The title of this message is,
The Pleading of Christ. The Pleading of Christ and the Pleading of His People. The Pleading of Christ and of
His People. We'll look at verses 1 through
3 this morning. The Scripture says, "...plead
my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me. Fight against
them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler
and stand up for my help. Draw out also the spear, and
stop the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my soul,
I am thy salvation." Now, every time we are to go to the book
of Psalms, usually it is when we are in great trouble. The
Psalms are a great help for the believer in times of distress. But so often we go to the Psalms
looking for immediate help, we neglect and fail to see how they
first picture Christ. We usually try to apply them
immediately to ourselves. But in truth, is not the Word
of God meant to testify of Him? Jesus said that, that He went
from Moses and the prophets and all the scripture, He expounded
unto them what? Things concerning Himself. Now believer, how then could
we take the Psalms and apply them to us if we first do not
see Christ in them? Christ must have the preeminence. He must obtain the glory. And so then, as we approach this
psalm, I want us to see it first as it is a picture, a prophecy
of Jesus Christ and His pleadings. And His pleadings. then we may
take this Scripture and rightly apply it to ourselves pleading
unto God. So let's see this first. This
psalm, this psalm says, "...plead my cause, O Lord, with them that
strive with me, fight against them that fight against me."
Truly this psalm has eyes to Christ as it was in Gethsemane. As the Lord Jesus Christ in Gethsemane,
as our mediator, He humbled Himself before God and recognizing the
great suffering with which He was to redeem us, the great agony
by which He should face upon that cursed tree. He poured out His soul unto God
with what? Pleadings. He pleaded with God. What is an amazing thing to see,
isn't it? By your mind's eye, that the
Son of God, who is God Himself, manifests in the flesh, and yet
He pleaded with God. He pleaded for mercy. He was about to be made sin for
us. The guilt of His people was about
to be made His own. Who knew no sin? Friends, we
know sin. But how it grieved our Savior,
who Himself knew no sin, that He was about to be made sin for
us. He was in such great agony, the
Scripture says He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. Praying, pleading with the Father. What did He plead? Father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from Me. The cup was our sin. The cup was the wrath of God. The cup was His sufferings. And yet in love to God, and in
love to us, He said, nevertheless, not My will be done, but Thy
will be done. Can you see Him pleading? Can
you see such agony? that the Lord went away, I believe
it was three times, went away and prayed the same. Friends, He did this because
it was not possible that it should come any other way. Our salvation,
it was not possible to save us except our Savior endure the
sufferings of the cross. It was not possible for our sins
to be redeemed or for us to be justified and righteous before
God except by the death of Jesus Christ, the only God-man mediator. There was no other way. He said,
if it were possible, listen, if it were possible by
works to be saved. if it were possible by will to
be saved, if it were possible by law to be saved. Listen, God
would have been a monster to send His Son to suffer. He would have. That would have
been horrible if He sent His Son when there was another way.
What did Paul say? He said, if righteousness should
come by the law, yeah, if there was possibility. If it were possible,
yes, righteousness should have come by the law. But it was not
possible. Why? The Scripture concluded,
all under sin. That's why it was not possible.
This was the only way that God could be just and justify sinners,
is by punishing sin and satisfying justice in a substitute. In a substitute. and having his
righteousness and merits imputed to our charge by a representative, and then
given to us by grace through faith in Christ alone. Now, this
was the cause and will of God from all eternity. What Christ
was pleading, what Christ was pleading on in Gethsemane was
done according to the will of God. You remember the Apostle
Peter, he said, according to the foreknowledge of God. You, by wicked hands, have taken
and crucified the Lord of glory." They did it according to the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You see, Jesus was always
sent, always purposed to be our High Priest. That's what he was
doing. So when we think of his pleading,
what was he pleading? He was pleading as our representative,
as our high priest. Go to Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5. We'll look
at a couple of verses here. Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 5. So also Christ glorified not
Himself to be made an high priest. But He that said unto Him, Thou
art My Son, today have I begotten Thee. As He saith also in another
place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
Now listen, Christ made not Himself the high priest. Has God made
Aaron the high priest? Aaron didn't make himself the
high priest. God did. He said, even so, Jesus Christ,
who is the Son of God, not made Himself a high priest, but He
was ordained one. God decreed that He be the high
priest of all His people. Now, what is a high priest? A
high priest is one that stands between God and the people, one
that offers gifts and sacrifices to please God in the stead of
the people. Remember that great day of atonement
when he killed that sacrificial goat? He killed it and took the
blood. Now, who went in before God?
