All right, if you take your Bibles
now and turn with me again to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. The title of this is Song of
Confidence. A song of confidence. Who among God's saints does not
need confidence? I'm not talking about self-confidence.
I'm not talking about confidence in your ability. Our confidence
is in the same confidence David had this psalm. His confidence
was in God. His confidence, his trust was
in God. Now we see here in this psalm,
he is encouraging his heart. He's encouraging his heart in
a time of great difficulty. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? And
he's encouraging himself because of his enemies. In verses 2 and
3 we read that the wicked, his enemies, his foes has come in
to eat up his flesh. And what was his past experience
in this? They stumbled and failed. He is relying on that confidence
of what God had done for him before. And now he says, Though
the hosts should encamp against me, my heart should not fear,
though their wars should rise against me, in this will I be
confident. Confident. And then he gives
us his desire. His confidence is in the Lord,
his strength, the Lord, his life, the Lord, his salvation. And
then he just gives us side as to his desire, said one of our
desire. And we know this is we're going
to ask. And the long and long for the
coming of Christ. And during this time of waiting,
he inquired in a certain place. He inquired in the temple of
the Lord. The only place where Christ was
manifest, where Christ was revealed, Christ was preached, was in the
temple. To behold the beauty of the Lord,
inquire in His temple. David here was doing what every
child of God does in a time of trouble. He prays, in a time
of trouble, hide me, hide me in your pavilion Hear me oh Lord,
verse 7, I cry with my voice, have mercy upon me and answer
me You said seek your face and that's what I'm going to do I'm
going to seek your face This is what God's people do, therefore
When all forsake us, what does he say? Even when my mom and
dad leave me, those who love me most forsake me, I know this,
you'll take me up, you won't forsake me. And he cried in verse
11 to be taught and led by the Lord in a plain path and to be delivered from his
foes. And then in verse 13 and 14 we have his his hope, his victory. He said, look, I'd fainted unless
I'd believed to see the goodness of God in the land of living.
Listen, he didn't see the goodness of God. He said, I'd fainted
had I not believed to see the goodness of God in the land of
living. And then he gives this encouragement,
hey, I waited on the Lord, now you wait on the Lord. I had not fainted. Do you seek not to faint? Do you seek to be encouraged? He said, wait on the Lord. Therefore, as we study this prayer
of David this morning, we may hear the words and cries of our
own heart to be comforted. For the psalm is not only the
experience of David, but it is the experience of every child
of God. every same experiences. And so then I asked this morning,
do you need confidence? Do you need comfort? Do you need
assurance? Are you surrounded by your foes?
Are your troubles overwhelming to your soul? And may God, the
Holy Spirit, take this word even now and apply it to you. And
that's the only ones going to be able to do it. I can I could
put it out there. I can't make it effectual. Only
God can do that. I pray he will. And I've got
four points this morning and I don't get through them. OK,
I believe a lot, but maybe God just in this and I will. I've
got four points. First of all, I want us to see
David's union with Christ. This was the grounds of his prayer. The grounds of his prayer was
his union with Christ. Secondly, I want to see David's
enemies, that they are no different than our enemies. He faced the
same foes that we face. And thirdly, I want us to see
David's desire in the middle of his trouble. What was his
desire? And fourthly, I want us to see
David's victory. David's victory, David's confidence. So first of all, David's union
here. Look at this in verse 1. He said, The Lord is my light
and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Whom shall I be afraid? This is the foundation of his
request and his prayer. This is the cause of his hope,
and that is his union, his union. As David was surrounded by fears
both within and without, so are we. We have fears. We are afraid. And I tell you, if we're not
afraid, usually it's because we're ignorant of what's going
on around us. We're oblivious. When we're awakened to what's
really happening around us, we begin to feel it. Our troubles,
they fell up within us so that we cannot contain or suppress
them. You ever had so much trouble
well up in you that you cannot press it down anymore? There's
some trouble, you can just push it down and push it down. But
eventually, it what? It comes out. Expresses itself. contain it within. David in Psalm
30 tried that. He said, I kept silent and then
