Psalm 40. I titled the message, I am poor
and needy. That cry, that statement fits
every child of God. But you know what is amazing
about it? That is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. He is so identified with us that
he says, I am poor and needy. As is written over in Philippians,
though he was rich, yet he became poor, that we through his poverty
might be made rich. It is written in the scriptures,
he had no place to lay his head. When we go home this evening,
We lay down on that soft pillow. Our Lord, the Creator of heaven
and earth, had no place to lay His head. He became poor on purpose
that He might redeem a bunch of poor sinners like me and you. And this psalm is concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we know that David wrote
most of the psalms We know that in them we find the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, the Psalms speak of
me. Now, it's not always easy to
see Him in the Psalms. It's not always easy. It's not
always easy to see the sun on a cloudy day. You have to wait
till the clouds move. And sometimes we have to wait
till God removes the cloud and we can say, I see. I understand
and I see Him. In reading the Psalms and going
through these Psalms, I look at these and I can see Christ
so clearly in some of them, and some of them is a little more
difficult. But the one thing I can see,
I can see our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ in them
through David as a believer. I can see my relationship to
him. Now he says here in verse 1,
I don't know if we'll make it through all these tonight, but
we'll look at it. This is the psalm of David, and
he gives this to the chief musician. And you know who the chief musician
is? Really is? The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the chief musician. He's
the writer. He's the writer of the psalms.
He's the one who moved David to write them. You know, after
they took the Lord's Supper, the first thing they did, they
went out and sung a hymn. He led them in singing all the
time. I can only imagine hearing Him
pray. When the disciples heard Him
pray, they said, Lord, teach us to pray. I mean, it had to
be so lifting. And then to hear Him lead them
in singing, But he says here, he gives this
to the chief musician to put it to music. And he says here,
I waited patiently. And the way that's written is,
in waiting, I waited. I waited patiently. You know,
you can wait, but you don't always wait patiently, do you? You can
be waiting and say, I wish you'd hurry up. What time they going
to be here? I thought they was going to be
here. That's us. That's not kind of like us. That's
us. But here our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, He is saying, I
waited patiently for the Lord. He's speaking here as a man waiting
upon God. And He inclined unto me and heard
my cry. The Lord Jesus Christ as a man
waited on the Lord, and listen, He waited on the Lord with perfect
patience. He was never, and this is inconceivable
to us, but He was never impatient with the Lord. He waited. And
in waiting, He waited patiently. It's not hard to wait on someone
who's faithful, is it? It's not hard to wait on someone
who you know, if they say they're going to show up at 1 o'clock,
they're going to be there at 1 o'clock. It's not hard to wait
on them. And our Lord, as a man, He waited on the Lord and He
knew, He knew with unshakable confidence that the Lord would
hear His cry. He knew that because He says
here, "...and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry." And here's
something that I never realized until today. Our Lord prayed. Now as a man, he prayed to God.
But you know, God made him wait like He makes us wait. He made
His Son wait when He prayed, just like He makes us wait. In
waiting, I waited. And He inclined unto me. That
word means He bent over. It's like someone bending over
to hear you. You know, like a child speaks
to you. And you just bend over to hear what they have to say.
You give them your attention. God has given His attention to
His Son and to His sons, His sons and daughters. He gives
us His attention. And He heard my cry. He always
hears the cry of His children. Our Lord said this, I know you
always hear me. Father, wouldn't you like to
have that kind of confidence? First of all, we can't have it.
We don't have it because of sin, but if one had it, another could
have it. And we ought to have that kind
of confidence that when we pray, we know that God hears us. He
hears us. And he says here, And he brought
me up also out of a horrible pit. Do you see salvation that way?
