Good to see you here this morning.
Take your Bibles and turn back with me to Psalm 16. Psalm 16. The title of the message this
morning is, The Preservation of Christ and His Goodness. Preservation of Christ and His
goodness. Preservation. The Scripture says,
Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust. We as believers in Christ, we
know the Scripture plainly teaches the perseverance and preservation
of the saints. that all God's people, all those
who do believe in Christ, all those who have true faith, will
persevere in faith. We don't move from faith to works.
We don't move from one lower level to a higher level. We are
continually walking by faith every day, every moment, believing
in Christ. And if your faith is true, you
will persevere. unto the end. The scripture says,
he that persevereth to the end, the same shall be saved. Here we are another year, and
God by His grace has, I have persevered in faith. And you
have persevered in faith. Why? Because we were preserved
in faith. Because of God's preservation
We shall persevere. We shall persevere. But as of
all God's graces, we know we have them. We know God will give
them. But God requires us that we should pray for them. We should
not presume upon the graces of God. He requires us to seek Him
for these blessings, even though He has promised to give them
to us. And how does He do that? Well,
trouble. That's how He does it. Troubles,
trials, difficulties, that the trying of your faith being much
more precious than gold which perisheth, though it be tried
with fire. Yet, if it's real, it will be
found perfect. It will be found true unto the
end. So I do need to ask the Lord to preserve me. Don't you? We should. This psalm definitely
could be said of every one of us who are believers. Preserve
me, O God! I put my trust in You. I believe
in Christ. Preserve me, as You have promised. But we notice in verse 10, this
verse, is peculiar because it is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus
Christ concerning His burial and resurrection. The Scripture says, For thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell. Now, that word is sheol. It means
grave. You will not leave my soul in
the grave, nor wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. In other words, Christ was promised
this, that God, even through His death, would preserve Him
so that corruption would not touch His body. There was no corruption. What
did they say about Lazarus when he was dead? They said, Lord,
he stinks. And when you die and I die, we
will stink. This body will rot. It will see
corruption. This promise is not to us. Our
body will see corruption. This promise is only to one.
It was to Christ, whose body saw no corruption. Neither was
it left in the grave. So this is speaking of Christ.
And Christ here is said to say this prayer. Preserve me. Preserve me, O God, for in Thee
do I put my trust." Preservation of Jesus Christ
was necessary because Christ had offered Himself to be our
mediator, our substitute. When He came into the world as
a man, He was tempted, tested, tried in every way you and I
are, except one thing. He had and did no sin. There's a big difference, isn't
it? He had all our troubles, but he had no sin. He was tempted with hunger. He
was tempted by love. He was tempted by miracles to
show Himself. He was tempted. Was He not worthy
to show Himself, to just take off the robe of flesh and shine
His glory into this world? Was He not worthy of that? Yes,
He was. But if He was to save His people
from their sins, He could not do that. He must have humbled
himself under the hand of God and be subject to temptations
and trials and difficulties. Satan said, make these stones
bread. Could he have done that? Absolutely. But he must have
trusted God for even his bread. How often do we trust in, if
we get salaries or we get, you know, our paycheck at the end
of the week, how often do we trust in that check to give us
bread rather than God? How often do we struggle and
try to manipulate everything so that we could eat? So that
we could have things. Yet Christ could have made those
stones bread. That was not sin. He was hungry.
But yet God commanded Him to wait until it was time. And He waited. Forty days without
bread. Forty days. And he waited for God. He was
tempted by the love of his people. Throw yourself on it. Hey, I'll
give you everything. Everything that God had gave
me, Satan said. All the kingdoms of the world.
I'll give them to you. Here's your people. You want
them? Here they are. I'll give them to you. Just do this one
thing for me. Worship. Oh no. That's not how
I'm going to get my people. And I'm not going to worship
you. God alone he worshiped. He was tempted. What if somebody had your child?
And tempted you with their love. What would you do to get him?
