Turn with me first to 2 Peter
chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. I want to show you something
very special tonight. Very special. We're going to
look at Psalm 31. And David not only penned that
psalm. I'm always very careful to say
that these writers penned the psalm. But he not only penned that psalm,
he wrote it. Meaning, he lived it. And he felt it, and he cried
what we just read a second ago. He felt it. He lived it. He entered
into it. He was saying that to God. But look here at 2 Peter 1, verse
20 says, Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture
is of any private interpretation. The source of Psalm 31 is not
David. It's not David. Verse 21 says,
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. The Holy Spirit of God, the Holy
Spirit of Jesus Christ Himself wrote Psalm 31. The Scripture
tells us that Christ was always in communion with His Father. His Father always heard Him. Always. And every word that's
in this book tells us, and we know this, every word in this
book tells us what happened on the cross. That's the reason
for the book. That's the whole reason for the
book. Every word, every verse, every chapter is pointing us. They all go together to point
us to our salvation. Every single one of them. Tonight
we're going to read through Psalm 31. And by God's grace, we're
going to give the sense of the reading. I love that in Nehemiah
8. They stood up, a big crowd of
people gathered together, and from the morning till the evening,
they opened God's word and they gave the sense of the reading.
And by God's grace, we're going to give the sense of this reading,
listening to the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
we're going to do. These are the words of his heart. His inner communion with his
father. While he hung on the cross. Alright,
that's what this is. There's a song we sing. Wounded
and bleeding for sinners pleading. Blind and unheeding dying for
me. This is the cry of our substitute. That's what it is, the cry of
our substitute. Now, turn with me over to Psalm
31 and listen to his voice as he
hung there. If we were on this earth 2,000
years ago, if we were in that crowd of people standing there
at the foot of the cross, and if we could have heard his inner
groaning This is what we would have heard. Right here is what
we would have heard. Verse 1 says, In thee, O Lord,
do I put my trust. Now are you ever ashamed of your
lack of trust in the Lord? I just don't trust Him like I
should. You ever ashamed of that? He trusted God for us. Isn't that fantastic? He trusted
God for us. I'm going to tell you right now,
I don't trust God like I ought to. But Christ perfectly trusted
God for us as He hung there on that cross. He hung there completely
trusting the Lord. He said in verse 1, In thee,
O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Everything
that we are, we are in Him. Isn't that right? Everything
that we are, we are in Him. If He will never be ashamed,
we will never be ashamed. Never. Verse 1 goes on to say,
deliver me in thy righteousness. Deliver me rightly. Deliver me
according to your perfect law, according to everything that
is right and holy and just. I've taken sin upon me. There
he hangs, bearing sin before his God. Lord, would you make
me just? Don't we say the same thing?
Lord, would you make me just and would you make me right and
would you make me good and holy in your eyes? Verse two, he said,
bow down thine ear to me. I've humbled myself. I've brought
myself low. Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver
me speedily. Be thou my strong rock for in
house of defense. to save me. For thou art my rock
and my fortress, therefore for thy name's sake lead me and guide
me." Now we acknowledge that he humbled himself, but we cannot
fathom how far. We cannot fathom how far. We
know he is God, but He's man. I mean, we're just
men. And He's the God-man. He's the sinless, perfect God-man.