my bones waxed full. The pouring of all the day long,
for day and night, the hand was heavy upon me, my moisture was
turned to drought. Believers, your sin is so great Your enemy so strong, your griefs
too heavy, does your bones wax old within you? Do you feel the hand of God pressing
you down? Newton wrote that hymn, that
poem, he said, I prayed for grace and faith I asked the Lord that
I might grow in every grace and faith, and I thought that in
a moment He would grant my request. But instead of this, He allowed
the angry powers of hell to assault my soul on every part. And with
his hand, intent to aggravate my will, he crossed my fair designs,
cast me down and laid me low. Why am I thus? I trembling cried. And this was his answer. This
is how I answer prayer for grace and faith. You want grace? You want faith? This is how he answers. Trouble
and trials and difficulties, is this your lot? Then cry unto
God that this trial is not for your evil, but for your good. Would the God we view every trial
that way? Well this is hurtful, but man I know it's for my good. For in your Well, in the midst
of your foes, cry out as David did. And this is the grounds
by which you're sure to be heard. This is the grounds by which
you are sure to be heard. Even because of your union with
Christ. Union with Christ. Notice that David did not say,
The Lord gives me my light. Look at that. Look at your text.
He didn't say, The Lord gives me my light. The Lord gives me
my salvation. The Lord gives me the strength
of my life. No. The Lord is my light. The Lord is my salvation. The Lord is the strength of my
life. The Lord himself, Jehovah, in
the sacred trinities of his persons, we are in such union with him
that he who is light is my light. He who is salvation is my salvation. He who is life is my life. My union with Him, the Lord,
is these things because of my union. We were in union before
the world began. We were in union with Him. We
were in union with Him when Christ came, when Christ died, when
Christ rose again, when Christ was seated on the throne of God.
We were in union with Him. And we experienced this union
at our conversion. when he came and gave us a new
nature we experience now listen gives us light isn't
that right he gives us light in the experience of our salvation
we were darkness Paul said you were sometimes darkness not you
were in darkness that's what you were you were darkness you
had no light in you but he did give us light He did give us
light. As God commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, He had given us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He gave us light.
In the experience of grace, He gave us salvation. We were without salvation. We were unbelievers. But by his
grace, he gave us faith, which is the gift of God. For by grace,
you are saved through faith. And that is not of yourself.
It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And
he gave us life. Isn't that right? An experience
of our salvation. He gave us life. We were dead. And today, you that believe you
are alive. Well, who keeps you living? What
is the strength of that life? Christ, he gave us this life
is this life. But the root and source of all
of these gifts, the gift of life, the gift of salvation, the gift
of life. Is this that you were in union
with him before the world began? Because God puts you in union
with him. One preacher said, God hits your
wagon to him. You're in union with him. Wherever
he goes, you go. It's like a trailer. Where does
a trailer go? Does it go anywhere different
than your truck? No, it's in union. You're in
union with Christ. This is the source of all these
gifts. In 1 Corinthians, look at this. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And so what David is saying is
exactly what Paul said. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse
30. Look at this. But of God are you in Christ
Jesus. But of God are you in union with
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And Paul said the same thing
in Ephesians one verse three, but. Blessed be the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ with blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places, according as he had chosen us in Christ
Jesus. According as he had chosen us
in Christ before the foundation of the world. That we should
be holy without blame before him, in love having predestined
us unto the adoption of children. Here it is, by Jesus Christ. Put us in union and purpose that
by Jesus Christ you should be holy. You should be saved. Therefore seeing our union with
Christ, God put us in there. And let's see this in 1 Corinthians
that detects you. What's the first thing God made
Christ to be for us when he put us in union? It's wisdom, isn't
it? So when David said, the Lord is my light, what is he saying? He's my wisdom. He's my understanding. Isn't that what light pictures?
