This psalm has special meaning
to us tonight for three reasons. First, it's a psalm of David
that's written in your Bible. Psalm 40, the chief musician
of Psalm of David. And that ought to attract our attention
because of who David is. He's called in the Scripture
the man whom God raised on high. Also in the Scripture it is said
David is the sweet psalmist of Israel. And again David, is the
anointing of the God of Israel. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
called the Son of David, according to the flesh. And then twice
in the scriptures, this is stated, Of whom God said, I have found
David, a man after mine own heart. who shall fulfill all my will."
I'll draw a characteristic from him, wouldn't you? I found they,
a man after my own father, who
will fulfill all my will. And then, more importantly, This
psalm is the psalm of our Lord Jesus Christ. I told you one
time the scripture is not open. You look at the scriptures of
the immediate application at the time it's written. Now if
you look down here, it's not open. But then you look up, and
the scripture all the way through the Old Testament has a reference
to Christ. I thought I'd show you that here,
particularly in this psalm. Many of the psalms are messianic
psalms that just refer to Christ, His person, His work. So we see
Christ here. Let me show you that in Luke
24. Luke chapter 24. There's too many for this, but
let's refresh our memory a little bit. Luke 24. So the Savior would speak to
his disciples after his resurrection, when he appeared to the barons
of Jerusalem, in Luke 24, verse 44. 3, verse 39, let's start back. Verse 38, Christ
said to his disciples, Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts
arise in your hearts? They hold my hands and my feet.
He showed them the wounds in his hands and said, I myself,
die myself. Handle it and see. The spirit
has my flesh and bones. Did you see me after? Which risen
in his glory by the body. When he had thus spoken, he showed
them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not,
but jawed in wonder, he said, Have you any? If you hear any
meat, do you think meat? They gave him a piece of raw
fish and a honeycomb, and he took it, and then he ate it before
them. And he said unto them, Now listen to this. These are
the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you.
that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law
of Moses, that's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
in the prophets, Isaiah, Malachi, Hosea, Jeremiah, in the Psalms. That's what a lot of people miss.
The Psalms are the spirit of God. I know it's the hymn book
of the church. The early church sang the Psalms.
Israel sang the Psalms. But the psalms of Isaiah, they
tell that Christ is first and foremost. And all things must
be fulfilled, and the law holds it in the prophets, in the psalms
concerning thee, and then open thee their understanding, that
they might understand the Scriptures. Now, Scriptures, when you say
the word Scriptures in the New Testament, it's not like the
Old Testament, Scriptures, Scriptures. Genesis is another one, Scriptures. See, the New Testament wasn't
written until Christ was talking to his disciples after his resurrection. And he opened the Scriptures,
from Genesis to Malachi, and showed them his person, his work,
his redemption, his work is all that he, wonderful works he did
was, it's all prophesied. The Old Testament is Christ in
promise, Christ in prophecy, Christ in picture, Christ in
fabric. Luke's answering Christ's question.
Okay. And so we can look here at 1
Peter to Psalm of David. Applicable, applicable to himself,
to his situation, to Psalm of Christ. Now turn back to Psalm
40. And look down at verse 6. Tell
you what they're doing. Take Psalm 40 there, and then
turn with your other hand over to Hebrews, chapter 15. Hebrews
chapter 15. I'll show you. Book of Hebrews
is a revelation of the Old Testament. The priest doesn't sacrifice
everything. All right, we got Psalm 40 in
Hebrews 15. All right, let's read Psalm 40,
verse 6. Sacrifice and offering thou dost
not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened, mine
ears hast thou digged, upon this way. A willing, loving bond-slave,
had his ear pierced. And that was designated to him
not as a slave, an unwilling slave, but a willing slave. Christ
is God's slave, God's servant. He called him, my servant, a
willing bond-slave. Weren't offerings and sin offering
hath thou not required? This that I know, I come, and
the body of the book is written with me. I'm delighted to do
thy will, O my God. I lost it in my heart. Now turn
to Hebrews 10. Apostle Paul talking about Christ's
redemption. Hebrews 10, verse 6. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin I've had no pleasure. This
I know, I come in the volume of the book that is written of
me to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
an offering and burn offerings, an offering foreseen, thou wiltest
not, neither have the equationary which are open to the law. Him
said he, Christ, though I come to do thy will not, takes away
the first, and makes that which is second." You see, David is
writing about the son of David, that Christ alone. Paul goes
back here, goes back and quotes that scripture. saying that the
Lord God, all the time that history was offering those sacrifices,
God never had any delight or pleasure in those sacrifices.
