and that's probably the one that's
most recognized. But that phrase, far as the curse
is found. He's not talking about earthly
plants and thorns. He's talking about the new birth,
when God gives us a new nature. There's no more thorns of sin
in that nature. Why? Because his blood went far
as the curse was found. Rooted it out. And he rules the
world with truth and grace. They don't mind seeing Jesus
in a manger. They don't even mind seeing him
on a cross. Man, they can't have a man like
that to rule over them. I can. I'm glad to. Very thankful the Lord has given
me the heart to bow and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Again,
we'll ask God to bless you again. I want to mention my brother
Carol out in the Todd's Road Grace Church. He has cancer. It's a very painful time and
experience for him going through the treatments Been a wonderful, faithful man
as I think of him. I can't help but think every
time I've been to Todd's Road that I have not seen him. He's been a faithful witness
every time. Probably the first one I greet
is Carroll, or greets me. He greets me before anyone else. And his faithfulness is evident. And I'm very thankful for that.
So pray for him during this time, that God continue to give him
faith, looking to Christ. I tell you, there is nothing
harder than to be spiritual when you're sick. And when you're
sick like that, there's very no, there's hardly any retreats.
And pray for him that God will do a mighty work in healing him. I'm so thankful for the congregation
that God has given me here that this is just a... I want you
to know what a blessing you are to my heart. That you come to hear this Word.
That you come to be fed of Christ. I love you, but I'm so thankful
that you love Him. It thrills my soul to know that
you love His Word. and the unity that God has given
us over this. It's sad that it's not as common
as it should be. And I'm talking not in the false
churches, in gospel churches. There's division and strife and
contention over frivolous, foolish things. I'm talking to Cheryl. If God
did take his hand off of us, there's no difference, is there?
We would be full of contention and strife and division if God
took his hand off of us. And I know that we don't because
he has kept his hand on us. Please pray for these churches.
I know you don't know them. That's all right. You don't have
to. God knows them. God knows their strife and the
contentious men that come in. And I mean the contentious men
are God's people. I don't have any doubt that the
people bringing contention are God's people. Why? Because we're still prone to
sin. We're still prone to sin. And I pray God would keep us
and keep us in the Word, looking to Christ. So pray for these
things. Tammy's eyes obviously are better.
She's here. She's feeling better. Good to
see Sherry. Glad that she's here. Pray for Jill. Ask your prayers for me as I
desire to preach Christ to you this morning. If he don't do it, I feel for
you. If he does not come and speak
to you, I don't know what to say. It'd be a sad place if he
does not speak to you this morning. All of these problems of the
world that we face, I pray God help us set those out of our
mind. Man, there's so many. I know
you got so many troubles. God help you to just put them
out. And listen to this, listen to him. He's speaking here. I'm not just a vessel. That's all I want to be. I'm
conveying to you what He says. It's all my purpose here. I want
you to hear Him. Let's go to Him in prayer. Again,
Father, we come before You. We have so many requests, so
many difficulties, so many. They overwhelm our hearts, our
minds, our souls. We are weak. We are feeble. But I know you are strong. I
know your strength. Father, if you put forth any
strength to help us, you lose no strength. Your arm is strong
to uphold us and carry us. Oh, my heart breaks for the sick. For those who suffer in the body,
those who are tormented in the mind. We come and we lay them at your
feet this morning. and mercy. We plead for those
who weep, those who cry, those who lament the dark providences
that they face, Father. But I do beg you this morning
that the gospel would provide them with comfort and relief
and refreshment in their souls, in their hearts. Remind us again what great things
Christ has done for us. Remind us again of the great
salvation that he has given us. The benefits and the privileges
we have because of our union with him. Pray, Father, that you would
be with me and give me strength and liberty of thy spirit that
I should preach the word with thy unction and power and not
my own. And I beg you for these people
to hear. I beg you for them that you would take their hearts and
open them. That you would remove the fact, the sin, the unbelief, fear. I pray you would show us Christ
this morning. Remove our enemies from our presence. Give us strength and wisdom. And I beg you to do this in the
name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and for His glory. Amen. I'd like to take you back with
me to Psalm 34. Psalm 34. I've entitled this
message, The Salvation and Call of Christ. The Salvation and the Call of
Christ. Again what I want you to get
from this this morning and what I pray the spirit would testify
of is this That all the scripture speaks of Christ this text is
a message of Christ It was written by David, but surely this is
intended of the Holy Spirit that you should hear not David's voice
but the voice of Jesus Christ. And I'm just going to give you
this. I had this, I think I spent too much time on it, so I'm not
going to dwell on it, but the title of this psalm gears the
heart and mind to see Christ. Now the title of this psalm,
look at this, A Psalm of David, when he changed his behavior
before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed. You remember
David, in fear of Saul, in foolish unbelief, David surrendered himself
to the enemies of Israel. He delivered himself to dwell
among the Philistines. And you remember when the king
of Gath, he said he had heard of David's victories, he had
heard of David's power, he heard that God had anointed him to
be king. Now, this Abimelech, he wanted
to use David and his strength against Israel. Now, when David heard that, Scripture
says he took it to heart and he pretended to be mad. He pretended
to be insane. And spittle was down on his face
and he was scribbling on the wall. And the king came over
and looked at this guy and he heard all those wonderful things.
