Good evening. If you have your
Bibles, if you will, please turn back to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. And our text is going
to be Psalm 1. You know, it says here a psalm
of David. And we know that David penned
this psalm, but God's Word says that all Scripture is given by
inspiration of God. 2 Peter says that no prophecy
of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. That being said, we all
know that David lived many years before our Lord Jesus Christ
come into this world. You know, this psalm can be read
in light of David, a man after God's own heart. It can be said
in light of the church, speaking of God's elect. And it can be
said and preached in light of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who is
David speaking of here? He speaks of Christ. He's saying
here that the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah God, my Savior, that's
who he's speaking of. You know, when Christ was speaking
to the Jews, when they were boasting about Abraham being their father,
Our Lord Jesus Christ told the Jews, he said, your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it, and he was glad. And also our Lord Jesus told
the Jews that Moses wrote of me. David, Job, all the prophets
of old spoke of Christ. You know, Job is considered one
of the oldest books in the Bible. And Job said, I know that my
Redeemer liveth, and that the latter day He shall stand upon
the earth, and I shall see Him in my flesh. You know, all the
scripture, all the prophets, the Bible says the whole volume
of this book speaks of one person, and that's of Christ. Hebrews
says, the Lord said in Hebrews, then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book, This book here, it is written of me to
do thy will, O God. We see here in this Bible, at
the top of my Bible, it says that David sustains his faith
by the power of God. And this faith is God-given faith,
and he gives it to all of his elect. Let's read the first verse
here, if we will, in Psalm 27. It says, And you know, this is a psalm
of every one of God's elect. You know, David said, this is
my light. The Lord is my light. He is my salvation. As it works
with all of his elect. The Lord is my light. He is my
salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? You know, the Lord is my light,
and when God opens the heart and the eyes of one of his elect,
we see by revelation the glory of God. And you know where it's
at? It shines in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ. It says
over in the book of 2 Corinthians, for God who commanded his light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. You know, a few weeks ago, me
and Sabrina, we was going home, and it was dark. It was on a
Wednesday night, and it was real clear. But the Lord, as I said,
the Lord gave me an illustration of this. We topped the hill just
a little ways from the church here. And it was calm, clear,
night sky, it was clear. But when we topped that, you
know, sometimes the moon is sort of small. But that night, that
moon was so big. It was so beautiful, it was so
bright. And it was so glorious, it was
full. And then the Lord reminded me that, you know, the moon has
no light on its own. In reality, it's dark. It has
no life. It has no beauty at all. And
where does it get its light? It gets its beauty from the sun,
the S-U-N. And you know, that's the way
it is with a sinner outside of Christ. We have no beauty. We're
spiritually dead. We love darkness. We have nothing
or nothing and can do nothing, you know. Everything that a poor,
needy sinner needs is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you
will, turn over just a few pages to Psalm 36. Psalm 36, verse
9. Psalm 36, verse 9. It says, For with thee is a fountain
of life, and thy light Shall we see light? The Lord Jesus
Christ causes us to see light. Turn to John 8.12. I'm gonna
have you turn just a couple places. John 8.12. John 8, 12, it says, Then spake
Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but he shall have the light of life. You know, when it comes to life,
everything, as I say, everything a poor, needy sinner needs is
found in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you would, I want to have
you tell them one more time here, Galatians 2. Galatians 2. In religion, it's grace and works. But that's not the way it works
according to God. It's all of grace. Galatians
2. Look at verse 8 and 9. The Bible says in verse 9, and it's
speaking of Jesus Christ our Lord, For in Him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And we, who are we? God's elect. We are complete in Him, which
is the head of all principality and power. You know, everything
that a sinner needs is in Christ. And I thank God for that. You
know, it says here, go back to Psalm 27, it says here, But the Lord is my light and my salvation. You know, salvation
is a person, and that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says it throughout all
scripture, but one of the plainest places that it says, and we all
know it, is Acts 4.12. It plainly says, neighbors of
salvation and any other, for there is none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. You know, I
spent most of my life and false religion. What is false religion?
They want to mix grace with works. God's got to do this, now you've
got to do your part. And I could stand up here for
a long time and you wouldn't believe some of the things that
I've heard preachers behind the pulpit in false religion say. But they say you've got to do
this or you've got to do that. You know, I had a sibling one
time. And it hurt me, but I had a sermon one time that said that,
you know, you don't have to go to church to be saved. Well,
you don't have to go to church to be saved, but you know, a
few years ago, I was listening to a sermon, and I forget now
who the preacher was, but he gave a good illustration of this.
