If you will take your Bibles
and turn me to Psalm 45, Psalm chapter 45. We looking at verses
four and five this evening, Psalm chapter 45 and verses four and
five. The scripture says, and in thy
majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness. And thy right hand shall teach
thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the
heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under
thee. The title of the message tonight,
A Piercing Gospel. A Piercing Gospel. We know that the Scriptures,
according to God's Word, plainly teach that because of Adam's
sin, his whole race was taken in captivity under sin by the
enemies of God. The day that Adam ate what God
forbid him to eat, darkness covered his heart. Death. overshadowed his very soul the
moment he sinned. The moment he sinned, he lost
all spiritual abilities. He lost all spiritual will and
affection toward God. As the Scripture says, darkness
covered the face of the deep. How deep is the deep? That's how dark a man's soul
is when he's born into this world. It covers the very depth of his
soul so that there is no light in him at all. No light in man. So great was the darkness of
Adam's fall that he thought he could hide his sin from the eyes
of an omniscient God. Let me ask you, who knew God
like Adam? Who knew God in that way? No
one since the dawn of time but Christ has known God in that
face-to-face relationship but Adam. But when he sinned, he
lost all of that understanding. He lost all of that knowledge.
And he thought he could cover his nakedness with leaves. And even as Adam fell into such
depravity and deadness of nature, even so the whole race of man
fell into depravity and sin. The whole nature, the whole human
race, not one of us, not one child has ever escaped this. That young six-month-old child
that's laying in the hospital bed, he is dying probably. Why? Because of sin. Sin has brought
it into this world. And death has been brought in
because of sin. And death passed upon all men.
That's what the Scripture says. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners. You little children, you were
made sinners when you were born. That's not something you become,
that's something you are. Sinners. The scripture hath concluded,
Galatians 3.22, the scripture hath concluded all, all under
sin. All. Therefore, because we are
under sin, we cannot free ourselves. We cannot and would not free
ourselves if we could. We have lost all ability and
will to free ourselves from sin. The Scripture says that man drinketh
iniquity like water. How easily do we drink water?
It's very simple. We pick up a glass and we That's how easy it is for us
to sin. We don't even know when we sin. We sin so much that we
don't even know when we're sinning and when we're not. I'll let
you in on a little surprise. There's never a time that you
don't. There's never a thing that we do that's not covered
and tainted with sin. Man loves sin and the things
of this world so much That even if it kills him, he
wouldn't let it go. You can see this plainly in drug
addicts, can't you? You can see that plainly in them.
Even though they know you can educate them all you want to,
they know it's going to kill them, but they cannot stop. They cannot. Alcoholics. They know not to drink that.
But what is it? What is it that enslaves them
so much? Well, if you're not a drug addict
or alcoholic, how about this one, religion? There's another
one for you. Why is it man cannot escape religion? I remember when Jesus said this
to the Pharisees, to the most religious people on the face
of the earth. He said, harlots and publicans will enter the
kingdom of heaven before you will. Drunks and drug addicts would
get in before religious people. You see, religion is all deceptive. A drunk's a drunk. You can see
that. But a religious person, he's trying to cover up something. He's trying to make himself appear
beautiful. Man may try to cover the guilt
that he has before God by reformation or by religion of the outer man.
He may try morality. He may escape from the very appearance
of every evil. He may get a good religious education
and learn a lot about the Bible and about Jesus and about redemption
and election and predestination. He can learn a lot of things
about those Bible truths. But unless he is delivered Unless the King of Glory come
in and deliver His soul from the bondage of sin, He cannot
redeem or deliver Himself. That's how bad man is. Unless
Jesus Christ comes with His sword. Gird on thy sword, O Most Mighty. Why? That He might deliver us
from our sin. that He might deliver sinners
who have no hope of delivering themselves. I would remind us that this psalm
before us is a good matter though. That's a bad thing, isn't it?
That's dark. That man's heart is dark and
depraved and he's enslaved and he cannot deliver himself. That's
true. But this is God's good matter
to such men. God has a good matter. It is
the good matter of grace to sinners. It is the good matter that came
to Adam after he had sinned. When Adam sinned, who came to
who? Did Adam go to God? No. God came
to him. It's the same way in salvation.
God must come to the sinner who will not and cannot come to God. And what does God come with?
He comes with a good matter. What was God's good matter? He
said, the seed of the woman shall bruise or crush the head of the
serpent. That's the good matter. That's
the gospel that God came with to Adam. And that's the gospel
God comes with to deliver sinners. It was God's purpose that Christ,
the second Adam, represent a people even as the first Adam represented
a people. Who did Adam represent? All of
us. Who does Christ represent? His
people, whoever they are. I know this, they're not all.
