Psalm 64. I want to get to verse 10. It'll
be our text, but I want to touch on one or two things here in
the body of this Psalm. Psalm 64, verse one. It's a Psalm
of David, and he sings out, hear my voice, O God, in my prayer. Hear me, Lord. Preserve my life. from fear of the enemy. Believers, those whose life have
been made eternal, they have a new creation in them, they
fear. Should we? No. Do we? Yes, there's fears that we have.
And we're afraid of the enemies that are all around us. Whether
it's of the body, of the mind, neighbors of family of Providence
of whatever there's times we're nervous. We're afraid and And
we need to be turned to look to our King Who's on his throne
Lord preserve me from fear keep keep me preserve me for being
afraid from walk this world with fear and When I'm doing that,
I'm not looking to you And when I look to you I don't have
any fear, because I know who you are and where you are. Why
would I be afraid somebody might kill the body? You gave me an
everlasting life in my soul. David prays for these things.
We ought to pray for these things, shouldn't we? I tell you, so
often we want to have our eyes opened. like the prophet did
for that up and coming prophet. Have our eyes open and see on
all the hilltops, all the chariots of fire that surround us. That's
what we want to see. But if the Lord was to, that'd
encourage us, wouldn't it? Wouldn't that just make everything
okay? If the Lord was to peel our eyes open and make us see
all the evil that's around us, of Satan actively working to
stop the word of the Lord going forward. If everyone's heart
was revealed on a big screen around us, or we saw his ministers
doing anything they could to make us quit, make us stop, to
chase down one of God's elect and capture them and devour them,
it'd terrify us. We'd have to see those chariots.
But what we are exposed to, the fear we're exposed to, we got
enough good sense to see what's going on. David prays for that,
and we do too, don't we? Those around us that just say
such pretty sugary sweet things and bless your little heart.
And then as soon as you turn around and say, you know what?
I don't want to say nothing, but you know what I heard? It seems
so subtle, doesn't it? That's Satan actively engaged
in combat. That's what that is. And we're not to go to combat
with it. Archangel came down and fought
for the body of Moses. And he said, the Lord rebuke
you, Satan. He said he didn't bring a railing charge against
him. Could he? I could, give me a pencil. Let
me write these things down, all the bad things Satan's done.
He didn't mean, you're the Lord's devil. That ain't none of my
business. That's what Michael said. I'm
taking that body though. Lord has to preserve our lives
from fear. Just have a life that's fearful and make us to be His
child to look to Him. That's growing us up. That's
taking us from little babes to toddlers and toddlers to young
men and women, young men and women to finally young adults. We need to be grown. He says
in verse one, hear my voice, O God, in my prayer, preserve
my life. from fear of the enemy. Hide
me from the secret counsel of the wicked, from the insurrection
of the workers of iniquity, who wet their tongues like a sword
and bend their bows to shoot their arrows. Bitter words. They
plan all this out, that they may shoot in secret at the perfect.
Suddenly, do they shoot at him and fear not. They encourage
themselves in the evil manner. They commune of laying snares
privily. And they say, who shall see them?
I've seen this happen actively against the gospel throughout
my life. People say, well, you know what, we'll just do this.
Nobody will know. We saw a group one time going
against their pastor trying to trick him into doing something.
The Lord didn't allow that to happen, but they said, I don't
know about nobody. We'll just work these things. I've seen it happen
in homes. Doesn't that happen in homes
and then in local assembly and in churches all the time? I've
seen children conspire to get ice cream. It's happened, isn't
it? Daddy won't know. You go ask
him. Most people have enemies. They
encourage themselves, verse 5, in this evil matter. They commune
of laying snares privately, and they say, who shall see them?
They search out iniquities. They accomplish a diligent search,
both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart is
deep. Verse 7, but God shall shoot
them with an arrow. That's what's called shooting
arrows per adventure. The Lord will send a man preaching
the gospel and I don't know really which arrows he's loaded. I just
let them fly. I don't know where they're landing
and what I think would work over here doesn't work, it hits over
there. I don't know what's going on. But it's not our business
to go fighting those evil things that we see or don't see. And
those things that we're afraid of, it's the Lord's business.