Do you really? Be serious with yourself. I want
to be serious with myself. Do I really see that God in saving
me has brought me out of a horrible pit? A horrible pit. But our Lord, I want you to get
this, our Lord so identified with us that He experienced the
same pit that you and I experience. He experienced the same pit when
he was made to be sin. Christ fully knows our place. He knows our place. He knows
where we are. He knows what we feel. He knows
what we go through. This pit, when he says, He brought
me also out of a horrible pit, that was also in reference to
prison. Because back in those Roman days,
they didn't build motels and call them prisons. They dug a
hole in the ground. They dug a deep hole in the ground,
and they would put the prisoner down in that pit, down in that
hole. And the rain would come down in on it, and all the waste
of all the other prisoners that had been there. It was a horrible
pit. It was a sewer. I'm telling you
it was a sewer. He came into this cesspool that
you and I live in. And we have made it that way.
He came into this pit. And he says here that he has
brought me up also out of a horrible pit. It's also a pit of corruption.
Look over in Isaiah 38. Let me read something to you
here. In Isaiah 38, verse 17, Isaiah 38, 17, Behold, for peace I had great
bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it
from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind
thy back. Thou hast brought me out of this
horrible pit of corruption. But I tell you also what He's
talking about here, our Lord is talking about. You've brought
me up from the grave. Let me tell you, the grave for
the believer, for the believer's body is a resting place. For
the unbeliever, it's horrible. It's a horrible place. It's nothing
but a pit. When God raised Christ from the dead, He was brought
up from that horrible pit called the grave. And when that happened,
when that happened, God brought every believer in Him, every
child in Him, everyone whom God chose in Him, they were brought
up out of it also. They were brought up. It says
over in Ephesians 2, 5 and 6, "...even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, made us alive together
with Christ, by grace you are saved, and hath raised us up
together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ."
When the Lord was raised from the pit, from the grave, we were
raised also. Now you reckon that to be so. You reckon that to be so. Get
that in your mind. Get that in your heart. You have
already been raised. Because I live, you shall live
also. Now listen, He brought me up also out of a horrible
pit, out of the miry clay. There's no standing, no solid
standing down in that pit. It's miry clay. where the water
comes in and all, you ever try to walk in mud? You can't hardly do anything
if it's deep mud, can you? I mean, if mud comes up to your
ankles, if it comes up halfway to your knee, you can't hardly
get your feet out of it. And he says, here, you brought
me out of the miry clay. There's no standing in this pit,
there's no standing. But I thought of this, Myrie
Clay is what I am. That's the first thought that
hit me. What I am. We have no solid standing in
ourselves. None good, no, not one. No solid
standing. But when Christ was raised from
the dead, His body went through a mortal change, and now He's
immortal. His body, the human nature, the
body of Christ. And He had put, listen, He says
here, "...and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings."
Christ stands upon His own merits. You don't stand on yours. We can't stand on our merits.
Jesus Christ can stand before God Almighty on His own merits. And you and I, we stand upon
the merits of Christ. He is our rock. He's our rock. And He's established my goings.
It's evident. God has accepted Him. It's evident. The work of redemption is finished.
Christ will suffer no more. And His work has been established. It's been accepted. be done again. He'll not suffer
again. He won't come here again and
go through the whole process again. It won't happen. He's brought me out of the miry
clay. He set my feet, my feet upon
a rock and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in
my mouth, even praise unto our God. This is why I said he's
the choir master. He's the choir master. He put
a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. I like the
way our Lord identifies Himself here with His people. He calls
His God, our God. You notice that? The Lord Jesus
Christ, speaking here, the man Christ Jesus, is saying, our
God, my God and your God, my Father and your Father, are the
same, they're one and the same. Now this new song he's speaking
of is in the heart. It's in the
heart. It's a new song that God puts
in the heart of His redeemed. First it's in the heart of Christ,
and then in the heart of His people. If you really, if you
really sing from your heart, If you really sing from your
heart, it's also the Spirit of Christ singing in you. It's not just you. It's the Spirit
of Christ singing in you. Now, He calls it a new song because
it's new to everyone whom God saves. You didn't used to sing
the song of the redeemed. You didn't used to sing worthy
is the Lamb. Now, you used to sing all these
other songs that we hear on the radio, but we didn't sing these
songs. These songs were not even...
they were unfamiliar to us. But boy, when God has saved you,
like the songs we sang tonight, didn't they mean something? Did
they not mean something? You're not looking at the words.
