great. Our gracious Lord, Father, we
thank you for your kindness in gathering this people here together
this morning to hear your word. Lord, we pray that your Spirit
would be among us, that you would fall upon us. Help us, Lord,
to hear the Word, to see Jesus, to see the preciousness, the
suitability of Christ, that He is all-sufficient and able to
save His people, and that He does save His people, that He
has cleansed us from our sin by dispelling by the pouring
out of His precious blood. Lord, have mercy. Forgive us
for our sin. Forgive us of our sin, O Lord.
Put it away. Christ Jesus, our Lord and our
Savior. In the greatness of Jesus' name, amen. We're gonna begin singing two
hymns. from your heart bag, blue hymnal,
number 488, My Redeemer. I've got a few extra handouts
here, if anybody needs. We don't have enough. So, put them on the back. Everybody have
a hymnal? And we can do that standing, if you like. ? Of my Redeemer and His wondrous
love to me ? ? Alleluia, O cross He suffered ? ? From the curse
that set me free ? ? Sing, O sing of my Redeemer ? Holy Precious King On the cross
He sealed my pardon Gave a death to make me free I was held up
under a storm In His boundless love and mercy
He the rest of creation gave. Sing, O sing, O mighty neighbor,
With His blood He purchased me. and made me free. O praise my dear Redeemer, His
triumph in battle's end, the victory He gives over sin and
death and hell. Sin, O sin, Oh, it purges me of the cross. Innocent, the blind He gazes. Heartless, wild, He purges me. On the cross, He sealed my pardon
in the dead. The next one is on the same page,
Glory to His Name 489. cleansing from sin I cry. There to my heart was the blood
of Christ. Glory to His name! Glory to His name! Glory to His name! There to my heart was the blood
of Christ. ? Glory to His name ? I am so
wondrously saved from sin ? Jesus, so sweetly abide within ? There
at the cross where He took me in ? Glory to His name Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood
of Christ. Glory to His name. O precious found in the saints
of sin. There Jesus is, make me sing. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. There to my heart must I sing. O let the Saviour sing, a gingerade
in humane company. Glory to His name! Glory to His name! Glory to His name! There to my heart was the blood
of Christ, ? Glory to His name ? We're going to be reading out
of John chapter 3. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus
by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him. And Jesus said unto him, Verily,
verily, that means truly, truly. Truly, truly, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is
old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and
be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is
spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell where whence
it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto
them, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
them, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and
testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If
I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall
you believe if I tell you heavenly things? And no man hath ascended
up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son
of Man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the Only Begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world,
and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds
are evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be aggrieved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they
are wrought or worked in God. Let's pray. Lord, we We come before
Thee, thankful that You brought us together to hear Your Gospel.
We ask that You bless into our hearts. We ask that You would
give us eyes of faith and look to Christ and see Him as all
in our salvation. We ask that You would be with
Brother Eric as he brings us a message. Give us hearts to
receive it. We ask it in Christ's name. Take your Bibles and turn back
to Psalm 12. Now the psalmist here has a complaint. He rightly directs his complaint
up to God. He sees the wickedness of man
all around him. We, like the psalmist David,
see the wickedness in our own hearts, in our own powerlessness,
our own inability to save ourselves or to deliver us from the intent
and the wicked desires of the wicked all around us. And the
psalmist here lifts up a cry of faith to the Lord. But before
any such cry can come, before any prayer of faith can be lifted
up to God the Father, the Lord has to do a work in our hearts. Even as Brother Carl read this
morning there in John 3, we don't know who God is, we don't know
Him or desire Him or have any any need of Him until the Lord
stirs up our heart and shows us what we are in nature. And
I would say, blessed is the man and the woman here this morning
that knows themselves to be a sinner in need of God's grace and mercy.
God doesn't call the righteous to himself. That's not why we're
gathered here, because we're good and deserve to be here.
He calls sinners to grace and mercy. He calls sinners to himself,
looking not in themselves for any goodness or anything to recommend
them to God, He calls sinners here to hear the good news of
what Christ Jesus, the Savior, has done for His people. We're
not here because we're good and worthy of this salvation. We're
here because we're undeserving sinners in need of His mercy
and grace. And He shows sinners that mercy
and that grace in one, the Lord Jesus Christ. So that what the
Lord does for us initially is to show us that we're sinners.