And it must have been a long time ago because people heated
their houses with wood. They had fireplaces. And the
preacher noticed one of his brethren hadn't been to church in a long
time. And he was worried about him. You know, I learned something
about grace preachers. They love their congregation.
And when one of us is not here, they worry about us. So he was
worried about this brethren, so he wanted to go check on him.
It must have been a long time ago before they had phones and
computers and all that stuff, because he had to go to his house.
He went to his house, and he knocked on the door, and the
brethren came to the door, and the brother come to the door
and opened it. He was glad to see the preacher,
and they welcomed him in. He had a big old fireplace there,
fire burning, you know. They both sit down in some rocking
chairs there, and they was talking, and their brother was telling
them why he didn't think he had to go to church. And if any of
you have ever burnt wood outside or in a stove, you know that
sometimes that wood has embers, and it'll pop out. You know,
little pieces of wood will pop out of the fire, you know. And
a fireplace has a big hearth on it, a couple feet. It's either
made out of stone or concrete or something like that, so when
an ember pops out, it won't hit the floor and burn the floor.
And while they were talking, there was an ember jumped out. It was cherry red. It was hotter
than a firecracker. And if any of you ever had a
firecracker go off in your family, you know how hot they are. But
anyway, it popped out, and it was cherry red. And pretty soon,
it lost its glow, and it turned gray. And they kept talking,
but the preacher kept his eye on it. And they talked just for
a little while. It turned black. It was cold. And the preacher
looked at the brother, and he says, you see that coal right
there? He said, when it was in there, we filmed over embers.
It was cherry red. It was red hot. But when it popped
out here all by itself, it got cold. It got cold. He said, watch this. He took
a little shovel, but he empties the ashes out of his fireplace.
And he scooped that ember up. He threw it back in there. We'll
film over embers in just in a matter of seconds. That black ember,
it turned gray, then it turned red, then it just started glowing
like everything. He said, brother, that's why
you need to be in church. Why do we need to be in church?
No, it don't save us. But we come to church to worship
God. We come to church to be with one another. We need each
other. We love each other. And we come to church to praise
God and sing praises to Him. We come to church to grow in
the knowledge and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because
of the world that we live in and the flesh that we have, we
need this. We need this to help us to grow
closer to God. We all have a desire to know
our Lord. I mean to really know Him. And
when we come and hear a man of God get up and glorify God and
preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified, we go out of here feeling fed.
Our spiritual bodies feel fed, and we're stronger, and it gives
us strength. We thank God for that. But there's
a lot of things in false religion. There's a lot of things in false
religion. I hear all of these right here. You know, a lot of
people, they think, I've heard people pray, you know, I've not
missed church in five years, Sunday school in five years.
They brag about it. And then, you know, some people, they'll
give her money to support the ministry, and they think they're
doing God a favor, and that would get them into heaven, you know. Being baptized, you know, I went
to a church of Christ. I was raised in a church of Christ
for 15 years. Oh, you've made a confession of faith, but after
you've done that, you had to go get baptized. It was baptism
that saved you. That's a commandment of God,
but that ain't what saves you. And then they'd take a Lord's
table every Sunday. Now, if you saved, you had to
participate in that if you wanted to be saved. If you wanted to
stay saved, you had to do that. And I've heard people brag about
reading the word of God. Oh, I read it every day. I read
it every day, you know. And that's what they got their
confidence in, is them, what they were doing, what they were
doing, you know. And I've heard people brag about
having how much he prayed, you know. And I've even, I think
there's people out there that maybe even believe that, well,
you know, I'm a laic, so I'm saved. But election is not salvation. It's unto salvation. You know,
whether we like it or not, All of Adam's seed, including the
elect, are sinners. All of us are sinners. But don't
misunderstand me, though. You know, these things that I
just mentioned, they won't save a person. But if one is saved,
he or she will have a God-given desire if God gives them the
ability to do them. You know, the word of God plainly
states, salvation is of the Lord. Ephesians 2a, for by grace are
you saved through faith, and not of yourselves. It is a gift
of God. In Romans 3, plainly says, therefore,
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. For God's elect, Christ is our
light. Christ is our salvation. And
there's only one way to have fellowship with God, and that
is in Christ. I love what Romans 3 says. In
God's word, it says, being justified freely. What'd it say? Justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood. He
become a bloody sacrifice for the sins of His elect. And I
thank God for that. It's all in the blood. You know,
we're not only saved by the death of Christ, but we're also saved
by his life. You know, in his death, Christ
became a substitute, and he satisfied God's justice by paying our sin
debt. But you know, in his life, he
became our representative, and he met the law head on, and he
obeyed it, and he fulfilled it completely, which no other man
can do. And he imputed unto us a righteousness
which is of God. You know, he said to the Jews
in Matthew, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the
prophets. I'm not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. And he fulfilled them to the
fullest. His perfect obedience is our
righteousness. You know, he says in the book
of Philippians, in being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even to death. of the
cross. He did that for his people, for
his loved ones, you know, for the elect. You know, in the book
of Corinthians it says, for he hath made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin. Why did he do that? That we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. It's all in Christ,
all of it. You know, he not only provides
salvation to the elect, but salvation, he is salvation. And being in
Christ, what do we have? I love what it says in Corinthians
1.30. But of him, are we in Christ,
Jesus? Being in Christ, who of God has
made unto us what? Wisdom? Righteousness? Sanctification, that's God's
elect, they've been set apart for God's use and His purpose,
and in Christ they are made holy. Hebrews says, we have been sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And then we have redemption.