There used to be... you know, you could sing a song
and not know what it's about. I mean, I used to listen to songs
on the radio that if I hear it now, I pay attention to what
they're saying. I thought, well, I didn't know
they were singing about that. They're singing about drugs or something. Well, I was trying to think of
that song. Joe Cocker's singing, Need a
Little Help From My Friends. I didn't know that's what he
was talking about when he's one of my favorite singers. I need
a little help from my friends. I thought he's talking about
his friends. He's talking about drugs. So now, now when we sing, I pay
attention. I pay attention to them. We sing with understanding, don't
we? We sing with understanding. I wish we would sing with more
enthusiasm. I know we sing with some enthusiasm,
but not like we ought to. We ought to make these walls
ring because of what God's done for us in Christ. He's put a new song in a... Those in hell don't sing. They
don't sing. They cry. weeping, wailing, gnashing
of teeth. In glory they sing. They sing
with joy. They sing with understanding.
And you'll notice here, He hath put a new song in my mouth. The
whole work of salvation is of the Lord. He put a new song in
my mouth. You know, it's like when you
get up in the morning and you hear the bird singing. God put
that song in that bird's mouth. God put that song there. And
you find yourself, and I find myself doing this from time to
time, you find yourself singing unto the Lord. You find yourself
singing to Him. The Lord put that in your heart.
He put that there. He put the new song in my mouth.
even praise, praise to our God. And many shall see it, and fear,
and shall trust in the Lord." There is a process. There is
a process in this thing of salvation. First, the Holy Spirit has the
quickness. He sends the message, which is the seed, which is the
Word of God. And there's a quickening power of the Holy Spirit. There's
life given. There's eyes to see. We see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. And then when we see, we have
a proper fear of God. We have a right fear of God and
awe and respect of God. And that leads to trust. That
leads to trust. Now there are some who see, but
they don't believe. They don't fear. You know, those
Pharisees, you know, the Lord, the only reason they hated the
Lord, they could see what He was saying. They understood what
He was saying, but then they hated it. They hated it. Then there's some
who see and fear, like was it Felix that trembled? When Paul
preached to him, he trembled. He said, I'll call for you when
it's a more convenient season. I think it's Felix or Agrippa,
one of them. But the real process is this. is when God quickens
a sinner. That sinner sees, fears, and
trusts the Lord. That's the process. And listen, he says, "...many
shall see it." Don't think of heaven as a small place. It's
not. It's not. It's not even measurable. And
blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust." Or, blessed
is that man who trusts the Lord. Happy. Happy. Vicki and I were talking about
this last night. She was telling me of a person that she's gotten
older. She's gotten very anxious, very
worrisome. She's having anxiety problems.