But God became a man. And we cannot fathom how far
He made Himself to go down. Our sin caused Him to feel need. That's amazing to me. He hung
there in need. The need of His people. He hung
there trusting God, crying out to God, asking God for help in
a time of need, that need that his people have. Verse 4 says,
he said, pull me out of the net that they have laid privately
for me, for thou art my strength. Job 33 verse 24 says, deliver
him from going down to the pit I have found a ransom. Do you
know how that ransom was found? You know how a sinner can be
delivered from going down to the pit? I found a ransom. The
only way that was possible is a substitute had to go down in
the pit in his place. Substitute had to go all the
way down in his stead. There's a man who He's been dead for years and
years, but he was a precious man, a gospel preacher. His name
was Ed Hale, and he wrote quite a few songs. The chorus we sing,
Oh, How Merciful, he wrote that. But he wrote another song, and
there's a verse in it, and it says, As poor wretched sinners,
no God and no hope, it seemed there was no one to help. But
God in his mercy salvation supplied, emptied heaven, came down himself,
and a ransom was found. A ransom was found. And here he hangs in the lowest
parts of the earth. As our substitute, he cries in
verse 4, pull me out of the net that they have laid privately
for me, for thou art my strength. And then in verse 5, these are
the actual words he cried out loud. Verse 5 says, into thine
hand I commit my spirit. Let's look at that over in Luke
23. Turn with me over there to Luke
23. Luke 23 verse 44, And it was
about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth
until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and
the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus
had cried with a loud voice, He said, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost." He hung there, and he hung there, and having
said that right there, he died. He gave up the ghost, and now
here he must lay in a tomb for three days, separated from God. separated from God. No man can
enter into that horror. No man can enter into the horror
of being separated from God. No soul could imagine the punishment,
that punishment of being separated from God. Now, this is the God-man
enduring this, and he, in his own words, called it hell. That's what he called it. There
he lays. He's laying there for us, patiently
laying there for us, believing in his soul that God his Father
would not leave him there in hell. Isn't that what he said?
Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell. And he said back over in Psalm
31 verse 5, Into thine hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord
God of truth. I have hated them that regard
lying vanities, but I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and
rejoice in thy mercy." He said, I rejoice in thy mercy. You know
why Christ endured all this? It's because he knew there was
no other way for God's children to be redeemed. No other way
to save them. No other means. It was the only
way to show mercy. Verse 7, he said, I will be glad
and rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my trouble. You know why God's people are
set free? It's because when God looks at
him, he considers Christ's trouble. That's the whole reason. When
he looks at a child of his, when every single child passes his
eye, he considers the trouble that Christ endured for him.
Every single one. Verse 7 goes on to say, Thou
hast known my soul in adversities. and hast not shut me up into
the hand of the enemy." I have not been delivered into the hand
of the enemy. I'm in your hands. That's what
he's saying. There he lays. I'm in your hands.
The enemy didn't do this. You did this. You know, that's
something we need to acknowledge at all times, in all things.
You did this. And that's what he said. You
did this. Verse 8, he said, Thou hast not
shut me up into the hand of the enemy. Thou hast set my feet
in a large room. You laid all of this iniquity
on me, all of the iniquity of your people. You laid every bit
of it on me. Verse 9, he said, Have mercy
upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. Because He said that, because
He endured that, and because He cried that to God, because
it's written here for us to read, we, His people, will never endure
trouble. Never. Never. Verse 9, Have mercy upon
me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. Mine eye is consumed with grief,
yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent with grief,
and my years with sighing. My strength faileth because of
mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. The sins that he bore,
he made them his own. He was made sin. He made them
His own. He said, My strength faileth
because of My iniquity. Turn with me over to Lamentations
3 after Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations. This is also the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. Lamentations 3 verse 1, now listen
to these words. This is Christ speaking. He said,
I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath
led me and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against
me is he turned. He turneth his hand against me
all the day. Can you imagine him saying this?
One who was always with the Father. The One who created the world
and all that's in it. Verse 4, He said, My flesh and
My skin hath He made old. He hath broken My bones. He hath
builded against Me, encompassed Me with gall and travail. He
hath set Me in dark places as they that be dead of old. He
hath hedged Me about that I cannot get out. He hath made My chain
heavy. Also, when I cry and shout, he
shutteth out my prayer. He hath enclosed my ways with
hewn stone. He hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me as a bear lying
in wait and as a lion in secret places. He hath turned aside
my ways and pulled me in pieces. He hath made me desolate. He
hath bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow. He hath
caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. I was
a derision to all my people and their song all the day. He hath
filled me with bitterness. He hath made me drunken with
wormwood. He hath also broken my teeth
with gravel stones. He hath covered me with ashes.