But God has chosen some of the race of Adam to give this good
matter to. He's chosen some. And how will Christ crush the
head of the serpent? By bruising his heel. That's
how. It is only by the death of the cross that sinners may
be set free. That's the only means of salvation
to sinners. There is no other means. There
is no other atonement. There is no other salvation.
There is no other message from God but Christ and Him crucified. This is the message of God. And
this is the message we preach. This is the gospel of Christ.
And it is this gospel that God uses to save sinners. To save
sinners. And it's a good matter. A good matter to who? To sinners.
That's who it's a good matter to? It's a good matter to sinners!
You're not a sinner? This has no matter to you. God the Father has given Christ
to people into His hands. And last week we saw in this
verse 4, we saw Christ riding prosperously. Riding prosperously. This was the purpose of God. This was the plan of God that
Christ ride prosperously in truth. In meekness and righteousness. God's purpose was Christ to be
victorious. That's God's purpose. That's
God's plan. That's God's will. And you know
what Christ? was successful. He was victorious in his accomplishments. And when he came into this world,
he had this promise. Look at this in verse 4, the
last part. And thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. God had promised that Christ
would be taught by his own experience. By his own experience. The experience of Christ. This
may shock you, but did you know Christ learned? Scripture tells us that. He didn't
learn the way we do, because we learn without knowledge. In
other words, if we don't know something, somebody teach it
to us, we may know it. But it's altogether different
knowing something in your head and experiencing it, isn't it?
You see, God, the Son of God, had never before He became a
man experienced The suffering of humanity. It was purposed. It was decreed. He had an understanding
of it. A perfect, complete, full understanding
of it. But in his body, he experienced
it. Experienced it. as a faithful
high priest. The scripture says that's why
he was behooved to be made like unto us, that he might be a faithful
and merciful high priest unto us. You see, Jesus was not taught
by any man, we know that. At 12 years old, where was he?
He was teaching the doctors. He was teaching the doctors of
the law. Nobody taught him anything. but he learned obedience by his
suffering that he experienced. Go to Hebrews chapter 5. I want
to show you this. Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 7.
Speaking of Christ as our faithful high priest, who in the days
of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplication with
strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him
from death, and was heard in that he feared." You know what
that word in our text, it says he shall teach them terrible
things. You know that word would be translated fear? He shall
teach him fear. You see, Christ learned. He heard
and He feared. Though He were a Son, the Son
of the living God, yet He learned, yet learned He obedience by the
things He suffered. This is the experience of Christ.
Man of sorrows. What a name for the Son of God
who came. Ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Friends, this is not something
that we can truly fathom in this frame. It's not something that
we can learn by our own power. The terror of sin under the strict
justice of God, that's what Christ suffered. That's what He experienced. He experienced the full weight
of God's strict justice. Without mercy, without measure,
God poured out His eternal wrath on Christ. Not just for the sin
of one man, but the sin of all His people of all times. He suffered more than we could
possibly fathom, perceive. He was our faithful high priest
and the sacrifice. He offered the sacrifice of Himself. He offered Himself as the spotless
Lamb of God and yet He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. He learned obedience. Can you imagine God being subjected
to obey? He was. He subjected Himself. He willingly took our place under
the law and did what we could not do for ourselves. He learned
something that you and I in this body will never learn. Obedience
to the law of God. Obedience unto God. Willing obedience. Willing obedience
to God. And love to God with all of his
heart, with all of his soul, with all of his strength and
his neighbor as himself. He did that continually as the
mediator and high priest. He did that all for his people. He learned terrible things. He
learned terrible. Whatever we suffer is not worthy
to be compared to what Christ suffered. Second of all, we not only see
his experience. Of suffering. But we can see
ours. Look at verse five. Thine arrows are sharp in the
heart of the king's enemies. As Christ learned by experience
the terror of the Lord and bore the full weight of our sins, even so must every child for
whom Christ died suffer and learn obedience by the experience of
faith. by the experience of faith. Every
believer for whom Christ died will experience faith in Christ. And this is not a pleasant thing
when it comes, is it? The first time that you heard
the gospel, did you not fear? You see, unless you know who
you are, a sinner, Why would you ever look for a Savior? You
see, this must come first. We must fear! And then from this,
God reveals the Gospel and we come in faith to Christ. This is our experience. Just as God purposed the salvation
of His elect and Christ died for His elect, even so must every
chosen sinner Be set free by experience. The experience of
faith. Faith. Let me illustrate it like
this. In World War II, there were some
Japanese, when they surrendered to the United States, there were
many of their soldiers who were hidden in caves and bunkers in
these mountains, and they were there for years without ever
hearing the word of liberty. They didn't know. They thought
they were still having to be loyal to their emperor. They
didn't know the war was over. And there they stood. All the
time in their nice uniforms, waiting for the enemy to come
and fight for their emperor. How surprised do you suppose
they were when they heard the war is over? Do you not suppose
they were glad to throw down those arms and leave those caves?