Those sacrifices never satisfied God's justice, or His holiness,
or His love, or satisfied Him on behalf of the people for whom
He offered them. They were pictures. I sacrificed. The lamb that Abel slew and sacrificed
in blood didn't go to what Abel said, Christ did. But Abel showed
his faith in Christ by sacrificing the lamb. The lamb that got him
was full of fear. That's the reason Christ said,
Lord, I come. In the Bible, the book is written
for thee to do thy will. He takes away the first. First
priesthood, He's our first. First sacrifice, He's our sacrifice. First atonement, He's our atonement.
First tabernacle, He's our tabernacle at the moment. Our first nation,
new nation. First heaven and earth, new heaven
and earth. I make all things new. The old is done away. There
are other forms of Moses who live to the last day. Oh, I think this church is trackable.
If I hear you have to try to vocalize, I don't want to defend
anybody from that. You know, you can tell me here, David writing,
of his own experience, and also prophesying for Christ, it's
my song, too. It speaks to me. It speaks out
to me. It comforts me. It strengthens
me. It helps me. I need this song.
So you watch those three things as you go along. David often
does About Christ and about others. I waited patiently. I waited
patiently for the Lord. He inclined unto me and heard
my cry. This is an area, this is Christ
our Messiah speaking, but this is an area which presents problems
for all of us. I waited patiently for the Lord. We can wait. We know the way,
don't we? But wait patiently. That's, that's,
that's the key, to wait so that this can take place. Patience,
that's what it's all about. Not to murmur, or to complain. And this is why we have trials
and afflictions. In order that we may learn patience. And there's no shortcuts. so that we will have a real awakening
to the submission of God. Let me show you that in Psalm
119. David says this about himself
in Psalm 119. This is why we have trials and
afflictions. One of the reasons that we might
learn to patiently, submissively cling on our God, In Psalm 119,
verse 71, Psalm 119, 71, David said, It's good for me, it's
good for me that I live with you, that I might learn thy statutes. That's the way it goes. It's
good for me that I live with you, that I might learn thy statutes.
Then turn to Romans, chapter 5. Romans, chapter 5. You know, while you're climbing,
that David said this in Psalm 27, wait on the Lord. You're
a good person. You're strengthening my heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord. He said, I will attain it, as
now I believe, to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living. So, again, I said, waiting, I wait. Waiting, I wait. I'm going to tell you a story,
hold me. Last night, we came in, and Hannah
had sent her, well, before we left, Hannah had sent her a card,
and got Jim to look at his computer, and all was written on the card
was things are not the same. We got up and tried it. I didn't. She did. Alright, what's
wrong? Things are not the same. And
she called that computer. He called, you said we're going
to be late. Tried to call everybody that
was home. We got home at 9 o'clock in the afternoon. And the car
came up on the computer. Things aren't the same. without
you here." Oh boy. They're wonderful. Indeed. They were the ones who
spent all that time to concern a worry. It would have saved
the college. No, it didn't save the college. But it teaches us something.
This is a little simple, little simple lesson. But it's going
to be alright. Now let's try it. And that's
why God sends these things. To teach us to wait on Him. Not to jump to conclusions. Not
to cross bridges where there's no trees. That's what we do. We don't build bridges. We build
bridges right on rivers. Instead of waiting on Him. Look at me going on five years.
from the side of sin in verse three. And not only so, but we
glory in tribulation. Tribulation also, knowing that
tribulation works in patience. And patience, maturity. That's
what that word, spirit, says. You just write that in the margin
of your mind and say, that's going to do it. That's spiritual
growth. That's growing up. Tribulation,
troubles produce patience, and patience produces maturity, and
maturity strengthens hope. That's right. Typical. The more mature we are
in Christ, the more certainly we grow in Christ, the better,
stronger, and hope may come out of shame. All right, now here's
three good reasons to wait on the Lord. Number one, he is the Lord. He is the Lord. Daniel said this,
it's written in Daniel 4, King Nebuchadnezzar says, he says
in Daniel chapter 4, let me turn to it, you don't need to turn
to it, I'll turn to it and read it. In Daniel chapter 4 he says,
At the end of the day, I have prepared the midst of my house
for heaven, My understanding returned to me, and I have blessed
the Most High, and I have praised and honored Him and forgiven
Him forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion. His
kingdom is from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are refuted as nothing. and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can say his hand, nor say unto him what he does."