He fights the battle for us. God shall shoot at them with
an arrow, suddenly they shall be wounded. So they shall make
their own tongue to fall upon themselves. All that see them
shall flee away. And all men shall fear and shall
declare the work of God, for they shall wisely consider of
his doing." When that happens, the things that we fear and the
Lord works something in a way that we would have never imagined
that happened. I would have never guessed he'd
have done that. We honor him, don't we? I know you've had this
happen in your life, something you pray about or you're fearful
of, and you ask the Lord to deal with it, and then he does in
a way that you would have never suspected. He gets the glory,
and we wisely consider his doing. But after these things, David's
praying to be preserved from fear of the enemy. He describes
the enemy. That's a lot to be afraid of
because we don't know what to do. He just tells of the Lord's conquering
of that enemy, whatever it may be. And then in verse 10, the
righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in him and
all the upright in heart shall glory. The righteous shall be
glad in the Lord and shall trust in him, and all the upright in
heart shall glory. I want to be as basic as I could.
What is it to be righteous? That's who David's speaking of
here. That's what he's concluding this song with. The righteous
shall be glad in the Lord. Well, what is righteous? What
is righteousness? Clean? Just, if it's a verb,
doing righteousness, that's the act of a holy nature, a holy
nature. It's to be like God, to not be
with sin, to not be impure, to be holy. That's what that is.
Well, who are the righteous? Who's that? those that are in
Christ and only them. Turn over to first Corinthians
chapter one. First Corinthians chapter one. Verse 26. 1 Corinthians 1.26 For you see
your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh,
and not many mighty, and not many noble, are called. That
doesn't say not any noble, not any mighty, not any wise, but
not many. God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised
hath God chosen. Yea, and the things which are
not, they're just nothing, to bring to nothing the things that
are. That no flesh should glory in
his presence. but of him, of God, are ye in
Christ Jesus. How are we Christians? God makes
them. God makes them. That's to put
a sinner in Christ. When did he do that? Whenever
you decided, when you got in them waters? Before time. Before this world was made, He
chose a people and He put them in Christ. So I'm gonna make
His whole people just like you, because I love you so much. You're
wonderful. And I'm gonna make a whole generation
just like Him. And so He took those things,
those heathens, for His inheritance and put them in Christ Jesus,
of who God has made unto us. God who put us in Christ has
made Christ unto us wisdom and righteousness. and sanctification
and redemption. That, according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. The Lord did all
this stuff to the praise of the glory of His grace. He wanted
to. And us that's put in Him and
He's revealed Himself to, we thank Him. We'll get to it in
a second. We're glad. It's like complicated
terms. God's people's happy about that.
Why? What's this righteousness? Mankind,
natural man, that's heretics, and have their souls on a eternal
path to hell, think righteousness is something that we do. Or,
well, I don't do that no more, and I quit smoking, and I quit
drinking, and I quit putting sugar in my coffee, then I quit
coffee, or whatever. I go to church, I don't miss
a service now. I just, I never do miss, I'm dedicated to going
to church. Yeah, you're dedicated to going
to a building, Righteousness ain't, though it
is the act of a whole nature, it's being like God, it's being
in Christ. And He is our righteousness. That's His name. Jehovah Sitkenu,
the Lord our righteousness. Man wants to do his own work,
and that's taking God's glory, because he says, nobody's going
to glory because I'm your righteousness. Well, we're going to sanctify
ourselves, because that's separate from justice. He's Jehovah M. Kadesh, the Lord that sanctifies.
You're going to take that job from Him, too? He won't have
it, he ain't gonna share his glory with another. That's the
person of our righteousness. Now how are we made like him? When we conform to his image
and we got his spirit in us and his faith in us, it's the faith
of Christ that makes us believe, it saves us and is revealed Christ
to us. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 20, Paul's writing a church at Corinth
and he says, now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though
God did beseech you by us. We pray you and Christ said be
reconciled to God. Be reconciled to God. How could
that happen? Remember that holy God? God's
holy, and we can't be in his presence. We're born of Adam.
