Go with me, if you would, back
to Psalm chapter 5. Psalm chapter 5. As I prepare messages and deliver
messages, I think all the time about the fact that This is not
just generic information that we're putting out there. I think
about this all the time. It's not like someone would do
who was teaching from a textbook. You know, a teacher stands up
and you have a textbook and you put this information out there.
And this is not like that. These are messages. And just think about that word.
All right. These are messages from God to
his people. If it is of God, if it's of God,
not every man who stands in a pulpit is of God, but if it's of God, it is a message
from God to his people. And those of us who preach are
just the instruments that deliver the message. I've given you the
illustration before of an answering machine, which we don't use those
anymore, but we have voicemail on our phone. Somebody will call
and get our voicemail and we'll leave a message and it'll sit
right there. And it's right there. And then
in time, we will, Go to that voicemail and we'll hear the
message. The voicemail itself has nothing
to do with the message other than just being the vessel that
relays the message. That's all it is. That's all
it is. It has no part other than it's
just what is relaying the message from somebody to somebody. I want us to understand that
and I want us to enter into that as we read and hear God's word,
no matter where it is in God's word. I want us to really enter
into that. This is not just generic textbook
information. This is a message. This is a
message. If we are God's people, You know,
somebody asked Charles Spurgeon one time, if you believe only
the elect are gonna be saved, why don't you just preach to
the elect? He said, I would if they had a big E on their forehead.
But they don't, and I don't know who they are, so according to
the word of the Lord, we preach to everybody, all the world.
And God's elect will hear it, he'll give them faith to believe
it, He'll call them through it and they'll respond. And then
we'll say, oh, okay, well, that must've been one of God's elect.
So if we are one of God's elect, if we're God's people, then He has something to say
to us. And we need to, and we can listen
to it in that way. And I sincerely pray we will
be able to listen to it in that way. I believe that that was
impressed on my heart because the Lord revealed it to me in
that way. I believe He has spoken to me
and helped me. He speaks through His Word. And
so I pray He'll do that. Our message tonight is gonna
come from one verse in this Psalm. But before we look at it, I want
us to see something about this whole Psalm. Verse one, Psalm
five, verse one says, give ear to my words, O Lord, consider
my meditation, hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and
my God, for unto thee will I pray. He said, please hear me. Please give ear to my words. Consider what is happening in
my heart. You know, we pray, we can pray
out loud, but pray all the same in the heart. And he said, would
you please hearken to the voice of my cry? You're my king and
you're my God. And I'm praying to you. I'm praying
to you. Now, those are the words of David.
And those are the words of all of God's people. But the only
reason that's so is because those are the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the reason. The Lord Jesus
Christ made Himself to be our substitute. And this is the gospel. You know, if you want to get
to the heart of the gospel and if you want to understand the
scriptures, see Christ In the place where
it looks like it's talking to us and telling us this is what
you better do. And you put Christ right there. Our substitute, our Lord, Jesus
Christ made himself to be our substitute. And the glory of
the gospel is seeing and hearing Christ. The man cry this prayer
right here to the father. on our behalf, in our place,
all right? Now, if you want to, hold your
place here and look with me at Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews 5. The heading at the top of my
page says, of Christ's priesthood. That's what it says at the top
of my page, of Christ's priesthood. This is declaring Christ to be
our high priest who offered an atonement to God on our behalf. That's what a high priest would
do. He would go in once a year, not without blood. He had to
carry blood. And he would go into God and he would make an
atonement for the sin of the Lord's people. That was symbolic
of what Christ would actually do. But here's the glory of,
of what we're about to read back in the old Testament. Those priests
would slay a lamb and bring lamb's blood. Here's the glory of the
gospel. Not only was our Lord, the priest who offered the lamb
slain. He made Himself to be the Lamb
slain. The blood of bulls and goats,
it was not perfect enough to appease God for our sins. So He offered His own blood,
spotless, pure, perfect blood. He made Himself to be the victim.
He led Himself to the slaughter. He led Himself to the slaughter.
Hebrews 5 verse 5, it says, so also Christ glorified, not himself
to be made and high priest. He didn't, he didn't glorify
himself to be made a high priest, but he that said unto him, thou
art my son, the father, God, the father, the one who said
today, have I begotten thee? As he saith also in another place,
he's the one who said, thou art a priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. The Lord was appointed to this.
All right now, verse seven says, who in the days of his flesh,
those 33 and a half years while he was here, who in the days
of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save
him from death and was heard in that he feared. Though he
were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."
