Go back, if you would, to Psalm
138. Psalm 138. Let me begin with a question
here, or a few questions here. How do you feel you are doing
as a child of God? How do you feel you're doing? And I'm being very serious. I'm
being very, very serious here. As a believer, we claim to be
believers. One of God's elect, we acknowledge
God's election. As a child of God, do you feel
like you are living up to the standard that you ought to live
up to? Do you feel that way? And I'm being very serious. Do
you feel like a child of God? Do you feel like a child of God,
honestly? In your thoughts, in your emotions,
in your desires toward the gospel, toward worship, toward the brethren,
toward whatever, are you happy and are you satisfied
with your thoughts and your emotions and your desires? Are you satisfied with the level
of spirituality that you see and feel in yourself? And here's
the reason I asked that. Some people are satisfied with what they see and feel in
themselves. Some people are. Some people feel like they're
just getting holier and holier. Go out into false religion and
ask them. They're satisfied. You feel like you're doing a
good job? Yeah. Yeah, I do. How about you? How about you,
really? I feel like I'm getting worse
and worse and worse. If I could just hold what I was
doing a few years ago, I'd be better off than I am now. It's
just getting worse and worse and worse. So I ask this question
to you. Do you feel holy? The scripture says in Christ,
we are holy. That's what it says. Do you feel holy? Knowing that the Lord is looking
directly into our mind, my mind, your mind. He is looking directly
into our hearts. Are you happy with what he's
looking at? That rich young ruler said to
the Lord one time, concerning the commandments of the law,
he said, all these things have I kept from my youth up. Can
you say that with him? You know, people talk about doing,
you know, obeying the law. And I've heard people say, well,
now the rich young ruler, you know, he said all these things
I've kept from my youth up. Well, great. That's him. What
about me and you? Can we say that with him? Which
he didn't. Do you like me have to say all
that I have done from my youth up is sin against God? That's
all I've done. When you really stop and think
about these things, do you have any other choice than to say,
I am so vile? When you really take a minute
and think about it, I am so vile, I'm just so vile. If that is the way that we sincerely
feel, then number one, We need to be thanking God for that.
Number one, if we really do feel that way, and we're not just
putting it on, you know, oh yeah, you know, if we sincerely do
feel that way, number one, we need to be thanking God for that
because that is the first work of God's Holy Spirit when he
comes to one of God's own. The first thing that the Spirit
does when He comes to a man or a woman is He convinces them
of their sin. That's the first thing. If we do not feel continual disgust
over our sin, something's wrong. Now I feel it and I know you
feel it because you come talking to me about it all the time.
I just, I'm just so mad at myself. I'm just so disgusted with myself.
Here's the truth of the matter. If we do not feel continual disgust
over our sin, something's wrong. If anybody hears this right now
in this room, on the internet, in the future, Whenever, I'll
listen to messages off sermon audio that were preached back
in the 70s, and he'll say, if anybody ever hears this, and
I'll think, I am right now, if anybody ever hears this, if the Lord tarries till 2070
and somebody hears this, recognize this, if we don't feel
a continual disgust over our sin, something's wrong. There's
no spiritual life there. Something's wrong. Are you saying
that we can't have happy moments and joyful moments in the Lord?
I pray we have continual joy in the Lord. Just continual joy
in the Lord. But joy in the Lord does not
bring a denial of sin in the flesh. Our sin in the flesh is what
truly fuels our joy in the Lord. If we are not plagued by a constant
awareness of our sin, then we need to start begging God to
plague us with it. I don't recommend we ask for
trials. Don't do that. When we say, Lord,
increase our faith, what we're saying is the trying of our sin
trials. We need to be careful what we
ask for. But I'm telling you, for our eternal good, if I do
not feel like I'm a sinner, Christ came to save sinners. And if
I don't think I'm one of them, I better be begging God to reveal
the truth to me. I need to be begging God to plague
me with this because that plaguing is the direct work of God's Holy
Spirit driving us to Christ. That's what drives us to Christ
as painful and as awful as this awareness is. It's God's goodness
to us. It is the work of God's spirit
in us driving us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Showing us there's
only one remedy. There's only one hope. There's
only one place of safety. Only one place of forgiveness. Driving us to the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Driving us to the salvation that
is in that blood. And if you know this vile awareness
like I do, if you enter into this with me, and if it drives you to Christ
like it drives me to Christ, then listen to this, all right?