And I told Vicki, as I was sitting there in my easy chair, I said,
I can honestly say that I don't have any anxiousness. I said,
I'm happy. I'm happy, and I'm not worried
and anxious. I said, I don't have that. I said, I'm so glad that there's
a real peace and quietness that I have. And I said, if she knew
the Lord, if she knew the Lord. Now I'm not saying people who
know the Lord don't have anxiety problems. I tell you this though, I tell
you, the more we learn of Christ, the more that goes away. The
closer we draw up to Him, And the more He becomes our life,
I mean, we become absorbed and obsessed with Him. And the more
we understand and grow in grace and in knowledge of Him, the
more that goes, the more it subsides. I have no doubt about that. HAPPY. Are you happy? Are you happy? I am. I am. I believe you are. You that know
Christ, I believe there's a real happiness there. Now that grows
in time with grace and knowledge of Christ. That happiness, that
quietness, that joy is something that grows. That's why we're
said to grow in grace and in knowledge of Christ. Sometimes it takes a while. But
happy is the man who trusts, whose confidence is in the Lord. With all the turmoil that's going
on, I'm telling you the truth, I'm not tore up about it. I'm not tore up about it. I know that my Lord is on the
throne. I know that. I know that as sure
as I'm standing here, I know that. And I know this is His
world, as it says in Psalm 24, it's still His. He's not giving
it up. And He's never gonna give it up. He has established it,
said He's established it. He's established the time it
started and the time it'll end. He has established it. It's His. Pray. You know the best thing
you can do The most powerful thing you can do is to sincerely
pray for this country, pray for the leaders. That's the best
you can do. It was a bloody Mary, Queen Mary,
she feared the prayers of John Knox more than she did the armies
of England. You know a man prayed one time
and the sun stopped? You know a man prayed one time
and it didn't rain for three years? And he prayed again and
it rained after that? You know that? The toughest part is not so much
praying, it's believing it. It's really believing. The Lord
said, Believe that you have it and you will have it. Blessed is the man that maketh
the Lord his trust. We trust Him. for pardon, we
trust Him to justify us, we trust Him for forgiveness, we trust
Him to take care of us on the way home, we trust Him to raise
us from the dead and to bring us to glory. Happy is that man
who trusts the Lord for these things, and respects not the proud, nor
such as turn aside to lies." He does not turn to the proud.
He's not impressed. You know, a man walks in, he's
very successful, he's made a lot of money, everybody thinks he's
just the berries. You're not impressed with him.
You're not impressed. You don't turn to him and get
all Google-eyed like the world does. I have to say this, if
we've really, really met God, How can you be impressed with
a man, a worm, a maggot? If a man is rich, God made him
that way, even if he's an unbeliever. God made him that way because
his riches trickle down and others are taken care of, and you and
I, the sheep of Christ, are taken care of. Don't envy the rich. The Scripture
tells us that. Don't respect. He respect not
the proud. That is, He's no respecter of
persons. If you respect the proud, you're
a respecter of persons. Nor such as turn aside the liars.
He's not a companion with them. They're not my companions. I'm
telling you, they're not my companions. You are. You are. And the Lord says in this, the
proud and the arrogant and the liars are not my companions.
The sheep are My companions. And many, O Lord, My God, are
Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done." Is that the way you see creation?
When you look at creation, do you see the mighty work of God,
the wisdom of God, the power of God? He just spoke. He just spoke. And to me, creation
that we see is like the tip of the iceberg. It's a lot bigger
underneath. It's a whole lot bigger underneath
than what you see on top. A whole lot bigger. What about His wonderful works
in Providence? How that He takes all this variety
and makes it work in harmony? And one generation comes, another
generation goes, and then the generation before, you know,
the generation now, we don't know how the next generation
is going to make it. Well, the one before us didn't think we
were going to make it either. And the one before that, and
the one before that. Every generation says, oh, I
don't know how they're going to do it. Well, if you take God off the
throne, I don't know how you're going to do it either. But with God
on the throne, He has established the earth. He will be around and His gospel
will be around, His Word will be around, His people will be
around when you and I are gone. And He'll still be running it
when you and I are gone. It's His. And especially the
wonderful works of salvation. God becoming a man. God really
became a man. that He, God, might keep His
own law, satisfy His own justice, suffer at the hands of His own
justice, rise from the dead, go back to glory, and present
to Himself a holy people. The wonderful work of salvation.
Then the wonderful work of regeneration. Just think what you used to be. I'm not what I'm going to be,
but I'm not what I used to be. Paul said, Oh, wretched man that
I am, but he didn't live like a wretch. But he knew he was
one. He knew he had a wretched nature. And thy thoughts which are to
usward. Thy thoughts which are to usward.
It's amazing how the Lord identifies with us. This is the Lord speaking. Thy thoughts which are to usward,
all good and gracious thoughts." You know, God has never had an
ill thought of you. You who believe, you who are
His children, He's never, ever, ever had an ill thought of you.
