Alright, 2 Samuel 22, and as
I said, this is the third message entitled, The Glory of God in
Christ. For that is what this psalm is
about. Let me just go back over the
outline for you, just to bring you up to speed if you haven't
heard the other messages. The first four verses of this
psalm, David's psalm at the closing years, closing days of his life,
the first four verses laid the foundation of the assurance and
the security that every sinner who comes to God through Christ,
who comes to God begging for mercy at the mercy seat, who
comes to God seeking His grace in Christ, this is the assurance
and security that all who are in Christ have, having been washed
in his blood and clothed in his righteousness. And so that lays
the foundation of everything that is said. And then in verses
5-7 we see David as the believing sinner crying out to the Lord. Things got so bad in his life. And not only is it just things
that are bad, but here it's almost like he says, when he said, I'll
call on the Lord, or when he says in verse 7, in my distress
I called out, it's like he shrieked. So it's a distress call. But it's not only in this psalm
talking about how he called on the Lord out of distress, but
also thanking God for the times of joy and peace, the times of
abundance. So it's a full psalm. It's not
just a one-sided psalm. It's thanking God for everything
that comes our way in this life. Not because we enjoy the sorrows
and the pains. We're not sadists. We're not
going around looking for pain and sorrow. It comes with the
territory. You know that. Just physical life will teach
you that. But especially when you stand against the world for
the truth of God's Christ, for the truth of the gospel. You
even have that added opposition. The offense of the cross brings
it on. That's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ be
not risen, we're of all men most miserable. You know, all men
and women by nature ultimately are miserable. That's what Solomon
meant in the book of Ecclesiastes when he says, vanity of vanities,
always vanity. I mean, there are moments, pockets
of time where you have some peace and happiness, but it doesn't
last. And ultimately, what is the way of all flesh, as Job
described it, is death. And so if Christ be not risen,
we're of all men most miserable, because we've got a message that
the world by nature hates, and a message that the world by nature
and by opposition persecutes. So think about that. So David
is thanking God here for the whole of an experience of grace
and mercy. And so in verses 5 through 7,
he cries out unto the Lord. He cries out in his sorrow. Well,
in verse 8 through 16, we have the beginning of God's answer,
and then beginning in verse 17, another part of his answer. Verses
8 through 16 is God's answer in dealing with the wicked. God's
answer in dealing with the opposition. Here's how God deals with the
opposition, in strict justice. Now, that's how God deals with
any sinner without Christ. Any person who stands before
God at judgment, who stands before God at judgment without Christ,
will receive nothing but strict, pure, unmixed justice. And that means damnation. The
soul, that sinner, it shall surely die. The wages of sin is death.
And everything that David mentions here from verses 8 to verse 16
is just a foretaste of that justice, the calamities and the manifestations
of God's justice here on this earth that we see. And we see
them knowing that if it weren't for God's grace and mercy in
Christ, we deserve the same or worse. And therefore, that's
why he calls us to repentance, that they're just a foretaste
of that eternal justice that a sinner without Christ will
experience. And so what's the lesson there?
Run to Christ. Get to Him. I'm telling you,
don't let anything or anyone or don't even yourself stop you.
Run to Him. But then in verse 17 and on through
down through probably around verse 30, we have God's answer
to His dear children, His elect children, His justified children,
His redeemed children. He is regenerated, born again,
called out children. And it starts out with the very
foundation of where all of salvation comes from. This is the beginning
of it. Verse 17, God sent from above. And I love that language. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
right. Every bit of it. From our election,
we can certainly see how God's electing grace is totally of
Him. We weren't even around then. It was a salvation that God chose
us to and gave it to us in Christ before the world began. We can
certainly see in our justification how that has nothing to do with
anything of the works of the sinner, for we're justified in
the purpose and mind of God through the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We can certainly see that in
our redemption we had nothing to do with that because that
was accomplished at Calvary 2,000 years ago when Christ, by himself,
as the substitute and representative of his sheep, died under the
justice of God's law, drank damnation dry, paid our sin debt in full.
But then when it comes to the new birth, people have a little
problem there. They want to say that's a cooperative
effort. They want to say, well, the sinner
does something first, and then as a result, God responds with
spiritual life. But that's not so. The Scripture
does not teach that. John chapter 1 and verse 12 through
13 tells us plainly, it's that the new birth, being born again,
is not of blood, it's not of physical transition, It's not a physical handing down,
a pedigree. It's not of the will of the flesh.