Did all Israel go in before God? No, only the high priest. He was the only one permitted,
the only one qualified, the only one ordained of God to enter
in. And so it is with Jesus Christ.
He is the ordained High Priest of God. And as He entered in,
He represented all Israel. All of us who believe on Him,
He had represented us before God in His pleadings, in His
agonies. Go to chapter 7. Hebrews chapter
7, look at verse 3. This man Melchizedek being a
type of Christ's high priesthood, he said this man was without
father, without mother, descent having neither beginning of days
nor end of life." Now, this man had a mother, he had a father. The thing is, it wasn't recorded
in Scripture. Why did God negate to report
his father, his mother, or his descent? Because he was to be
a perfect picture of the eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ. Look,
"...but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually."
You see, this priesthood of Christ did not begin at Gethsemane,
nor did it begin at Calvary. It began in eternity. And its
duration, seeing He had no beginning as a high priest, listen, He
has no ending as a high priest. He has always been our high priest. He will always be our high priest. Look at chapter 9. Hebrews 9,
verse 11, "...but Christ being come, an
high priest, of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building..."
You see, Christ, He who was a high priest, became a high priest. When? When He came into this
world. When He took upon Him flesh,
He became, He was manifested to be our High Priest when He
took on flesh. And neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy
place..." Listen to this, "...having obtained eternal redemption for
us." Having obtained eternal redemption for us. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? And for this cause, He is the
mediator of the New Covenant, the New Testament. that by means
of his death, for the redemption of the transgression that were
under the first testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance." Jesus Christ, who became our
High Priest, He said He's a better tabernacle. That body He had
was a better tabernacle than that physical tent, than that
physical building of the temple. That thing was tore down and
destroyed and gone, but Christ said, destroy this temple, and
in three days I'll raise it again. That's good news. Our high priest, he entered in.
He had a perfect temple, without sin, obeyed the law of God in
our stead, and then offered the sacrifice. Now what was his sacrifice? It was not animals, it was himself. He offered Himself without spot
to God. You see, it was without spot.
It was God that made Him to be sin for us. He was spotless in
and of Himself. And even though when He was made
sin, yet He was still spotless. Now, I ain't going to be able
to wrestle with that one. Wonders of wonders, miracles
of miracles. The sinless Son of God was made
sin and remains sinless, yet God Injustice killed His Son
because of our sin. And for our sin He died. For
what purpose? That the Eternal Spirit, who
offered Him without spot to God, may purge your conscience from
dead works. Now, who here does not need their
conscience constantly purged from dead works? What constantly
purges our conscience from dead works is what? The pleading of
Christ in our stead. The offering of Christ as our
High Priest in our place. That alone can purge my conscience
from dead works. to serve the living God. For
this cause, He is the Mediator. Not that He was the Mediator.
Listen, He is the Mediator. He is still our High Priest. He is still our faithful Mediator
and Intercessor. This was the Testament of God. This was the purpose of God.
