I might want to adjust that. I'm a little shorter. Well, good evening. It's good
to be here, and I don't say that just as form, as you know. As Mike said, I'm a guest speaker,
but not in the typical sense. You know, we've known you folk
for a lot of years, and for Robin and I, it's been a blessed relationship,
blessed fellowship, it really has. And it's been... something that the Lord has used
to be a real encouragement to us, and particularly in the work
on the field. You know, you're probably thinking,
well, you know, what do we do? But that's always the response
of the Lord's people, isn't it? The Word tells us that, you know,
that when in the last day, the Lord will speak to them of the
things that his people have done and what What will their response
be? When have we done these things?
But it's true. I say that from my heart, that
you've made such a difference in a meaningful way to Robin
and I, in the ministry, on the field, and just by your fellowship,
by your encouragement, And it's just always been such a delight
for us to come and visit here. And I just wanted to express
those thoughts because, two, the world may look at the church
here and the Dalles with disdain and think, really, what is it? It doesn't amount to much of
anything. But that's not true at all. And you and I know that,
and I'm gonna touch upon some of those things tonight, I trust
by the Lord's grace, and in these next few days, that the Lord
has a very different estimation of what matters than we do. And that's been an encouragement
to me over the years, a tremendous encouragement, because it causes
me to reflect back on on what matters. The world is directing our thoughts
to everything that doesn't matter all the time, and it's a continual
battle. And the word of the Lord brings
us back to consider things with spiritual eyes in the light that
he's given to us by His grace. And so Norm was asking me on
the way up if I was going to do a series of messages. probably because last time I
did, is that right? And I said no, but Lord willing,
there'll be some common threads that you'll see. And I did also
mention that I had thought I would do a series on Christ as the
final temple. And as I began to prepare that,
I realized it was way too much for me. It's such a tremendous
truth that's encompassed in that statement,
Christ the temple. And I realized I could... I wasn't
prepared at this point in time to do that. But, Lord willing,
these messages are things that the Lord can teach us from His
Word. So, if you would turn with me to 2 Samuel, chapter 22. 2
Samuel, chapter 22. And just maybe to direct our
thoughts while you're doing that, I could say one of the common
threads I hope we'll see in these messages in the next couple of
days is a statement that's given, the Lord gives, in Zachariah
with regard to the rebuilding of the temple. And if you remember, those who
had seen the temple, the former temple in its glory, when they
saw this rebuilt temple, what did they do? They wept, didn't
they? Because of the former glory.
But here is what the Lord says in Zechariah. He says, not by
might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord, with respect
to the building of that temple. And then the capstone will be
placed upon it with shouts of grace, grace unto it. And this wasn't a small thing
to the Lord, the rebuilding of the temple. Why? Because it typified his son, who would build the
true temple. And so a little further down
he says, do you despise the day of small things? Yes, sometimes
we do. And so we need to have the eyes,
the mind of Christ, if I could say it that way. We need to have
the mind of Christ as we consider things. Are these small things? Or are they in fact small in
appearance only, but in fact great and glorious and wonderful
things of the grace of God? So just as I've got off track
a little, and I haven't even started, but just as some thoughts
to direct our minds as we look at some of these truths here.
So in In 2 Samuel, here in chapter 22, we have a song of David,
a song of David. And so let us consider, as we
look through this, consider some of the greatness of the grace
of God, a greatness which is revealed to us in this song in
an unexpected way. In this chapter, we have these
words of a song of David written in his old age, I think it's
fair to say, towards the end of his life, because the next
chapter begins, these are the last words of David, chapter
23. And so, this is, we could say,
David, he's towards the end of his life and he's looking back
on his life and he writes this song, inspired of course by the
Holy Spirit, so it's not his song. In fact, we know this song
is the words of Christ. There's two verses in the New
Testament which are quotations with reference to Christ from
this song of David. It's a song repeated in Psalm
18, word for word virtually. And so that too should tell us
something of the importance of this particular song of David.
It says, then David spoke, verse one there, then David spoke to
the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord had
delivered him from the hand of all his enemies. Now David was
a great king, a man of formidable courage, a military genius, and
a mighty man of war. Under his reign, the enemies
of Israel were utterly defeated. In the 43rd verse of this chapter,
David says, I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth. I trod
them like dirt in the streets. That's how triumphant he was
over the enemies of Israel. Now, King David was also a man
of great character, a man of real wisdom and strength, a leader
of men who was loved, honored, and respected. And this was especially so because
very early in the history of Israel, the Lord revealed that
David was to be a type of the Lord, the promised Savior. And so we know that this Song
of David has its preeminent message, the sufferings and the triumph
of the Savior and his substitutionary work of atonement. And so when
we read through it, we need to keep that thought in mind. Now
it has other things that were being taught as well, but that's
the primary one. We know that the deepest fulfillment
of this passage is found in Christ. But we also know that David is
representative of the believer also. is the believer saved by
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in that great work of redemption.