Never. His thought of you has always
been good, and it's always been gracious, and it's always been
in love. Always, always, always. Thy thoughts
which are to usward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto
thee." Can't do it. You know, God thinks of us. His
thoughts of us are the same as His thoughts of His Son, Jesus
Christ. They're the same. And listen, if I would declare
and speak of them, There are more than can be numbered. The
hairs of our head can be numbered, but the thoughts of God concerning
me can't be numbered. You know why? It just dawned
on me today as I was going over this. His thoughts cannot be
numbered because they are continuous. There's never a time He doesn't
think of me. There's never a broken second that my God is not thinking
of me. That's why the face of the gift
of God. That's hard to even think about. This one continuous thought,
and it's been from eternity. It's been from eternity. He thought
of me before the world began. His thoughts of me are like the
thoughts of His Son. They never stop. They're continuous. And they're to usward. Do you
know that God is running this world for us? Do you know that
all things are yours in Christ? Everything right now is for our
good in His glory, our eternal good. Everything that happens
is going to happen. It is. We cannot enter into the secret
counsel of God. especially his thoughts toward
us in Jesus Christ. Charles Spurgeon wrote this,
thoughts from eternity, thoughts of my fall, my restoration, my
redemption, my conversion, my pardon, my upholding, my perfecting,
my eternal reward. That's his thoughts of me continually. And then we come to verse 6-8. There's two things we have here,
6-8 and 9-10. 6-8 we have Christ the High Priest. Paul speaks of these verses in
Hebrews 10, verses 5-14. You can go over and read them
sometime. But here we have Christ speaking as the High Priest.
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire." In other words,
you did not find satisfaction in the blood of bulls and goats
if you did, first of all, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, wouldn't
have had to come into the world. And if He had found satisfaction
in them, they would not be offered continually. And also here, "...sacrifice
and offering thou didst not desire." That's not why I came. I didn't
come to offer them. Listen, even if the Lord Jesus
Christ... I thought about this today before
saying it. But even if He, as the perfect
man, offered the blood of bulls and goats, it still wouldn't
take away our sins. It had to be His. It had to be His blood. Couldn't be the blood of bulls
and goats. And mine ears hast thou digged, or opened, in this
showing here." This goes back to that time when the master
would set the slave free, and the slave said, I don't want
to go free. I love my master. I want to stay here. I want to
stay here and serve you." And the master would take and put
his ear against a wall or a post and then put a hole through his
ear. And that hole through his ear said that he is a willing
servant to that master, to his master. And our Lord is saying
here, Thou hast bored my ear. Here He's speaking of Himself
as being the willing servant. Has your ear been bored? Huh? Has your ear been bored? Are
you willing to pack your bags and go someplace else if God
moves you there? That's a test. That's a test. But an offering and sin offering
hast thou not required. You know what he required of
Christ when He came into the world? It wasn't burnt offerings
and sin offerings. It was His obedience. That's
what He required. That's why it says obedience
is better than sacrifice. Then said I, seeing that these
things were not capable of putting away sin, seeing that these things
did not bring satisfaction, they didn't satisfy justice, then
the Lord says, Then said I, Lo, I come." This is God Almighty
speaking. I come. Listen, in the volume
of the book, in the volume of the Old Testament, All those
pictures, all those types, all that was written by the prophets
and in the Psalms. He says, Lo, I come. I come. As it's written of Me. In the
volume of the book it's written of Me. I delight to do Thy will. Let me show you what the will
of God is, what He's talking about over in John chapter 6. John 6. Look in verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Him that cometh to me I will
no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this
is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which He
hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me,
that everyone who seeth the Son and believes on Him may have
everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day."
And the Jews murmured at that. But he said, this is the Father's
will. This is the Father's will that I save you. You. You who believe, it is the
Father's will that Christ come into this world and save you
from your sins. I came to save that which was
lost. He said, I come in the volume
of the book. It's written of me. I delight.