That Jesus Christ, His Son, be made an High Priest for His people,
to take upon Himself our nature and forever obtain eternal redemption
for us according to the will of God. And listen, Christ did
this willingly. Do you not realize that when
He was pleading, He had us in His heart? We were on His mind as He was
pleading. And now that he's accomplished
this, he is seated at the right hand of God, doing what? Ever
living to make intercession. To intercede. between us and
God. I think of that plague that came
upon Israel because of their sin. You remember how Moses said
to Aaron, you go and grab that censer from the altar, and you
rush out and stand between them, the living and the dead. He stands
between us and the dead. The only difference between us
and the dead is Christ interceding for us. Why is it you've not
fallen off? Why is it you've not stopped
believing? Why is it you still love the Redeemer and love to
hear His gospel? Because He daily intercedes for
us, pleading on our behalf. Now listen, as Christ pled, He
pled against His enemies. Look at this. Go back. He pled
for His people. He pled for us. He pled to the
Lord. He said, plead with me, plead my cause, O Lord, with
them that strive with me. Fight against them that fight
against me. Now listen, Satan truly fought
against Christ, strove against Christ. You saw this when our
Lord was 40 days in the wilderness. Now friends, Christ was truly
a man. He hungered and He felt the pains
of hunger of all of those days. He was not alleviated from His
pains because He was the Son of God. He truly took on our
nature and in this weakened state, It is then the enemy comes in
and strives with him, if thou be the Son of God." Can you imagine
the great patience, the great endurance of our Lord Jesus Christ
not to cast Him away at the first words out of His mouth? What
an offensive thing. This was His Creator. This was
His Maker. And yet He, if you be the Son
of God. Make these stones bread." Now,
he could have done that in a moment. But you realize the consequences
of that. He would have failed to trust
God. Our salvation hinged upon this,
his obedience. His trust, His faith. Isn't that
what Paul says how many times in Galatians? We'll deal with
this later, but how many times in Galatians he said, we are
justified by the faith of Christ. His faithfulness to obey God. Jesus being the Son of God could
have commanded him to flee, but rather than prove his sinless
nature as the Son of God, He rebukes him, how? By the Word
of God. By the Word of God. You see,
God and His Word pled the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ against
His enemy. It was God's Word, by God's Word. That he strove and fought against
Satan and overcame him in the wilderness. Second enemy is the
world. The world was against him. Look
in your text now in Psalm 35. Look at verse 11. Jesus is saying
this by prophecy. False witnesses did rise up. They laid to my charge things
I knew not. They rewarded me evil for good. to the spoiling of my soul."
That religious generation, He had proven how many times His
deity, how many times did His Word ring true in their ears. And yet, knowing it to be true,
they still despised and brought false witnesses against Him. Listen, religion hasn't changed.
This religious, self-righteous world will always rise up against
Christ. They will always bear false witness
against Christ, rather than bow down to Him as a sovereign Savior. They will not yield to His plain
speech. Christ spoke plainly. He spoke
plainly to them. I remember one time he said,
don't you understand my speech? My words are plain, simple words. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to God but by me. Some religion stands up and says,
well, I've found a way. I've found another way. No, you haven't. You just are bearing false witness
against the Word of Christ. When Christ proved His deity
in Matthew chapter 12, you remember His disciples ate that corn on
the Sabbath day and they got all upset about it. The Lord
used the Word of God again to prove their ignorance. But then
on the Sabbath day, He saw that man that had a withered hand.
And He knew that they were looking for false accusations against
Him. And He said, is it lawful to
do good on the Sabbath day? And he said, yes it is. Watch
this. He said, stretch forth your head.
And that man's hand that was withered stretched it forth,
and they began to be upset. What did he prove? He said, I'm
the Lord of the Sabbath. That's what I am. It's my Sabbath. And Sabbath was meant for man. It was meant for rest. It was
meant to picture my rest. And they hated Him, and they
began to seek to destroy Him. And listen, men are still seeking
to destroy Christ today by false religion. They're seeking to
diminish His work by adding their own. That's false witness. When you add anything to Christ,
all you're doing is pitting yourself against Christ. The world did
it in His day. Sin and death and hell strove
against Christ. The sins of His elect were imputed
to Him, and He was brought so low. In the prophecy of Psalm 22,
He said, I am a worm and no man. How low did sin and death and
hell bring the Son of God? He said, I am a worm. and no
man. Death swallowed him up. As Jonah was three days and three
nights in the belly of the fish, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. But as his
soul pleaded to God, he said, Plead my cause, which was God's
cause. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. That's what he was doing. He
was pleasing the Lord by his death, by his offering. And listen, he was heard. When
he said, Strive against those that strive against me, God heard his cry. How do we know? But when He cried,
it is finished, it was done, He gave up the ghost. But yet
it was not manifest except by His Word that it was done. God
willing more abundantly to show unto us, He did what? He raised
Him from the dead. He proved His victory. I know God pled His cause because
God raised Him from the dead. So then we may say, O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, the
strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory." Over what? Over death, over sin, and listen,
over the law. Through our representative who
pleaded for us, Jesus Christ. And all these enemies were defeated
because Christ, in obedience to the servant of God, faithful
high priest, He fulfilled all that God required. He redeemed all of God's elect. And I want you to know how He
did it. How did He defeat all of His enemies? He used their traps. He used their snares. Look at this in verse 7. He said, "...for without cause
have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause
they have digged for my soul." Let destruction come upon him
at unawares, and let his net that he had hid catch himself. Into that very destruction let
him fall." I want you to know this, that as Christ pleaded
for God to save him, to deliver him, He used the very things
His enemies laid for Him. The very nets These enemies wanted nothing
more than to kill Christ, but in doing so, what did they do?