You bet they were. They were done. It was over. Even so, has Christ defeated
the foes of God and His people, though not yet born free. And
we cannot free ourselves until Christ comes with His gospel
of freedom. until he comes with the gospel
of freedom. How is this gospel pictured?
Look at your text. Nine arrows. The gospel is an arrow in the hand of Christ. The gospel message is an arrow
But it is hated of men. The gospel is hated. First of all, they mock and hate
the gospel. The scripture says the natural
man receiveth not the things of God. They're foolishness to
him. Friends, what I am doing tonight,
what we are doing here, to this world is absolutely, completely
and utterly senseless and foolish. They mocked you. There they go
again. Going to church, all those religious
folks. You see, they don't have any
programs at their church. There's no entertainment there.
Surely, why do they go there? There's no reason. They don't
understand. They think it's foolish. Neither
can he know them because they're spiritually discerned. Go to
1 Samuel. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 17. Beautiful picture of this. Beautiful
picture of this in the battle of David and Goliath. And when David came to face this
giant Goliath, the first thing that Goliath did was mock David
as foolish. He was a man of war. and he was
covered in thick armor, and there was this boy, this little boy
who had never been to war, he had never been hardened in battle,
and there he stood in his little flimsy little robe or whatever
he was wearing. It wasn't armor because he didn't
wear Saul's armor. It was probably a shepherd's
coat. There he was, had a little bag around him. Looked like a
purse probably. Looked real effeminate. Had a
little sling in his hand. And what did the giant do? He
mocked him. Look at what the giant was wearing. Look at this.
Verse 4, And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines,
named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits in his
span. Some people say that's nine foot
nine inches. This man was huge. Make J.D. look like a Girl Scout.
He was a huge man. Big man. And he had a helmet of brass
on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the
weight of the mail was five thousand shekels of brass. And his greaves
of brass were upon his legs, and a target of brass between
his shoulders. And the staff in his The staff
of his spear was like a weaver's beam. And his spearhead weighed
600 shekels of iron. And one bearing a shield went
before him. This man was decked in armor. His armor weighed over 270 pounds
of brass. He had it in the front. He had
it even in the back. And he had it over his head.
His legs and his whole body were covered in armor. He even had
a shield that a man had to bore out for him in front that he
would grab and take along with this spear. Now, a weaver's beam, if a spear is to be proportional
to a man, he was 9 foot 9 inches tall, his spear would have to
be 26 feet tall to be proportional. And the end of his spear weighed
18 pounds of iron on the end of his spear. This man was a
huge daunting fellow. And there David comes in his
little shepherd's clothes with his purse and his sling in his
hand and he stands before this giant boldly. And what does the
giant do? He says this, look at verse 41.
And the Philistine came and drew near to David, and the man that
bare his shield went before him. And the Philistine looked and
saw David, and he disdained him. For he was but a youth and ruddy
and fair countenance. He was a pretty baby. That's what he saw. And the Philistines
said unto David, Am I a dog that you would come at me with staves
and sticks? And the Philistines cursed David
by his gods. And the Philistines said unto
David, Come unto me, and I will give your flesh to the fowls
of the air and to the beasts of the field. He says, Come here,
boy, I will kill you. You're nothing to me. I'll be done with you before
lunch. Friends, that's how men look
at the gospel of God. With disdain, weak, weak. You speak of grace and peace
and mercy. Surely, you've got to get those
people under control. There are too many sinners out
there. You've got to put out the law
to them. Grace, grace, all of grace. Come and welcome. The feast is
ready. Sinners, welcome. Come. No. They disdain the gospel of
Christ. See, friends, the enemy is well-armed
against the gospel. Natural man is well-armed against
the gospel. When I preach the gospel, I know
this, if you are not a believer, you are well armed to defend
against it. Naturally. Naturally, you don't
want to hear it. Naturally, you despise it. Naturally,
it doesn't make any sense. Naturally, you don't want it
anymore. You don't want to hear it. It's
easy to brush it off, isn't it? If you don't know Christ, it's
easy. It's easy to mock and laugh. and ridicule. But I tell you this, in the hands
of a skilled archer, this gospel always hits the mark. When David saw the giant rushing
toward him, I love this, he rushed toward the giant. So did Christ. And in the hands
of a skilled man, David was a skilled with that weapon. And when he
released the stone, it hit the only place where there was no
armor, right in his forehead. And the giant fell. The same is true of the gospel. When Christ draws back the bow
of the gospel aiming at a sinner, He always hits the mark. You imagine the arrow going through
armor, through the flesh, crushing the bone and going straight to
the heart. That's exactly what the gospel
does. Burst through the armor of man's
pride and arrogance. pierces the pride of his flesh
and crushes the bones and hits the heart. Friends, this gospel is sharp. This gospel is wielded by me.