Though he was the son of God, he learned obedience by the things
which he suffered. Now if we'll read Psalm 5 in
light of that, we'll see the glory of the gospel. All right,
go with me back to Psalm 5. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In the days of his flesh. because
of the things that he suffered, the things he suffered in the
Garden of Gethsemane, the things he suffered on the cross. Psalm
5 verse 1 says, give ear to my words, O Lord. Consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my
cry, my King and my God. For unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the
morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct
my prayer unto thee and will look up. For thou art not a God
that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with
thee. The foolish shall not stand in
thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity."
That's why Christ had to endure this. We are workers of iniquity
and Christ had to endure this to put that away for us. Put
that away for his people. Verse six says thou shalt destroy
them that speak leasing. That means lies. The Lord will
abhor the bloody and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come
into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy. And in thy fear
will I worship toward thy Holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in thy
righteousness because of mine enemies. Make thy way straight
before my face for there is no faithfulness in their mouth.
And in my center margin, it says the mouth of any of them. No,
not one. There is no faithfulness in their
mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulcher. They flatter with their tongue. Who is he talking about and describing? Me, us. Verse 10 says, destroy thou them,
O God. Do you know that's what God did
in Christ on the cross of Calvary? Do you know that's why Christ
died? Think about it. Why did Christ
die? Why did Christ die? It's because
He looked at the souls of the sinners He put in Christ and
said, they must be destroyed. Their throat is an open sepulcher. There is deceit in them. I hate
all workers of iniquity. They must die. That's why Christ
died. God was destroying His sinful
people in Him. In Him. Christ was made to be
what they were. This is substitution and God
destroyed them in him. Verse 10 says, destroy thou them. Oh God, let them fall by their
own councils. Cast them out in the multitude
of their transgressions for they have rebelled against the outside
of Christ. Sinners have to endure that on
their own. That's what everyone will have to endure on his or
her own. But in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's what they endured
in him. And verse 11 says, now this is
the Lord Jesus Christ cry for those that he accomplished this
for, all right? Verse 11, he said, let all those that put
their trust in thee. Why is our trust in him? It's
because Christ's trust is in him and we're in Christ. And
he said, let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice.
Let them ever shout for joy because you defended them. thou defendest
them, you covered them over, you protected them. Let them
also that love thy name be joyful in thee, for thou, Lord, wilt
bless the righteous. With favor wilt thou compass
him as with a shield. Now, because Christ said this,
we can say this. And I want to focus on one line
for our message here tonight. I want to read up to it. and
just say something about it very quickly, and I pray this will
be a help to us. Psalm 5, verse 1 says, give ear
to my words, O Lord. Consider my meditation. Hearken
unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for unto Thee
will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the
morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct
my prayer unto Thee, and will look up. Now that's what I want
us to dwell on for just a minute. Because Christ said this, David
could say this and all of God's people can say this. The end
of verse three, he said, I will direct my prayer unto thee and
will look up. because our Lord put himself
in a place where he could not look up in his flesh, in his suffering. That's what he said in Psalm
40. That's what he said there. He
said, innumerable evils have compassed me about. He's speaking
as our substitute. And he said, mine iniquities,
He didn't have any iniquities of his own. This was a sinless
man, but he took hours for his own. He took our sin and our
sorrows. He made them his very own. We
just sang that. He made ours, his very own, and
he said, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I
am not able to look up. Now you think about the Lord
Jesus Christ saying that. I'm not even able to look up.
Because he put himself in the place where he could not look
up. That place of suffering, that
place of judgment. We are now able to say, Lord,
because you've taken all that from me, you took all that away
from me, by your grace, I will direct my prayer to thee, and
then I'll look up. I'll direct my prayer to you,
and then I'll look up. How amazing is it that we're
allowed to do that? How amazing is that when in that
moment, Christ couldn't? Because Christ couldn't, how
amazing is it that we're allowed to and that we're made able to
look up. Now that's the message I have
for us tonight and I hope the Lord will let us do this. In
Christ, because of Christ, because of what he did, look up. Because you've been made able
to and because in him you're allowed to. Look up. Let's not hear this as a generic
dissertation. In the Lord Jesus Christ, if
you are in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is a message from God to
you. Look up. Look up. Hear His voice in this. Take this for your own. Listen to Him say this. Look
up. Direct your prayer to Him. and
then look up. That's what the publican in the
temple did. That man who would not so much
as lift his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, crying,
God be merciful to me, I'm a sinner. That's what he was doing. He
would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven, but he was looking
up. That's what he was doing. And because of everything that
Christ endured for us, because he made it so we could, direct
your prayer to him and then look up. That's the message. That's
the title of this message. Look up, look up. Turn with me to Psalm 121. Psalm 121 verse 1 says, I will
lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. That's where our help comes from. That's where our help comes from.