God knows. God rules over us. God controls
all of that. He works out all the things that
have to be counseled in His own will. That's the first reason
we wait on Him, because He is God. Second of it, Everything
He does is for our good. Everything God does is for our
eternal good. Now, maybe not our present good,
because there's nothing good about sorrow, nothing good about
irony, there's nothing good about some of the losses we suffer
in the present time. But eternally good. That's what
we're talking about. Everything's lies, eternally
good. And the good of those whose lives it touches. Try it. And we know that all things,
heaven or earth, all things, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, all
things, past, present, future, all things, day of your living,
all things, happy or sad, All things, health or sickness, work
together for good to them who love God, to them who call on
His presence. I love Him. That's the second reason we don't
die. He's God. He's gonna work everything out
for us, His will. Second, it'll be for my good,
my eternal good, and the good of everyone involved. And thirdly,
He'll reveal it, He'll reveal His will to us in due time. What
did the Messiah say? I waited patiently on the Lord,
and He inclined to me and encouraged me to cry. He leaned over and
encouraged me. David's thought was about to
hit him with a rag. You remember he said, if you
clean gold, He can do that, but who can do that outside? Are
you clean gone? They can do that. Are you clean
gone? The heavens are glazed, and you're
not going to hear me anymore? Not right now. I'll hear you
in due time. I'll hear you when the purpose
has been accomplished. When the trial has served its
purpose. I'll hear you. I'll be over it again. That's
what he said. He inclined something. Now, this is our Lord speaking. This is the Messiah. Our Lord
endured. Now you think about this. Our
Lord endured from the cradle to the cross. Years and years
and years of sorrow and suffering. He was called a man of solace.
That's what he was to me. To begin with, where I face it
from here, he was despised and rejected of men. No commonness
about him, we should decide. Everybody that was anybody turned
thumbs down on Elijah. He was in the world more than
anybody. He came to his own, his own deceit and denial. Had
he become impatient, and I'm going to tell you something, he hadn't been out preaching
very long. Our Lord began his preaching,
public preaching, about thirty years of age. He hadn't been
preaching long before he went up on that mountain and saved
people. And saved people. Why don't you,
if you're hungry for 40 days, you try this, why don't you make
a piece of stone and there's a grave. And he said, Christ
said, See, he's standing as our representative. Christ was standing
as our representative. Christ, from the time he was
born in this world, came as a second act. The first act Met Satan
and failed. Second half. There's got to be
a male and a woman, made under the law, tipped, tested, tried
in every corner of the woodyard, yet without sin. Perfect. He's
got to resist Satan. Satan has come and found nothing
in me, he said one time. He came to Adam and found plenty.
He came to Job. Old Job, Milton. He came to Peter. Peter came to them. I always
stood with men, but not with Christ. So Satan said, well,
he said, a man has come to be made bread, and then he said,
uh, cast yourself off of this pinnacle. And everybody was waiting
on him, just take a swan dive down here, because he said he'd
give you an angel child over here. Well, Satan doesn't hear
him. I said, well, let's do it. Do
anything but don't go to that cross. Do anything. Show yourself any
way, any way. If you want men to follow you,
then dive off this temple, this pedestal. You'll get an angel's
charge over you. Do anything, but don't keep the
law. Don't obey God's precepts. Don't
fulfill our righteousness. Don't go to that cross and suffer
and bleed to die. That's where he bruised the serpent's
head. The serpent bruised his head. I said, you should not tempt
the Lord like that. Try something else. He said,
well, you want the kingdom of the world. Satan's calling the
prince of the power of the airs, the god of this world. That's
what he's calling him. He rules by permission. He rules
by permission. He rules. He rules by permission.
God rules, but he's the God of this world, and he said, worship
me. Follow that, and I'll give you
the kingdom of this world. You want people out of every
tribe, country, nation, somebody there? I'll deliver them to you. This will all have broken hearts,
it won't be redeemed, it won't be washed, there won't be anything
to save, but I'll give it to you. Something demands Christ.