Would you trust God or would you try to do it yourself? He
trusted God. He trusted God. Christ must have
suffered these things, and by them, as we saw this morning,
he learned obedience. He learned to wait on God. By experience, he waited on God
to provide all his needs. And Jesus, being the eternal
Son of God, could have satisfied himself at any time and still
done no sin, but If He was to save us, if He was to give us
a righteousness that is acceptable before God, He Himself must have
obtained it. He must have done it. He must have obeyed God. When
He was talking to His disciples on the road to Emmaus, He said,
ought not Christ to have suffered these things? This is what Jesus said. He said,
ought not Christ to have suffered these things? And then He began
at the beginning to show them how Christ must suffer. How He
must suffer. And He did suffer. All of His
life He suffered. The sinless Son of God. He only did the will of the Father. He said in John 5, as I hear,
I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of Him who
sent me. You see, He did always please
the Father. But in order to do this, He did
not rely on His own strength to do it. He relied completely
on the strength of God to preserve him, to keep him. When he said he gave himself,
how much of himself did he give? He gave all himself. All himself. All that he had
by right as deity, he submitted. by becoming a man. He submitted
himself to God completely. Completely in everything, God
has committed all judgment to Christ, and those who are righteous
and without sin will receive exactly what you
deserve. Isn't that right? God now has exalted Christ over
all things, the righteous judge. My judgment is just, Christ said. And He said, if you're righteous,
I'll judge you righteously. So if you have righteousness,
you'll have eternal life. And all those who have not righteousness,
they will receive the reward of eternal damnation. This is the judgment of God that
Christ has told us by his obedience to God. So then let me ask you this.
Who among us are righteous? Naturally righteous. Who among
us was born righteous? The answer is no, not one. Not one of us. This idea is offensive to self-righteous
moral and religious men. It is offensive to man's natural
affections to know this, that every one of us from the womb
were sinners. We all from our mother's womb
were sinners. We didn't become sinners. Oh, look at that innocent baby,
people say. No, there is no such thing as
an innocent baby. He's guilty. He's guilty. Jesus said a good tree will yield
good fruit and a corrupt tree will yield corrupt fruit. Make
the tree good and the fruit will be good. Now is that not plain
and simple that every child could understand that? If the tree
is good, you're going to get good fruit. If the tree is bad,
you're going to get bad fruit. So what do you do? Well, you've
got to make the tree good. How can you do that? You can't. Chop it down, dig it up, and
plant another one. That's the only way. We all, from conception, are
a corrupt tree. Now, we may not have any fruits
when we're born. We may not have any outward shows
of sin or rebellion. But that does not matter because
we were born in sin. Go to Psalm 51. I want us to see this as vitally
important concerning our condition. Psalm
51, verse 4, David said, Against
thee and thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear
when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me." Now, what does that mean? David's parents, they were not
sinning when they conceived him. The Scripture says the bed, the
marriage bed, is undefiled. They were a married couple. He
was not a bastard. David, if he was, he couldn't
have been king. That's not talking about their
conception. What it is talking about is the
seed of the man is passed down to the child from Adam. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men. Where? Where did this death come? At the beginning of life. We
were in our mother's womb, nothing more or less than a mass of sin. And this was not because of any
act that we had done, but as I said, is because of the act
of our Father and His death that was sentenced to him, passed
down to us, and David laments his sin here and cries out, God,
forgive me. And reflecting that even before
this sin with Bathsheba, he said, even before this, you know this,
God, that I was shapen in iniquity. You know my frame. You understand
who I am by nature, a sinner. Brother Scott Richardson, I think
I said this Wednesday, Brother Scott Richardson used to say
this, man is about as worthless as a warm bucket of spit. That's just plain. That's exactly how God sees our
best righteous. What we call righteousness, what
we call good, what we call sincere, God calls sin. What will you do? We came at conception, a mass
of sin, and that's all we are even today by nature is nothing
less or more than a mass of sin. That's all we are by nature. The only hope for us, the only
hope for us is a miracle. The only hope for sinners is
a miracle. The only hope for sinners is
that God make the tree good. We can't do that. I'm not a tree expert, but I
think this tree out here is dead. This thing is so ugly and rotten. I mean, in the spring it may
have one little flower or something on it, but it's just rotten. It's dead. And you know what?