So let's consider then a little what the word of the Lord has
to say from this portion as it speaks with respect to Christ,
but also as respect to his people. David knew that his greatness
was entirely of God. and not of himself. All of his
abilities, all of his accomplishments, all of his wisdom and strength,
all of his great victories, all were of God. David never failed
to give honor and glory to God. He knew that. And this was his
desire above all else. And this is why the scriptures
speak of David as a man after God's own heart. And more than that, David knew
that the only greatness that matters is spiritual greatness. Just look over to verse 32 of
this chapter for a minute. He says, for who is God except
the Lord? And who is a rock except our
God? God is my strength and power.
He makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet
of deer, and he sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands
to make war so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have
also given me the shield of your salvation." And we would expect
the next phrase to say, your strength has made me great, or
your power has made me great. or even that your greatness has
made me great. But no, no, what do we read?
Your gentleness has made me great. Isn't that remarkable? Well,
I think the Lord wants to teach us something from that. That's
a great statement. Well, there's so much in this
song of David, but I'd like for us to consider something at least
of what the Spirit has to teach us when David says, your gentleness
has made me great. that David would make this statement,
especially following the early part of this song, is particularly
notable. But anyway, first let's go back
and look in the early part of this song. We won't be able to
look at all of it, but we find David in deep distress. That's
the first thing. We find him after the introduction.
We find him in deep distress, and he paints a stark and desperate
picture of the straits he's in, beginning in verse 5. We know
that the natural enemies that David faced in his life, particularly
as the king of Israel, were given to us as a picture of sin, of
sin as the enemy of God's people, the enemy of God's people. And
so here, keep that in mind as we read, beginning in verse 5.
when the waves of death surrounded me, the floods of ungodliness
made me afraid, the sorrows of Sheol surrounded me, the snares
of death confronted me." Here is David, and we could say that
he's in the waters of the deep, shipwrecked. This is the picture
that he's painting. The waves of death surrounding
him, crashing in upon him, unmerciful and implacable, washing over
his head, as the Word of God so often pictures. He's perishing. That's the picture
we're given. He's perishing. The floods of
ungodliness made him afraid. Not a mist of ungodliness, not
a shower of ungodliness, no, floods of ungodliness. Black
floods of his own iniquity and transgression and sins. When his eyes are opened to see
his sin, to see who he is, he's afraid. He's afraid. The sorrows of hell surrounded
him. The sorrows of every wicked thing
hemmed him in on every side, dragging him down into the blackness
of darkness. The sorrows. the wailing and the gnashing
of teeth, sorrows forever. He says, the snares of death
confronted me. The snares, who sets those snares?
The devil. Satan and his minions. The snares of death confronted
me. Satan and his hosts of evil ones do all they can to ensnare him
and imprison him in the darkness of death. These principalities
and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age, isn't that
what we're seeing everywhere today? Manifesting themselves,
the spiritual wickedness in high places, stand against him to
entrap him in eternal death. What a horrifying picture. Think
of that. What a horrifying picture we
see this state of man is, faced with all these enemies. A state of hopelessness and helplessness. Think of that. Think of these
cries of David. Sin, death, Satan, hell, all
arrayed against man. What hope do we have? What can
we do? Cry out, cry out, cry out to
the Lord. Verse seven, in my distress,
I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God and he heard my
voice from his temple and my cry entered his ears. You know, there's none. Not one who's cried out to God
and has not been heard. Not one. Not one. Think of that. And there never will be. I cried
out to my God and he heard my voice. What a wonder of mercy
and grace. And then we're given this terrifying
glimpse of the power and might of the glorious majesty of the
Lord, coming in the greatness of His strength to save His servant
David, and two, typically to save His Christ in His substitutionary
work of His atonement, to save His people. This was all here. This was all here. And in prophetic portions of
Scripture like this, where the words being spoken are the words
of Christ as well as the words of the writer, there's something
that's essential that we keep in mind, that we understand.