I have something here that I believe is true comfort. I believe I
have some true comfort for all of us who are in this painful
condition together. Concerning all of this vile wickedness
and sinfulness that's in this body of death that we're carrying
around, walking around in. Psalm 138 verse eight says, the Lord will perfect it. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. I believe I have something. This
has brought such hope to me and such encouragement to me. David
is saying on behalf of himself and on behalf of all of God's
people, Lord, I believe that you will perfect
everything, everything concerning me. He went on to say, thy mercy,
O Lord, endureth forever. I believe that your mercy endures
forever like you said it did. He said, forsake not the works
of thine own hands. He's saying, this is my only
hope, that you will not forsake the works of your own hand. That
you, if you started the work, that you will decide that, well,
I'm not gonna finish it. I'm going to move on to something
else. My hope is in the fact that you will not forsake the
works of your own hand. Now, I truly do believe that
I have a word of encouragement for us. This has just been wonderful
for me. I believe I've really learned
something through studying this. And I don't want this to just
be educational. That was my fear in this. I pray this will be a blessing.
I really pray this will be an encouragement to you. This has
helped me. If you struggle with this, maybe
this will help you too. Verse eight says, the Lord will
perfect that which concerneth me. Now just bear with me here
for a minute while I get through the middle section of this message
and these notes, okay? The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. That word perfect means complete. It means finish. It means bring
to an end. The Lord will complete. He will finish. He will bring
to an end that which concerneth me. Now, this is important. If
we know anything about the cross of Calvary, if we know anything about the
cross of Calvary, we will say, I thought he already did. I thought he cried. It is finished. I thought we were complete in
Him. He did. He did say that. And we are. He did cry, it is
finished. And we are complete in Him. Look at Psalm 71 with me. Psalm 71 verse 23 says, My lips shall greatly rejoice
when I sing unto thee and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. David said in Christ, my soul
is most definitely redeemed. My lips shall rejoice and my
soul shall rejoice, which thou hast redeemed. Look with me at Hebrews chapter
nine. Hebrews nine verse 11 says, Christ being come and 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,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood,
He entered in once into the holy place," watch this, "...having
obtained eternal redemption for us." By one offering, he obtained
it. All of it, all of it. He finished
it. It's complete. It's perfected. All right. But look at this. And you've all seen this verse
of scripture and maybe it's grabbed you before, like it's grabbed
me before. Turn with me to Philippians one. Philippians one. Verse six, it says, being confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it. until the day of Jesus Christ. That word perform means perfect. He will perfect it. He will complete
it. The one who started it will finish
it. Being confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. You say, I don't understand. If something is yet to be finished,
how can I find comfort in that? Turn back one page to Ephesians
4. Verse 30, Ephesians 4 verse 30,
it says, "...grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are
sealed unto the day of redemption." He said, "...you are sealed unto." You're sealed until the day of
redemption. Again, I don't understand. I
thought he already obtained redemption. Why is a day of redemption still
to come? Look at Ephesians 1. The last two words of verse 12
say, IN CHRIST. Verse 13 says, IN WHOM YE ALSO
TRUSTED, AFTER THAT YOU HEARD THE WORD OF TRUTH, THE GOSPEL
OF YOUR SALVATION, IN WHOM ALSO AFTER THAT YOU BELIEVED, YOU
WERE SEALED WITH THAT HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE, which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
unto the praise of His glory." There it is again. What's this
talking about? What is this performance, this
perfection, this redemption that's still to come? If we truly know something of
the vileness of our flesh that we're plagued with every day,
this ought to bring great hope to us, such great hope to us. If we constantly look at ourselves
and say, if it be so, why am I thus? And you know what I'm
talking about. If it be so, why am I thus? This ought to bring great comfort
to us. I'm gonna tell this to us and then I'm gonna show it
to you in the word, okay? I'm just gonna tell this and prove
it after that. When our Lord came to this earth
the first time, he came to redeem our souls from destruction. And he did it. He did it. He obtained eternal redemption
for our souls. And this is the realization that
has brought such hope and such comfort to me because I'm so
disgusted by what I see in myself. When our Lord comes back the
second time, he is coming back to redeem our bodies from destruction. The first time He came and He
redeemed our souls. And He's coming back. Why did
He do it this way? This was according to His will
and purpose. This is the way He chose to do
it. When He ascended back on high, why didn't He just take
us then? There's no time with God. He can just say it and it's
so. Why did He go to come again? Our Lord, when He came, He endured
the cross. For our eternal souls, the life
of the body is the soul. And when he endured that cross,
our Lord removed all the filth and all the vileness and all
the wickedness and all the spotted sinfulness from our souls. He removed it, it's gone. He
made our souls spotless, as the scripture says they are. Perfect, complete, washed. He made our souls holy, truly
holy, as His soul is. So are our souls right now in
this world. Your souls are holy, washed,