It's not of the will of man, but it's of God that show mercy.
It's of God. Salvation is of the Lord. And
then our preservation is totally of the Lord. And ultimately,
our final glory, glorification, is of the Lord. So it's all the
product of this one line here, verse 17, God sent from above. Think about it. We see this first
in the deliverance of Christ himself from death and the grave,
for he was raised again. He was raised again in that he
accomplished the work. We see it in our deliverance
by Christ, God in human flesh, sent down from above. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. In the fullness of the time,
God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law. We see this in God's
preservation of us on earth for his purpose. We know that every
time we escape ultimate tragedy in this life, it's an act of
God. It's an act of God. And when
we're taken from this world, that's an act of God. The Bible
says that the Lord giveth, the Lord what? He takes away. There's
a time appointed unto men to die, and it's appointed by God.
The Bible teaches that God will move the world and kingdoms for
the preservation and the ultimate salvation of His people. That's
why He works all things after the counsel of His own will,
and that's why He allows the tragedies and the troubles that
come into our life, which test our faith, to come in, knowing
that it's He who works all things for our good and His glory, for
His purpose, and knowing that none of those things can separate
us from the love of God in Christ. The reason this world exists
is for the glory of God in the salvation of his people in and
by Christ. Let me read you this passage
out of Colossians chapter 1. This is how it is stated. It
says, For by him, that is Christ, were all things created that
are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or power.
It doesn't matter what it is. For by Him, they were all created.
All things were created by Him. But not only it says here that
all things were created by Him, it also says all things were
created for Him. For His glory. And therefore,
He is before all things. Now, He certainly is before all
things in time and eternity. We know that. But what that means
is that he has the preeminence in all things, because it says
here, by him all things consist. That means he holds it all together.
And he's the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have
the preeminence. In all things, Colossians 1,
16 through 18. It says in verse 17, he drew
me out of many waters. He took me, he drew me out. And
then he talks about God preserving him. But look at verse 21. Now
from here down to about verse 25, there seems some strange
language. People have a lot of problems
with this. Listen to what it says, David speaking. And of
course, remember I told you, you have to see this in really
two ways now. You have to see it, first of
all, in David as a type of Christ. Looking at David as a type of
Christ, we don't have any problems with these verses at all. Look
at what it says, the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness.
Well, certainly we could say that about our Savior. He obeyed
the law perfectly. He never had a sinful thought.
He never had a disobedient moment. He always did the will of his
father. He knew no sin. He came to this earth and he
suffered and bled and died, and he received the reward of his
work. Our Savior did. And so when it
applies to Christ, As David typifies Christ, we don't have any problem
with that. I hope you don't. Because our Savior earned everything
that he got as our mediator. He already possessed everything
as God. He's already Lord of heaven and
earth as God. But as God-man, he came to earth
and he received the reward of the work that he accomplished
and finished on Calvary's cross. That's why he was raised again
the third day. That's why he was seated at the
right hand of the Father on high. So when Christ could certainly
say this with no problem, we wouldn't even be confused by
that. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according
to the cleanness of my hands. If anyone had clean hands, it
is our Savior. That's right, he knew no sin.
Sin was charged to him, but he himself was clean. Clean hands,
he said, hath he recompensed me. Christ got everything he
deserved. Did you know that? When it comes
to our salvation, we can't say we've got anything we deserve,
because our salvation is by grace. God giving us something we haven't
earned and don't deserve. But Christ got everything he
deserved. This preeminence that we read
about. He got it as God-man. Now he had it as God, but now
he received it from the Father as God-man because he earned
it. Every bit of it. He had clean hands. He could
certainly say in verse 22, I kept the ways of the Lord. He did.
He kept the law. And have not wickedly departed
from my God. Not one time. You think about
it, not one time in his earthly walk, as he walked this dark
world, consorted with publicans and sinners, not one time did
he depart from the ways of the Lord. He says, not wickedly departed
from my God. He says in verse 23, for all
his judgments were before me. That means he always had in mind
the will of his father. He never had a divided will,
like we do. You know, we've got a divided
will. If you don't believe that, read Galatians 5 and Romans 7.