I can't make that tree alive. I can't do anything to that tree.
Make it sprout roses or flowers or anything. The only thing I
can do is chop it down and dig it up by the roots. Burn it. That's all it's good for, if
it's good for that. You see, God must do something
that we cannot do for ourselves. He must give us a new heart, a new nature, one that is equal to His own
heart and nature. God give us grace to see what
Christ has done when He asked God to preserve Him. What did
He do? He was providing. He was procuring a righteousness
that we could not give ourselves. We could not produce it. We could
only produce corrupt fruit. He produced a good fruit of righteousness
unto God for us. Not for Himself. Not for Himself? Why would He
do this for Himself? He was already righteous. He
had no need of proving His righteousness. He did it for me. He made my righteousness Himself. And my righteousness? is equal to the righteousness
of God Himself. Because there's only one righteousness. There's only one standard. You
can't come in a little lower. You have to have His righteousness.
And the only way for us to have that righteousness is that Christ
come and beg God for preservation every moment of every day trusting
in God. Have you trusted in God every
day? Have I trusted in God every day? No! Absolutely not! We can't do that! We couldn't
do that. We wouldn't do that. He did. And He did it. He did it for us. He trusted
God. He said, Oh, preserve me, O God. I put my trust in Thee. He always trusted God. In Philippians chapter 2, we
know this, that this is the mind of Christ. Let this behind be
in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
of himself no reputation, but took upon him the form of a servant.
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Because God the Father from eternity
had purpose to save us, Christ came. to provide that righteousness
for us. He from eternity was willing
to be our Savior. I promise you this, if you knew
my thoughts, if you knew my heart, you wouldn't cross the street
for me. You wouldn't. I love you, but my sin is so
great." Yet Christ transcended time and
eternity and stooped so low to be made a slave. He became obedient. Because I couldn't and I wouldn't. Jesus was made a man to be our
kinsman redeemer. He was made bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh, as much God as he was man and as much
man as he was God. And so to provide for us a righteousness,
He must have submitted perfectly to God's law of righteousness. When you hear the word law, do
you get all bubbly? On the inside, do you feel butterflies? I don't. When I hear the word
law, it's a natural cringing. You know, it just makes you cringe. Law! Who? Why? Because we're guilty. We know it. But there's nothing wrong with
the law, is there? Nothing wrong with the law. Scripture says,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law for to do them. We would not and we could
not yield to God Therefore, Christ did come and yield to God willingly
as a man. Behold Christ, friends, so low that he must condescend
to say, God, preserve me. He who sustains our breath right
now, has in his flesh asked, God, preserve me. Jesus said, I was cast upon thee
from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's
belly. Who could say that but Christ? Christ. Behold the greatness
and perfection of Christ's goodness. Go back to your text. said, Preserve
me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast
said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord. My goodness extendeth
not unto thee." Behold the greatness of Christ's
perfection and goodness. So good was Christ and so great
was his faith in God that the Father from heaven could not
restrain Himself, and He said, This is My beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. God from heaven could not forbear
to say that concerning Christ. That's how righteous He was.