He shows us our need. He shows us that just like what
the psalmist says here that the godly man seeks it, He shows
that we're the ungodly one who doesn't seek Him and worship
Him and desire Him as we ought to. That we're the ones who have
ceased seeking Him. That we speak vanity with ourselves. That we tell ourselves lies about
our own goodness and try to tell ourselves everything's going
to be alright. Don't worry. Everything's going
to be fine. God is going to receive you in that day if he even exists. God will be merciful and right
and kind to us. But that's just a lie. We tell
ourselves these things all the time. So God breaks us, chills
us, We're unworthy. We are the sinner. We're the
double-toned, and those that are double in heart and speak
flattering things with our lips and telling ourselves lies. So
that's what the Lord does. He breaks the sinner. And each
and every one of us here is a sinner. And it's a mercy if God shows
you, yep, that's me. I'm the sinner in need of His
grace and mercy. And you who know the Lord, you
know how our hearts grow so cold and so dark and so bitter so
easily as we go through this world. It's so easy that the
cares, the desires, and the pursuits of this life just enter right
on in and they start swirling around and covering up that which
seems to be fruit or otherwise would be fruit unto the Lord,
it just comes up and chokes out that Word. So that even those
of us who come here regularly to hear the Word of God know
and confess that, that we've sat here many times before, just
cold and dumb and in darkness and in debt. He didn't hear anything,
anything about what the grace and mercy that God has shown
to his people and Christ is. So it's the Lord that says, you've
drawn near to me with your lips, but your hearts are far from
me. And every child of God knows that to be true of themselves. So I pray that the Lord will
help us to hear His word this day, because it's the Lord that
has to work in the hearts of His people, that softens them,
that brings them to see that they're nothing in themselves,
so that they might begin to see that Christ is all. If you hear
nothing else this morning, hear this one thing, Jesus Christ
is all. God makes Jesus Christ all to
the same. All of salvation, all sufficiency,
everything that we need to know Him and stand before Him in that
day. So that's what the Lord does.
He shows us that Christ is all. That He saves His people. He'll
bring these hearts of ours, these hard, cold, proud, stout hearts
of ours down to its knees to see that He is Lord. He is Lord. Not because of us, not because
of anything we've done, but He is Lord. So our title this morning
is, A Sure and a Certain Salvation. A Sure and a Certain Salvation. And we'll see in this psalm here
that it's the Lord who makes a difference between His people.
Not anything that we've done, nothing we've done for ourselves,
it's the Lord that puts a difference between His people and the people
of this world. Because His people, otherwise,
are just like everybody else in this world. So it's the Lord
that carves them out and brings them into life. It
says, quote, in John 6, 68, we're brought to see, like Peter, we're
brought to see our nothingness in ourselves, our inability to
save ourselves, our inability to do anything good for God or
for ourselves. And we see that Christ is all,
as Peter was brought to see, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life. We believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. So God's gonna
direct us by His grace, His power, Him doing all the work for us
to look to the stronghold that He's provided the Lord Jesus
Christ, not in here to our own selves, our own hearts, our own
deadness and darkness and weakness, but He'll cause us and bring
us to look to the Lord Jesus Christ to see that He is the
stronghold, able and sufficient, and has saved His people from
their sins. We'll have four divisions. The
complaint, and not ashamed, and the salvation of our Lord, and
finally, briefly, the assurance that we have in Christ. So first,
the complaint. Now, we know, we know it's very
easy for us to complain, right? I'm sure if you're honest, you
know that it's pretty easy for us to complain about things.
It's pretty easy for us to complain about people and cry out for
justice and how rude certain people are to us. James reminds
us that in many things we offend all. We ourselves offend all.
But the natural heart isn't usually too worried about how we're offending
others, but rather the natural heart is more concerned about
what others are doing against us. I have rights and I have
things that, you know, they should be treating me a certain way.