Adam died in that garden spiritually, and everything that's offspring
of him is born spiritually then. How could we be reconciled to
God? How could there be a place of
atonement for us? He's righteous. Something had to happen, verse
21, for, because, how can we be reconciled to God? Because
He hath made Him, the Father hath made Christ sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Who's the righteous? Those in
Christ, those that's made like Christ. Who did that? It's His
doing. Salvation's of the Lord. That's the whole kit and caboodle.
That's the lock, the stock, and the barrel. That's all the parts
required for a musket. That's a whole shooting match.
It's all in Him. We ain't got nothing to do with
it. It's His doing. I love what Brother Hawker wrote
concerning this, about this righteousness. He says, what then is righteousness
of the scripture? And who is the righteous man
before God? The answer is direct. None but the Lord Jesus Christ.
He and He only is set forth under this title. He's the righteous
one. And He alone is the righteousness
of His people. What's our righteousness? Who
is our righteousness? It's Him. How could I be holy
and clean and pure? He is doing and I'm in Him. That's
it. Hawker said this, it is high
treason. He's speaking of God's high holy
command. It is high treason to talk of
any other. And it is equally high treason
to talk of any comparative statement between man and man concerning
righteousness. Well, this one's a little bit
better than that one. Well, this one's more righteous than that
one's more righteous. We don't have an understanding.
And Hawks said it's high treason, and I like those words. Against who? The one who is our
righteousness. Now back in our text, what do
righteous people do? Those that's in Christ, those
that he's revealed himself to and he's saved and made holy
without reproach. Psalm 64 verse 10, the righteous
shall be glad in the Lord. This isn't a 10 point self-improvement
system. This is just a declaration. Well,
righteous people do. They're glad in the Lord. They're
glad. That's simple, isn't it? Yeah,
but I can't make somebody happy. He can. I can't make somebody
righteous, neither. What's that word mean? You know,
that could be translated rejoice. The righteous shall rejoice in
the Lord. They shall be glad in the Lord. It means cheer. We're gonna be joyful because
of Him. It literally means brighten up. What's that the opposite of?
A sad, mopey countenance that murmurs. Oh, the righteous gonna be glad
in the Lord. Aren't we told that throughout
scripture to rejoice and to be glad and to be merry? Drink wine
and be merry. Have you a piece of cake? Lord's
made us righteous. He's gave us life. Be happy about
it. Thank him. Cheer him on. Thank
you, Lord. Paul told the church there at
Thessalonica, rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything,
give thanks for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus concerning
you. How can we be glad? We're so
prone to be sad. we have to see him as our righteousness.
And knowing what he's done for us, and knowing he's, in our
words, too wise to err, too powerful to be undone, anything he does
is right. It's right because he's done
it in everything. It's hard, isn't it? The ups
and downs, the sad times. This is what happens terribly.
The Lord did it. Makes you glad, don't it? He's
on his throne. He's our Rochester. Paul said,
in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. Everything that's happened, the
Lord tailor made that just for his child, for our good, and
for his glory. That's what ought to make us
real happy. His glory ain't gonna be tarnished from any of it.
Paul said, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Rejoice in him. Be happy, be
glad. To be glad, to rejoice in the
Lord. That's praise, isn't it? To cheer
and be thankful. Thank you, Lord. I'm thankful
he is who he is. Just the way he is and does what
he does. I'm thankful. The unrighteous can't do that.
They can't be glad in somebody they don't know. And if they
know anything about him, they hate him. He's on his throne. He's done
right. He's done good. The judge of
the earth's judged right, hadn't he? Hadn't he done all things well?
That was the nice three-point message laid out there in Philippians
3. We are the circumcision. Those ones that's had a heart
work done, that's been made righteous, made the righteousness of God
in Christ, which worship God in the Spirit. We praise Him,
we rejoice in Him, we're glad. That's inside of us, isn't it?