You go into a room and it's completely dark. You have no knowledge of
what's there. All you're gonna do is stumble
around in the darkness. Until what? Until you have light. And light gives you understanding. Light gives you wisdom. And therefore,
God put you in Christ and made Him to be, first of all, your
light. Your wisdom. You can cry unto God because
He is your light, your wisdom. your understanding and what is
it that we understand what does he makes us to understand here
it is how can God be just and justify the ungodly this is a
this is a question that religion works religion can't answer it can't answer it only the gospel
of grace can answer this How can God justify me seeing
I am really guilty? If you're really guilty of something
and somebody declares you to be innocent, that person's a
liar. If you're really guilty, they're lying. How can God do
that? How can he justify me and not
be lying? Well, God's given us the answer
to this. The light of scripture is that Christ is my representative. That's the only way God can justify
me. You see, I was made a sinner
and a representative. I was made a sinner and a representative,
now I sinned on my own. I sinned on my own. But I know
this, in Adam all died. Wherefore, as by one man's sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men, for all have sinned. You sinned when He sinned, in
a representative. And so God makes this maxim,
makes this picture very clear that only by a representative
can we be justified. Do you understand that? Do you
have that wisdom that Christ is my representative man? That
God made him be my salvation? And light in scripture is not
only a picture of wisdom, but it's also a picture of joy and
peace. I remember when I was in the
military, there was no more joyful time when I had to pull guard
all night than when the sun came up. It was just joyful, it was
good, because now, you know, I didn't have to, you always,
in the dark, you're always guessing what's out there. You really
can't see much of anything. But in the light, you can see.
Gives me joy, gives me peace, that's what He does. Of which
Christ is my joy and peace. Now that I see that He is all
my salvation, listen, this is joy. It's joy to me to understand
that I contribute nothing. That He has made peace with God
for me. That the blood of His cross has
made peace. I'll tell you what, I don't have
to do anything at all to contribute to that peace. my stand in my room and he is
all my joy because I'm one with Christ therefore like those to
amaze they said did not our hearts burn within us while he spake I tell you to a believer there's
nothing like hearing his voice you hear his voice your heart
melts Your soul longs for Him. The wisdom you have, is that the
light you have? It gives me joy and peace to
hear His voice and fellowship with Him. Therefore, He is my
light. I shall not walk in darkness. I'm not going to walk in darkness
and confusion. Christ is my light. When I'm
confused, all I have to do is look at Him. I'm not confused
anymore. He's light, I understand. Secondly,
He is all our salvation. Salvation. David said, He's my
salvation. The Father put us into union
with Christ for this purpose, that Christ should be our salvation. Not only our knowledge of salvation,
our wisdom in salvation, but also our actual salvation. Those are the things that Paul
says back in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 again
he said God hath made him to be wisdom. And these three things
right here, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. What is that
but salvation? Salvation is a big word. When I say salvation I'm
talking about the whole thing. All of it. And I know this, we enjoy looking
at the parts of it. We enjoy looking at the parts
of it. First of all, righteousness is a part of our salvation. Without
it, I couldn't be saved. God made Him to be my righteousness. Oh, my righteousness. You know this, we were born without
righteousness. In Romans 3 it says, There is
none that doeth good, no, not one. There's none that understandeth,
there's none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way,
all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. How then are we made righteous
by the righteousness of Christ? In verse 22, he tells us that of Romans 3, he tells us even
the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. Important, this is the wisdom
we've been given, that our righteousness was merited by the faith of Christ. And then this righteousness,
though obtained by Him, was given to us. He is my righteousness,
and then in grace He comes, and He who is my righteousness, gives
me righteousness. and upon all them believe. Are you not grateful that He
is my righteousness, that there is nothing I contribute to this?
Nothing? Secondly, we see this, that He
is not only our wisdom, our righteousness, but He is our sanctification.
God made Him to be my sanctification. I was I had heard a message this
morning. Someone asked me and look. They
had a church in their area and they didn't know it called Sovereign
Grace Church. So they was asking if it was
a good place to go. And so I listened to a message.