It will bounce off you and not do anything. If this gospel is
in the hand of Christ tonight, it will pierce your heart. I
know it will. I know it will. He never misses.
He never misses. And before any center comes to
life and faith in Christ, he must be struck by this gospel. He must fall dead at the feet
of Christ. Have you been struck by the gospel
of Christ? Have you been smote to the heart
that you are a sinner with no hope of freeing yourself? Have you been hit by the sharp
arrow that says there is no hope of you ever pleasing God? Have
you been hit by that? This gospel in the hands of Christ
strikes through kings and peasants, men and women, boys and girls
the same in the hands of Christ. It does its work. It does its
work, and there's no armor against it that can stand. Praise God,
my armor did not stand at his arrow. Praise God, he hit the
mark! And I lay dead at his feet, begging
for mercy. Why? Because I found mercy. I found mercy at his feet. Mercy. But the flesh must be
killed. Paul said sin revived and I what
I died. You see, to have life, you must
first be what dead. You can't be resurrected unless
you're dead. If you're dead, there's hope,
there's hope. To everyone who struck and lay
at the feet of Jesus and notice the heart, notice the target
is the heart. It's not the head. It's not your will. It's not
your mind that's the target. It's your heart. You see, this
is an affectionate gospel. This is a gospel of love and
grace and affection, not a gospel of mechanics. It's not a checklist. It's a person. It's a person. It's Christ. The gospel is a
person. And when Christ hit your heart.
You see, he kills that old one. But he gives us a new one. He
kills the old one. And he gives you a new heart. God says in Ezekiel 36, a new
heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within
you and I will make I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh. and I will give you a heart of
flesh." What does that mean, a heart of flesh? He's taking
away the stony heart of sin out of your flesh, but in your flesh,
He gives you a heart of affection that wasn't there. A heart of love that can only come from God Himself. He gives us a new heart. Have you been made to see the
filth and guilt of sin before God, then behold Christ. Behold
Christ who can and does wash away all sin. All sin. Pardon and peace. Who needs pardon? Who needs peace? Who needs rest from religion? Only those that have been struck
by the gospel need these things. And what is the result? What
is the result of everyone slain? Look at your text again. Thine arrows are sharp in the
heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under
them. What's the result of everyone
struck? They fall under Christ. They fall under His authority,
His dominion, His power, His sovereignty. Jesus Christ becomes their Lord
and Savior. How many fools desire Christ
to be their Savior and not their Lord? If that's what you want, you're
a fool. You've not been struck. You've not been struck. Jesus
says this, that if any man hate not his father, and his mother,
and his sister, and his brother, and yea, his own life also, he
cannot, he cannot be my disciple. Many shall say, Lord, Lord, in
that day. And He shall say, Depart from
me, I never knew you, you cursed. You see, Christ, when we're struck
by the gospel, we fall under Him. And we fall under Him not
in fear, we fall gladly under His sovereignty. The Scripture
says that His people shall be willing in the day of His power. You see, I'm willing because He hath made me willing. My life belongs to Him. My family belongs to Him. This church belongs to Him. If you are His, you belong to
Him. Know you not that you were bought
with a price and you are not your own? You don't belong to you if you've
fallen under Him. You belong to Him. Is that not
the most wonderful thing in all the world? It is if you know
Him. If you don't know Him, that's
the most terrifying and horrible thing in all the world to know
Christ, to be under Christ. Oh, but if you know Him, it's
not. Praise God, He struck us in the
heart. Praise God, we fell under His
feet. Have you been struck by the gospel? I pray that God Himself would,
if you haven't, so that you might be saved and
forgiven of sins. Experience the joy and peace
that's in Christ. Pray that God blesses to your
hearts. The stand will be dismissed in prayer.