That's how good Christ was. But notice this confession in
Christ's prayer. He said, My goodness extendeth
not unto thee. What does that mean? Did not God accept Christ's goodness? Did it not extend up to God's
measure? Yes, it did. But when Jesus Christ
was obtaining righteousness, we must understand that He did
not add one thing to God. When He was obtaining righteousness
as a man, He was not adding anything to God. God always was perfect and in
need of nothing. I'll tell you what, if you want
to know false religion real quick, just listen to them for a minute
and they'll tell you how much God needs them. Jesus himself
said, My righteousness extends not to thee. And yet man says,
Oh, my righteousness extends to God. And when they die in
their sins, they say about one another, Oh, heaven is so blessed. God is so blessed to have them
in His presence. Bull. That's a lie. Jesus Himself,
being the righteous Son of God, said, My goodness doesn't extend
to God. What is our goodness going to do? Nothing. God's goodness,
Christ's goodness did not add anything to God. Who then is it for? Verse 3,
but to the saints that are in the earth. My goodness doesn't
extend to thee, doesn't add to thee. Oh, but it's for the saints. Where? in the earth. His goodness was for me. His
righteousness was for me. It extends to me. I need it. I need righteousness. And His
righteousness extends down to the earth, to men. Not to angels,
not to demons, not to anyone else, but sinners. Are there
any sinners? I'll tell you what. In America,
it's hard to find a sinner. It's hard to find a man that's
as worthless as a warm bucket of spit. You got one standing
right in front of you. Right here. That's me. I know
what I am. Worthless. But His righteousness
extends to me. He is all. A-L-L. All. My righteousness. God's goodness extends to us. Christ's righteousness extends
to us. We just went through Christmas,
and I know you heard this. The angels singing. That song to the shepherds, peace,
goodwill toward who? Men. Men. To the world's saints, they're
the people who are do-gooders. They're the people who are righteous
in outward religion and morality. But really, who are the saints?
Saints are sinners. Saints are sinners. Sinners chosen
of God, sinners redeemed by Christ, and sinners called to life by
the Holy Spirit and faith in Christ. That's a saint. That's a saint. Scripture tells us that we were
born again not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of
man, but of God. You that are full of sin, I have
good news. God's goodness extends to you.
His grace extends to sinners. Have you believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ? Have you believed that God sent
Him and preserved Him to obtain our righteousness? Do you believe
Him? Then His goodness extends to
you, saints. Saint Scott. Is that not great? I'm in the
presence of a saint. Matter of fact, I'm in the presence
of many saints. Look what he calls us. To the excellent. That word has a sense of majesty,
like a prince, a king. Majesty. His goodness extends
to me and He calls me excellent. I'm sure you wouldn't, because
I don't, but He does. He does. He calls me excellent. Because Christ condescended to
this man of low estate and died in my stead. Excellency became My Excellency. The Scripture tells us that the
Holy Spirit of God Himself dwells in us. When? Right now. Right now. Jesus said, I give my Spirit,
the Comforter shall come and He shall abide with you forever. Where? Right here. Right here. We have been made partakers of
the divine nature, so that when judgment comes,
When Christ comes to judge this world in righteousness, He will
say to us who believe, He will say, Come, you welcome! Welcome into the kingdom which
God hath prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Welcome, sons. You deserve it. Is that not great? You deserve my love. You deserve
my kingdom. And what will we say? Unto the Lamb be glory and honor
and praise and thanksgiving forever and ever. Amen. And we'll say
that again and again and again, and it'll never get old. It will
never get old. The same song over and over in
eternity. And it just rings stronger every
day. And I can't last ten minutes.
I am going to last forever in His
presence. And never be tired again. I will
never get tired of hearing His voice. Famous. That's another word for
it. Not infamous. Famous. Remember that demon? He said,
I know Christ. I know Paul, but who are you? You see, we're famous. Even the
demons know who we are. The sons of God. And the gates
of hell shall not prevail against us. Blessed, blessed assurance. Our Savior hath prayed for us.
And notice this last thing, in whom is all my delight. How much delight? All of it. Do you feel that all the time?
Because I don't. But I believe it. I don't believe it because of
anything I've done to deserve it. I believe it because He said
it. I believe it because He actually
accomplished it. I believe it because He has come
to me and gave me life. Do you believe it? God will preserve you, even as
He has preserved Christ. Is there any greater comfort
than that? Look to your own work, you won't
find comfort at all. But looking to Him, you'll find
assurance more than you need. More than you can bear. More
than you can understand. Preserve me. Oh, God. Have the men come forward for
to prepare the Lord's Supper.