spotless, clean. That's what he accomplished for
us when he came. And the result of that accomplishment,
the end of that accomplishment is the moment he comes back,
he's gonna reveal to our bodies the same redemption. that He
revealed to our souls. Look with me, if you would, at
Romans 8. This will explain it. If you
wonder, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? This explains it, Romans 8 verse
10 says, if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin. But the spirit is life because
of righteousness, who is a person dwelling in you. But if the spirit
of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Verse 18 says, I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of
the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creature was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected
the same in hope. because the creature itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only
they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the
Spirit. Even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, watch this, waiting for the adoption. to know the
redemption of our body. He said, we're waiting for it
with hope, expected anticipation. The Lord will perfect that which
concerns us. If he began the work, he will perform it all the way
to the end. Honestly, I look at myself, I believe God's Word. If it says I'm holy in Christ,
I'm holy in Christ, and I believe it. I just can't see it. This flesh, I cannot see holiness
in this flesh, but I'm going to. In the same way that I see
holiness in Christ, And in the same way that by faith I see
holiness in the soul that Christ has redeemed, I'm going to see
it in this flesh too. He's going to perform this redemption
all the way to the end. It's ordered, it's sure. Our eternal souls are already
spotless and holy and we're just anxiously waiting for our bodies
to be in the same condition. It's going to happen. If he started
the work, he'll perform it all the way to the end. It's all
finished. All of his works were finished from the foundation
of the world. But according to his good time,
it will be performed. all the way to the end. The Apostle
Paul said, I know that the Lord Jesus Christ will deliver me
from this body of death. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God for the Lord Jesus Christ. How? How's he gonna do that? And I'm
gonna be quick, but just turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15,
okay? 1 Corinthians 15. Verse 49, it says, As we have borne the image of
the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now
this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God. Neither does corruption inherit
incorruption. That's what I am right now. Corruption.
Flesh and blood. Verse 51, behold, I show you
a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."
Paul told the Philippians in Philippians 3, he said, we're
looking for the Savior. We're waiting for the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, here's the reason
why. It's because when he comes back, he shall change our vile
body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,
according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things
unto himself." The Apostle John said, Beloved, now are we the
sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be.
Because we're going to be changed. John said when He appears, the
moment He appears, when He appeared the first time, He put away the
sin of our eternal souls. And when He appears that second
time, the moment we see Him, John said we'll be just like
Him. We will be just like Him. 1 Thessalonians 4 says, I don't
want you to be ignorant of this. He's going to descend from heaven
with a shout. The voice of the archangel, the
voice of the trump of God, clouds are going to part. We're all
going to be, the dead are going to be raised. We're all going
to be caught up together into the clouds to meet him in the
air. So shall we ever be with the Lord. If we are plagued by
everything we see in these bio-bodies and we don't understand why still
so much sin, if my sin is gone, If it's put away, if it's forgiven,
if I'm redeemed, why is this still here? If that's our plaguing, then
hope in this, the moment he returns for us, all filth All vileness,
all wickedness, all decaying sinfulness will be eternally
removed from our bodies like he has removed it from our souls.
He's removed every bit of that from our souls and he will do
every bit of that for our bodies. He will perfect that which concerns
us. He will perfect us. We're waiting
and he'll do it. He will perfect us. And the moment
He does, we're going to feel just like a child of God. We're
gonna feel like a child of God. None of God's people do right
now because we have not received the redemption of our bodies.
But we're gonna feel just like a child of God and I'm telling
you, we're gonna be satisfied. We're going to be so satisfied
with the level of our spirituality. We'll be satisfied with what
we see in ourselves and feel in ourselves. And God will look
directly into our minds and he'll see the thoughts and the desires
of the heart that are the very same thoughts and the desires
of the heart that Christ has. Same mind. And we're going to be happy about
it. And sin is never going to plague us ever again. In Psalm
17, David said, As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness.
I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. And that's
the moment we'll be satisfied too. So here's the point. Hang in there. That's the point. Hang in there. Oh, so much sin, so much sin,
so many bad thoughts, so many bad things, this awful tongue.
Hang in there. Wait on the Lord. He will perfect
you. You're going to be perfect. You're
going to end up perfect. The Lord will perfect that which
concerns us. His mercy endures forever. He will not forsake the work
of His own hands. He will not do it. I pray that
it will bring some hope to us and some comfort to us and help
us through all of this sin. I pray it will help us as we
endure all of