They brought forth their own death. They brought forth their
own death, even as God purposed. Just as David slew Goliath with
what? His own sword. By killing Christ, they did exactly
what God determined to do, and by His death, they sealed their
own judgment. By their own net. Now then, secondly, we see that
this is the pleading of Christ. And listen, God was all his salvation. He trusted completely in God
and none of his own power or ability to save himself. Isn't
that what the wicked said to him? If you be the Son of God,
use your own power and come down off the cross. No, he would not
use his own power. but pleaded with God, and this
is His comfort, when God would say to His soul, I am thy salvation."
Now then, how does this apply then to us? This is a pleading of Christ,
but this is also our pleading, isn't it? Our pleading. The pleading of God's people. Listen, believer in Christ, you've
been chosen, you've been redeemed, you've been quickened and called
of God to faith in Christ because of His pleading. Isn't that right? You were called only because
of His success and victory at Calvary. Because God heard and
become His salvation, that is the only way God has become our
salvation. Therefore, truly, We have all
the enemies that our Savior had. Satan, the world, and even our
own sin. Though they are defeated, though
we have been born again and given a new nature and a new heart, yet we still have this old corrupt
man living within us. Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4 and verse
24. There it is. Paul says, "...and that you put
on the new man, which is after God created in righteousness
and true holiness." Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every
man the truth to his neighbor, for we are members one of another. We have been given a new nature,
a holy nature, yet we must put off the old man." Why? Because
he still abides. He's still here. Now this new
nature. No man is ever saved who does
not have a new nature. All right? You can't... claim
that you know God, except you have a new creation. That God
give you a new birth. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the Kingdom of God. In other words, he cannot believe
on the Son of God. He cannot come to Christ. And so then we see that salvation
is completely and absolutely the work of God done outside
of us by the pleadings of Christ. And then it is a work done inside
of us by the Spirit of God according to the pleadings of Christ. This
new birth is of the Sovereign Spirit giving life. And what
is the evidence of this new birth? It is this alone, faith in Christ. faith in Christ. And how does one come to faith
in Christ? Through the preaching of the
gospel. This is the means that God has
chosen by which to save. He said, 1 Corinthians 1.21,
"...For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God." It pleased God by the thing they call foolishness.
Preaching. to save them that believe. Why? So that all the glory should
be given to God. All the glory redound to God.
Yet now we still have this old nature in us. We have been made
the righteousness of God in Christ, have the righteousness of Christ
imputed in the new nature and imparted to us, yet we still
have the old. Now, one person illustrated like this. I thought
it was a very good illustration. If you have yellow paint and
you have blue paint, they are distinctly separate colors. But if you were to put them together,
they form a new color. Yellow and blue make green. Yet even when they are green,
they still maintain their properties as distinct colors. Otherwise,
you wouldn't have green. If you took the yellow out of
green, it would just be blue. If you took the blue out, it
would just be yellow. They maintain their properties. And so it is
when God gives us a new nature. We were just yellow. And then
He gives us the blue, the new nature. He puts them together.