only through His blood. Thank God for that. You know,
we're chosen in Christ, we're accepted in Christ. When Christ
is our light, we see. When Christ is our salvation,
we don't fear. We don't fear death. He's our
life and He's our resurrection. We don't fear judgment. We're
the curse of the law. You know, the Bible says that
we were in Christ before, that God placed us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. So when Christ was on that cross
at Calvary, we were with Him. When Christ went to that grave,
we were with Him. When Christ rose in three days
from that grave, we were with Him. We're sitting with Him now
on the right hand of the throne of God in heaven, and I thank
God for that. I thank God for that because
he was our substitute. But you know, whether it's a
strength that we need in our physical life or our spiritual
life, I have to remind myself That the Lord is absolutely sovereign
in salvation, creation, and also in providence. He is with us
each and every day of our lives. And I like what Paul said right
here in Galatians. You know, he said, I am crucified. And when Paul says this, Paul
was one of God's elect. We're one of God's elect, so
this is us with Paul. We are crucified with Christ,
nevertheless we live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in us. In the life which we now live
in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God, who
hath loved us and saved himself for him. In Christ, it's all
in Christ. For the believer that is in Christ,
there is no fear. We that are God's elect, that
is in Christ Jesus, we know that we are free from condemnation. That's in Romans 8, 1. And then
in 1 John it says, Herein is our love made perfect, but we
may have bonus in the day of judgment. Now listen to this,
in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. You know, the Lord is the strength
of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? You
know, considering how fragile and weak I am in his flesh, I
must keep my eyes on Christ at all times. You know, Psalms 46.1
says, God is a refuge and strength, a very present help. Not tomorrow, not next day, not
next week, but a very present help in time of trouble. You know, the Lord is the strength
of my life. Christ calls the elect his sheep.
And as I look at myself, I may be the weakest sheep in the fold,
but I'm still his sheep. And I have no strength in myself,
and God has showed me that. But God's people, God's sheep,
they look to the shepherd for the strength. If you will, turn
back a few pages to Psalm 18. Psalm 18. Look at verse 1 and 2. God's
Word says, I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, as Christ
Jesus our Lord, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my
strength, in whom I will trust. He is my butler. In other words,
he's my shield. He's the horn of my salvation.
He's my power. We are saved by the power and
kept by the power of God. And he is my high tower. In other
words, my high tower. He is the place of my refuge. He is the one that I go when
I need to get away from the storms of life that we face. You know,
Peter says growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. I need to continue to grow in
grace. right on and on because you know
his ways is so much higher than our ways and his thoughts is
so much higher than our thoughts. We'll never say that well you
know I know all I need to know. We'll never get there. Not in
this life or the hereafter because he's God. He is God. And it says in him we live and
we move and we have our being. You know the Lord is the strength
of our daily life. God's word says in John, he says
in John, and we know this, in the world, you shall have tribulation. You know, false religion, a lot
of it, they think everything should be rosy, up rosies, and
nothing happens, and you should have nothing but joy. But that's
not the word of God. That's not what the word of God
says. He says, in the world, you shall have tribulation. What
is tribulation? Well, we're going to experience
problems, We're going to experience heartache. We're going to experience
suffering, hardships. I'm not telling you nothing you
don't already know. disappointments, pain, sickness,
and other trials. But a believer accepts whatever
comes into our lives as part of his sovereign will and purpose.