And he sees this guy and he said, this guy's mad. And Achish threw him out. And then David went to the cave.
cave of Abdullam, and the scripture says in his father's house, and
those who were bitter at Saul's rule, those who were in debt,
those who were blind, they came to him and David became their
captain. Now listen to me, this foolishness
of David, this sin of David, even the sin of David, God intended
to picture Christ. Now, Christ was not foolish,
Christ was not sinful, none of that. But I'm going to tell you
some things about what happened to David that you're going to
see is just like Christ. Just as David went down to his
enemies to dwell, isn't that what Christ did? He came down
and dwelt among his enemies. Listen, his enemies heard of
him. It's like Achish. He heard of David. His enemies
heard of him. And what did they want to do?
They wanted to use him. to overthrow the Roman government. But what did they find? They
didn't find a mighty conqueror. They didn't find a warrior. They
found a man who was poor. They found a man who was meek.
A man who was lowly. And what did they say about him?
They said, he's mad. I believe it's John chapter 10.
They said that. He is mad. He said, I came to
save my sheep. I came to die for my sheep. That's
not what they thought Christ was going to do. They thought
Christ was going to conquer. Well, he did conquer, just not
the way you thought it was. And you know what happened to
Christ? Same thing happened to David. He was cast out of the
city, crucified. And then where did they take
him? Didn't they take him to a cave? A tomb. And what happened when he rose
again from the dead? Did not all his father's house
come to him? That's what it said of David.
1 Samuel chapter 22 in verse 1 and 2. It says, All the house
of his father came to him. Isn't that exactly what Christ
said is going to happen? All my father that father giveth
me shall come to me. Who are they? The blind, the
discontented, those who are in debt. All a picture of sinners,
isn't it? So what does this title does?
It points you to understand this. This scripture is intended by
the Holy Spirit for one purpose, that you should hear Christ speak.
That's what all the scripture is. If you go to the Word of
God, you should look for Him, because that's what God intended
it for. So as we see this now, we go back to our text with our
minds now fixed on Jesus Christ. That's what the title done it's
fixed my mind on him and listen this is what is said I will bless
the Lord at all times his praise shall
continually be in my mouth now listen to me there is no doubt
that every believer has this desire You that believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, you that have been saved by His grace, is this
not your heart's desire? I will praise Him. Now David had that in his heart.
I know that, he did. After God delivered him from
his own foolishness, I know that he was set to praise Him. It is in our heart to praise
Him. We desire to praise Him as a
response of His salvation. Isn't that the reason? Romans
chapter 12 and verse 1, I beseech you because of the mercies of
God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, whole and
acceptable unto the Lord, which is what? Your reasonable service. It's just reasonable, isn't it,
to praise the Lord? Listen, when are you to praise
the Lord? At all times. Don't you know
that? At all times. In sickness, in health, in poverty's
veil, or abounding in wealth. What are you to do? Praise the
Lord at all times. That's what salvation encourages
you to do constantly. So let us shout from the rooftops
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Let us boldly then declare His Gospel. That's what it is to
praise Him. To praise Him is to declare His Gospel. Which is what? Christ! To boast
of His Son. That is the highest praise. And I tell you, we should declare
His Gospel at all times. Listen, I'm not ashamed to declare
man's total absolute depravity. I'm not ashamed of that at all
because God declares it. I'm not ashamed to declare that
God has an elect people that He purposed to save from the
foundation. Are you ashamed of that? No.