And we don't think about how we do the same injustices of
those people that we're crying out against. We don't see very
easily the things that we've done, the crimes we've committed
against others, and the offenses we've committed. So just the
fact that we have to complain is no evidence that God, that
his grace is in our hearts or that he's speaking to us or showing
us himself. In Numbers 11.1, we read of the
people of Israel that were Israelites in the flesh alone. It says that
they complained, and it displeased the Lord, and the Lord heard
it, and His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned
among them. consume them, that they that were in the uttermost
parts of the camp. So people complain all the time
and certainly we know the truth of God, that God is omnipotent,
all-powerful, able to do that which pleases Him and that's
exactly what He does. We see this complaining of people
against the sovereignty of God. But the scriptures declare, and
they teach to us, that God is sovereign in all things. Isaiah
46, verse 10, the Lord declares, my counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure. So that we think, and I've thought
this many times in times of my life, well, why then am I sin? Why am I a sinner, and why do
people sin against me? If God is in control of all things,
why is there so much evil in the world? I'm sure you as a
police officer see great evil in the world and you must think,
well, God is good and God is sovereign over all things. Why
is there such evil in the world? Well, the scriptures tell us
why there's evil in the world because we're all sinners so
that we're doing that which is in our heart and our desire to
do and exercise against men. We're just out there doing that
which comes naturally to us and pleases us and makes us happy.
That's what we want to do. God has allowed that. to a degree
for us to do those things against one another. But God is God.
He's sovereign, and He's doing that which pleases Him, because
He's working all things for the glory of His Son. He's going
to show us that we're not good enough in and of ourselves. He's
going to show us we desperately need the grace and the mercy
of God, which He has shown to sinners in His Son, Jesus Christ. So we're just dead sinners, dead
in trespasses and sins, working out against others who are also
dead in trespasses and sins, and then doing with us what they
want to do. Proverbs 16.33 says, The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. So God is sovereign
over all things. You're where God has placed you.
Your foot lands where God has determined your foot to land.
Our God is in the heavens, the psalmist wrote. He hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased. so that even now he does all
things according to the good pleasure which he hath purposed
in himself." He hasn't consulted me. He hasn't asked me what I
think about that. I don't think that he should do those things.
That's right. God has not consulted you. He
hasn't consulted me. He's not wondering or not seeking
my opinion or what I think should be done. God does what pleases
Him to do. He's sovereign. He's Lord. He's
king over all. He does whatsoever pleases Him
to do. A carnal man hates his truth. Mr. Spurgeon said that men will
allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They hate the
fact that God is sovereign, doing that which pleases Him. God alone
is on the throne doing that which pleases Him. But to the sinner,
to his child, They rejoice in this. They're glad. They see
what's in their heart. They don't want their will to
be done because we know what we do in darkness and in secret
and what we do and want done in our own hearts. We don't rejoice
in that. We rejoice in the fact that God
is sovereign, able to do that which pleases Him. So that it's
the Lord who takes a dead sinner, takes a dead sinner, And He'll
regenerate them by His Holy Spirit. He gives them His Spirit, though
they're undeserving. He gives them life, as we heard
in John 3, 3, that we must be born again. So God comes in and
gives life to the sinner. He gives them sight of the Lord
Jesus Christ to see Him. The Spirit takes us and washes
us in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, cleansing us from sin.
He gives that tender heart that's willing to hear Him, to hear
what He says, willing, made willing to rejoice in what He is doing. Turn over to Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel
36, that'll be after the Psalms. Ezekiel 36. We'll see Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Lamentations, and then Ezekiel. What I want you to notice
is who's doing what for whom. And I'll tell you, we'll see
here in Ezekiel 36 that the Lord is doing all the work for the
sinner. Nothing that the sinner is doing,
the Lord is doing all the work. So Ezekiel 36 verse 25, the Lord
says, Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall
be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will
I cleanse you. Because that's all we are, in
heart, in nature. We're filthy, idolatrous, workers
of iniquity, doing that which pleases us to do. But it's the
Lord who will cleanse us who have need of cleansing. A new
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit
within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And ye shall
keep my judgments, and do them. The reason why this is good news
is because if the Lord doesn't do it for us, we never will do
it for the Lord. We're never going to do it for
ourselves or anything to please Him. Now why would God do this? Why would God do this, you might
ask. What good deed did the people do that they should earn and
deserve such a kindness and such a nice thing for the Lord to
do for them? Nothing. We've done nothing. Nothing worthy, nothing deserving
of His grace and mercy. Look there in Ezekiel 36 verse
21. He says, but I had pity for mine
holy name, which the house of Israel had defamed among the
heathen, whither they went. So the Lord does things for His
holy name. He does it as it pleases Him. There's nothing that we can boast
in, say boasting in the Lord Jesus Christ for what He's done
for His people. Because if God has any gracious
dealings with a sinner, You can be sure of this one thing. He's
only gracious with a sinner in his son, Jesus Christ. Outside
of Christ, God has no gracious dealings with any sinner. In
Christ, he pours out all spiritual blessings, bringing him to knowledge
and faith in himself. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. So that's where he
does it. In Christ is where he pours out
his blessings. Now in our text we read Psalm
12 verses 1 and 2. Help Lord, for the godly man
seetheth, for the faithful fell from among the children of men.
