I will speak of thy righteousness
and thy righteousness only. Brother Paul mentioned this verse
a couple of weeks ago and I got to thinking about it and I had
asked Paul to preach from this message and then he asked me to preach
tonight and I told him, well, I may look at this. One of my
favorite, this is one of our favorite Psalms. We know that
our God is God, reigning and ruling in the affairs of men. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. The judge of the earth will do
right. Romans 8, 28, and we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose." Everything is
done on purpose. Yet there are times when we are
brought to confusion. We look all around us. We look
inside of ourselves and don't understand God's ways. His ways
are not our ways. We don't understand ourselves.
How could I say and do such a thing? I'm afraid that's all the time. But we should not be confused
about the way of salvation. Salvation is of the Lord, by
the Lord Jesus Christ. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time
of trouble. So in Psalm 71, verses 1-4, Lord, do not I put my trust,
don't let me be brought to confusion. In Psalm 56, it kind of speaks
the same way. Be merciful unto me, O God, for
man would swallow me up. He fighting daily oppresseth
me. Mine enemies would daily swallow
me up, for they be many that fight against me. O Thou Most
High, what time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. In God
I will praise His Word. In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can
do unto me. We have many enemies within and
without. I will not fear what flesh can
do unto me. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold
under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that's what
I do. For I know that in me that is
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not." Constant
battle. For the good that I would, I
do not, but the evil which I would not, that's what I do. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil was present with me, for I delight in the
law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. He is all my salvation. He is
all my righteousness. In verse 2 it says, to deliver
me in thy righteousness and cause me to escape, Incline thy ear
unto me and save me. Lord, save me. I can't save myself. We can't. We're helpless. All
we are are sinners. All a sinner can do is sin. In Psalm 35, plead my cause, O Lord,
with them that strive with me. Fight against them, but fight
against me. Take hold of shield and stand
up for my help. Draw out also the spear and stop
the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my soul, I am thy
salvation. The Lord Jesus, I need the Lord
to tell me that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to save me. Because
I forget so soon. And so many trials and sin, that's
our biggest enemy. It wears us down to the point
where all we see is our sin, and we lose sight of Christ. In verse 3 of Psalm 71, Be thou
my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort. Our Lord Jesus Christ said in
Matthew 11, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only refuge for sinners. Go to Him. He will never cast
you out. Take your burden to the Lord.
And leave it there. He'll take care of it. Psalm
91. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is
my refuge and my fortress. My God in Him will I trust. In verse 3 it also says, Thou
hast given commandment to save me, for Thou art my rock and
my fortress. The Lord is King of kings, Lord
of lords, and He commands, and it's done. In Psalm 42 verse 8, The Lord
will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night
song, His song shall be with me and
my prayer unto the God of my life. Remember the story of Mephibosheth? The Lord fetched him. He gave commandment to save Mephibosheth. He said, Is there not any of
the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto
him? For Christ's sake, for Jonathan's sake, he was lame on both feet. He was an enemy of King David. Mephibosheth was down in the
house of Micah, down in the town of Lodabar, a place with no bread. And the Lord sent and fetched
him out of the house of Micah. Now when Mephibosheth, the son
of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell
on his face. reverence. That's what the Lord
will do. He'll cause a rebel to bow down
and do reverence unto our God. And David said unto him, Fear
not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan's thy father's
sake, and will restore thee all the land of Solomon thy father,
and thou shalt eat bread at my table. And he bowed himself and
said, What is thy servant that thou shouldst look upon such
a dead dog as I? Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. The Lord has
a chosen people. He chooses who will be saved. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but because of His mercy He has saved us. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
our rock and our fortress. Psalm 18, the Lord is my rock
and my fortress and my deliverer. My God, my strength in whom I
will trust, my buckler, the horn of my salvation, and my high
tower. I will call upon the Lord who
is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies. He's the only one that can save
us. Poor and weak as we are, all that the Father has given
to Christ shall come to Christ, and those who come to Him He
will in no wise cast out. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying,
Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? And they say, Some
say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others, Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets, and he said unto them, But whom say
ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. And I pray also unto thee, Thou
art Peter, and upon this rock, upon this truth, I will build
my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. That rock is Christ. In Psalm
71, verse 4, it says, Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand
of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel
man. King David had many enemies. King Saul and the Philistines
wanted to kill him. His own son, Absalom, tried to kill him and
take over his father's throne. Our Lord Jesus Christ had many
enemies. The religious Jews sought to
kill him. One of his own disciples, Judas,
betrayed him. Have not we all been enemies of our Lord Jesus
Christ? There was a time I did not care
about the Lord Jesus Christ, whether he lived or died. Was
not interested, but God. but God. And so, a man's foe
shall be they of his own household. The believers hope. We have a
good hope. In Psalm 71, verses 5 through
8, For thou art my hope, O Lord God. Thou art my trust from my
youth. By Thee have I been holding up
from the womb. Thou art He that took me out
of my mother's bowels. My praise shall be continually
of Thee. I am a wonder unto many, but
Thou art my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled with Thy
praise and with Thy honor all the day. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the only hope for sinners. We sang that hymn. My hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. We are to sanctify the Lord God
in our hearts and be ready to give an answer to every man that
asketh for the reason of hope that is in us with meekness and
fear. Great is the mystery of godliness. God became a man
made under the law to redeem his people who were under the
law. The wages of sin is death. That is what all men have earned.