If there was no election, there would be no salvation. I know
that. That is absolutely true. Why? That's what God said. Had
God not left us a remnant, we would have all been like who?
Sodom and Gomorrah, so without election there would have been
no hope. I am absolutely positive that praising the Lord is declaring
the perfect work of Jesus Christ. That Christ actually didn't make
salvation, a lot of people are saying this today, He rose again
from the dead for everybody just to make salvation possible. I
don't know who that is. I don't know who that is, somebody
making salvation possible, because if He made it possible, no one's
going to be saved. He didn't make it possible. He
actually did it. How do I know that? It's what
He said. It is finished. So my hope is in what? It's finished. I'm not ashamed to praise Him
and declare that. I'm not ashamed that I know this,
that everyone the Father chose and Christ redeemed, every one
of them are going to be called by the Spirit of God through
the preaching of the Gospel without a doubt. And I know everyone that is called
will be kept. I'm not ashamed of these things.
This is what it is to praise the Lord. And we're to do this
at all times. Let me ask you this. Since when
have you ever praised Him at all times? I know that's what you want to
do. But when have you ever done that? We should. We want to. But we are so far from it that
we could never comfort ourselves with our praise. Could you find
any assurance in your praise? Any comfort in your praise? Could you find any comfort in
your faith? What if you're trusting in your
faith this morning? I believe. Therefore, I'm going
to heaven because I believe. Because of my faith. I know that you do that. Often
we do that. We lean on our faith. And what do we find? It's so
full of unbelief. You can't lean on it. But look
now at this text and see it is not David speaking, but Christ. Christ says this, I will bless
the Lord at all times. His praise shall, listen, continually
be in my mouth. You see, this is speaking of
Christ because He's the only one that's ever done that. Jesus is the only one who's ever
done that. So when He's speaking here, He's telling you what He's
done. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He came into this world,
He only and always praised the Father in everything. In everything. Jesus said this, He said, I do
always those things that please the
Father. Go ahead, can you say that? Is
there any man living or past? You suppose there's anyone that's
going to come into this world able to do that? No. He alone
did always please the Father. Go to Isaiah chapter 42, and
I want you to see this was prophesied of our Lord Jesus Christ. This
was not something He did randomly. This was something determined.
Isaiah 42. You know this is speaking about
God's servant, about how He's coming to set salvation in the
earth. And what does the Scripture say?
It says, He shall not fail. I love that. That is astoundingly
My hope. All my soul is resting on that.
That He did not fail. And listen, He's not going to
be discouraged. Now any Christ that fails or
is discouraged is not Christ. You got that? Any Christ that
fails. If Christ is trying to save you
and He fails, then that one's not Christ. Why? He shall not fail. Now,
what is he not going to fail to do? Look at verse 18 of that
chapter. I like this. Hear you deaf and
look you blind. Now, isn't that kind of sound? You go up to a deaf person and
say, hey, listen to me. Go up to a blind person, look
at this. That'd be kind of offensive, wouldn't it? That's exactly what the gospel
does, come to you that are blind and deaf, and he says, look and
listen. Now the only way a deaf person can hear and a blind person
can see is if somebody has power to give them sight and hearing.
And the only one to do that is God. And so when God comes to
his people, he said, you deaf. Well, I know he's talking to
me. You blind. Well, that was me. Now look at this. He points us
to Christ and he says, who is blind but my servant and deaf
as my messenger? Now listen, the things he was
blind and deaf to were totally different to things that I was
blind and deaf to. I was blind and deaf to righteousness. I couldn't see it, I couldn't
understand it, I couldn't know how to get it. Now my heart and
my eyes and ears were open to seeing. That's all I knew and
all I wanted. But you listen to the servant.
The servant is different. He's blind to sin. He's deaf
to sin. And who is blind as he that is
perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant, seeing many things,
but observeth not, opening the ears, but heareth not. Listen
to this. This is what it means. for the
Lord is well pleased for His righteousness." That's what he
was saying. Imagine Christ coming into this
world, He's sinless, He's perfect, and He's surrounded by sinners.
And listen, none of their sin influence Him. Can you say that
about you? Are you not influenced by all
the sin that's around you and in you? It had no effect on him. It's astounding. It had none.