I delight. He said, I delight. It's just
my pleasure. I get up in the morning when
the Lord Jesus Christ woke up every morning. He woke up with
delight of doing his Father's will that day. You and I go,
oh, I got to go to work. I got to go to work today. I
can't believe it. I just don't like where I'm at. I don't like
this. He had no place to lay his head and he woke up with
delight. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Yea, listen, thy law is within my heart. This is not
an outward show. The whole work of it is in my
heart. You know I love you. I love your word. I love your
word. This is heart work going on here,
isn't it? And now we have Christ the prophet, verses 9 through
10. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo,
I have not refrained my lips, I have not held back, because
I was afraid." Remember the disciple said one time to the Lord, Don't
you know the Pharisees are offended? And the Lord said, Leave them
alone. But I have preached righteousness,
the righteousness of God, which is by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and which is by the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, I have preached righteousness. Thy righteousness. You know,
Jesus Christ is God. That's the reason He says, Thy
righteousness. He's God. I have preached. There is no
greater preacher than Jesus Christ. You know, he says, I have preached
righteousness. Now I stand here and I preach
the righteousness of Christ. But you know, every man that
stands every week and preaches the gospel and preaches the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, when he preaches and he's preaching in the power
of the Spirit, that is Jesus Christ preaching through him
to his people. I have preached righteousness.
Week after week after week. I pray God I'm not the only one
standing here. You'd be in trouble if you and I both be in trouble.
I preach righteousness in a great congregation. See, I told you
heaven's not a small place. It's a great congregation. Thousand
times 10,000 times 10,000, thousand, thousand. He says, Lo, I've not reframed
my lips. How many preachers out there
who reframe their lips? They don't tell the truth, trying
to keep their job. Well, if I preach that, I'll
lose my job. Better than losing your life.
It's better to lose your job than your life. Christ said, I've not done it.
In the midst of threatening, the Pharisees standing there
wanting to kill him, he never held back. He never held back. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I've not hid it and not spoken
of it. When the Pharisees were around, they said, I'll let them
know it. and I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation." I have declared salvations of the Lord, not by
your obedience, it's by His obedience. He said, I have not concealed
thy lovingkindness. Christ revealed the Father. He
revealed the holiness of the Father. He revealed the love
of the Father. He revealed the mercy of the
Father, the grace of the Father. No man knows a father save the
Son, and He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. I have revealed
the Father. I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness
and Thy truth from the great congregation."
Generation after generation, he says, I've told them. I've
told them. I've sent my messengers out and
I've told them. Paul said, I have not shunned
to declare the whole counsel of God. Some people say, you don't need,
you shouldn't preach election. You know, that's just high doctrine.
That's high doctrine. No, it is not high doctrine.
It's just truth. It's just truth. High doctrine,
if you want high doctrine, it's love your enemies. Yeah, go do
that. If you want something, you want
to really try something, go do that. Love your enemies. Pray
for them who despitefully use you. But election is just so. It's the truth. It's the truth. Our Lord said this, "'As I hear,
I speak.'" And He never held back any truth from the church,
and neither do His messengers. He preached the election. "'You're
not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice. The reason
you don't believe is because you're not of My sheep. Father, You've
hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them
to babes. Even so, Father, it seems good in Thy sight. But then our Lord here in verse
11, He prays for help. But really what's going on here,
and I agree with this from the reading I've done, He says, "...withhold
not thou thy tender mercies from Me, O Lord, and let thy lovingkindness
and thy truth continually preserve Me." But I believe He's saying
this. This is faith speaking. He's
saying that, I'm confident you will not withhold your tender
mercies and your loving kindness will preserve me. I think that's
what he's saying. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Our Lord knows what evil is. He knows what it is more than
we do. And mine iniquities. And so many people, so many men
have tried to say, well, he's not talking about his own. Yes.