And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace. I forgot
prosperity. And I said, My strength and my
hope is perished from the Lord. Remembering mine affliction and
my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul hath them still
in remembrance and is humbled in me. This right here is where
the child of God cries in verse 21. This I recall to my mind,
therefore have I hope. I'm going to tell you what. You
know, everybody believes Jesus died on the cross. Jesus died
on the cross, you know. Yeah, don't you love Jesus? Thank
you for Jesus. Oh my goodness. If they had any
idea what He endured for a sinful wretch like me. What separation from God truly
is. Verse 21, this I recall to my
mind. This is the whole reason I have
hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. We don't know what mercy is.
We have a definition. Mercy is not getting what you
deserve. We like that, don't we? It's true. Man, we don't
know what that means. We do not. He got what we deserved. Substitute for sinners. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. Because of the mercy that is
found through the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ, we're
not consumed. We're not consumed. Go back over
to Psalm 31. Verse 9 says, Have mercy upon
me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. Mine eye is consumed with grief,
yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent with grief,
and my years with sighing. My strength faileth because of
mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among
all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and a fear
to mine acquaintance. They that did see me without
fled from me. You know, our Lord, as a man,
experienced the grief of every friend deserting Him. You know
what it would feel like if every soul on earth deserted you? As a man, every single person
deserted Him. He endured every bit of this
alone. They all fled. Verse 12, he said,
I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind. I am like a broken
vessel, for I have heard the slander of many. Fear was on
every side while they took counsel together against me. They devised
to take away my life, but I trusted in Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou
art my God. My times are in Thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon
thy servant. Save me for thy mercy's sake. Let me not be ashamed, O Lord,
for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed and
let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to
silence, which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously
against the righteous. Now our Lord hung there on that
cross, and he said, Into thy hands I commend my spirit. And
for three days he lay down in that grave, knowing that they
have all left me. I am forsaken not only by God,
but everybody, everything. But after three days, of enduring
what the English language cannot describe. Agony is just, it doesn't
come close to describing his sufferings. After three days
of what he described to be hell, after three days of laying there
enduring for his people, after three days of crying out to God
on their behalf on a beautiful Sunday morning, The first day
of the week, God the Father said, I'm satisfied. That's enough. Well pleased and satisfied. I have poured out my wrath. I
have emptied my quiver on Him. And now I'm satisfied. He said,
roll that stone away. And as soon as that stone was
rolled away, out walked the victorious Savior, the high King of heaven. And at that moment, God the Father
and all of the hosts of heaven cried in verse 19, Oh, how great
is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee,
which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the
sons of men. Thou shalt hide them in the secret
of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt keep them
secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues." Well done. Look at what you've accomplished. And Christ answered his father
in verse 21, he said, Blessed be the Lord, for he hath showed
me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. For I said in
my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes. Nevertheless, thou
heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. Oh, love
the Lord, all ye his saints. For the Lord preserveth the faithful. and plentifully rewardeth the
proud doer." He's going to give the sinner, who will not have this faithful
Savior reign over him, he's going to reward that proud doer with
the same thing Christ endured. But he said, love the Lord. He said, I encourage, I command,
Love the Lord, all ye his saints, because the Lord preserved the
faithful. He didn't leave his soul in hell.
There is one who is faithful, Christ our Lord. And then here's the conclusion
of the whole matter. Verse 24 says, Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your
heart. All ye that hope in the Lord." What he's saying is, hang
in there. We think this life is tough,
don't we? We think, man, I can't, I'm not
going to make it. I'm not going to make it. Look at what Christ
endured. All that's over. Everybody, that's
over. And God Almighty says, you hang
in there. You be of good courage, because He's going to strengthen
your heart. One of these days, I mean eternally, all of a sudden,
can you imagine how strengthened our hearts are going to be? Hang
in there. Be of good courage. He'll strengthen
your heart. All ye that hope in the Lord. Hope in the Lord. Hope means
expected anticipation. Hope in the Lord. It is finished.
Let's all hope in the Lord. All right, let's stand together.