Everybody was a sinner all around him. Everything they spoke was
mixed with sin. And yet, what did it have an
effect on him? Nothing. He was blind to it. He was deaf
to it. Couldn't do anything. And listen to what he does. He
will magnify the law and make it honorable. All his life. Our Lord Jesus
was fulfilling this thing in our text. I will praise the Lord
at all times and His word shall continually be in my mouth. Now
what was He doing this for? He was doing it to obtain a righteousness
for His people. That's what He's doing. So when
you read this text, you read what Christ was doing for us.
by his praising the Lord at all times, by his obedience to God,
by him magnifying the law and making it honorable. He was obtaining
for his people a righteousness. And what does God say about that
righteousness? He is well pleased for his righteousness. For his righteousness. Oh, that you should rejoice in
this truth, that Jesus Christ has obtained your righteousness. How? Because He prays the Lord
at all times. Therefore, listen, you praise
the Lord at all times. Praise was continually in His
mouth. Therefore, praise was continually in your mouth. And notice this, verse 2, My
soul shall make her boast in the Lord. What is it? Isn't this
what the scripture says that he should make his soul an offering
for sin? That's exactly what the scripture
tells us. And Jesus Christ, by His offering of His soul and
His body unto God for our sins, satisfied the justice of God. Did not His soul boast in the
justice and holiness of God's wrath against sin? It did. testified of it, that when God
made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, it was there you
see clearly the justice and holiness of God, that when sin was found
on His Son, He punished Him without mercy. What was Christ boasting? Boasting of God's justice. Now look at your text. First
part of that, I. My soul. But notice this, he
shifts now to someone else. He shifts to someone else. Because
of what I have done, notice what he says, something's going to
happen to this other group of people. He says, the humble shall
hear thereof and be glad. The humble. The humble. Have you ever been humble? What is that to be humbled? I
know we've all been humiliated or we've all been, we've all
suffered some kind of angst and have enemies and they've oppressed
us and we felt bad. That's not what I'm talking about.
This is about seeing. Have you ever been humbled regarding
your seeing? Have you ever been brought so
low as to know this? I could never be acceptable to
God by my praise or my works. Ever. No matter what I do. Have you ever been brought by
the Holy Spirit to see this, that in your flesh dwelleth no
good thing? Have you seen that? Do you? I'm not asking do you know this
about somebody else. Do you know this about you? I think of one who's humbled. I
think of that publican. Don't you? I do. I see that man. He was hated by everybody. He
was a tax collector. He's a sinner. He was hated,
despised, looked down on, and truly he deserved every bit of
it. He was an evil man. But when the Lord humbled him,
you remember what the scripture says, he was not even able to
look up to heaven. He was so ashamed of his sin
that he could not even look up to heaven. And he knew he needed something
that that Pharisee didn't need. He needed mercy. When a man is
humble to see his sin, he sees this, that God requires of him something
he can't provide. Not my parents require something
of me I can't provide. Not my friends or my government. God requires of you something
you can't provide. Righteousness. Holiness. It's a demand. It's not a request. But listen to what Jesus is saying. Look, what you could not do,
I did. What you could never do, I did
it. I did it. For who? Everyone that's
humble. When the Holy Spirit speaks to
a man of his sin and need, he will always, if the Holy Spirit
is speaking, now listen, there's conscience. Conscience will speak
to you, won't it? Conscience will make you feel
guilty. Conscience will make you want to do better. But one thing conscience will never
do, conscience will never bring you to nothing and then show
you Christ is everything. Only the Spirit of God will do
that. The Spirit of God will bring you to nothing. And then
He will show you Christ is everything. And then when the humble hear
that, listen to what Jesus said, when the humble hear that, they
will be glad. They will be glad. There is a
river, there is a river whose streams thereof make the city
of God." What? Glad. Glad. This is my gladness, that Jesus
Christ is all my righteousness. Man, He is all of it. You know
what I have to provide? Absolutely nothing. Matter of fact, the only way
I can't get it is if I try to add to it. I defile it. I make it useless
if I put anything to it. You see, Christ is all my righteousness. That's what Paul says in Romans
chapter 3 and verse 22. Even the righteousness of God.
Not just any old righteousness. The very righteousness of God.