And Christ said, Doctor, worship the Lord like mine. He walked
with the shepherds and the children and saved them. The victory was
won. He shed blood. Now, suppose he'd
been impatient. Take charity. Weep over your
life. We wait on the Lord. We wait
on the Lord. Submissively, patiently. Our
Lord, all of what He endures, what He endures, what He endures,
but without the total prediction of failure. We wait on Him. And
then He said, He enthroned the Savior. Now, we can learn from that,
or I can say what I said. And where? Wyoming. Then the second first Christ,
this is our Lord speaking, the Messiah. He said, He brought
me up also out of a horrible pit, a pit, a pit, out of the mire of clay. These
old, these old prisons, These people were nomads. These people
most of them were traveling people. These people were shepherds. These people lived in tents and
all over the fields and everywhere. They didn't have jails and prisons
for folks to go and watch TV and live like kings in prison
like we do. They're convicts and murderers.
They didn't have anybody to guard them. You wonder when the children
of this were crossing the desert for 40 years, and somebody stole
or killed somebody, they killed them, they stoned them. What
are they going to do with them? They got no prisoners for them
yet. They got no one to guard them. You can't take a prisoner
for 40 years across the desert, probably abandon him. So therefore,
they stoned him. And then over here, these days,
they make pits. They dug a hole like a deep well. Like folks used to dig wells.
They drilled wells. That's how they used to dig wells.
And this is, Jeremiah was down in one of these pits. A prison,
a dungeon. And it's just a hole in the ground
with the top. That's the only hole at the top.
The pit was deep. The bottom was iron and mud and
corruption. Way down there, 25 or 30 feet,
and no way out. Absolutely no way out. Our Lord came to this people. You know, He's God, crowned with
glory and honor and majesty. And he was made flesh, came to
this earth. Paul wrote about it in Philippians,
2. Paul wrote about our Lord coming
into this world. He said in Philippians 2, verse
6, who being in the form of God, Through being in the form of
God, Isaiah said, I saw him high and lifted up his train, built
a temple, and the seraphim was crying, holy, holy, holy. They
were both in worshiping. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but listen, made himself of no reputation,
took on himself the form of a servant, purveying the likeness of me. And being found impassioned as
a man, he humbly said, and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross, the ignominious, hateful, wretched death of the
cross. That's faith. He brought me up. I waited patiently
for my brother. I walk the path in your name
for me. I accomplish the work you gave
for me to do. I hold dear righteousness. I
hold dear Israel. I thank the lowest depths, my
God, my God, why I must not be the same. You talk about it again. Talk about it again. In the garden I cried, my soul
exceeding sorrow of the death. Let this cup pass from me, never
let it. It's not my will, but Thine will
be done, no answer. I come upon You for sentiment,
no answer. But then the Father reached down on me and lifted me out
of my head, lifted me out of that pit of ambition, and set
my feet on the rock. What'd he do? He sat him at the
right end. That's what he said. He established my goings, my
purposes. He established my goings, that's
my steps, that's my doings. It's the Lord's, it's the Lord's
doings. He established them. He didn't
get to change them. All of whom he died, he received. All of whom he died. established
my goal. And then, verse three, he put
a new solid in the map, the brain's diagram. Here's the solid point
of view of all this. This is the psalm of the cross.