It comes from up. Now let's see if the Lord will
speak this message to us right now. Let's see if he will honestly
help us with this. Don't look out. Don't look out. Don't just, don't do it. I really,
I want to bring this into real life. I want to bring it to the
news. I want to bring it to just whatever you pass on the road,
don't look out. Just don't do it. There is literally
no hope out there. We have men who are trying to
fix things, trying to make things better. There is no hope out
there. All that there is, you want to
know what the end of all their scheming will be and all that?
It's chaos. This is what it is. It's chaos.
It's confusion. It's disappointment. It's wickedness. That's what it is. It's heartache. Stop looking out. Just don't
look out. There is no hope and there's
no help. There is no help out there, all
right? Don't look in. Just stop looking in. Every time we turn our eyes within,
all we see is dark and vain and wild. That's all we see. There
is literally no hope in here. Don't go like this and then wonder,
am I a child of God? Don't do this. Am I a child of
God? Don't do this. There's no hope
in here. None. All that there is in here
is chaos. That's all that's going on in
here. Chaos, confusion, disappointment, heartache, wickedness. That's all that's going on in
here. Don't look out. Don't look in. People are always
saying, well, you're just going to have to look deep within.
Don't do that. Don't do that. There's no hope
in here. There's no help in here. None. And may the Lord make this real.
Don't look to the future. Don't look to the future. Everybody
is always looking to the future, and I mean everybody. Everybody. That's all we do. Everybody is
looking to the future, thinking it'll be better in the future.
Tomorrow's a new day. Well, there's always next year.
Don't look to the future. We are not promised tomorrow. We are not promised our next
breath. We're not promised it. There
is no hope in the future. When the future gets here, we're
gonna realize that the same sin and the same trials You know,
we say, I just can't wait for this trial to be over. Well,
when the future gets here, the same sin, and the same trials,
and the same struggles, and the same chaos, and the same disappointment,
and the same wickedness, and the same heartache, it's all
still gonna be here. It was here in the past, it's
here right now, and it'll be here in the future. The misery of today will be the
misery of tomorrow. It just will be. Don't look to
the future. Don't look out. Don't look in. Don't look to the future. Don't
look to the past. I sincerely hope this helps.
Don't look to the past. Some people look to their past
with much hope, thinking, well, I made my profession back then,
and I got baptized back then, and that's my hope. My hope is
in the past. Don't do that. But for those
of us who have had Christ revealed to us, and we're not doing that,
the only thing that's in the past is chaos and confusion,
and wickedness and heartache. That's all that's in the past.
And the past is in the past. You cannot undo it. You cannot
change it. Every time you look back on it,
it just brings sorrow to you. And I know that because every
time I look back on mine, that's all it brings to me. So here
is a message from our God to us. Here's a message. Right now,
look up. Just look up. Only look up. Right now, with the eyes of the
heart, with the eyes of faith that the Lord gives to His people,
look up. There is hope there. There is
so much hope there. Our foundation is there. We're looking for a city that
has foundations. Well, it's there. Our stability,
our joy, our comfort, all of our help is right there. It's
all right there. Psalm 121 says, I will lift up
mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help
cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. He will not
suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in from this time forth and even forevermore. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to the God of heaven. Look
to the one who is keeping you and is keeping His eye on you.
Not only is He keeping us, He's keeping His eye on us. Look to
the one who is preserving you and protecting you. See Him with
these eyes of faith. Behold Him. View Him. See Him sitting sovereignly on
His throne. It will make things start looking
up. It really will. When things are
looking down, look up, and it'll make things
start to look up. Things will start looking up.
The message is, look to Him for all of our salvation. Look to
Him for all of our need, all of our days here on this earth.
And keep looking up, believing that we're gonna see Him. Believing
in His return. Let me show you this and I'm
gonna close. Go to Luke 21. This blessed my heart so much
when I read this. Luke 21. The heading again at the top
of my page says, The Signs Preceding the Second Coming of Christ.
Signs preceding His coming. And some things are listed here.
But the end of verse 26 says, The powers of heaven shall be
shaken. And then verse 27 says, Then
shall they see the Son of Man, And see if you can enter into
this. Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud
with power and great glory. And when these things begin to
come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption
draweth nigh. When you see that happen, you
look up and just say, here it comes. Here it comes, we're gonna
say that soon. That's a message from God to
all of his people. He says, from this moment till
the end of your time on earth, for every need, every trial,
every comfort, from this day till I return, look up, just
look up. He said, look unto me and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there
is none else. Lord, because you have enabled
us to, would you cause us to? Help us
to, may the Lord help us to look up. May he help us to direct
our prayer to him, and then after we pray it, with our eyes of
faith, let's wait with expectation, just looking up. We'll seek all our help from
him, trust him and wait on him. Let's look up. All right, let's
all stand together.