By the faith of Jesus Christ. Now that's how it's made. They
say, you want to know how the sausage is made? This is how
it's made. Jesus Christ made my righteousness. And then it
says, unto all and upon all them that what? Believe. That same
righteousness he made is given to everyone that believe. And
everyone that believe, aren't you glad? Doesn't that make you
glad? It makes me glad that this His
blood has forever removed my sins. Jeremiah chapter 15 verse 20,
In that day the sin of Israel shall be sought for and there
shall be none. Can you count none? How many
is none? God says the sin of Judas shall
be sought for and it will not be found. Why? Because there's none. You can't
find nothing, right? Can you find nothing? You can't
find it. Why? It's nothing. It doesn't exist. This is what
God did by Jesus Christ when He said, I will praise the Lord.
He praised Him on Calvary Street. He praised His justice, His holiness,
His righteousness by taking my sin and bearing my punishment. He bore my punishment. And now my sins are gone. Notice this, go back to your
text. Christ is going back to Himself. Listen to this, I sought
the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears. I sought the Lord. The Scriptures are clear that
none seeketh after God. Isn't that right? What Paul says
in Romans 3? He says, there's none that seeketh
after God. Yet we know this, that everyone
that believed, now we do. Isn't that right? You seek Him
now. You seek Him now. Thou saidest,
seek my face. My heart said unto thee, Lord,
thy face will I seek. When God called you, that's when
you sought Him. Isn't that right? You sought
Him when He quickened you. This is the Gospel message to
those who don't seek Him. Seek the Lord while he may be
found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him
return unto the Lord, and he shall abundantly pardon him. Seek the Lord is the command. But why is it that you seek Him
and others don't? Listen, I haven't stopped. Have
you stopped seeking Him? This morning I am, when I'm preaching,
I am seeking Him to give me what I need. I'm seeking right now
to cleanse me of all the sin that I have even in my mind and
heart now. I constantly seek Him. I need
Him. But listen, why do you seek Him and others don't? There's
a bunch of people who don't have any interest at all in Him. Why do you have an interest?
Listen, because He first sought God for you. He sought God for
you. And listen, when He sought God,
listen, He delivered Him from all His fears. Now listen, I
got a ton of fears. I even thought about preaching
on that one verse concerning fear, because fear is debilitating. It is horrible. It's the worst
thing. It's even worse than something
that actually happens. Why? Because there's more of
those than what actually happens. You fear 10,000 things and only
one of them happens. I long to be delivered from my
fears. Have you yet been delivered from all your fears? So that's
not talking about you, is it? Who is the only one that was
delivered from his fear? It was Christ. He was delivered
from all of them. Why? Because he trusted God completely.
He sought the Lord in everything. And because he sought the Lord,
listen what he did. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
Listen to what Christ did when he sought the Lord. When he sought to satisfy the
justice of God, listen what God was doing with him. 2nd Corinthians
chapter 5. Okay, verse 19. Paul says, to wit that God was
reconciling the world unto himself. Why'd Christ come? So that God
should reconcile men to himself. Listen, not charging their trespasses
to him. That's what imputing means. It
means charging. How is that possible? How can
God be just and not charge you with sin? You are guilty, aren't
you? How is that possible? How can He reconcile me and not
charge me with sin and yet be just? Well, you don't have to guess.
He's committed to us the word of reconciliation, how he does
this, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech
you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be you reconciled to God.
Here's the grounds by which you can be reconciled to God, by
Jesus Christ. That's the word of reconciliation. Listen, for God hath made him
to be sin for us. who knew no sin. When Christ was made sin and
our sins were made meat on Him to dwell in Him, listen to this,
He never thought a sinful thought, He never felt a sinful feeling,
He never wanted to sin whatsoever, yet in this way God made Him
to be sin for us. I don't understand that. But God made Him to be sin for
us. He surely endured the wrath of God. And what did He do immediately?
He sought the Lord. Isn't that right? He sought the
Lord for deliverance. Listen to what David said. This
is also Christ speaking in Psalm 69. He said, Save me, O God. Aren't they seeking the Lord?
I sought the Lord. When He was made sin for us,
He sought the Lord. The waters are coming to my soul.
I sink in the deep mire and there is no standing. I have come to
deep waters. The floods overflow me. And yet,
what does He say? I wait for my God. And this is the result. He said,
I restored what I didn't take away. That's what His death did. Listen to what Christ's death
did. When He sought the Lord in His death, this is what it
did. He restored what He didn't take away. He restored righteousness. He restored redemption. He reconciled
us to God. Why? That we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. Now how were you made righteous?