Listen to me. Our Lord so identified with us
in substitution that He calls my sins His sins. That's substitution. He calls my sins His. He says,
mine iniquities have taken hold of me. Listen, your iniquities,
you believe the gospel, right? Your iniquities won't take a
hold of you. You know why? They took a hold of Christ. They
took a hold of Him. And they took Him to Calvary.
And He died, or He was suffered under the wrath of God. And gave
up His life. Because our iniquities took a
hold of Him. My iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I'm
not able to look up." I don't think there's a person in this
room or a person I've ever met whose sins burdened them so much
that they couldn't look up. You know why? Because you and
I have never, ever, ever felt the full effect of sin. But our
Lord did. And they were so heavy, He said,
I can't even look up. There was so much shame in him,
so much guilt in him, he said, I can't look up. I can't look
up. They are more than the hairs
of my head and my heart, therefore my heart faileth me. These sins
are soul-destroying. If our Lord hadn't put them away,
we would perish. They are more than the hairs
of my... You know why he says they are more than the hairs
of my head? Because he bore all the sins of all the elect. in
his body on the tree. All of them. All of them. At one time. At one time. Our great Samson took up the
gates of the city and our sins and walked right out with them
and took them away. We could not bear one of our
own sins. If God made us to know what sin
really is, we couldn't bear it. He gives us enough knowledge
of it to bring us to repentance. Our Lord bore the full measure
of our sins. And let me hurry up here. You're
in no hurry to go anywhere, are you? You're just going to bed,
aren't you? Be pleased. What humility our
Lord prayed with. I'll probably only be another
5-10 minutes. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste
to help me. Make haste. That's earnest prayer.
That's what that is. That's just earnest prayer. But
be pleased, always desiring His Father's will. Be pleased. He's
asking His Father to be pleased. If this please you, Deliver me. Bring me through
this." How many times have you prayed in a trial, Lord, bring
me through this? Our Lord prayed the same prayer.
Bring me through this. And if our Lord cried for help,
how much more ought we to cry for help? And let them be ashamed
and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy
it. Let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me
evil. And this prayer will be answered also. You know, in John
17, he prays for the church. He said, I pray for them, I pray
not for the world. This is what he prays for the
world. "...and let them be desolate
for a reward of their shame, that say unto me, Aha! or that
let them become what they hope for me, that take pleasure in
my sufferings." Let them fall into their own trap. and let
all those that seek thee rejoice, and be glad in thee. Let such
as love thy salvation." You love God's salvation. Peter, do you love me? That's God's salvation, Jesus
Christ. If you love Christ, God has saved
you. You can believe election and go to hell. You can believe
in particular redemption. You can believe these doctrines
and go straight to hell. You cannot, you cannot love Jesus
Christ and perish. You can't do it. Peter, do you
love me? That is a relationship. You can
believe doctrine and have zero relationship with God. You can't
love Him and not have a relationship with Him. Say continually, do it again
tonight. Lord, do it again tonight. In
the heart of your people, say continually, the Lord be magnified. Make your name magnified in my
heart tonight. This is a prayer for the elect
of God. Praise God if you're one of them.
And last of all, he says here in verse 17, But I am poor and
needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and
my deliverer. Make no tearing on my God. Our
Lord identifies with us. He says, I'm poor and needy.
Speaking of Himself, Blessed are the poor in spirit." Thank
God if you're poor and needy in spirit. There's a lot of people
who are poor in purse that this does not fit. They're rich in
pride. They're rich in arrogance. They're
rich in self. But if God has made you poor
and needy, listen, if God has made you poor and needy in spirit,
it's evident the Lord is thinking upon you. His thoughts are upon
you. and you're my help, my deliverer." Our Lord believed with unwavering
faith that God would deliver him, that God would save, that
He would bring him out of that grave, and God would deliver
him. And you and I, with unwavering
faith, ought to have the same confidence at all times. All
right.