With respect to Christ and his work of redemption, so close
is the spiritual union So close is the spiritual union
between Christ and His people, it's like they're one and the
same. And at times, the words of Christ
speaking is the Redeemer. And at times, He speaks as our
substitute. And unless we understand these
things, particularly in terms of these prophetic Psalms, we'll
be hopelessly lost as to what is being said. And so let's keep
these things in mind. At times we can say that Christ
speaks for us as our Redeemer, and at other times he speaks
with us as our substitute. Do you follow? When He speaks,
it's like you and I speak. Why is that? Because we're in
Him. And He's our substitute. In the
verses we've just been considering, Christ speaks with us. How could
that be? How could He be in this state
where the waves of death are surrounding Him, all of these
enemies arrayed against Him, the floods overflowing Him? Where
else do we hear language like that? When it's speaking of Christ
in His work of atonement. That's why, isn't it? Because
He stood there as our substitute, and everything that we were deserving
of came upon Him. And so that's why we hear, in
those first few verses, He's speaking with us. Well now, in
these following verses, He speaks to us as our triumphant Redeemer
and Savior, riding forth upon the wings of the wind in the
greatness of His strength, conquering the enemies of His elect. And
notice we read the language of judgment and destruction. We
read of trembling earth, quaking heaven, smoke, devouring fire,
coals, darkness, thick clouds, thunder, lightning bolts, the
blast of the breath of the Almighty. Look there in verse 8. Then the
earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the heaven
quaked and were shaken. because he was angry. Smoke went
up from his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth. Coals were
kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and
came down with darkness under his feet.
He rode upon a cherub and flew, and he was seen upon the wings
of the wind. He made darkness canopies around
him. Dark waters and thick floods
of the skies, from the brightness before him coals of fire were
kindled. The Lord thundered from heaven,
and the Most High uttered His voice. He sent out arrows and
scattered them, lightning bolts and He vanquished them. Then
the channels of the sea were seen, the foundations of the
world were uncovered at the rebuke of the Lord. at the blast of
the breath of his nostrils." You see, surely after this, David
would say, your omnipotence has made me great, or your majesty
has made me great. But no, we saw, what does David
say? Your gentleness has made me great. Isn't that amazing? Why? Why would David say that? Because the greatness of the
grace of God to David is demonstrated most of all in the gentleness
of grace. Think of that. Not in that might
and power. No, no. Not in the might and
power, but in the gentleness of grace. That's what matters
to David. That's what has the true power. Look at verse 17. What does David
continue? He sent from above. He took me. He drew me out of many waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me,
for they were too strong for me. Who is this strong enemy? This
enemy too strong for us. It's our own sin, isn't it? It's
our own sin. All these other enemies, think
of this. All these other enemies hold
power over us only because of our sin. Satan, death, hell,
only because of our sin. That's our strong enemy, isn't
it? It's too strong for us. That's why Christ makes that
important statement when he's about to go up to Jerusalem to
the disciples. You remember that? And he says,
Satan has nothing in me. Satan has something in you and
I, doesn't he? He has something in all of us. But he didn't have anything in
Christ. Nothing. Nothing. He has nothing in me. That's what Christ said. What
a statement that is. And this is what David, no doubt,
had especially in mind. His sin. His sin. This was the
enemy too strong. We're in the deep waters of sin,
the many waters of sin, with the waves of death surrounding
us. and it's an enemy that's just
too strong. You know, when we read passages
like this, how could we read? It's inconceivable that we could
read passages like this and think that there's anything that man
could do to save himself. Is that the picture the Word
of God is giving us? That we're in a place where salvation
is possible through doing something? I don't need to go into any details.
What's the picture that David is presenting? It's a picture
of overwhelming hopelessness. A man who can do nothing. The enemy is too strong. He's
sinking down into the pit. He needs a savior. That's the
picture that David is presenting. because our sin is an enemy that's
too strong. It's just too strong. You know,
I think I've maybe mentioned this, but it's such a blessing
to me as I remember it. You know, in New Guinea, we live
in this river valley. It's high in the mountains and
at times during the rainy season, the river that's more like a
creek in that valley becomes just this raging torrent of water,
of many waters, lifting boulders the size of cars and carrying
trees along as if they're matchsticks. It's a frightening sight. The
sound of it is just like, it's many locomotives. And I'll forever
cherish the testimony of a young woman, Weeapoo, speaking of God's
saving grace to her, and she had tears of joy running down
her face. And this is what she said. She
said, I was like a day-old chick in the midst of that mighty torrent
of waters, the river of my own sin, and the Lord reached down
and plucked me out. And isn't that what David is
speaking of? Isn't that the experience of
every one of the Lord's people? David says, he sent from above. He took me. He drew me out of
many waters. He delivered me from my strong
enemy. Surely, these are the words of
every sinner saved by grace. Your gentleness has made me great. Look at verse 21. Now again, keep in mind, who
is speaking? 21, the Lord rewarded me according
to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of
my hands, he has recompensed me. Now who is speaking? Is that me? Is that you? The Lord has rewarded you according
to your righteousness? According to the cleanness of