You were made righteous because He sought the Lord when He died. And God heard Him. God heard
Him. And because God heard Him, listen,
He saved you. He saved you. He sought the Lord. And He delivered
him out of all of his fears. In verse 6 he says, This poor
man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all
his troubles. Isn't that exactly what he is?
He's the poor man. He's the poor man. He who was
rich became what? Poor. for your sakes, that through
his poverty, what, you might be made rich. He said this poor
man, speaking of himself, cried and the Lord heard him and saved
him out of all his troubles. Now go back to verse 3 in your
text. Now because of the salvation of God we see this, that this
is speaking of Christ. He magnified the Lord at all
times. He honored Him. He praised Him
for our righteousness. His soul was lifted up. He sought
the Lord when His soul was lifted up. And God delivered Him. God
saved Him out of all of His troubles. And because of that, we are saved. You're saved. You that believe. Are you not saved? Now consider when God purposed
to save you. How long ago was that? That was
in eternity, wasn't it? He purposed to save you. Jesus
Christ actually saved you 2,000 years ago. That was a time you
were born in this world like everybody else and you didn't
have a clue. You didn't want it. You didn't know it. You didn't
care for it. But it was coming. Why? He had already saved you. Now
He's going to give it to you. That's what He did in time, didn't
He? He gave it to you. Now then, you are surrounded
by fears. You're surrounded by troubles. You're surrounded by
sickness. Do you suppose any of these dark
providence is going to remove this salvation? What is going to take you out
of His hand? Name it. Well, nothing. Why? Because I didn't do any of it. I didn't have my hand in any
of it. This one preacher a long time
ago was talking about the thief on the cross. And he was saying that if anybody
goes to heaven and they are asked the question, on what grounds
are you here? Why are you here? If you begin with the word I,
immediately you're gone. Well, I did this. I believe,
I know this, I believe the doctrines of grace. Gone. Gone. If the grounds of you being in
heaven is I, you have no grounds. Listen to the grounds of the
thief on the cross. He made this little, it's kind of funny, he
said, imagine the thief on the cross, he's in heaven. Man, he's just there. And one
of the angels comes by and says, how in the world are you here?
And the guy says, I don't know. I'm here. I don't know. And he said, well, what do you
believe about the doctrine of justification by faith? I've
never heard anything like that. I don't know what that means.
What do you believe about this and that? And he said, I don't
know. He said, well, then what's your grounds for being here?
And the thief says, he told me I could come. The guy next to
me on the cross, he told me I was allowed here. What's your grounds
of heaven? Is it not Him? That's my hope. That's my standing. He told me
I could come. He said, come to me. And everyone
that comes to me, I'll give you life. I'll give you peace. I'll
give you joy. I'll give you heaven. What's my hope? My hope is He
praised the Lord with all His heart. My hope is that God's praise was continually
in His mouth. My hope is that when He died,
He sought the Lord and He heard Him and He delivered Him out
of all of His troubles. He raised Him from the dead.
He set Him on the throne of God to make sure I was going to get
in. Listen to what He says to you
that believe. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. How can I magnify the Lord? I can't unless I magnify it with
Him. How can I exalt the name of the
Lord? I can't unless I'm in Him. You can't exalt God unless you
exalt God with Him. Unless you are in union with
Christ, you cannot be accepted. That's what He's saying. You
can magnify God, but only with Me. You can exalt Him, but only
because of Me. You found that to be true, you
that believe? You want to magnify the Lord, but you know this,
without Him I can't. Except His righteousness cover
me and His blood cleanse me, God will never accept my praise.
But because of His righteousness and because of His blood, you
listen, your praise is accepted. He said, magnify the Lord with
me. Okay. I will! I honor Him, I praise Him, I
glorify His name because I am in union with Him, I am accepted. And notice His promise in verse
7 to us that magnify His name through faith in Christ. He said,
The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him. It's a military term. There you are in the middle,
and all around you is an encampment of God's divine power and grace
and love so that not one arrow or stone could reach you. He's often said to be a rock,
a tower, a pillar. We've got this painting at home. Beautiful. We got it for Cheryl's
mom a long time ago. I think it was a photograph.
