If you'd like to follow along,
turn to Psalm number 54. The 54th Psalm, and this is a
Psalm of David. Save me, O God, by thy name,
and judge me by thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God. Give ears
to the words of my mouth. For strangers are risen up against
me, and oppressors seek after my soul. They have not set God
before them. Selah. Behold, God is mine helper. The Lord is with them that uphold
my soul. He shall reward evil unto mine
enemies, cut them off in thy truth. I will freely sacrifice
unto thee. I will praise thy name, O Lord,
for it is good. For he hath delivered me out
of all trouble, and mine eye has seen his desire upon mine
enemies. I have on my smartphone a crossword
puzzle app, an application, and I work crossword puzzles on it
when I take a break during work. Something to occupy my mind is
what I say. I think of it as a mind exercise
rather than just a waste of time. But there was a six letter word
they were looking for, and the clue was this. Agent creating
and controlling things in the universe. And I thought, no,
they ain't doing this. There's six letters, right? So
God won't fit, Christ won't fit, and deity won't fit. I finally
figured out, seriously, that was the last clue I worked in
that puzzle. I got all the other ones except
that one. Because here's the answer that this crossword puzzle
has. Nature. Nature. That's what they gave
for an answer. As an agent, creating and controlling
the things in the universe. And I thought, buddy, that's
a good answer for this world. Because this is just the perfectly
wrong answer to that question. This is the thing that we deal
with. Because nature doesn't create
anything. Nature doesn't control anything. Now granted, we don't control
nature, but it doesn't control anything either. But the world doesn't understand
there is someone who does control. David knew this one. And every
believer knows this one. They will not have this man to
reign over them. Well, bless God, and by his grace,
I will. You wanna know about my will?
I will that he reign over me. And I will that he reigns over
you. Which is pretty good, because I know he does anyway. The world is just lost. It's without hope, without Christ,
and it's the world. And go and pray to nature and
see what happens to you. Anyhow. Save me. Oh God, by thy name,
and judge me by thy strength. The first two words from David
in this psalm are these two words, save me. Save me. Now, is David being selfish here? Yeah, he is. Yeah, he is. And
trust me, when it comes to salvation, I am very selfish too. Now, the question before this,
if you wanna ask it, is David writing about being saved from
oppressors and people who were after him? Because there were
people after him. Or is he writing this about salvation? And I'm
gonna say the answer is yes. It's both. It's both. Because
what David says here applies both ways. But is David being
selfish? Sure. My salvation concerns me. Now it may affect you, but it
doesn't concern you. Your salvation doesn't concern
me because I can't help you one way or the other. David's salvation concerned him,
and it concerned him alone. Save me, because salvation is
intensely personal. It is intensely individual. Even when in times when people
preach and there are 5,000 people believed, it was intensely personal
for each and every single one of those 5,000. Or what was it,
2,000, 3,000 on Pentecost. Each and every individual has
to believe Christ on their own, so to speak. Now you can't believe
him on your own. but it has to be you that's doing
it. It is a personal salvation. Because salvation is between
me and God. He does all the work, he gets
all the credit, and I get all the blessings. And it's the same
way for you. No man could help David. But
be very clear here. David was not trying to get saved. He was trying to be saved. David calls out to the one who
can save, to the one who does save. And I like the way he says
this here. He says, save me, oh God, by
thy name, by thy name. First of all, only God can save.
And second of all, God saves and God alone. Because man, not
even the man after God's own heart, which is how David is
described, man has nothing to do with the salvation of God
other than receive it. and you only receive it when
he gives it to you. Save me, oh God, by thy name. And I looked at that, and I thought about it for a
while, because it's kind of odd, save me by thy name. Well, God's
name is who he is. God's name is what he does. Because who he is and what he
does is God. I don't know, there's a better
way to put it. God's name means everything. And here's the other thing, we
don't name God He has given us his name in his book. What's his name? The Lord of
hosts is his name. What's his name? The just God
and the savior. What's his name? The king of
kings and the Lord of Lords. What's his name? And here's where
we're gonna depart from a lot of people when you start dealing
with the Old Testament. The name of God is Jesus Christ. And you wanna put it this way,
the name of God is Christ Jesus. And you know what that means?
That means anointed savior. The anointed one, the savior. Now, save me by that name. Save
me by thy name. He's the Lamb of God, he is the
Christ, the anointed. How does God save by his name?