That's a description of a Christian. The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. That's a divided will,
divided desires. All of that, you see. And he
says, but now Christ didn't have that. He always had one will,
and that was to do the will of Him that sent Him. That's what
he had. And he said, as far as his statutes, I did not depart
from them. He didn't depart from them. We
can certainly see that about our Savior. He said, I was also
upright before him. That word upright means literally,
it means one who is just and right, always does right. I was upright before him or in
his sight and have kept myself from mine iniquity. Our iniquities
became his by imputation. They were charged to him. And
there's a sense in which he kept himself from them in the sense
that he did not become contaminated or defiled by those iniquities. As I said last time, every thought
he had on that cross was a pure thought. I'm telling you, think
about that now. And I thought about this too
several last times when we've taken the Lord's Supper, and
I think several of the men have mentioned this to me. You know
what that unleavened bread represents? Why does it have to be unleavened?
Do you know? You know. You've been taught that for 50
some years. Because leaven represents what
in the scripture? Sin. Sin. And you remember before
they had the Passover, they had to rid their houses of all leaven. They had to get rid of it all.
They couldn't have any leaven, not even in the cupboards. Not
in the house, certainly not in the food. Because, see, this
was a picture of an atoning sacrifice without sin to get rid of sin. And I know that's kind of mind-boggling,
but it's still there, it's the truth. And he said, here's what
he said when he set that symbol up in the Lord's Supper as a
remembrance of his death. Now, that's what it's for, isn't
it? His death, he said, and that you do this, you do remember
the Lord's death until they come. He said, this, take this bread.
He said, this is my body. That's his human body, the flesh,
his flesh. He said, broken for you. That's the human body of Christ
broken. Now, when was it broken? Broken
on the cross. On the cross, he had a sinless
humanity. A sinless body. Somebody said,
well then how could God justly punish him? He was made sin,
the scripture says. Sin was accounted, charged, imputed
to him. He became responsible for sins
that he personally had no part in committing and doing. And
so he died justly under the justice of God. So he could say, he could
say, I have kept myself from mine iniquity. As David states
here in verse 24. Verse 25, the Lord could certainly
say, therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my
righteousness. Christ had righteousness, and
he worked out righteousness on the cross, and he said according
to my cleanness in his sight, in his eyesight, in God's sight.
Now again, we can certainly apply that to our Savior, but how could
we apply it to David? And what's more, how could we
apply that to us? How is that possible? Well, let
me tell you something. It only applies to David, David
himself, and to us as we are objects of God's grace considered
in Christ. That's the only way. How do you
know that, Fred? Go back to your foundation that
David laid. Interpret Scripture with other
Scripture. Don't just isolate this now. Don't isolate this and make this
passage. Don't make verses 21 through
25 your Bible. Make it part of your Bible. That's
the problem with people today. That's why you have so much false
doctrine, so much division. Because they take a few verses
and they make that their Bible. Instead of just making it part
of the Bible. And if they don't make it If they don't make it
their Bible, then they look at it as a contradiction. Well,
David's awful proud here, isn't he? Oh, no. Listen to what he
says in verse 26. With the merciful thou wilt show
thyself merciful. If God has granted you mercy,
you will have a merciful spirit to some degree, and he will continue
to be merciful to you. This is not earned mercy, because
mercy cannot be earned. He says, with the upright man
thou wilt show thyself upright. What is an upright man in the
scripture? Does anybody know? I'll tell you exactly what it
is. A sinner saved by the grace of God. There's no such thing
as an upright man by nature in the Bible since the fall of man.
There's none righteous. No, not one. Now what Romans
3.10 says? Well, now does that mean there's none righteous except
for this fellow back here in 2 Samuel 22? No, he's included. And this fellow who's writing
here in 2 Samuel 22, he said that in how many Psalms? You
can't count them. He said it over and over again.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, whose
sins are covered. If David could say by nature
and by practice that he was an upright man as far as being sinlessly
perfect in himself, he wouldn't have had to say, blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity. He'd have to say,
blessed is the man who doesn't have any iniquity to impute.
He didn't say that, did he? He said in Psalm 130, verse 3,
Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, charge sin, who
would stand? In Psalm 51, he said, against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
Does that sound like an upright man by nature and by practice
to you? No. No. What is an upright man
in the Scripture? He's a sinner. Saved by the grace
of God. Kept and preserved by the power
of God. Washed in the blood of Christ. Clothed in His righteousness.