They speak vanity every one with his neighbor, with flattering
lips and with a double heart do they speak. Now We know what's
in our heart. This covered a certain portion
of it. We know what's in our heart and we know the things
that we've thought about our neighbors and about others and
the things that we wanted to do to get back at people that
maybe have wronged us. We know what's in our own hearts
and the things that we've done that make us worthy and deserving
of hell for all eternity. But what's so faithful about
this psalm here, what we see here, what's so faithful about
it is that this is the Lord Jesus Christ praying this prayer. This
is Christ interceding for his children before the throne of
God. Christ's words in Psalm 126 are
pure words as silver tried in the furnace of earth purified
seven times. So that Christ, we're being honest,
and I'm telling you, me here as a preacher of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, I don't have any goodness of my own. There's nothing
better about me than anyone of you here or the best person out
there in the world. It's not because of my goodness.
I desperately need the grace and the mercy of God which is
shown to sinners by the pouring out of the blood of Jesus Christ
that washes me and cleanses me from all sin, so that I, too,
hope in what Christ has done. That's my only hope. This doesn't
qualify me or make me fit for heaven standing up here and preaching
to you. I'm a hell-deserving sinner,
just as much as the worst criminal sitting on death row right now. So I desperately need the Lord
Jesus Christ. But we rejoice in what Christ
has done, because Christ always did the will of the Father. He
always did that which pleased the Father. John 8, 29, Our Lord
rightly declared, He that sent me is with me. The Father hath
not left me alone. For I do always those things
that please Him." So this here in Psalm 12 is the Lord Jesus
Christ praying this prayer, interceding for His children. And the Father
hears the Son. Thanks be to God that the Father
hears the Son. When Christ stood there at that
tomb of Lazarus, that's a picture of you and me who are called
out of darkness by His grace and mercy. In John 11, 41, Christ
is standing there before Lazarus' tomb. He's been dead there in
the grave for four days. His body stinks. It's corrupting.
It's just decaying and rotting away. And Christ Jesus lifted
up His eyes and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard
me. And I know that Thou hear'st
me always. But because of the people which
stand by, I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent
me. See, Christ now intercedes for the children, and since the
Father always hears the Son, when He thus had spoken, He cried
with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! And every one of us here
who has been called by His gracious voice had been called to have
that same dark tomb, just like Lazarus, to come forth. We read,
He that was dead, came forth bound hand and foot with grave
clothes and his face was bound about with a napkin. And just
like him, that's how we come forth, full of the corruption
and the decay of this world, full of all kinds of worldly
foolish thoughts about God and who we are and how good we are.
All that is just grave clothes that he must strip us of and
tear away and break them. away from us and break us away
from the love of this world, because we can't see until Jesus
said, just like he said to Lazarus, loose him and let him go. We're
all bound by nature. Until Christ looses us and lets
us go. Only then do we begin to speak
truth. Only then do we begin to cry out to the Lord in truth,
like that Syrophoenician woman whose daughter was possessed
with the devil. Only then do we cry out and say, Lord, Help
me. Help me, a sinner, undeserving
sinner, desperate for your grace and your mercy. Then we stop
looking at everybody else and what they're doing to us, and
we say, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. I desperately need
your mercy, your grace, and your kindness. Be merciful to me,
Lord, a sinner. Then we know it's the Lord who
graciously deals with us and deals Christ Jesus to us in mercy
and in truth. So with the exception of Jesus
Christ, the godly man ceased from the earth. When Adam bit
that fruit, when Adam disobeyed God, we in Adam disobeyed God. When he died, we died. God severed
that fellowship with him because he disobeyed God. Fellowship
between us and God was severed as well. But in Christ, that
second Adam, we see him who is truly the godly one, able to
pray this prayer in faith to God the Father. Help, Lord, for
the godly man ceases, he says, for the faithful fail from among
the children of men. They speak vanity to everyone
with his neighbor, flattering lips, and with a double heart,
the base feet. Isn't that so of us? We just tell ourselves
lies all the time, telling ourselves that everything's going to be
all right, even though we know that it's not going to be all
right. We see the weakness all around us, and especially in
these dark parts of ours. Now second, does this offend? Rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ,
does it offend you? Does it make you angry? Rejoicing
Christ, the boast of what He's done for His people, You want
to hear about what you've done and what you can do for the Lord?