I know what it's called, what true psalm is. You're all familiar
with these things. I'm just giving you a prayer
course tonight. I know I'm looking at your faces
when I'm saying these things. I've seen people, and I know
that. I know that. It don't work through repeated
stuff. I know that. But psalm 22 is
the psalm of the cross. It starts out with the words
of Christ on the cross. My God, Christ, I'm sick of you. Why art thou so far from helping
me on the words of my Lord? I cry unto thee time, and I hear
not, and I receive not, and I am not silent. The Lord, O Lord,
thou art holy." That's why God turned his back. You see him
separating you and your God. You've seen it. I've seen it,
but they don't see it. God turned his back. He went
through this awful agony, poured out like water. Look what he
first said to me. I'm going to tell all my bones,
they look and they stare at me. Walking down that cross path,
really cute. They parked my garments among
them, upon my vesture they did cast lots. You remember all that? Soldiers. Yes, it must. So be, but be not thou far from
me, O Lord, O my strength, my patience, and help me to that
pit. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the power
of the dog, my only one from the power of the hand of the
dog. Save me from the lion's prow,
for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn. Now listen,
there is the heart. Now listen to the new song. I
will declare my name among my brethren. It just changes here. In the midst of the congregation
will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise
Him. Call me to see of Jacob, glorify him, carry him, worship
him. Call me to see of Israel, for
he hath not despised nor bore the afflictions of the afflicted,
nor hath he hid his face from him. But when he cried unto him,
he heard it." Now that's the moral, that's
the disciples. If you don't drop a footstall
in my mouth, And then this is the verse three. And many shall
see. Many shall see what Satan's blessing
is, what God's doing. Many shall see. For seeing eyes
of the Lord, and hearing ears of the Lord. Many, a multitude,
out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue. A multitude,
no matter your number. They will see. God's going to
give them an eye that's good. See the sun, he that seeth the
sun and the moon. But that's the sight God has
to give you. You see the sun. He sees him
as eternity. He sees him in the promises of
Scripture. He sees him in Bethlehem in nature,
not man. He sees him walking the Judean
hillside. He sees him hanging on that cross. It's our substitute, sacrifice.
Seize Him laying in the tomb. Seize Him risen from the dead,
descending from glory. Seize Him at the right hand of
the Father as our intercessor, our one Creator. Seize Him! Remember this, proud people,
I'm British. God gave us the liberty to preach
the gospel in Greece. And after the service, I saw
a nice-looking Mexican talking to Brother Milton in Spanish.
Milton translated for the first time. And when they talked for
a long time, then Milton came over to me, and I said, what
did he say? He told me, he said, I've heard
you first. A lot of times. Tonight, I heard
Jesus. You know what I'm talking about. And what He was saying is He
heard us a lot of times. Tonight, He heard from God. He
heard the voice that speaks through the Word of God. The voice that
everybody's got to hear. I don't talk about hearing voices
now. I'm talking about hearing Him who speaks through His Word.
Hear him who speaks from heaven. Hear him who speaks not from
these ears. I see it. I see it. I see it. I hear it. I hear it. Many of you are going to hear
it. I'm going to read you the Bible
in the Word of Revelation. John saw a host of Jewish romanticist
hunters. And the elders said, well, who are these? These are
they that watch for those who may just walk in the presence
of the Lord." And every tribe, community, nation, tongue, and
individual see and fear Him. That word is hope and trust. That's what that word means,
fear the Lord. See, that's the essence of worship. And back in the Old Testament,
the word fear was substituted for worship. Jacob feared the
Lord. Abraham feared the Lord. David
feared the Lord. What does that mean? Run out
of spirit? Run out of, like Abaddon, run from the Lord? No. They respected
the Lord. They worshipped the Lord. They
reverenced the Lord. They believed the Lord. They
waited upon the Lord. They contended upon the Lord.
They feared the Lord. That's right. Feared the Lord. That's what it is. They're gonna,
they're gonna fear and trust. They're gonna fear and they're
gonna trust. But you know, this is, this is,
I could have been, he brought me up out of a horrible pit.
A horrible pit. I was in a helpless,
hopeless, ruined condition. A horrible, a three-fold pit. I think most of you here have
been in a pile of this stuff. Number one, I was in an inescapable,
helpless, hopeless pit of depravity. No matter how tired you are. You and I were cast into the
pit of happiness. A pit no way out with being impossible. That's right. Not always possible. We were in a pit of sadness.
Secondly, I was an appeal of self-righteousness. I was religious. I didn't know
that I was an appeal of self-righteousness. I thought I was walking around
in clean air, didn't you? I thought I was good. I thought I knew God. While I've
been down in the church, I'll do it three times. I've done
it for fashion, and I've done it in rededication, and I've
come down to the Bible reading, and put it out in front of all
the rest of the people, you know, and rededicate it. You know,
you don't have to rededicate what's been dedicated. If a heart's been broken, it
can't be broken again, and it's broken for good. Don't keep breaking
it. But I was in that same righteous,
just getting fixed up, fixing myself up, you know. promising
not to go here, do that, and drink this, or eat that, or smoke
that, all these different things. I promised to do self-righteousness.
