Well, I've said good morning
to many of you, but good morning to all of you. I've got all of
you now. And such a blessing to be in the
house of the Lord with God's people and greet one another
with a hug. A blessing. It's a blessing. Turn
in your Bible with me to Psalm 70. Psalm 70. This is a short psalm, but you
know there's a big message. Long message. And five verses. Psalm 70. It's called the Psalm
of David. To bring to remembrance. Let's
read these five verses. Make haste. Make haste. Oh God, this is our prayer, isn't
it? Make haste, oh God. We call upon
the name of the true and living God. Deliver me. Redeem me. Make haste right now. Please, as a mercy beggar, help
me. Oh Lord, Lord, God. Let them be ashamed. and confounded that seek after
my soul. David had many enemies. Let them
be turned backward and put to confusion that desire my hurt. Let them be turned back for a
reward of their shame that say, aha, David, yeah, We've
got you now. Aha. Verse 4. Let those, this is the opposite
of them, let them be ashamed, let them be turned back, let
them be put to confusion, let them be turned backward, but
let all those I want to be one of those, don't
you? Let all those that seek Thee
rejoice. Rejoice and be glad. Be glad
in Thee. And let such as love Thy salvation,
say continually, let God, let God be magnified. All honor and
glory unto the Lord. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive honor, glory, and blessing. Let God be magnified. Make haste, O God, to deliver
me. Make haste to deliver me, O help
me. Why? Verse 5, I'm poor. I'm bankrupt. I'm a sinner. I'm guilty. I'm poor and needy. You know,
David says that over and over in the Psalms. I think I counted
one time at least ten times. I'm poor. I'm needy. I'm the
bankrupt sinner on the dunghill. I am poor and needy. Make haste
unto me. Remember Psalm 40. It says, I
am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my
help. Thou art my deliverer. Oh Lord,
make no delay right now. Come right now. Today is the day of salvation. I am poor and needy. Now, what
I want to work on for just a few minutes is let such, verse 4,
let those that seek Thee rejoice. and be glad in thee. Let such
as love thy salvation." God's people, redeemed by His grace,
they love God's salvation. They love the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is God, our Savior. We love that salvation that's
of the Lord. Now here's our critical need,
our urgent plea and our prayer and cry unto God, have mercy
upon me. Oh God, make haste, hurry, deliver,
which means rescue, save me. Who else is able but our great
God? He's able to save to the uttermost.
Who else is willing? The Lord said, I came down from
heaven to redeem God's people. Who else is pleased to do so? It pleased the Lord to save His
people. None but our Kinsman Redeemer
who is near kin. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Who has the right to redeem. who is able and willing
to redeem His people. We see the reasons why we need
salvation. We are poor and needy, spiritually
bankrupt, guilty before God, none righteous, no not one. By nature we have nothing, know
nothing, and are nothing before God. Man at his best age is altogether
vanity. We are needy creatures, sinful
creatures. What do we need? Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
The Lord Jesus Christ is everything God has for the sinner. It's
Christ. He's my wisdom. He's my righteousness. He's my sanctification. And He
is my redemption. What has the Lord delivered us
from? Sin. He appeared once in the end of the age and put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself. From the penalty of sin, from
the guilt of sin, He redeemed us from the curse of law being
made a curse for us. From sin's power, for we read
in Romans, sin shall not have dominion over you. You're no
longer under the law, but under grace. And one day by God's grace,
from the very presence of sin. When the Lord will come and melt
this earth and make a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. I told the folks in Kingsport
a couple weeks ago about the environmental people that all
the time are complaining about global warming. Global warming. I don't believe in global warming.
But I do believe in global burning. It's going to burn it. It's going
to be dissolved, this earth, with an earthen heat. It's going
to make a new heaven and a new earth. We're in dwelleth righteousness. They aren't concerned about global
burning, are they? Just the environment. Let them,
let them, let them. Who are these people in verses
2 and 3? Enemies of the gospel. enemies
of the Lord Jesus Christ, it would say, away with them, we
have no king but Caesar. Notice these powerful and weighty
judgments against the enemies of Christ. He says, let them
be ashamed, let them be confounded, let them be confused, let them
be turned back. What an awful judgment. I don't
want to be found among them. I want to be among those found
in Christ. I don't want to be among those
that say, aha! I knew something was wrong with
you. Well, everything is wrong with
me. But everything is right with the Lord Jesus Christ. And He
is my righteousness. I don't want to be among them
that the Scripture said, the fool has said in his heart, there
is no God. I want to be among those, in
verse 4, let all those that seek Thee rejoice. Rejoice in Thee. Would you turn
to a few Scriptures here in the Psalms? Let's see if we can't
find some Psalms here to help us. Turn over here to Psalm,
I believe it is 33. Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice in
the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. Let
all those that seek Thee, seek Thee, the true and living God,
let us rejoice. Rejoice. Be glad in the Lord
and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy, all ye that are
upright in heart. That's Psalm 32, verse 11. Psalm 33, verse 1. Rejoice in
the Lord, O ye righteous, for praise is comely, is proper. Praise the Lord with a heart.
Sing unto Him with a psaltery. Next to Him with a ten-string.
Sing unto Him a new song." That's the song of redemption. We always
have plenty of reason to rejoice in our great God. Our great God. Rejoice in the Lord. Believers
are seekers. They seek to know the Lord Jesus
Christ more of His person, more of His glorious redeeming work.
As the heart, turn to Psalm 42, as the heart panteth after the
water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God, for that true
living water. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come? and appear
before my God. Believers are seekers of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Believers do rejoice in Him.