That's what the wicked rejoice in. They boast about what they
have done for themselves and how they have secured themselves
and done all things to make themselves happy and healthy and wise and
to go on in this life. And they trust in their riches
or they trust in their goodness or they trust in other things.
Even the religious, right? They trust in what they've done
for the Lord. They're always talking about what they've done
for Jesus and what they've done for the Lord and how they've
gone out and saved and told people what they should be doing and
what they should stop doing and how they're now suffering for
the things that they do for the Lord. But they're trusting in
their own works. They're no better than the ones
that they're condemning. They're trusting in their own works. Psalm 12.3,
the Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh
proud things. Now what are some of the proud
things that the wicked say? Verse four, who have said with
our tongues is Lord over us. The last thing
on their mind is Lord, Lord God, their creator. They want to speak
of their conquests. And I have someone in my family
who loves to tell me every time I see them some great deal that
they got. They're always talking about, oh, I went to this guy,
and I talked him up, and I got this super great deal. That's
all he speaks about is just how much he's, how he's gotten over
on people and other things. And nobody really wants to hear
that all the time. Even religious people, right?
Believe in free will, trust in their own works. They're always
talking about what they've done for the Lord and how they're
so blessed because they trusted in Jesus and how you're going
to hell because you don't trust in Jesus. And the people of God
don't speak like that because we're not trusting in our own
works. We know that. If we trust Christ, it's only
by His mercy and grace. There's nothing that can be done
to earn His kindness and mercy to us. All such boasting is evil. Christ said, it cometh of evil,
in Matthew 5, verse 7. Turn over to James 4, and we'll
see this more. James 4, verse 13. James 4, 13. James says, go to now ye that
say today or tomorrow will ye go into such a city and continue
there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Those are pretty
common things that we all do, right? We often have plans and
we have things that we think that we're going to do and accomplish
that year. Many of you, I know, have businesses
or contractors working for yourselves, and so we all have You know,
this idea of what we're going to do, but don't trust in those
things. Don't put confidence and trust
in your plans. It's in the Lord's will that
these things will happen. It's in the Lord's will that
we do these things. None of us know where we're going
to be tomorrow or later on today. We could pull out of here and
get hit by a car and end up in the hospital the rest of the
day. We don't know what's going to happen. It's in the Lord's
will. And he says, James 4.14, For as ye know not what shall
be on the morrow, or what is your life, it is even a vapor
that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For
that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, ye shall live, and
do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings,
all such rejoicing as evil. Therefore to him that knoweth
to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. We're subject to His will. We're
subject to His choosing. It's not what we will and what
we desire. God isn't consulting us and asking
us what we think is best for ourselves or for other people.
God's doing that which pleases Him according as it pleases Him
to do what His good will. You know, we can only hold one
breath of reason. men and women that have one breath
away from death. We can't hold any more than one
breath. It's according as he has planned it and worked it,
that we might know that we are mortal and corruptible and passing
away very quickly. So all that talk just denies
the Lord. Paul says, he reminds us in Romans 12.3, for I say
through the grace given unto me to every man that is among
you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,
but to think soberly, according as God dealt to every man the
measure of favor. So that we need to be taught
this. Turn over to Psalm 73. We'll
see how we constantly need to be reminded that the things that
we see in this life going on and the prosperity of the wicked,
don't be fooled by it. Don't look at that. And I know
to my own shame, I've looked at the wicked and how they prosper
and seem to get away with things. And I thought, why do I seek
the Lord? All I know is trouble, trials, and tribulation, and
a constant just bringing down of this flesh that I might see
that I'm nothing in myself. While the wicked seem to go on
and prosper and do very well in this world, they seem to get
along just fine. In Psalm 73, verse 2, He says, but as for me, my feet
were almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped. Why? For I was envious at the
foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are
no bans in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not
in trouble as other men. Neither are they plagued like
other men. They seem to get away with everything they do, and
anything they set their heart upon seems to work out for them. Verse 6, therefore pride compasseth
them about as a chain Violence covered them as a garment. Their
eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could
wish. They are corrupt and speak wakely concerning oppression.