He brought me out of that pit and gave me out of his righteousness.
And the third pit was this, of false religion. I was in a pit
of depravity. I was in a two-fold pit of self-righteousness,
and a three-fold pit, I had a profession. If you ask me if I say it, I
say yes. When I was nine years old, in
Wilton, Alabama, Brother Burns gave me that meeting, and I walked
down the aisle, crying. And I stood there, and I sure
can't remember it like yesterday. That false profession. And I
hung on to that for about 24 years. My false profession. You know, you can dress like
a teen, He walked like a king and talked like a king. And I
talked like a king and claimed to be a king. But you ain't no
king. Kings are born. That's right. Kings are born in a ritual manner. That identity didn't come from
another king. And they're born. Well, I've been born a king. Born again. Born from above. Born a son of the king. That
makes me a prince. That's what he said to Jacob.
He said, what was your name? He said, Jacob, third planner,
chief. He said, Jacob ain't no one but
a prince. Israel, a prince of God. Okay, so there's a difference.
There's a difference. He brought me out of a hard pit,
an inescapable pit, a pit in which me and Satan could be friends
somehow. He had a right to it. He had
a right to it. He did a study of that. And now
you know that there's nobody as fine as one who's well on
sick. He said, if the only light you need is darkness, how great
is the darkness. The only light I had during those
years was darkness. The darkness of self-righteousness,
the darkness of self-compassion, the darkness of false religion.
He has to tell us that. That's right. That's the truth
for all of us. That's the truth for all of us. He brought that.
He brought it. It takes the same power to make
the Son of God a Son of Man as it takes to make the Son of Man
a Son of Man. Can you write that down? The same
power that made Jesus Christ a Son of Man is the power that
takes this old flesh, this old Son of Man, by birth, by a miracle
called love, by regeneration, by a new life that makes you
a son of God. And nobody ever changed that
once it was done. That killed half the denominations
of those places that destroyed them, completely destroyed them.
Everything they preached, everything they sang, everything they wrote.
It's God that saved them. It's God who gives them life.
God depicts a man from the grave of sin, washes him, redeems him,
makes him righteous, speaks to him with Christ in the head,
makes him a witness. He brought me up out of the hierarchy,
out of my clay, just so. I fall down in that clay, walking
and going nowhere. He said to my people, Barack,
I shall not be moved. I was in the Navy over the Pacific
in World War II. I was on a LST landing craft. At the craft bottom, It drew
6 feet of water in the front and 12 feet of water in the back.
We didn't stop. We just drove all the way. It
didn't draw much water. It was not like those battleships
that go down that far. You can imagine. 100 feet down
or so. 50 feet. But we used to hang
him in that ship. We'd pull him near an island
over in the Philippines or somewhere. He had that big hanger. He'd
figure that, get out of there. Cast iron. And they'd let that
thing down. You'd shake the ship with it
right there and you'd reach down and hit that bottle and get a
hold. And that ship's not going to move. Ain't going nowhere.
It's not going anywhere. It's anchored. It's anchored. The wind would blow it around.
You'd be facing this way some time next morning, get up, you're
facing that way. But it's on a rock. It's anchored. And then the wind blew, and it
would disturb the ship. It would move the ship around
the rim, but it's not off that rock. It's not off that anchor.
Now, turn your head and sit. Let me show you something here.
We're anchored. We're anchored. God's children
are anchored. And the wind blows us, our knees
tremble and shake, and if a lion stood up to help, the horse would
have cast down but not destroyed. I'm perplexed but not defeated."
This is Hebrews 6, verse 18. That by two immutable things,
in which the impossible is above the light, we might have a strong
consolation. We look back at the threat and
the refuse to lay hold of one of the cults at the door. It's
one of those truly beautiful things. God's word, God's oath. God's word is what I'm saying.
All right, here we are. We hope we have the anchor of
our souls. Most pure and steadfast. With
inner, inner attention, that's when we're in the Bible. But
the forerunner is for us inner, even Jesus. I mean, the high
priest forever, at that time we're in the Bible. Where did
this old ship anchor? In the Bible. In Christ's Bible,
within the Bible. And the wind troubles me, John.