Preserved by the grace of God. And I'll tell you what, if there's
anybody who needs preserving, it's David and it's us. Isn't
that right? He says in verse 27, with the
pure thou wilt show thyself pure. What's a pure man in the scripture?
It's a heart purified by faith, looking to Christ, washed in
the blood of Christ. What is the froward there? That's
the stubborn. That's the unbeliever. He's comparing
believers to unbelievers here. Sinners saved by grace and sinners
who stand on their own. So how could David say, the Lord
rewarded me according to my righteousness? Again, only as he was an object
of the grace of God. He's not speaking of his own
personal righteousness. Or of any works of righteousness
done by him. Because those merit nothing.
Those earn nothing. David, like all of us, was a
sinner. And his best, like ours, is imperfect. This is how David was viewed
by God in Christ. That's what he says down here.
In verse 25, he says, Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me
according to my righteousness. What is my righteousness? Do
I have a righteousness? Now let me ask you that. Do you
have one? If you're in Christ, you do. And you can call it my
righteousness. Just as much as Christ called
our sin His own. Not because He committed them.
Not because they were shot into him or infused into him or contaminated
him, no sir. They were his because he became
responsible for them. They were laid to his charge.
And his righteousness is my righteousness because it was laid to my charge.
God gave it to me. Just as he was made sin, I've
been made the righteousness of God in him. That's a new creature
in Christ. That's what that is. Being made
the righteousness of God in him is being made a new creation
in Christ. I stand before you in God's eyesight, if we can
put it that way, that's what he says here, justified in Christ. And his righteousness is mine.
And that's no boast. That's just a sinner pleading
the only righteousness he has, the righteousness of God in Christ. That's in his eyesight. Now,
somebody said, well this refers to David's righteous cause. Because
David did have a righteous cause. Look over at Psalm 35 with me.
Let me show you this. And we can say too, we have a
righteous cause. Our biggest problem, and David's
biggest problem, is we've got too many other causes that get
in the way of our righteous cause. And you know that's true. Because
you see, when I go to Amy, at the righteous calls, it's not
too long until old self comes and gets in the way. Old self. That's the problem, isn't it?
Look here, Psalm 35. Look over at verse 27. It's the
last two verses of Psalm 35. Verse 27. He says, let them shout for joy
and be glad that favor my righteous calls. Now, you might look in
your concordance, and that's translated, my righteousness.
Yea, let them say continually. Now, listen to it. Keep it in
its context. Let the Lord be magnified. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
If you ever find a human being who is righteous by nature and
by practice, then that person ought to be magnified. I'm going
to tell you something, he's better than me, better than you, better
than David. But this one who speaks of his
righteous cause and his righteousness, what does he say? Let the Lord,
Jehovah, my Savior, be magnified. which hath pleasure in the prosperity
of his servant." God's pleased to prosper his servant. Maybe
in different ways now. But he says, "...and my tongue
shall speak of thy righteousness, and of thy praise all the day
long." There's our righteous cause. Right there. Here's my righteous cause. I
want to glorify God in Christ. I want to talk about his righteousness
all the time. But you know what? Somebody attacks
me and I go to defend an old self. But my righteous cause
is the cause of God's glory in Christ. And I'll speak of his
righteousness all the day long. Somebody said back here in 2
Samuel 22 that David was speaking of his righteous or just treatment
towards King Saul. Well, David did act wisely. You remember that back when we
first started this study, umpteen years ago, heck, about the life
of David. And there were many times when
David first started off now, he acted wisely. And that's okay. And that is just. Now, that doesn't
make David a perfect man in himself. David was still, listen, and
here's why I think the best way we can understand something about
David. and about ourselves. And here's why I'd like to put
it. Now, you look at David and he commits adultery with Bathsheba.
And we don't have any problem understanding and knowing, boy,
David needed God's grace, didn't he? He needed mercy. Oh, how much mercy did he need?
Oh, we know that. We know that in our worst times.
David needed a righteousness that he could not produce. You
can see that easily when he's committing adultery with Bathsheba.