And rejoice in Christ Jesus. That's who we're in, that's the
elect, the one that the Father first trusted, and we have no
confidence in the flesh. In you in, none. None at all. Verse 10 there in our text, Psalm
62 says, the righteous shall be glad in the Lord. Well, they
might be, it says they shall. They shall be glad in the Lord
and shall trust in him. Were they glad in the Lord? Where's their trust? Well, I
leaned on my faith. That's shameful, isn't it? Read a lot of scriptures, and
I prayed a bunch, and that made me feel good. They trust in Him. In Him. Trust in Him. What is
it to trust in the Lord? Solomon wrote there in Proverbs
3, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to
thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct thy paths. In all thy ways. I always think
of one time I was working on this ice machine one time and
I could not get a little tiny screw. It wasn't that big in
the backside of that. And it didn't really have to
be there, but it's right to do it. Put it back, make less noise
down the road and all that. I thought, I'll just not put
it in there. It ain't gonna hurt, and it's still gonna work. It's
gonna make ice. And I thought, no, this ain't their ice machine.
This is the Lord's ice machine. I'm gonna put that screw in there.
It's right. I'm working under Him. I ain't working under these
people. And then I thought, Lord, don't let me, if it drops, it's
so easy, you can't even get it back. It's a hard thing. I said, Lord, just, if you're
pleased, put this screw in there for me. Don't let me drop it.
And that's frivolous and dumb. He said, in all thy ways, acknowledge
him. It went in, and you know what?
Thank you, Lord. Thank you. As much as I need gravity to
hold this screw where it is, or whatever, is as much as I
need you for anything else, in all things. All things. That
doesn't mean we walk around talking out loud, carrying a Bible while
we're cutting grass, right? You get that? Oh, and the people
do their hands over stuff. It's just vain religion. Ugh,
I get goosebumps up my neck every time I think about it. That's
not what we're talking about, talking out loud to the Lord all day. It's just
communion in the heart with Him, isn't it? And all thy ways acknowledge
Him, and He shall direct thy path. That's trusting Him, isn't
it? Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart
from evil. Stop thinking you know everything
and look to Him. Trust Him. Trust His Word. What's
it say? Well, He said it. That's good
enough, isn't it? Let's do that. Did you know it's
godly? It's a God-like thing to trust
Christ? It is. It's in Ephesians 1.12
that we should be to the praise of His glory, the Father's glory,
who first trusted in Christ. The Father trusted in Him. The
Father entrusted all of us in Him and trusted His glory into
Him to fulfill His Word and honor Him. Shouldn't we? That's beyond
reasonable, isn't it? In all things, in all our ways,
in all our paths. And to know Him, if we know Him,
we trust Him. If we know Him. You know some
diligent people in this world. I know some men, as far as men
go, if it's all within their power, if they say they're gonna
do something, they're gonna do it. Because I know them. I know how
they are. I've known them throughout time.
And I trust them. And they say they're gonna do
something, well, I believe they're gonna do it. They're grownups, not boys that can shave,
they're men. And I say they're gonna do something,
I believe them, I trust them. And to trust this one is to love
him, to love him. I don't trust somebody I don't
care for, I mean, you know, just in work even. Like, well, I think
they'll do a good job, but I hate them. I don't wanna do business
with them, do business with somebody else. To trust this one is to
love him, to love him. That fellow came to him and he
said, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? And he
said, you should love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. If you love him, you trust him.
You have to know him to love him. And if you love him, you
trust him because you know who he is and you know his character,
you understand him. And the second's like unto it.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. He's loved you. How could I not love you? On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets. That wraps the whole shoot match
up, don't it? To trust the Lord is to rest. If we know him because
he's revealed himself to us, we're going to be glad. We shall
be. Shall be. Some people say, well,
I ain't real happy about that. Well, you ain't, Lord ain't made you
glad yet. I don't know what to tell you. He said it. You shall be glad
in him. And they're gonna trust him.