They speak lawfully. They set their mouth against
the heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth." Sounds
just like the psalmist in 12.4, who said, with our tongue will
we prevail, our lips our own, who is lord over us. get confused
and troubled by these things and think, why do I seek deliverance? Why does God exist? Does He not
hear the cry of those that are oppressed and those that are
beaten down? And why don't I just pursue the
things of this world? I'm a smart person. I can go
out and get a good job and do certain things. Why don't I do
those things? And we forget what we are in our need of the Lord.
Verse 13, we see it, Psalm 73, 13. Verily I have cleansed my
heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the
day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning.
Verse 16. When I thought to know this,
it was too painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of
God. until I was brought to hear the
gospel of Jesus Christ and what he has accomplished for his people. Then understood I their end.
Surely thou didst set them in slippery places. Thou castest
them down into destruction. Verse 18, verse 19, how are they
brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed
with terrors as a dream when one awakens. So, O Lord, when
thou awakest, thou shalt despise their The Lord will show us our
true inheritance from the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll show us that
this world is not our kingdom. This is not where we're getting
all that we are to get. We are waiting until the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The wicked, this is all that
they have. This short, little, vaporous
life that's passing away, 70, maybe 80 years you're gonna live,
and then everything that you've gotten and gained, will all be
taken away, and whose will those things be? They could prove themselves
to be nothing more than small cattle waiting for the day of
slaughter. So any goodness that they have comes, goes away very
quickly. Thus my heart, verse 21, was
grieved, and I was pricked in my reins because of my foolishness
in forgetting the Lord and looking to these things. I was pricked
in my heart. So foolish was I in ignorance,
and I was as a beast before thee. Yet thankfully nothing can separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And we confess, nevertheless, verse 23, I am continually with
thee. Thou hast holden me by my right
hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel. Afterward, receive me into glory."
So that there is no boasting in the sinner. In any of that
psalm, you saw no boasting in their goodness. They didn't turn
themselves around. They didn't bring around their
heart to remember the Lord. The Lord showed them. Through
the preaching of the gospel of Christ, the Lord brings us to
see we know exactly what to do. They're not blessed. They're
set up and they're going to fall down into hell where there is
no salvation for all eternity. Thou hast only me by my right.
Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel. Thou shalt have to receive
me, Lord. It's all the Lord. The wicked
speak of what they've done and what they will do, whereas the
righteous speak of Christ, what he's done and what he shall do. So the difference is there between
the proud sinner, the one who's self-righteous, the professor
of his goodness and what he's done, although in truth he hates
God, versus those who are made righteous by the Lord Jesus Christ. So the wicked are in complete
darkness to these things. And they think that goodness
comes by them speaking of their goodness, or them trying to do
certain good things. They don't see that goodness
is not in anything that we've done. Goodness is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's provided everything necessary for his people. It's
in Christ. That's why we're constantly directed
back to the Lord Jesus Christ. Not that we make ourselves good
and righteous, but because Christ has made us righteous. He's made
us righteous in Himself. So that when we stand before
Holy God on that day, we won't stand in our own righteousness,
in our good works. We won't say, look, Lord, didn't
I do all these wonderful things for you? No, no. We'll say, Lord,
remember the blood of your son, Jesus Christ, at Washburn. and
deliver me from my sin, aid me. You won't even have to say it,
because Christ is the advocate for those people. He'll say all
that's necessary. We'll just stand there in the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, holy, spotless, and blameless
before Him. The righteous are counseled in
these things, they're taught the fear of the Lord, they're
given an understanding by the word of the Lord. Hannah, you
know, have you noticed that the women pray some of the sweetest
prayers in scriptures? They had some of the sweetest
prayers. In 1 Samuel 2, 9, Hannah prayed this. She said, the Lord
will keep the feet of his saints. He'll keep us from slipping.