Man's death cannot satisfy God's law, but Christ's. did. Christ's death did. Christ came
into the world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. He died for the ungodly. He died
for me. He'd die for you if you're ungodly. If you're an ungodly sinner in
need of mercy, He will save you. Christ is all. We're crucified
with Christ, yet we live. For He hath made Him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him, a substitute for sinners. Look and live. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal
life. Don't look to yourself, look
to Christ. Don't look to your feelings,
look to Christ. Feelings come, feelings go, feelings
are deceiving. Our only warrant is the Word
of God and nothing else is worth believing. But we're so prone
to looking to ourselves. Every morning we look in the
mirror What a sorry sight. A disaster. And then we look within in our
own heart and we see the same thing, a disaster. He says here, for thou art my
trust from my youth. In Psalm 22, it says, train up
a child in the ways he should go, and when he is old, he will
not depart from it. I'm afraid I wasn't trained up
in the things of God. I was trained up by my parents. to live in this world, and you'd
get along with people, and add, subtract, and learn. But the
things of God I never learned until my second birth. And then
the Lord started teaching me. They shall all be taught of God. All those who have learned and
heard of the Father cometh unto the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in Psalm 71 verse 6,
By thee have I been holding up from the womb. Thou art he that
took me out of my mother's bowels. In Jeremiah 1 verse 5, Before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest
forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and ordained thee. Acts chapter 13, as many as were
ordained to eternal life, they believed. God's sheep were ordained
to eternal life. They shall believe. They shall
never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of the Father's hand. We can't pluck ourselves out
of the Father's hand. And our praise shall be continually
of Thee. We have every reason to praise
our God. No reason to look down. In Psalm
103, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless
His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget all His benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases. who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crown thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies." The Lord has put away our sin. Lord, I believe, help thou my
unbelief. In verse 7 it says, I am a wonder
unto many, but thou art my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled
with thy praise and with thy honor all the day. In Deuteronomy 14, it says, verse 2, For thou art a
holy people unto the Lord thy God, And the Lord has chosen
thee to be a peculiar people unto himself above all the nations
that are upon the earth. Don't you feel like a peculiar
person at times? I'm not nothing like I used to
be. I'm not what I used to be. I don't understand. I'm a wonder to myself. and to
others. In 1 Peter 4 it says, For as
much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves
likewise with the same mind, for he that hath suffered in
the flesh hath ceased from sin, that he should no longer live
the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men, but to the
will of God. For the time past of our life
may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when
we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wines, revellings,
baguettings, abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to
the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
strong refuge for a sinner. In God is my salvation and my
glory. The rock of my strength and my
refuge is in God. I looked upon my right hand and
beheld there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed
me. No man cared for my soul. I cried
unto thee, O Lord, Thou art my refuge. and my portion in the
land of the living. Let my mouth be filled with thy
praise and honor all the day. Let's turn to 1 Chronicles chapter
29. Brother Paul read from this passage
a while back, and I just love it. I love it. First Chronicles 129. Wherefore, David blessed the
Lord before all the congregation. I'm starting, well I'm in the
wrong place. Imagine that. Christ is the right
place. Wherefore, David blessed the
Lord before all the congregation, and David said, Blessed be thou,
Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord,
is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory
and the majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth
is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord,
thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come
of thee, and thou reignest over all. And in thine hand is power
and might, and in thine hand it is to make great and to give
strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank
thee and praise thy glorious name. Oh, we have every reason
to thank our God. In Psalm 71 verse 9 says, cast
me not off in the time of old age, forsake me when my strength
faileth. I look around, I see a lot of
gray heads. We're all getting older. We're
getting weaker. We're losing our minds, our memory. We're losing our sight, our hearing. We're losing our balance. We
can't walk. You know, we've got bad backs. God doesn't save those who can
help themselves. I've heard my mother say that
all my life. It ain't so. God only saves those
who can't help themselves. In verse 18 of Psalm 71, it says,
Now also, when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, until
I have showed Thy strength unto this generation, and Thy power
to every one that is to come. You know, we seek to honor our
Lord, and we seek for an opportunity to speak for our Lord, and to
speak of His honor and His majesty, to speak His truth to others,
to mention the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. Psalm 92, Those that be planted
in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our
God. They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing. I wish I could be flat and flourishing,
but I'm fat. The Lord is upright. He is my
rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. In Psalm 71, verse 9, it says,
Forsake me not when my strength faileth. In Psalm 73, it says,
My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? There is none upon the earth
I desire above Thee. I pray in my heart that if it
be not so, make it so. And my flesh just curls at whatever
that would be. Our whole desire in this life
is to worship Christ with all our heart, soul, and mind and
strength. And for me to live is Christ, but to die is actually
gain. In verse 71, verse 10 and 12,
it says, For mine enemies speak against me, and they lay wait
for my soul, take counsel together, saying, God hath forsaken him,
persecute him, take him, for it is none to deliver him. O
God, be not far from me, O God, make haste for my help. Don't
you feel like the world is watching you and just waiting for you
to make a misstep so they can ridicule you and blame your God. In Romans 8, what shall we say
to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay any charge Who shall lay any charge? I didn't
read that right. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again. Who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. What shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress,
persecution or famine, nakedness or peril, or sword? As it is
written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus." Nothing. Not even sin. Past sin, present
sin, future sin shall not separate us. For we're in Christ. We have that union in Christ.
And Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Majesty
on high, ever living, to make intercession for us. Though we
believe not, Yet, he abided faithful. He cannot deny himself. He cannot deny the blood that
was shed for sinners. In Revelation 12, and I heard
a loud voice in heaven, now has come salvation and strength
in the kingdom kingdom of our God, and the power
of His Christ. For the accuser of the brethren
is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night,
and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives unto death. In Psalm 71, verse 14, it says,
I will hope continually and will yet praise Thee more and more. In Lamentations 3, it says, It
is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because
His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great
is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul, therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto
them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is
good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation
of the Lord. Our strength is to sit still
and see the salvation of God. Don't fret about the evildoers
that are inside your heart. Look to Christ. Commit thy way
unto the Lord. He is our strength. He is all
our salvation. My mouth shall show forth thy
righteousness and thy salvation all the day, for I know not the
numbers thereof. In Psalm 145, I will extol Thee, my God, O
King, and I will bless Thy name forever and ever. Every day will
I bless Thee, and I will praise Thy name forever and ever." I
long to do that. I long to be able to worship
God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength without sin. I long for that day. One generation shall praise thy
works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak
of the glorious honor of thy majesty and thy wondrous works,
and men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts, and I will
declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the
memory of thy great goodness and shall sing of thy righteousness. I will go in the strength of
the Lord God, and I will make mention of Thy righteousness,
even and of Thine only. That's the only righteousness
there is. The Lord will give strength unto
His people. The Lord will bless His people
with peace. Surely, shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. Evil to him shall men
come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified. Glory. I want to be strong in the Lord
and the power of His might. Yet I find, you know, we find
this law worrying in our members. Turn to Ephesians chapter 6. The only way to be strong in
the Lord and in the power of His might
is to put on the whole armor of God. which is Christ and His
righteousness. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers,
the darkness of this world, against spiritual weakness and high places. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having
your loin skirt about the truth and having on the breastplate
of righteousness the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our covering. He is our shield. He is our helmet. He is our shoes. We walk in Him. We walk in the Spirit that we
should not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And above all, taking
the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked. I will make mention of thy righteousness
and thy righteousness only. We are all as an unclean thing,
and our righteousness are as filthy rags. We all do fade as
a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Romans 3 says, It is written, There is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that understands
it. There is none that seeketh after God, for they are all gone
out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Even the righteousness of God
is by faith of Jesus Christ upon all and upon all them that believe
that there is no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And we are justified freely by
His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be propitiation through faith in His blood. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
atonement, the sin-atoning sacrifice for sinners. And I want to declare His righteousness,
the only righteousness that will save. At this time, His righteousness,
that He might be just and justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. As for me, I will behold thy
faith and righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. I long for the day that I can
be like Christ without sin. Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd
I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul in paths
of righteousness. Oh Lord, cause me to walk in
paths of righteousness for His namesake. Except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye
shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. The best man that ever lived,
his righteousness is no count, will not satisfy. because he
hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance
unto all men in that he raised them from the dead. He was delivered
for our offenses, but he is raised again for our justification.
He took our sins upon his own body in the tree, and died, and
put them away, And then he rose again, ever living, to make intercession. Brethren, my heart's desire and
pray to God for Israel is that they might be saved. I bear them
record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And I hope that's your hope too.