Well, good morning to everyone.
Good to be back with you. I'm reminded oftentimes of what
David said. He said, I was glad when they
said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. Isn't it a great
comfort when you come to this house, which is set aside and
designated for preaching and worship, that when you come here,
one, you're going to hear a message from this book. David said in
another place, I believe it is that Psalm, another portion of
Psalm 119, through thy precepts I get understanding. And then
he says further, through thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore I hate, I hate every false way. So it's a good thing
to come together in the name of the Lord and to take his book,
his word, which is the infallible, inspired, inerrant word of God,
and teach precept upon precept, line upon line. Never get weary of hearing about
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you do, take alarm. Take alarm. Now, I have another
psalm. I love the book of Psalms. If
you will find Psalm 70. Psalm 70. Your morning worship starts at
1015, is that right? So I need to be through a little
bit after 10 o'clock, is that right? I've been coming here for a long
time. I think the first time I came
here was about 35 years ago. I was just a young man. I'm not
so young anymore. But one thing about it, I have
changed in many ways, but the Lord, he said, I am the Lord,
I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob,
you are not consumed. Now, Psalm 70. Psalm 70. This is a rather short psalm,
but it has a big message. Make haste, verse 1. O God, to
deliver me, make haste to help me. That is our plea unto the Lord.
He is able to help. Who is able to help? God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. Make haste, O God, to deliver
me. And then he repeats it. Make
haste. Right now. I need deliverance
and help right now. He said, come boldly unto the
throne of grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace to
help. You remember? In time of need. We're always in need of help
because we are poor and needy sinners, as it says in verse
5. Let's read down through this and I'll come back to verse 1
and make a few comments. Notice it says it's a psalm of
David to bring to remembrance. What a privilege to have the
mind that God has given us to remember him. Let them be ashamed
and confounded that seek after my soul. David had some real
enemies, even of his own household. But let them be confounded and
turn back. Let them be turned backward and
put to confusion that desire my hurt. Let them be turned back
for reward of their shame that say, ah, God must not be with
him now. Ah, he must not be the man after
God's own heart, those who would mock and ridicule the servants
of God We know David was a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
4, and this is mainly what I want to talk about this morning. Let
all those that seek Thee rejoice. Rejoice and be glad. Seeking the Lord. No man will
ever seek the Lord left to himself. God must do something in us and
cause us to seek him, to seek ye first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad in thee. In thee is, in the Lord is all
spiritual blessings found. In the Lord, in thee. Let such
as love thy salvation. Say often. Very often, let us
say this continually, those who love thy salvation, we know this,
salvation is of the Lord. It's all of God. It's all of
grace. And those who seek him and those
who rejoice in him and those who are glad in the Lord Jesus
Christ, they do love God's salvation. And they say continually, often,
they say, let God be glorified. It's all of him. Let God be magnified. Let God be glorified. Now, David goes back to his state,
and it's our state by nature and condition, by birth. I'm
poor and I'm needy. David often says that. I remember
my dear pastor saying years ago, never, never graduate above being
a sinner saved by the grace of God. I'm still poor and needy.
I'm still poor and needy. But, you know, David often uses
this phrase. Turn over here to Psalm 40. Psalm
40. And here's our Here's our comfort when we know
something of our impoverished, wicked nature, poor and needy. Yet, you see verse 17, Psalm
40? Yet the Lord thinks upon me. Can you get a hold of that? I
am so sinful, rotten, bankrupt to the core. spiritually, have
nothing, know nothing, have nothing, and yet the Lord thinketh upon
me. Thou art my help. Thou art my
deliverer. Make no tearing, O my God. And notice in the introduction
of Psalm 70, it has a little title, a title given,
A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. Now, oftentimes, we remember things that we should
forget, don't we? We remember things that we should
forget. But sadly, we forget things we
should remember, don't we? I'm so frail, so sinful. All the Scriptures were given
to remind us of all that God has promised us and all that
God has performed for us. Remember these things. Hold your
place there in Psalm 17. Turn back to another psalm, Psalm 57. Look at verse 1. Be merciful
unto me, O God, be merciful unto me. For my soul trusteth in thee,
and the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until all these
calamities be overpassed. He is my refuge, the shadow of
thy wings. I can't help but think of the
mercy seat, those winged creatures over the mercy seat. I will cry,
but look at verse 2. Now, get a hold of this, and
if you haven't got this underlined or however you mark, in your
word, in your Bible, I will cry unto God most high, unto God
that performeth all things for me. He sent from heaven and saved
me. Who did he send from heaven?