I get upset. It shakes me, blows me around,
but it don't move me. It won't move her. I'm set on
the rock. Anchored on the rock. In Christ. In food. I am not made. Anchored. So verse four
says, and blessed is that man, Well, let me go back just a moment. Verse 2, He brought me up out
of the garden and the pit, set my feet on the rock, established
my goals, my order and my steps, and put a new song in my heart.
I've got a new song. I've got a new song. I'll give
it to you just briefly. You know, a song has words. You
see all this religion on television, And you can't understand a thing
they're saying. But man, it's like if you just carried on with
screaming and yelling and waving your head and running all around
the church, you know, and throwing songbooks and doing all that
stuff, you know. Praise to the Lord. A song has words. To praise the Lord, you've got
to have words. What is this song? Well, number
one, it's the song of the new covenant. David, when he was
dying, he signed that song. He said, O Lord, be not so with
my house. God has made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure, and this is my salvation,
all of my salvation, and all my desire, O Lord, make it not
so. That's the new song. That's the
new song. That's the new covenant of Christ.
And it's a song of a new way. Hebrews 10 said, He's opened
for us a new and different way within the veil, that is to say,
His flesh, whereby we become holy before the throne of God.
That's that new way. And then it's a song of redemption. They sang a new song of glory
unto Him who loved us, and washed us from our sin, and gave His
own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God. Unto Him
be all the glory, both now and forever. Amen." That's a song
of the words. Do you know what it means? It's also a song of a new hope. Unto Him they will keep you.
It was Him, Jesus Christ, who was always present when He seen
me, O Lord, that Him be the glory for all time and forever. Amen. Now listen, if you've ever met
anybody on the way who worships God, and is cherished it, believing
it, not out of character, I know some of you are a long time,
but if one of you would have given my man this deal back to
the fool, I'd say, you'd better help me. He's not a captain, and I'm not
his captain. I'm not his captain. And so this
is the Psalm 22. My Lord, the Psalm 22 has words
of praise for the Father. We have words of praise. And
I'll tell you, we worship today just like they did in the New
Testament. You've got a song in your book that's written in
the 3rd century, 250 years after Christ died on the cross. You've
got a song in that book written in the 11th century. They've
been told. Believers have been sending these
songs like you sang tonight for years, and years, and years,
and years, and years, and years, and years. Don't change it. We've
got to adopt the music of this world. We better not. Sing these
grand old hymns of glory by God. We don't need to talk like the
world, act like the world, or sing like the world. We're going
to put our song in words. A new song. You want a song new? It never
gets old. You know, the songs of men rise
and they get old after a while, but the songs that are written
about Christ, they never get old. You've been singing these
songs all your lives, and you're just planning to do it, aren't
you? Because the gospel's always there. Don't need to change it.
So we have to do something. All right, verse four, it's not
quick. Blessed is the man that maketh
the law in his trust. Blessed is the man that maketh
the law in his trust. and respect, and not pride that
serves as a turnstile to divinacy. What is this, thanks to the Lord
Almighty, purpose? Well, it's to have complete confidence
in Him. I know whom I have to believe,
and I'm persuaded that He's able to keep that which I've committed
to Him. Secondly, to trust Him, is to
be assured of His love and care. It's like a child to trust a
father, a daughter of a mother, to trust him. She wouldn't really
hurt him. Cast all your care on him. He
cares for you. That's to trust him. It's to rest in him, on refuge,
in peace. Rest. I will keep him in perfect
peace with my understanding of him. Blessing is the man that puts
his trust in the Lord, makes the Lord his trust and respect,
and not the pride. Our Lord is our example here.
One of the writers said, he had no flattery. He had no flattery,
words, or looks of approval for great ones, proud people, religious
leaders. Our Lord gave no honor to dishonorable
men. Our Lord never tended to or cringed
before them. or was afraid of it prior to
the intellectual and the powerful. We don't respect the man. Arrogant. Blessed is the man who does not
respect those who turn aside the lies. I look at that. Blessed is the
man who makes the Lord his trust. Confidence. He doesn't respect
or cater to a cringe before the proud and the arrogant and the
intellectual and the rich of this world. But neither does
he cater to those who turn aside for lies. Now, all men are liars. So Scripture says that God be
true to every man of God. But what is he talking about
here? Those who turn aside. What Christ is, the truth. And
everything about Him is the truth. He said, I am the truth. You
should know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So those
who turn aside to lies turn away from truth. So here this man
does not, he trusts the Lord. He doesn't cater to a priest
or a warrior about what others think is the prime of this world. Nor does he cater to the religious
of this world who met Christ in the current of life. That's
what that's saying. They met the truth in the current
of time. They met the truth of thoughts.