Well, he is the Redeemer. Isaiah says he's the Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel. He is the God of all grace. Save me by thy name, save me
by thy grace. The righteous God, the holy God,
the blessed God. And he is the just God who has
redeemed his people from their sins. When he came into this
world, the angel, before he came into this world, the angel told
Joseph, said, call his name Jesus. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. Save me by thy name. That's one reason why I asked
for that song, Walter, this morning. To God the only wise. That last
stanza, or the last verse, to our Redeemer God. Wisdom and power belong. Immortal
crowns of majesty and everlasting song. He is, the Lord is our
Redeemer God. Save me by thy name. Save me
by thy name. Like I said, these are not the
names we've given God. These are the name of God told
to us and taught to us in his scripture. I'm not making anything
up because his name reveals his character, his name reveals his
thoughts, and his name reveals his works, his actions, which
are the same as his thoughts and his words. David is calling to the Lord
who saves. Save me, O God, by thy name. Romans 10 and nine put it this
way, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
the Lord Jesus now, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, what's it say? Thou shalt be
saved. Save me, oh God, by thy name. And the name is this, the Lord
Jesus. There's a lot of people out there
running around crying to Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. They're not crying
to the Lord. Understand, David, and I'm gonna
show it here in a little bit, David is submitting himself to
God in this psalm. He's revealing it out. It's not
that he just did it now. No, he's writing about it. Romans 10 and verse 13 carried
it on, says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. And you can't call upon him in
whom you don't know. You can't confess what you don't
know. That's not hard to understand. And I'm gonna tell you something,
you talk to people in this world You will find out fairly quickly,
they might know a Jesus, but they don't know the Lord. And that's the problem. That's
where it lays. That's where it lies. Save me, oh God, by your name. And his name is Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Peter preached it to the high
priest and his relatives, to the rulers, elders, and scribes
at Jerusalem. That's in Acts chapter four.
I'm gonna turn there for just a bit. They kept them overnight, laid
hands on them, put them in hold till the next day, and then in
verse five, And it came to pass on the morrow that their rulers,
the elders, and the scribes, this is in Jerusalem, and Annas,
the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and
as many were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered
together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in
the midst, they asked, they asked, by what power or By what name? By what name have ye done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel,
if this day, if we this day be examined of the good deed done
to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole? be it
known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised
from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you
whole. This is the stone, this is the
stone, which was said it not of you builders, which has become
the head of the corner. Save me, O God, by thy name. Peter wasn't finished. Neither
is there salvation in any other. There's no salvation anywhere
outside of Christ. There's no salvation without
Christ. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby We must be saved. That's what David's saying. Save
me by thy name. Savior, anointed one, and the
anointed savior, the redeemer, God almighty, manifest in the
flesh. If God Almighty manifests in
the flesh, Jesus Christ doesn't save you, you are not saved. I mean, that's as plain as I
can make it. You understand? You're not gonna get to him to
get saved, he's gonna come to you. And you're gonna be saved. Save me by thy name. His name
is the Lord, Savior anointed, the Lord Jesus
Christ. How can he not save his people?
He has redeemed them. Redemption is over. That took
place on the cross 2,000 years ago. And he is calling them out
by name. Individually, those that were
dead or are dead, shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live. They shall live. Our Redeemer God, our Savior
God, the Lord saves by his name because his name is who he is. He's God. He's Lord. He's Savior. He is wisdom. He is power. He is glory. He is grace. He is peace. He is honor. And he is holy above all. But then David says this strange
thing, seemed like to me when I first looked at it. He says,
save me, O God, by thy name and Couple that together now. We
gotta put that together. And, judge me by thy strength. I thought, I know what some people
say. They say, uh oh, David's asking
for it now. Well yes he is, but not the way
you're thinking about. Because people have this thing,
and I understand people are worried about being judged. And really
they should be. They should be. They ought to
be more worried about it than they are. But that's not the
main point of what David is writing here. Because this is not like a judge
passing a sentence or making a judgment. The key word here
in this word judge, it's a primitive root, okay? in the Hebrew language,
and here's what that word actually means. When he says judge me
by thy strength, he says rule me by thy strength. That's the key word. Now, I will
use a judge in a courtroom as an example. The judge runs his courtroom. You understand? Nobody goes into
a judge's courtroom and upsets it. He is the official arbiter
of that courtroom. He's in charge. You understand?