In the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son. God sent
from the highest resources possible. the very throne of God, to come
down here to save poor and needy sinners. If we weren't poor and
needy, no need for him to come. But since we are poor and needy,
this is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that the
Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. And I've got a confession. I'm the worst one. I'm the worst
one. Now, so remember, remember our
infirmities, remember our sin. God has given us his word to
remind us what we are by nature, sinners through and through.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth's
not in us. We can certainly identify with
the Apostle Paul when he says, O wretched man that I am. He's
given us his word. of truth to remind us of the
truth that we are sinners, sinners before God. He's given us also
his word to remind us of who he is. This word of God declares
how sinful we are, but this word of God also declares how holy
God is, how just and righteous God is. You remember Isaiah 6,
holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. When Isaiah got a glimpse of
the holiness of God, he said, woe is me, I'm undone, I'm a
man of unclean lips. And certainly we need a constant
reminder of our Lord Jesus Christ. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. I love the way the apostle calls
The Lord Jesus Christ, God, our Savior. God, our Savior. Now, verse 1 and verse 5 in Psalm
70 seem to be an urgent plea and a cry unto our God. Make
haste, O God, to deliver me. Make haste to help me, O Lord. Why? I'm poor and needy. O God,
Thou art my help. My deliverer, make no delay. I deliverance right now. Now, who else is able to deliver
us from the deadness of our sin, the guilt of our sin before God? Who else is able to deliver us
from our guilt before God? By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Who is able to deliver us? Remember
Hebrews 7. He's able to save them to the
uttermost. He is able to save them to the
uttermost. All that come to God by him saying
he's ever lived to intercede for us. Who else is willing?
Who else is willing? You know, He came as a willing
substitute. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I lay it down. I lay it down on myself. I take
it up again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. He's a willing Savior, is He
not? All that the Father giveth to
me, the Lord said, they shall come to me, and I will in no
wise cast them out. The Lord Jesus Christ, you remember
the story Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer. You remember Boaz had to be near
kin to have the right to redeem. He had to be able to redeem. He had to be willing. Well, who
is Boaz a picture of? Christ is our kinsman-redeemer
who affectionately redeems us from all our sin. We see the reason we need salvation,
don't we? Verse 5 says we're poor and needy,
spiritually bankrupt, have nothing, know nothing before God. Man
at his best state is altogether vanity, and we certainly are
needy and sinful creatures. What do we need? Christ. Aren't you glad he's
able to supply all our need? singular need according to His
riches in glory through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is able to meet
all my need. I have a lot of them. But the
Lord Jesus Christ is all I need. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete. Nothing need to be added. Complete. Finished. Now what has the Lord delivered
us from? From our sin. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sin. He is the effectual Savior. I
love to talk about the atonement of Christ. I love to talk about
God our Savior who cannot fail. Who cannot fail. He cannot fail. The Lord appeared once in the
end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,
not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with His own blood. He obtained for us eternal redemption
with His own blood. He delivered us from the penalty
of sin. He took our sin to Himself. God
made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. And one day, by His grace,
we'll be delivered not only from the guilt of sin and the power
of sin to condemn, but we'll be delivered from the presence
of sin. From the presence of sin. I just can't even imagine what
that would be like, can you? But mainly when we say being
delivered from the presence of sin, get right personal with
yourself. Thank God He's going to deliver
us from our wicked self and make us a new body like unto His glorious
body. He's going to make a new heaven
and a new earth. We're in dwelleth righteousness. He's going to
burn this old place up. The environmental people are
always concerned about global warming, aren't they? Nobody
seems to be concerned about global burning. I don't believe in global
warming. I believe in global burning.
Are you going to burn this up? It's going to melt with a great
heat. Are you going to dissolve this
thing? Are you going to make a new heaven?
Are you going to make a new earth? Wherein dwells righteousness?" The enemies of God, he said,
let them, let them, let them. Let them be ashamed. Let them
be confounded. Let them be put to confusion.
God's people aren't confused. about how God saves sinners.