First one popped up with sanctification. I said, we'll see. And sure enough,
first thing he starts talking about is progressive holiness. For such an educated man, he
is ignorant concerning the word of God. There is no such thing
as progressive holiness. You are either holy or you're
not. Holiness is an all or none principle, friends. If you are
somewhat holy, you are not holy. It's kind of like being almost
pregnant. You are or you aren't. You're
either... You're either holy or you're not. Now, I understand
this, we do grow in grace and knowledge of Christ. Some people
use the word progressive sanctification and they misuse it to say, well,
I mean growth. Well, say growth. Because yes,
we do grow in grace. We do not grow in holiness. Now,
I'll tell you this, you may act more holy, but that doesn't make
you holy. You may do those things that
God has exhorted you to do, but does that add to your sanctification? Well, let me ask you this. If
Christ is my righteousness and my sanctification, am I adding
to my righteousness? Do I need to be more righteous?
Ask yourself. Look in the mirror. Do you see?
Man, yeah, I need to surely be more righteous. Well, can by
you being righteous add more righteousness to his righteousness?
No. In the same token, how can you
add to his sanctification? He made you holy. That nature
that is in you is holy. John says this, that he that
sinneth not is born of God. What is he talking about? Because
you and I sin every day. I'm talking about the new nature
that God has given you, created in you. And so Christ, and consider this,
Christ is my holiness. I am holy because Christ is my
holiness. I am set apart because God set
me apart. And every day I am set apart
for His service. And the next one is this, He
is our redemption. He is our redemption. We may
boldly cry this, that God will hear my cry because He is all
my redemption. Christ in grace. Sinitive man
bore our sins in his own body on the tree. That's what it means.
All my sin. How much sin do you suppose you'll
commit this afternoon? this week, this month, this next
year. You don't even know how much
sin you'll commit. He does. And all that sin Christ
bore in His body on the tree. And all of that sin that makes
me so shameful, so vile, feel so guilty Jesus bought that sin
as well in his own body and when justice the justice
of God was it I remember some guy taught me
to box one time last time ever boxed in my life he was a he
was a champion boxer and he he said just hit me That's all I
want you to do, just keep hitting me. And I just thought I was
doing really well. I just kept hitting and hitting
and hitting and hitting. And in about 45 seconds, I was
exhausted. I couldn't hold my arms up anymore. I was so exhausted. You know,
and then he hit me in the jaw once and I got knocked out. That
was it. But when God's justice poured
out on Christ, it was just done. It was exhausted. It couldn't
do anymore. There was no more justice that it could exact,
no more punishment. Christ endured the justice of
God in its full measure for my sin. My sin, I didn't skate under
the radar with my sin. My sin is punished. All my sin
is punished. God punished all my sin in His
Son. And when my Savior was done,
He told me this, It is finished. He shall see of the travail of
His soul. I'm so thankful for that. His
soul, not mine. His soul. And be satisfied. And God was satisfied. Redemption
was paid. And God raised Him from the dead. God set Him on the throne of
God. He raised him to show his success. Peter said God raised up Christ
because it was not possible that death should hold him. What keeps
people in the ground? Sin. But since there was no more
sin in him, God raised him from the dead. Not possible for death
to keep him. Therefore, listen, don't be afraid. to approach unto God. You have a firm ground to approach
unto God. He is your light, your salvation,
and all your life. He is all your life. Christ is
my life. Believer, this earthly life is
a vapor, is it not? It appears for a while and it's
gone. In a hundred years from now,
who will remember we were ever here? No one but God. This life is a venerer. We hold this life to be valuable.