And we have peace of mind and heart. When we have a correct
view, a correct view of our Lord Jesus Christ, by God-given faith,
and what we do, we rest in his promises. You know, Christ said,
in the world you shall have cribblation. But then he went on to say, but
be of good cheer. I have overcome the world, and
the sheep will keep their eyes on the shepherd, Christ Jesus
our Lord. Why do we need to do that? Well,
God's word says in the book of Galatians that the flesh lusteth
against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. What does
that mean? And we know this. The desires
of the flesh are opposed to the spirit of God. And the only thing
that this flesh can offer to God is sin. The only thing I
have to offer to my Lord is sin, and that's it, and I'm full of
it. But of all of God's people, all of God's people, we have
two natures, the old man and the new man. And the Lord is
the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When we keep
our eyes upon Christ, We will have peace. You know, we have
no fear. God's word says in 1 John, greater
is he that is in you than he that is in the world. The Lord's
spirit lives in the hearts of each and every one of his sheep. Colossians 3.3 says, for you
are dead and your life is hid in Christ and God. If you'll
just take a minute, if you will, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
4, verses 16 and 17. You know, the Bible says that
life is like a vapor. It appears for a little while,
and then it's gone. And we do go through things here
in this world, but that's only part of it. That's all of God.
It's by the providence of God. But listen to what it says here
in chapter 4, 2 Corinthians, verse 16 and 17. It says, for
which cause? We think not. But through our
outward man perish, and we do, I'm getting weaker and weaker
each and every day that I live. We're all getting weaker each
and every day. But listen to this, yet the inward
man, the spirit of God that lives in the heart of his children,
is renewed day by day. For our affliction, he calls
this life, which is but for a moment. How long is a moment? Compared
to eternity, it's just a moment. work for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory. And I thank God for that. You
know, when the elect looked at Christ and our difficulties,
you know, he actually, he is our counselor. Or there's a place
in scripture, I don't really know where it's at, but speaking
of his word, he says that his word is a lamp unto my feet and
a light unto my path. And I thank God for that. But
he is our counselor, and it reminded me of Isaiah 9-6. You know, that's
one of his names. He's called Wonderful. Counselor,
mighty God, everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. I thank
God for that. Oh, how much the sheep. Oh, we
need him so much. He's our shepherd. We need him
in the present and we need him in the future. Romans 8.31 says
that if God be for us, who can be against us? Either now or
in time to come. We, as God's elect, we find great
comfort and we find peace in our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jude
24 and 25, God's words say, speaking of Christ, It says, now unto
him that is able to keep you. Who's that? God's elect. To keep
you. We don't have to worry about
falling. He's not going to let us. To keep you from falling
and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy. Listen to this. To the only wise
God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both
now and ever. Amen. He is always with us. You know, Psalm 27 is a beautiful
psalm for all of God's chosen people. Whenever we are able
to sit down and to look at it and to meditate upon it and to
ponder it, you know, and to take it to heart, for we know it's
absolute truth. But it takes on a special attraction
whenever we look at it in light of our Lord Jesus Christ. An
example of this is in Luke 22. You know, whenever the chief
priests and the captains of the temple and the elders come to
the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest our Lord Jesus, he had just finished
praying to the Father. And he prayed quite often to
the Father. You know, I think he prayed three
times while he was on the cross. And he prayed many times while
he was in his earthly ministry. But he was praying in the Garden
of Gethsemane. And when he had got done, he
says that he was being in agony. It says that being in agony,
he prayed more earnestly and that his sweat was as if it were
great crops of blood falling down to the ground. Almighty
God are on his knees. Our Lord told those that had
come to arrest him, he said, this is your hour and the power
of darkness. They thought they had him. But
we must take note here. As we know, the death of Christ,
it was ordained by God the Father. And Christ was just being obedient
to his Father and for the love of his people. You know, Christ
the God-man, he was 100% man and 100% God. By his life and death, he destroyed
for his people, he destroyed sin, all evil, death on behalf
of his people. And, you know, when we look at
that right there, you know, we got to remember, it's something
that I often forget, he was God. He knew exactly, when they come
to arrest him, he knew exactly what he was getting ready to
face. There's no man on the face of the earth that will ever experience
what he experienced, physically and mentally. But as we think
about that, this man Jesus Christ, at this very moment, we can see
Christ consoling himself with this one thought right here.
Look at verse one. of Psalm 27, and think about
it. Now you think about, put yourself
in his shoes. He's heading to Calvary, and
he knows exactly what's ahead of him. And he prayed often to
the Father, and this is what he may be of consoling himself
with. 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? I thank God for that. I pray that it may have been
a blessing to someone, and to God be all the glory. Amen.