I told you about this time. They met the truth of thoughts.
the person of the work of Christ, His perfect obedience, His pure
righteousness, His blood, His redemption, His righteousness.
If that's the truth, they are inside of us, and they're not
going to influence us, because they will deceive, elect, and
get rid of us. But we trust Him. He's our trust. He's our trust.
We don't cringe before, or cater to, or acclaim as powerful, and
as proud, and as rich, and as arrogant to the people of this
world. We work for them. That's business. That's all right
with us. We don't admire them. And we need to do, we respect
those that have met the gospel and turned their lives around. That's right. I want to read
you one thing before I close. I'm not tired of it. But here,
our Redeemer said this, and I want you to look at this. I'll read
it to you, and then let's make one comment. Verse five. Men, O Lord, my God, my wonderful
works, which I have spelled. This is the Redeemer talking
about the redemption. And your thoughts which are thus
written, how long have thoughts been thus? Eternally. That was
the foundation of the Word. They cannot be reckoned of at
all until I will declare and speak of them that more than
can be numbered. He has mighty works of prediction
and he soughts for us. God has long suffered thus with
Peter said, not willing to give his prayers. This is the believer
talking. He said, thy works are so manifold
and many God talks to us with so many, so great, if I were
to speak of it, I can't even keep up. The Redeemer says it. Let me read you a verse. Listen
to this. It says, These things are written Jesus said unto him, Promise
you've seen me, and you have believed. Blessed are they who
have not seen me, and yet have believed. And many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book. And the scripture said, if they
had been written, the world couldn't have been made visible. If he could speak of the manifold
works of God, then he's talking of the world being made visible. Then he said this, down in verse
9, I want to give you this, this is so good, I'm taking two bottles. Verse 9, the Redeemer said, I
have preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo, I
have not reprained my lips, O Lord, but I have listened. I have not
hid thy righteousness within my heart, I have declared thy
faithfulness. Martin Luther gave this testimony. 550 years ago, when he read this
scripture, I had preached the righteousness of God. He said,
I longed to understand the scriptures, especially Paul's letters to
the Romans. But one expression stood in my
way, the righteousness of God. It stood in my way because I
took it to mean That essential righteousness of God whereby
He is righteous and deals righteously in punishing the unrighteous.
So neither they are conquered until I finally grasp the truth,
our God's grace. That the righteousness of God,
of which Paul is speaking, is that righteousness whereby in
Christ and by Christ, And through the sheer mercy of God, He justifies
us in confession. And thereupon I felt myself to
be reborn, and had gone through the door of paradise, and the
fold of scriptures took on new meaning, whereas the righteousness
of God had filled me with fear. And now, When I read of the righteousness
of God, it was inexpressible. Isn't that beautiful? It just has to be revealed to
them. When did he use it? Oh, that's kind of right. Father, I thank you for your
word. for the rest of your time on
the weekend, because our people, who love your Word, who love
Jesus, who have seen our hope in the face of Christ, who've
heard you speak through the Word, through the preaching of the
Gospel, who have received Christ, embraced the Lord Jesus, what it's like when we can weave
together your presence and yours in your consciousness, precious
consciousness. We thank you for this time we
have this evening. We pray you to make the Word
the affection of our hearts. Give us will and will to perform
faith. Help us learn not to doubt. Increase
our faith. That was to rest, trust, hold,
and patiently, submissively, wait upon revelation of your
will, which will come in the years of time. Pray for our pastors
and our elders. The body of Christ is this week,
and it is imagined in your covenant. and in the power of your spirit,
get the people to set the course of the message. Bring about the
work of grace in that place. Establish a testimony to the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to God's will. We thank
you. We pray for our families and our loved ones, our children
and their families. Give them love in Christ. I pray
for every home representative here tonight. Lord, without you,
that's as far as I'll go. I pray in Christ's name for all you servants. Thank you, and you are dismissed.