This life is valuable. You know why? Because only, there's
only salvation in this life. The elect are going to be called
and believe on Christ in this life. Scripture says it is appointed
unto men once to die and after this the judgment. Therefore
we compel men to believe. We long for everyone to believe. We long for you as sinners to
come to Christ. To believe on Christ. To trust
Him for all your hope and merit before God. Knowing this, that only Christ
can give you life. I can't give you life. I can't make you see this wisdom. I can't make you believe in his
salvation. Only God can give you life. And
what is the evidence of this life? It is simply this, he believed
him. become the sons of God, which
are not of the will, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God. All who are quickened to true
spiritual life, the evidence is simply faith in Christ. And we who have faith in Christ,
you listen to this, your life is hid with God in Christ. your life this life is not your life you'll
lose this well no man is discharged from this war no man will die sooner or later it will happen
here is my hope When I die, it's not over. My life is not ended. In fact, when I die, I begin
to experience what real life is. We are ushered in to enjoy the
fullness of that life that we have in Christ. But until then,
listen, you are kept. You're kept. Peter says that we are kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. Though you are in heaviness and
manifold temptations, which is for the trial of your faith,
which is precious, because faith is the evidence of our union
with Christ. So when Christ shall appear,
all the praise and honor for our enduring faith belong unto
Him who is our life. Paul says in Colossians 3 verse
4, when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall you
appear with Him in glory. And so then, as you live in this
life, I want you to know this, none can take it from you but
God. Since He is your life, why would
you be afraid of anyone taking your life? They can't take your
life. God does. When you see this happen,
you say, oh, this person died before their time. That's foolish
talk. They didn't die before their
time. They died right And just like I told you, I think
I was talking to Kevin, and he made this comment from the pulpit.
You know, he was there with Dee, and he said, you know, cancer
might be the means of taking Dee's life. But it wasn't cancer
that killed him. It was God. It was God that took
his life. But even when God takes this
life, listen, you're not dead. You're not dead. because your life is hid with
Christ in God. And so, therefore, if no one
can take our physical life, how much more our spiritual life?
Go to John 10. Listen to what he says about
Christ being our life. Listen to what Jesus says about
this in John 10. Look at verse 27. He said this, He came to lay
down His life for His sheep. He came to call His sheep. And
He said, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow
Me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. The Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. So then this is the strength
of our prayers, this is the strength of Christ is my light, He's my
wisdom, my understanding of salvation I understand who I am, I am the sinner I know that,
that's a wisdom, He's my light to see that he's my light to
see that Christ is all my hope to be just before God he shows
me this that Christ is all my salvation because of my you all
of it he's my righteousness he's my wisdom he's my righteous he's
my sanctification and he's my redemption he is all my salvation and Christ strength of my life,
both physical and spiritual. He sustains me until my life
is over here. But I know this, nothing can
separate me from His love. Nothing. Paul said that who can separate
us from the love of God that's in Christ. tribulation or persecution or
death no peril nor famine or sport or angels or Principalities
or powers or things present nor things to come nor hide or death
The other creature shall be able to separate from the love of
God. I am persuaded of this And neither life nor death you got
that nothing in life and nothing in death Anything can separate
me from the love of why because of my union with Christ. This is the ones of all our prayer,
all our hope. So that we should not fear nor
be afraid. I told you I wouldn't get past
it. I've got three more points. But we'll save them to another
time. Hopefully the Lord will give me grace so I can finish
this, maybe Wednesday. I hope God will give you comfort
in this. Be confident when you come before God. Because of your
union, He's your light, your understanding, your wisdom. He's
your salvation, your righteous sanctification, redemption, and
He is your life. No man can take it, spiritual
or physical, without Him. And he promises this, that nothing's
going to separate you from him. Do you feel separated from him
at times? This week I felt so distant that
I could not, I could not fathom him being in the same universe
as me. Now did my feelings have anything
at all to do with his nearness? Did my feelings have anything
to do with His being my light, my salvation, and my life? No. It's what grace is. Grace is totally unmerited favor. I didn't deserve any of that.
And yet He still gives it to me freely. Are you surrounded by enemies?
Are you fearful? Why? If God's your life, why would
you be afraid? If God's your strength, why would
you be afraid? I pray that God would help us
in these times not to be afraid, but rather to trust Him. That's a remedy for fear. Trust. Not self, but God. Not circumstance,
but God. Not feelings, but God. I pray God will bless this and
stand and be dismissed in prayer. Father, dismiss us with your
blessing. Pour out your spirit upon us and teach us these things.
Instruct our hearts to constantly cry unto thee for help. And know assuredly, Father, that
our enemies will stumble. They will fail. And Christ shall
conquer. And I pray this in his name.