They know exactly who saved them. All of grace. All of grace. All of God. All of God. Let's look at verse 4 for a few
minutes. Let all those that seek Thee, let us do what? Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord. You read through the Psalms,
and how many times does David say, Bless the Lord? I think
of that Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless His holy name. And how
many times do we read through the Psalms, Praise ye the Lord? As a matter of fact, this book
ends, doesn't it? Psalm 150? Praise the Lord, let
everything that hath breath praise ye the Lord. He's worthy of it. So believers, you know, the scripture does
not say that sinners can't seek the Lord. He tells us often,
seek the Lord, seek the Lord. By nature, we will not seek the
Lord. He said, you will not come to
me that you might have life. But he tells us to seek the Lord,
seek the Lord. Seek Him. I want to seek salvation
and mercy where it's found, don't you? We only seek Him because
He first sought us. We only love Him because He first
loved us. We only believe the gospel according
to the working of His mighty power. That's the only reason
we believe the gospel. You're not so smart to figure
this thing out. You're dumb as a As they say
up in the coal fields of East Kentucky and West Virginia, use
coal, use gum as a bucket of coal. God taught us the gospel. All those who have learned, heard
of him, come to Christ. All those who were taught of
God, they come to Christ. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice. We are the true Israel of God,
which worship God in the spirit. Remember Psalm, that's Philippians
3, is it not? We worship God in the spirit,
we rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence in the
flesh. No confidence in the flesh. Believers are seekers of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He says, seek ye first the kingdom
of God. and His righteousness, and all
these things be added unto you. I'm thinking over here of another
psalm, if you want to turn and read it with me. Psalm 42. Remember,
as the heart panteth, verse 1, after the water broke, so panteth
my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, the
living God. When shall I come before? When
shall I appear before God? Believers are seekers of the
Lord. They do rejoice in Him. And they
do love. Let such as love thy salvation. Let us say, let God be magnified. Let God be magnified. Turn over
to Psalm 115. That's the bottom line. In the
whole grand scheme, whole grand scheme of redemption, the bottom
line is what? The glory and honor of Thee,
Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Psalm 115, verse 1,
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory
for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where now is their God? David said, Our God is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Believers are
seekers of the Lord. They do rejoice in Him. And they
do love God's salvation. They do love God's salvation. Now, I've got a few minutes left. I've got five reasons why we
love God's salvation. I'm going to have to give them
to you very quickly. Number one, believers love God's salvation
because it is the experience of our heart. We know that salvation
is of the Lord. Now, an old religious experience
is not salvation. That's just what it is, a religious
experience. But salvation by the grace of
God that's wrought in our heart is certainly something we have
experienced. Remember over here in Psalm 34
where he says, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. You can look at a Big Mac hamburger
all day long and others can tell you how good it may taste. But
until you bite into it and taste and see and experience that yourself,
you'll never know. And that's the way it is with
the gospel. We have tasted, we feed upon the bread of life,
and he is our hope. You see, salvation is a revelation
of the glory of God's grace in our heart. It's God who commands
the light to shine out of darkness, to shine in our heart, to give
us a life of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. And it's sovereign mercy, it's
sovereign salvation. He said, these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. We love God's
salvation because of the experience of it in our hearts. Secondly,
we love, us believers love God's salvation because of the method
of it, because of the power of it. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed in that gospel. We love God's salvation because
of the method of it, the power of it, and the means of it. God has granted us faith. Peter
calls it white, precious faith. How is this salvation received?
Well, not by doing, by believing. Where does faith come from? Who
is the author and finisher of faith? We look. Saving faith. If you have saving faith, you
never look here. You never look inwardly. If you
have saving faith, where does it come from? From God. It's the gift of God. Not of
work let any man should. Though saving faith always looks
to the author of faith, the giver of faith. Faith comes by hearing
and hearing by God, the Word of God. Who gives the Word? who
gives faith. So we love God's salvation because
of the method of it, the means of it. Mercy. Not by works of
righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy,
He saved us. Thirdly, we love God's salvation
because of the sureness of it. The sureness of it. You'll never
go wrong trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. Every promise of God
is certain and sure. Joshua, his dying words, when
they crossed over and his ministry was through, you remember the
last dying words of Joshua? He said, everything God had promised,
it is true. Not one word God had promised
had failed. You can trust him. with all of
your salvation. All the promises of God in Christ
are yes, and in Him, amen, and to the glory of God. David said
that covenant's ordered in all things, and he's sure. We love
God's salvation because of the sureness of it. He's able to
keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the predator
of His glory with exceeding joy. That's sure, is it not? We run
no risk in trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. His covenant is
sure, His word is sure, His work is sure. He said He's finished. Trust Him. Now, be careful here. We do not trust the finished
work of Christ. We hear a lot of people saying
that. I'm just trusting the finished work of Christ. We're trusting
Christ to finish the work. There's a difference. There's
a difference. You see what I'm saying? We're
trusting Him. Saving faith looks to Him, the
Lord Jesus Christ. We only see the completeness
and the power of His effectual atonement by looking to Him,
by looking to Christ. We love God's salvation because
of the completeness of it, because of the perfection of it. It's
finished. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
die to make salvation a possibility. He died for his covenant people
and he said he accomplished their salvation. Redemption is accomplished
with his own blood. Righteousness established by
his obedience unto death. Reconciliation is perfected in
Christ. God reconciled us to himself
and regeneration Those whom God saves, I believe
it says that in Isaiah 45, 17. God saves His people with an
everlasting salvation. John chapter 10, you know this
one, if I can remember it. He said, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them. What does eternal life mean?