He knows where to place our feet and keep us from slipping. And
the wicked shall be silent in darkness. So now we understand
the wicked don't understand these things. They don't speak these
truths. They don't speak of Christ and rest in Him. They just have
confidence that His righteousness is sufficient to save them. The
reason, she says, is that by strength shall no man prevail. That one who is strong in their
own good works, they won't prevail with God. But that one who is
weak, who has shown that they are sinners, has no confidence
in their flesh, or their keeping of the law, and has confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ, that one is made strong by Christ.
That one shall stand before Holy God that day. All right. the salvation of our Lord. Here's
why we boast in Christ and not ourselves. Psalm 12, 5. For the
oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will
I arise, saith the Lord, and I will set in in safety from
him that huffeth at the gate. So how do we come to know that
we're the oppressed ones, that we're the poor ones? How does
that sigh even get stirred up in us, and how do we feel our
need of Him? Well, it's by the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's doing all that work. And you can be sure that as Christ
creates a new man in us, He's gonna teach us, He's gonna feed
us, He's gonna fill us with His Spirit and give us all things
that are necessary to nourish us and make us fit in Him. For
whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of the Son, that He, Christ, might be the firstborn
among many brethren. so that you can be sure you're
His, He shall bring you out of the tomb of darkness. He's not
going to leave you there in darkness. He's not going to leave you shut
up so that you don't know the things of Christ. He's going
to call you out of that bondage. He's going to call you out of
that fear, bring you to see that Christ is sufficient to save
you. Here's 2 Thessalonians 2, verses
13 through 15, all giving thanks to God for doing this work, for
the work that He does in the child, He said, But we are bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto he called you? by our
gospel to the attaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So that we give thanks to God because he's the one that causes
us to feel that need to hear his voice, to hear the gospel,
to call us out of darkness to himself. Just as he did it to
Lazarus, calling us out of that tomb of darkness and releasing
us from the grave clothes and setting us free. Therefore, brethren,
stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether
by word or our epistle." Not by those traditions of men being
taught in many churches, so-called churches today across the nation,
where they speak of Christ who's begging you and pleading with
you, Lord, would you please believe on me so I may save you from
your sins. That's not Christ at this Bible. Christ isn't begging
anyone to believe on him. Christ works faith in the hearts
of his people. and He causes them to hear His
Word and to believe on Him. Brethren, we look to the Lord,
we exalt Him, and there are those that hate this and that puff
against us, that speak against this gospel, that don't have
any confidence in the things that we're saying, so that those
that are puffing at the Lord's people there in the psalm, those
are the sons of Elijah that say, oh, you can save yourself. There's
something that you can do. There's something that you need
to do. You need to do more. You need to be following the
law, or you need to be trusting in Christ, and they're calling
you to look to the works of your flesh and trust in something
that you've done, and they're mocking those that trust and
rest in Christ and what He has done. And also, not just the
sons of Eli, but Satan himself, who's there, always accusing
the brethren, always saying to them what wicked sinners they
are and how undeserving they are of His grace and mercy, and
we are undeserving, but Christ is, God isn't looking to us for
our goodness. He's looking to the Son Jesus
Christ, who is the righteousness of His people. So the Lord says,
Now will I arise, saith the Lord, I will set him in safety from
him that puffeth at him. Turn over to Hebrews 2. Hebrews
chapter 2, verse 14. We read, for as much then, speaking
of the Lord who's going to arise for his people, for as much then
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise departed the same, that through debt he might destroy
him that had the power of debt, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. so that we understand that Christ
took upon Him the likeness of our sinful flesh, that He might
fulfill all the righteousness that God required of us. Look
at Hebrews 2.17, Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to
be made like unto His brethren that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. So that Christ is the righteousness
of God, and because of the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ, God
the Father, who is holy and perfect, without sin, have no darkness
in him, will receive his people all on the foundation that Christ
is our righteousness. Christ has an ark, just like
in Noah's day, when the Lord saved the people by the ark that
Noah built there, that ark that they were in there, protected
from the wrath of God, from the floods and the rain, so we too
are put in the ark of the Lord Jesus Christ. The door of the
wrath condemnation of God against himself being poured out in his
time that we who hope in him won't have the wrath of God poured
out upon us and upon our body because Christ is the ark of
salvation for his people. So the Lord puts his people into
Christ as the ark who has put away all our sins so that we
now stand before God in mercy and Now will I arise, saith the
Lord, I will set him in safety from him, that puppet, that he.