I think, was it taken from a photograph? I think it was. This guy's standing
at this lighthouse. And he's just visiting. And he's,
he's, looks like he's got a book in his hand. He's kind of looking
out over here. And unknown to him, this big wave,
tidal wave, that just encompasses the whole lighthouse. It just
rolls over the top of the White House and he's not affected by
it. Why? The White House took the
force of the storm. It was a refuge to him, wasn't
it? Here I am standing here clueless. I'm like that man, clueless.
Don't know anything. And here He was. Christ was my
refuge. And He's encamped around me.
He's not just behind me. He's over me. He's under me.
Nothing can happen in this life without Him. He campeth around
about them to fear Him. And what is the exhortation?
Won't you taste and see that the Lord is good? I told you
how good He is. I told you of His salvation,
how perfect it is. It requires absolutely nothing
from you. Absolutely nothing from you.
And the only way you can have it is if you add something to
it. Don't add anything. You ain't got nothing. Just believe Him. Trust Him. Taste that He is good. And listen,
blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. I don't know about you. I don't feel blessed. A lot of my life I don't feel
blessed. Sometimes I think as though God
is seeking to kill me rather than help me. I'm overwhelmed. I'm weak. And so I don't feel blessed. But again, what does my feeling
have to do with it? Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord. Regardless of what happens, you
are blessed. Who? You that trust Him. Listen, if you don't trust Him,
you should. You should fall on your face
and plead for His mercies. And nobody's going to call on
Him in whom they don't believe. Isn't that what Paul said? You
ain't going to fall on your face and trust a person you don't
believe. I believe Him. I trust Him. He's all my hope. And God said
to me this, you're blessed. But I'm sick. It don't matter.
You're blessed. I'm dying. It doesn't matter.
You're blessed. Why? Christ saved you. He's still in camps about you. He said, O fear the Lord, you
His saints, for there is no want to them that fear Him. I've got
plenty more, but I'm telling you. Listen to me. What do those
that fear Him lack? What do you really lack? Now,
you think you're missing a lot of things. We feel like we're
missing a lot of things. But in truth, you're not lacking
anything. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not what? I shall not
want. Do you want for anything? Oh, you have a lot of physical
desires, but really, do you need those things? When you die, are those things
going to be necessary? What are you going to think about
those things when you die? After you die, what are those things
going to matter to you, your children? Your home, your job, your family,
what is that going to matter? Not going to matter, is it? Not
going to matter anymore at all. What's going to matter? Am I
in him or am I not? That's the only thing that's
going to matter. And if you're in him, what are you missing? Nothing. He said, ìCome, you children,
hearken to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord.î Donít
you need to learn that? How are you going to learn? Listen to
Him. Hear Him. I canít teach you to fear the
Lord. Who taught me to fear the Lord? ìThey shall all be taught
of God.î Isnít that right? You that believe, arenít you
taught of God? This is what He said. I want to fear the Lord. I want
to reverence Him. Well, I'll teach you how to do that. Faith
and love. There it is. That's how he teaches,
isn't it? Faith and love. Everything he does gears us toward
this. Faith and love. Faith and love. And so what man desireth life
and loveth many days that he may see good? What man desires
eternal life and righteousness? Anybody? And He gives us things that we
are to do as believers. Keep your tongue from evil. Isn't
that right? Isn't that just right? Your lips from speaking guile
depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. Isn't
that right? Anything wrong with that? Seeing
what He did, is there anything wrong for Him to tell you to
do that? No. No. That's just reasonable, isn't
it? The eyes of the Lord are upon
the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry." Isn't that
good? He's talking about you, the righteous.
He's made you righteous. So what? His eyes are on you.
His ears are on you. He always hears you. Why? Because
of Him. Because of Christ. I've got plenty more. There's
plenty more there about Christ. But I hope the Lord will show
you again that salvation is of Christ. That's what the whole
book's about. Salvation is of Christ. And those
who humble, those who are humble, those who believe, listen, we
are then able to magnify and honor the Lord. We're able because
we are accepted. We're accepted. This will make
you glad. Are you glad for this? I tell you, there's nothing better.
There's nothing better. I pray the Lord will give you
grace to trust in Christ and look to Him and see Him as all
your salvation. All your salvation. Now, I've neglected for quite
a while, and it's my fault, no one else's, for us partaking of the Lord's
table. As we do this, I want you to
see that this is a picture of everything I just told you. It's
a picture. The bread is a picture of His
broken body for you.