And believers do love God's salvation. Now, I've got about ten minutes
left. I'm going to give you five things
in ten minutes. Number 1, five reasons why believers
love. You see that in verse 4? Let
all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee. Let such
as love Thy salvation say continually, let God be magnified. Number 1, believers love God's
salvation because we've experienced it in our heart. For salvation
is a heart work. Now an experience, a religious
experience, is not salvation. Don't look to that. But salvation
by the grace of God that God works in you is certainly something
we do experience. And I was thinking of this verse
this morning. Turn over here to Psalm. I believe it's Psalm
34. Yes, it's Psalm 34. Turn right there. Salvation by the grace of God.
God who has begun a good work in you. He's done a work for
us. No doubt about that. He redeemed us with His own blood.
He's done that justifying work for us upon Calvary's tree. But
there is that work of salvation that He does within our heart.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that
trusteth in Him. Oh, fear the Lord, ye His saints,
for there is no want to them that fear Him." When you taste
something, I mean, you can look at it all day, when you look
at some food. You don't really experience it,
do you? Until you eat it. Until you taste it. We have tasted
of the Lord and we want more. He is gracious. He is gracious. So we believers love God's salvation
because we've experienced it in our heart. Salvation is a
revelation of the glory of God that shines in our heart. It's
Christ in you. That's the hope of glory. It's
a revelation of God, the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Secondly, Believers love God's salvation because of the design
of it, the method of it, the power of it, the glory of it. Talk about the power of it. You
remember what Paul said to Timothy? It's God who saved. Don't be
ashamed of that gospel. For it's God who saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose, His own purpose and grace, given
us in the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world,
according to His purpose, according to His power, according to His
grace. Believers love God's salvation
because of the grand design of it. The grand design of redemption
is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, because of the method
of it. It's not the work of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy. God saved us. Substitution. Satisfaction. Brother Henry used
to teach us, learn those two words. Christ our substitute. Satisfaction. God made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made to righteousness of God
in Him, substitution and satisfaction. Believers love God's salvation
because of the design of it, the power of it, the glory of
it. Thirdly, believers love God's salvation because of the certainty
of it. The certainty of it. The sureness
of it. We read in Romans 4, therefore
it is of faith that it might be by grace that the promise
might be sure to all that see. All the promises of God in the
Lord Jesus Christ are, well, yes, and in Him, amen, unto the
glory of God. I love the certainty of salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over here to Psalm, the
only Psalm. Turn to the only Psalm. You got it, haven't you? Psalm
62. The only psalm. I love the certainty
of the psalm. The certainty of this salvation
in Christ. We run no risk trusting the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself for all salvation. Psalm 62. You got
it there? The only psalm. It's known by
that title, the only psalm. Verse 6. He only is my rock and
my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved. You see, to move the believer,
you've got to move the rock. That rock ain't moving. That
foundation is not going to budge. God has laid that foundation.
It's Christ and we're fixed to it. by divine grace, by divine
power. In God is my salvation, my glory,
the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Now, trust
in Him at all times. You'll never go wrong trusting
Christ for everything in salvation. Ye people, pour out your heart
before Him. God is a refuge for us. We love God's salvation because
of the the certainty of it, the sureness of it. His covenant
is ordered in all things and is sure. His Word is sure. It is impossible for God to lie. You can trust His Word. You can
believe His Word. His covenant is sure, ordered
in all things and sure. His Word is sure. His work is
sure. Fourthly, believers love God's
salvation because of the completeness of it. I can show you that. Psalm 57. Turn over there. The
completeness of it. You see, He completed salvation
for us. Believers love God's salvation
because of the perfection of it, because of the fullness of
it. Of His fullness have we all received grace for grace. Grace
heaped upon grace. And there we see the reason for
grace is grace. But the point I'm making is the
Lord Jesus Christ accomplished all salvation for us. He performed
all things, all things for us. Psalm 57. Look right here. Verse
1, Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul
trusteth in thee, yea, in the shadow of thy wings. I take that
to mean the mercy seat. I'll make my refuge until these
calamities be overpassed. I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth all things for me. In Christ was all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and we're complete in Christ." Look at
verse 3, "...he shall sin from heaven." Well, he did, didn't
he? What was the result of that?
They saved me. Called His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sin. Number five, last of all, and
best of all, believers love God's salvation Because of the Redeemer Himself.
Because of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's God our Savior. We love
God's salvation best of all because of Christ Himself. He's altogether
lovely. I believe I said this last night,
but I'm going to repeat it again. Salvation not in a profession. Salvation not in a pool. Salvation
not in a persuasion. Salvation not in a position.
Salvation in Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ didn't
die to make salvation a possibility. If you meet certain conditions,
He justified us with His blood, redeemed us with His blood. We're
not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We love God's salvation because
of the person of it. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? Now, look at Psalm 70 verse 4. Let such as love thy salvation."
Now you're sitting here thinking maybe, well, do I love God's
salvation? Those who love God's salvation,
you know what they say? Look right there. Let God be
magnified. Now let me show you two places.
Psalm 34, turn there. You see, those who love God's
salvation desire that the Lord Jesus Christ get all the honor
and glory, both now and forever. Therefore, we say with David,
you got Psalm 34? Verse 1, I bless the Lord at
all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth, because it's in my heart. 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."
That's why we're here today. To exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. To lift Him up. Last place. Fine. Psalm 115. Psalm 115. Verse
1. God's people rejoice. They seek Him and they love God's
salvation. And they say, don't you say in
your heart right now, oh, let Him be magnified. Let Him be
magnified. Psalm 115. There it is, verse
1. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto Thy Name give glory for Thy mercies And that truth
say, wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God? All right. Our God is in the heavens. And
he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Oh, let God be magnified. Do you love God's salvation?
I pray you do. And if you don't, I pray God
would work that in your heart. and cause you to love Him by
His grace. We love Him because He first
loved us. Okay? Thank you. I appreciate
you. I appreciate your pastor.