It means just what it is. He gives them an everlasting
salvation. He's obtained for us eternal
redemption with His own blood. He gives us everlasting salvation. Here's the last one. You didn't
think I'd get through them, did you? I remember going to the
TV studio back when Brother Henry would do his TV broadcast and
he'd say, I've got five points. I'm thinking to myself, there's
no way he's going to get through this. He always did. He always
did. I saved the best one for last.
We love God's salvation because of the Redeemer Himself. He is
altogether lovely. To you who believe, He is precious. Salvation is not in a profession. It's certainly not in a pool. Salvation is not in a place.
Salvation done in a position. Salvation done in a person. He
that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son does
not have life. Whatever else you have, you may
have a lot. God gave it to you. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son, whatever
else you may have, you may have popularity and everything else.
But if you don't have Christ, you don't have life. He is salvation. I'm reminded of Simeon in the
temple waiting for the consolation of the Lord, waiting for the
salvation for the Messiah to be revealed. And when they brought
the babe to be circumcised into the temple, Simeon said, I have seen thy salvation. Mine eyes have seen thy Savior,
thy salvation." Now, all those who have seen and loved God's
salvation, they say continually, let God be magnified. Turn over a few pages. Look at
Psalm 34. Psalm 34, I will bless the Lord, verse
1, at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me
and let us exalt His name together. God's given him a name which
is above every name. At that name, every knee is going
to bow, every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. No other name. No other
name under heaven. Given among men, whereby we must. We must be saved only in Christ. He said, I'm the way, I'm the
truth, I'm the life. No man comes to the Father but
by and through me. No man, no one. But through Christ,
His name. Let Him be magnified in all things. That's why the song of the redeemed... Don't turn to this, I think I
can read it to you. The song of the redeemed is unto
Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.
And it made us kings and priests unto God and His Father. Oh, He's done it all, has He
not? He loved us. He washed us from our sin in
His own blood. Now, did you have anything to
do with that? Not in the accomplishment of
it. Not in the eternal purpose of it. He loved us. He loved
His people with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness will He draw us to Himself. He's washed us from our sins. How does He wash us from our
sins? The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all
our sins. He washed us from our sins in
His own blood. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
fulfillment of that Old Testament priest, that office of priesthood. Those Old Testament priests brought
the animal sacrifice, blood of bull and goat, which never put
away one sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, it says
in Hebrews 9, 11, and 12, He did not bring that sacrifice
of an animal, but He obtained for us eternal redemption with
His own blood. God had purchased the church
with His own blood. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him who loved us and washed
us from our sin in His own blood. This is Revelation 1.5 if you
want to reference it back. And made us kings and priests under our God
and His Father. Now, it says this in the last
part of that verse, be glory and dominion forever
and ever. They sung a new song saying thou
art worthy to take the book to open the seals thereof for thou
was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every
kindred, tongue, people and nation and has made us kings and priests
And we shall reign on the earth." That new heaven and the new earth. And all those many thousands
and thousands, ten thousand times, ten thousands and thousands saying,
worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, riches, wisdom,
strength, honor, glory. and blessing, and every creature
which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, such
as are in the sea, and all that are in them. For I sing blessing,
and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon
the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever." Let me give you a
homework assignment. What is the revelation all about?
That last book in the Bible? It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Now here's your assignment. You
go through that book of the revelation and see how many times the word
lamb is given. All through that revelation,
the Lord Jesus Christ is pictured in his sacrificial character. But worthy is the Lamb. The dear
saints of God are singing that song today. And we sing it here
too. We've learned it here. But we'll
know it better then. We'll see Him face to face. And
sing. Worthy. He's worthy. Alright. Believers do love God's salvation.
They do. Okay. Lord bless you.