We are a new creation. There's no doubt about that.
We're different. We're changed. God changed us. We were unbelievers,
rebels, haters of God. Now we love God, serve God. And
yet we still got that old color. We still got that old nature.
Paul calls the body of this death, dragging us to the earth constantly,
perpetually. And so then this is our enemy. Our enemy is our own flesh. Our own flesh. Now some people preach, and I
know this is foreign to you, but some religions preach that
once a man is saved by Christ, he ceases to sin. I know you're shaking your head,
because I know you know, even from common experience, that
that is not true. Now listen, we are freed truly
from the guilt of sin. I'll never face the punishment
for sin. Christ did. I am free from the dominion of
sin. Sin shall never pull me from
faith in Christ. Once I had sin, it totally kept
me from faith. But now then, the old man shall
never pull me away from faith in Christ. I'll never go back
to unbelief. But yet we are not freed from
the presence of sin. That's why Paul said, let not
sin therefore reign in your mortal body. Why did he say that? Because
he knew sin was still there. He said, don't let it reign in
your mortal body. John says, little children, sin
not. Does sin grieve you? Are you grieved by your sin? Seeing what great things Christ
had done for you, and yet you still sin. It's a burden to us. It's a burden. But I like this. John says, sin
not. But if any man sin," that word,
if, is better translated to when. When any man sin, it's not a
matter of if, it's just a matter of when, isn't it? When any man
sin, guess what? We have someone to plead for
us. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And listen, we have Satan as
our enemy, as a roaring lion, he always seeketh whom he may
devour, trying to cause us to... He seeks, now listen, he seeks
to accuse you. That's what he wants to do. With
all of his soul and rage, remember, God cast him out from heaven
to the earth. Cast out the accuser. And you
remember in Revelation 12, I believe it is, when He was cast down
to the earth, what did He do? Seeing His time was short, He
sought to destroy the woman. What is that? That's the church.
That's you and me. He's seeking to destroy us. But you remember this. When Satan tried to accuse that
high priest, Joshua, before the Lord, you realize this, that
he was not allowed to speak? Now listen, he speaks to you
and your conscience all the time. One thing he cannot do is accuse
you before God. He can't do it. Why? Is this not a brand plucked from
the burning? Isn't this mine? You can't say anything about
this guy. He's mine. I redeemed him. I plead for him. To speak against him is to speak
against me. The world is against you, isn't
it? Constantly trying to tempt us. False religions are temptation,
isn't it? Beautiful. It's beautiful, isn't
it? False religion, they've got all
the sights and smells and stuff that appeals to the flesh. All
the emotion, all of the passion that you long to have, they've
got it. But they don't have the truth.
So what is it but a whore? And yet that's what the world
would tempt us, to away from Christ. By the things of the
world, our family, our friends seeking to draw us away from
Christ. Now then, having all these enemies,
what do you do? Plead my cause. with them that strive with me.
Fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of thy
shield of righteousness, the buckler, and stand up for me. Draw out the spear, the Word
of God, the sword of the Spirit, and stop the way against them
that persecute me." And listen, I am not going to be satisfied
until He says, I am thy salvation. Now listen, nothing else is going
to comfort me. If the world leave me alone,
if Satan leave me alone, if the flesh leave me alone, I'm still
not comfortable. I'm still not content. I will not be content unless
He say, to my soul, I am thy salvation. Now, if he says that to me, what then could the world, the
flesh, and the devil do to me? Who shall separate me from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus? Paul says, nothing and
no one. Nothing and no one. Therefore, let us plead to God
not to be found in our own righteousness, but Christ's. Let us plead to
God for forgiveness of our sins only by the pleadings of the
blood of Christ. Let us plead for understanding
of Christ's person and his offering and his work. Let us plead for
help and deliverance from all our enemies. Now, what's the
grounds of your pleading? His pleading is the grounds of
my pleading. His answer, God's answer to him,
is the only answer that will satisfy me. I am thy salvation. May God give us grace to see
Christ first. and His pleadings, so that we
may be confident in our pleadings. I pray God do this for you.