The words of the Lord are pure words, you can believe it. As
silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times. That is, Christ took upon him
the likeness of the body of this dust. Dust, that's passing away. He came in the likeness of this
sinful flesh, yet was without sin, committed no sin against
God, but fulfilled all the law of God perfectly. which God requires,
because I can't do it. So he did it for his people. And he was tried and proven.
He was tried of men. He was tried of the Lord. He
was tried of the law. And he was found faithful and
proven of God so that he is the sufficient, perfect Savior for
his people. Hebrews 2.9, but we see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace
of God, should taste death for every man. That is, every man
whom the Father gave to Him in covenant. For it became Him for
whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many
sons into glory, to make the capital of their salvation perfect
through sufferings." So Christ was proven, He was tried, He
was proven, and found faithful. You can depend upon Him. You who have no hope in yourself,
that know yourselves to be sinners, depend upon Christ. Look, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the salvation that God
has provided for sinners. That's the one in whom God will
meet with the sinner, have peace with him, and require nothing
of the sinner, because Christ has fulfilled it all. There's
no loose end for you to tie up. God receives sinners with the
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I will set him in safety.
And that's exactly what he did. He set us in safety by putting
us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he says to us, turn you to
the stronghold, ye prisoners of gold. Even today do I declare
that I will render double unto thee. Christ is that strong. That's where he causes us to
look, to flee to him, to not look to our works, to not have
confidence in ourselves, to look to the one who is provided in
the scent of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. As he saith also in another
place, now Christ art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,
so that even now Christ makes a procession for us before the
throne of God and our son, Christ proceeding for his people before
the Father. And He delivers them perfectly, secured in Him forever. Who in the days of His flesh,
when He had offered up prayers, would read Him supplications
with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save
Him from death, and was heard in that who feared. Blessed are
the people of God. Christ was heard. Christ was
heard of the Father. Brethren, I know that it's getting
hot in here, and I can see it on your faces, so I'll close
with just a few words. In Psalm 1278, at the end there,
thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from
this generation forever, the wicked walk on every side, when
the vilest men are exalted. I hope and pray that the Lord
has enabled you to hear where the salvation of the people of
God is found. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're all sinners. We're all desperately in need
of His grace and His mercy. It's found in Christ. God has
shown you what a sinner you are and shown you the need to look
to Christ as stronghold. He saved all the ends of the
earth. That's why Christ came and put away the sin of His people. And all who looked at Him, to
testify that God is true, and that God has provided a sufficient
salvation in the Son of Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that He'll
bless these words to your heart, that if you heard it this day,
you will come out of darkness by His strength, by His power,
by His grace, calling you out of that darkness, and giving
you light in the Son of Lord Jesus Christ, because He is the
salvation that God has provided. Amen. Our gracious Lord, we thank you. You did all the work necessary
for salvation. You left nothing to the sinner
to do. Lord, we ask that you would be merciful. Call us out
of the dark tomb of the deadness of our own hearts, Lord. Call
us out of that darkness and bring us into the light of Christ.
See that he is a sufficient Savior, able to save and has saved his
people from their sins. Lord, strip us of the grave clothes
that keep us from seeing you. Take that napkin from off our
face, Lord, that we may see the light of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. Lord, fill us with your Spirit,
we pray. In Jesus' name, our Lord and Savior, amen. All right, Joe's gonna close this
talk, sorry. Peter's gonna close this, okay? in my heart about it. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how He could love you, a sinner
condemned unclean. How marvelous, how wonderful
in my song should How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me! For me it was in the garden He prayed
out my will by night. He had no tears for His army,
but sweat drops of blood How wonderful then my song shall
ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me! When many angels beheld Him and
came from the world of night, To comfort Him in the sorrows
He bore for my soul at night. How marvelous, how wonderful
in my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful
is Thy Savior's love for me! My sins and my sorrows, He made
them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and Son. ? How wonderful in my soul shall
ever be ? How marvelous, how wonderful ? Is my Savior's love
for me ? And with a grandson in glorious face ? I at last
shall see ? Will be my joy through the ages to sing of His love
for me. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me.