Well, let me tell you something. When God the Holy Spirit sat
David down to pen the 23rd Psalm, one of the most beautiful Psalms
ever read, do you know David was just as much in need of grace
and mercy at that time? And as much grace and as much
mercy as he was when he was committing adultery with Bathsheba. Do you
believe that? I do. I do. I know David was acting
better when he was penning the psalm. Yes, sir. I don't doubt
that. David should not have been with Bathsheba. He should have
been penning more psalms, as the Spirit would inspire. That's
not the issue. I'm not excusing David. I'm just
simply saying, at our best and at our worst, we're just as much
in need of mercy and grace as we ever were. That's so. I believe that. This whole passage is best applied
to Christ and the righteousness he worked out as mediator for
his people. But don't ever think that it cannot be applied to
God's people, for Christ is the Lord our righteousness. And you
might put a little mark in your Bible beside these verses here. And I would say, notate two verses
of Scripture. The first one would be Jeremiah
23, 5-6. You remember what that says? That's a prophecy of Christ.
And that's where that great title is revealed of Him, Jehovah Sid
Canu. His name shall be called Jehovah
Sid Canu, the Lord our righteousness. Now that's Jeremiah 23, verses
5-6. The next verse is Jeremiah Chapter 33. I believe it's verse
15 and 16. I thought I knew this, you know,
I didn't write this down. Somebody look that up. Jeremiah 33, I think it's verse
15 through 16. That's a prophecy of the Church
of Christ. And you know what it says? She
shall be called Jehovah Sikhanou, the Lord our righteousness. For
we are bought, paid for, redeemed, and married to Christ. And so,
therefore, what is His belongs to us. And therefore, we have
no problem saying, God, as this passage in 2 Samuel 22, that
God recompensed me according to my righteousness, for my righteousness
is Christ. God gave me what Christ earned
for me. That's what he's talking about.
Did I hit the right verse, somebody? 33, 16. And 15 and 16 go together there. But that's right. Jeremiah 33,
16. Notate those by this, and it'll help you to understand
that. Because there's a connection there. It's a covenant connection. Now, David's talking about that
covenant connection here, and he's going to talk about it more
in 2 Samuel 23. So there he is. And think about this now. Listen
to this. Look at verse 22. 2 Samuel 22. He says, For I have kept the
ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
Now David strayed from God in sin and disobedience in many
ways, didn't he? David could not say in himself
that at every moment of his life he had kept the ways of the Lord
and had not wickedly departed from God. If you're talking about
his own personal obedience. But what's he talking about here?
Well, although David had strayed from God in sin and disobedience,
here's what he's saying here. He had not utterly forsaken the
way of God's grace in Christ. He had not apostatized. from
the faith. He was always preserved by God's
grace in Christ, and he was always brought back to God in repentance
and godly sorrow. That's what he's saying there.
You see, when he says, I have not wickedly departed from my
God, there are many times that God's children are disobedient
in many ways. But I'll tell you one thing you'll
never do if you're a true child of God. you'll never utterly
forsake the way of salvation by Christ. You won't do it. And the reason you won't do it,
and I won't do it, is because God won't let us do it. Look at verse 23. All his judgments
were before me. I think about that passage in
Psalm 51 where David said, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.
I sincerely believe there was a time when David that the ways
of God, the Word of God kind of left him a little bit in his
mind. But they were always before him in this sense. And as for
his statutes, I did not depart from them. Again, he did not
utterly forsake God's will, God's Word, and God's way in that sense. He says in verse 24, I was also
upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.
How do you keep yourself from your iniquity? Have you ever
thought about that? We're sinners. It's with you
every day. It's with you when you wake up.
It's with you when you go to sleep. You can't get away from
it. That's why Paul said, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? There's
only one way that we can keep ourselves from our iniquity,
and that's continually looking to Christ. glorying in the cross. That's
the only way. You can't get rid of it. Only
God can get rid of it, and He'll do that. He'll do that when He
takes me out of this world. It's gone in His sight because
He said, I'll not remember them anymore. He won't hold them against
us. He won't charge us with them. There's no condemnation. We have
to live with it every day. The only way we can get away
from it, you're getting away from it right now by hearing
the Word of God. Now, I'm not saying you're sitting
there in absolute perfection in yourself tonight. Your mind
will strain. Don't you have to fight to keep
your mind from staining and straining and all that? It's a battle.