your hands? Who can this refer to? Only Christ. Only Christ. Do you see what
I'm saying? We need to understand what the Word is saying to us
in Psalms like this. Who is speaking? And what's the
meaning of it? This can only be the Christ,
the Holy One of God. Only the God-Man. Perfect divinity
and perfect humanity. Here He is speaking about the
perfect righteousness He and He alone has wrought for His
people. every portion of his life on
this earth, perfect, perfect, pure, holy, just, every, what
could we say, every intent and thought of his heart, only righteous
continually. Here Christ speaks, too, with
His people, because we're in Him. We're in Him by covenant,
and we're in Him by faith. These are His words, and they're
our words too. Isn't that amazing? Think of
that. And why is that? Because we're
found in Him, not having our own righteousness, but His righteousness,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. What a wonder. Consider, consider now as we
read these words, that these are the words of Christ, but
by God's grace, there are words too. Because we're in him. Verse 21, the Lord rewarded me
according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of
my hands, he has recompensed me. For I have kept the ways
of the Lord and I have not wickedly departed from my God. For all
his judgments were before me, and as for his statutes, I did
not depart from them. I was also blameless before him,
and I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore the Lord has recompensed
me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in
his eyes." Isn't that a wonder? His righteousness, but our righteousness
too. And this is how God looks upon
his people, because of Christ. And you and I, what do we see? None of this is true of us, is
it? None of it! But in Christ it
is. It is. What wonder! What grace! What can we do? Just cry like
David in verse 32 where he says, who is God except the Lord? And
who is a rock except our God? God is my strength and power
and he makes my way perfect. And then in verse 36, you have
also given me the shield of your salvation. Your gentleness has
made me great. Well, turn over and we'll finish
up in Matthew 11. I have to finish there. Matthew
11. Turn over there. Matthew 11 and
I'm sure you all know the passage I'm turning to. Well, where is
salvation to be found? Where is the gentleness of grace
revealed in its brightest glory? Well, it's revealed in His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 27 of Matthew chapter
11, we read, here is Christ speaking. He says, all things have been
delivered to me by my Father. And what is He speaking about
in particular? We know that all things are His, but He's speaking
about particularly redemption, isn't He? All things have been
put into His hand by His Father and no one knows the son except
the father, nor does anyone know the father except the son and
the one to whom the son wills to reveal him. Are you burdened
by this great enemy that's too strong for you? Are you laboring
in many waters? Well, what does he say? What
does the one say into whose hand all things have been given, particularly
the things with regard to the redemption of the sinner? Listen.
Come unto me. Come unto me, all you who labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." What a promise. Can there be any words more full
of grace and mercy and kindness and love and compassion and tenderness? Can there be any greater promise
for a perishing sinner? Come unto me. all you who are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come to Him, come to
Him, and what will you find? What have you found? What's He
like? What will He be to you? Well,
29, He tells us, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for
I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. the grace and the power and the
glory in that statement. Here's the one we read of in
that song, coming in His greatness and His glory, riding upon the
winds, His enemies dissolving at the breath of His
nostrils. And how do we find Him? gentle
and lowly in heart. He's gracious. He's long-suffering. He's abundant in goodness and
mercy and truth. Isn't this what every perishing
soul needs? Isn't this what every penitent
sinner has found coming to him? I know I have. I know you have. Well, let me tell you a parable
of repentance. You all know it. Jesus spoke
this parable of a man having a hundred sheep. If he loses
one of them, what does he do? He leaves the ninety and nine,
and goes after the one which was lost, until he finds it. Until he finds it. It makes no
matter how long it takes, or where that sheep may be, in the
treacherous mountains or in the darkness of the depths. He'll go after the sheep until
he finds it. He'll go into the waves of death
for his sheep, where the sorrows of Sheol surrounded him, and
the snares of death confronted him. And he'll draw that sheep
out of many waters. and he'll deliver him from his
strong enemy. And when Jesus has found it,
he lays it upon his shoulders, rejoicing, and takes it home. And when he comes home, he calls
together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice
with me, for I have found my sheep, which was lost. And this
is what Jesus said, Likewise, I say to you, there is more joy
in heaven over one sinner who repents. Come unto Jesus, and coming unto
him you will find that the shepherd of the sheep has found you. Isn't that what that's teaching? That's a parable of repentance.
Well, what's it a parable about? It's a parable of that Savior
going out to find that lost sheep, putting it on his shoulders,
doing everything necessary to bring that sheep home. This is
a parable of repentance. Coming unto Him in repentance,
we find that the shepherd of the sheep He's found us, He's
taken us, He's drawn us out of many waters, tenderly bound us
up and laid us upon His shoulders, and has gently carried us home
rejoicing. And that's why you come to Jesus. That's why any man comes to Jesus.
That's why you come in repentance. because he's found you a lost
sinner and brought you home rejoicing. And we praise him and we adore
him. That's all we can do. And we'll sing this song in eternity. Your gentleness has made me great. Amen. Buh-bye!