They're gonna trust him. And to trust him, to know him,
to love him, to trust him, that's to rest. That's to rest. All these cares we have of these
enemies, it's to cast it to him. Said in Psalm 55, cast. Remember
us looking at that? Psalm 55, 22. It means to roll,
to heave, like a big old boulder. Take your burden, set it over
on him. Cast thy burden upon the Lord
and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous
to be moved. Not his children. He won't, now
take it to him. Take your burden to him. There
in verse 10 in our text, Psalm 64. The righteous shall be glad in
the Lord and shall trust in him and all the upright in heart
shall glory. They're going to glory. And that
we know these things, that we did right and picked right, and
I come to the doctrines of grace? No. We're going to glory in Him,
ain't we? David says over in Psalm 112,
he said, His seed shall be mighty upon the earth. The children
of the Lord, they're going to be on this earth. They're going
to be strong. They're going to be mighty. The generation of upright shall
be blessed. Blessed people on this earth.
Does that mean they're going to all be rich? No. Does that
mean that we're destined to a life of poverty and hair suits and
living underneath brick? No. Less than the heart. Less than the heart. That's how
we're, how we made mighty. He's our righteousness. He's
revealed himself to us. He's made us trust in him. That
new creation has to. Can't help but trust him, trust
his work. It says so. It's gotta be right. Well, I
don't understand it. Well, I don't have to really understand it for it to
be right. He might be pleased to teach me down the road. I
can lean on it, 100%. We know that. Or in Galatians
6, Paul said, but God forbid that I should glory, saving the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. That's the whole world and all
of it that's in it. For in cross Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many
as walk according to this rule, peace be on them. and mercy and
upon the Israel of God. Peace to them. That's a blessed
people on this earth, isn't it? That's a blessed people. Are
they glad? They got something to be happy about? Do they trust? Who they glory in? Him. Him,
isn't it? The Lord said there in Jeremiah
9, thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich
man glory in his riches. But let him that glorieth, glorieth
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me. I don't mean
we understand all the things of God and the secret things
that he does and all those things, but we know him. We know what
he's doing and we know who gets the glory. Let him glory in this,
that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord with exercises,
loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in earth. He's
done all these things. For these things, in these things
I delight, saith the Lord. He delights in those things.
Verse 10 says, the righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and
shall trust in him, and all the upright in heart. shall glory,
shall glory. Those are three shalls, aren't
they? Now, if we're made righteous, may the righteousness of God
in Christ have eternal life. We trust him because he's on
his throne and everything is minutely orchestrated for our
good and his glory. A double L all things, everything. He gets all the glory for it,
and it makes us happy. It's kind of a loop, isn't it?
Go back to being glad, rejoicing, cheering, brightened up. If we're made those things, made
to trust in Him, made to glory in Him. Now look up verse one
again. Remember where we started? Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer.
Preserve my life from fear of the enemy. You scared of them enemies that
he lists there in them verses? No, we're glad and we're trusting
and we're glorying. We start, where does it start?
We start same place David starts, in fear. And we see all, there
is a mess of enemies. And you can label them, they're
all around. Where's the Lord, he answers the prayer by the
10th verse, you see that? Made us glad, made us trust,
made us glory. I pray we can do that this morning.
Let's pray together. Lord, as you promised, those
you've made righteous in Christ shall be glad. What a promise that is when we're
so sad, Lord, when we're so downtrodden and hurt and sorrowful. We shall trust. Thank you for
that promise, Lord, when we seem so frazzled, so unable to recall
your word. full of unbelief, and that we
shall glory. Thank you, Lord. Be with our
brother and sister that's grieving. Make them glad. Make them trust
in your son. Make them see your glory in this. What a blessing that'd be. And
make us too, Lord. This has to be your doing. We
ask you to do it. Forgive us our sin. and be with
us. It's because of Christ, because
of who he is and what he's done, his intercession now that we
ask these things. Amen. All right, we'll meet back
at 1030.