The only way you're going to keep yourself from it is to look
to Christ. And that's it. Well, look at verse 26. Now,
here's the fruits of God's grace in Christ. And I'll read this
and I'll quit tonight. The fruits of God's grace in
Christ and God's justice to the wicked. And you all may, as I'm
going through this, maybe you're saying, you thought you were
going to get to the end of this chapter. Well, I had to deal with that.
I thought that was something that we needed to know. I thought
that was something I know it is. So look at verse 26. He says,
with the merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful. Blessed
are the merciful. And he says, and with the upright
man, thou wilt show thyself upright. With the pure, thou wilt show
thyself pure, pure in heart, purified by faith. washed in
the blood of Christ, and with the froward, that's the deceptive,
the stubborn, thou wilt show thyself unsavory." Literally,
that means wrestling. God's not unsavory in himself.
I don't know why they translated it this way, but it means that
God has a matter against the froward, and he's going to deal
with it, and he's going to win. If he wrestles with them, he's
going to pin them. But he's going to win. Verse 28, the afflicted
people thou wilt save, afflicted by our conscience, afflicted
by the law, afflicted by the world. But thine eyes, he says,
are upon the haughty, the proud, that thou mayest bring them down.
God's going to do it. For thou art my lamp, my candle. Remember, David was called the
lamp of Israel, the candle, the light of Israel. That's because
God was his lamp. Christ was his lamp, O Lord.
Thou wilt lighten my darkness, for by thee have I run through
a troop. By my God have I leaped over
a wall." All of his victories, you see, were by God, not by
himself. He knew that. And he says in
verse 31, he says, for God, His way is perfect. What is God's
way? Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father but by me. That's God's way. The word
of the Lord is tried, it's tested. That's what that means. God's
Word is tested. God's Word is Christ. Christ
Himself was tested. The living and the incarnate
Word was tested. He's the tried stone, the tested
stone. He was tested here on earth by
Satan. He was tested by men. He was
tested on the cross, and He passed every test. The written Word
has been tested. Do you realize how much this
Bible has been attacked in its history, and it still stands
the test? And the preached word has been
tested. Every time men stood to preach the gospel in certain
societies, they were attacked, they were ridiculed. But he says
this, he's a buckler to all them that trust in him. He's a shield.
That's what that means. He's a protection to all that
trust in him. 4, verse 32, who is God? Save the Lord. There's only one.
One true God. Who is a rock? Save our God.
He said, look unto me and be ye saved, for I am the Lord.
There's none else. No salvation anywhere else. Verse
33, God is my strength and power, and He maketh my way perfect. I'm saved by His power and His
strength, not my own. And He set me in the right way,
and He turned me in the right direction. What's that? Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith, and running the
race of grace. Running to and following Him.
And then look at verse 34, He maketh my feet like hinds' feet.
That's like a deer's feet running on the rocks. Running through
the woods, he sent me up on my high places. Protection, that's
what he's talking about. You see, we're above our enemies,
not because we're holier than thou, but because we're in Christ
who's seated at the right hand of the Father, which is in heaven.
Verse 35, he teaches my hands to war and so that a bow of steel,
that's literally brass, they didn't have steel back then,
that's brass, is broken by my arms. That's the power and the
strength that He gives us. And He says, Thou hast also given
Me the shield of Thy salvation, and Thy gentleness hath made
Me great. God's loving kindness in strict
accordance with His justice. And let me conclude with verse
37. Now listen to this. He says, Thou hast enlarged My
steps under Me so that My feet did not slip. I remember hearing
a message one time where a man was saying, that the Christian
life is like walking a tightrope. And you walk that tightrope,
and God gives you that bar, you know, that they carry across
that tightrope, and on one end is Christ's righteousness, and
on the other end is your righteousness. And you've got to balance the
two. I heard another man say, I read this, rather, he said
the Christian life is like walking a razor's edge. If you slip,
you're cutting two. Now read verse 37 again. Thou
hast enlarged my steps under me, so that my feet did not slip. You see, the Christian life is
not like walking a tightrope, balancing Christ's righteousness
with your own. The Christian life is not like
walking a razor's edge. The Christian life is standing
on the rock, Christ Jesus. And he's enlarged my stats. How
about yours? So that my feet will not slid.
You see, our hope is standing on the rock, building on the
foundation. It is a narrow way, but it's
big enough to accommodate any and every sinner who comes to
God, his way, which is the way of Christ.