That judge says you stand up and speak, you stand up and speak. That judge says sit down and
shut up, you sit down and shut up. That judge tells that bailiff,
says, makes people swear on the Bible that they're gonna tell
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and then they
get up there and lie. But you understand, the judge gives that
order, it's obeyed. It's followed. His rule is law
in that courtroom. Because the judge will tell you
to sit down and shut up, and he'll tell somebody else to come
speak. And then he'll tell them to shut down, and then he'll
talk to the lawyers and say, no, you can't do that. And he'd
tell another lawyer, yes, you can do that. You know why? Because it's his courtroom. He's
the judge. You know what? And I just thought
about this this morning when I was looking at this again.
You know what a judge's decisions are called? I'd forgotten this. The judge rules. That's what
it says. He handed, the judge handed down
a ruling today. That's what David wants from
God. Rule me by thy strength. Rule over me. I said David is
submitting himself to God. And if you haven't submitted
yourself to God, you don't know God. You don't, I'm serious as
I can be, people. You don't know God if you haven't
submitted to him. And I don't care who you are
or where you are. Because you understand, he's not Lord just
in name, he's Lord indeed and in truth. He is the Lord of lords,
and plus he's the Lord of you. And he's the Lord of me. Now
that's whether you know it or not. But David knew it, and David
willingly submitted himself to the rule of God. And that's what he's talking
about here. It's the judge's courtroom, what he says goes. Because here's the last thing
about a judge in a courtroom, guess what? That judge says you
go to jail, and that judge says you go free. Understand, it's
the same judge. What he says goes. And David said, judge me. Wait
a minute, by thy strength. By thy strength, okay? What's
the negative? First, please don't judge me
by my works. I can't take it. And neither
can you. And neither can anybody else.
Don't judge me, don't even judge me by my walk. Because I will
stumble, fall, trip, and leave the path. And please, please, please, don't
judge me by my thoughts. I'm not even gonna tell you what
they are. And I don't wanna know what yours
are. Judge me. God save me Oh God
by thy name Judge me rule me reign over me by thy strength
Because you can't judge me by my strength I don't have any We have no strength But Even while we were without
strength, Christ died for the ungodly. Do you fit in there? Without strength and ungodly. I'm gonna raise my hand, that
was me. Guess what? As I stand here right before
you now, preaching, trying to preach his gospel, that's still
me. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. What's that mean? That means
I'm ungodly. Because if I was godly, I'd have good things in
me. I've got a good thing in me,
actually a good person in me. The Holy Spirit of God. But that
came from without, that's not me. That's not my flesh. That's
why there's a battle. Where there didn't used to be
a battle. I used to live to serve my flesh.
Now I don't want to. I still do sometimes, but I don't
want to. In order to be saved, God's strength
must rule. God's power must rule. What did David write one time?
He said, my sin is ever before me. What's that mean? Well, that
means my rebellion is ever before me. And that rebel's heart didn't
go anywhere, Walter. That rebel's heart didn't go
anywhere, Paul. It's still here. It's still here. It takes the power of God to
rule over me. Because my strength, such as
it goes, goes the wrong way. Thank God he does not leave us
to our own devices. Rule me, judge me by thy strength. And he says, hear my prayer,
O God, give ear to the words of my mouth. What was that prayer? Save me, O God. by thy name. Rule me, judge me
by thy strength. Pray to God for God to do his
work. You understand? That's a prayer
that will be answered yes. Because God's gonna do his work.
Pray to God for that. Pray to God that His will be
done. Because you know what that is?
That's submission. You're submitting your will to
His will. Willingly, willingly. But it says, hear my prayer,
O God, give ear to my words of my mouth. It says, for strangers
are risen up against me. and oppressors seek after my
soul. They have not set God before
them. And he said, Selah, ponder this. Remember this. Make no mistake
about it. There are strangers and oppressors
to the child of God. Believers know about it. Believers
know about strangers and oppressors. You know why? Because we used
to be them. I used to be a stranger. I don't know that I was all that
great at being an oppressor. Because the difference between
these two words, the stranger is a foreigner. Someone from
outside. Someone without Christ. The oppressor,
is a mighty person. You know what? An oppressor is
a mighty stranger. He's outside, he's still foreign,
but he's got power. Understand, David here, at this
time, according to what it says here in the introduction, right?
This is when Saul was after David. Saul was king. Saul was king,
he was mighty. Because Strangers well, let's put it
this way Every stranger may not be an oppressor, but every oppressor
is a stranger Because what are they what is
David saying about their enemies of God? Yes, they're his enemies
But what did he say how can you tell they're strangers how can
you tell they're oppressors they have not set God before them
and They don't know God. And they don't like you. Why? Because they don't know God. The child of God has enemies. And they are the same enemies
that our Lord has. He told them, they're gonna hate
you because they hate me. They hated me without a cause,
and they're gonna hate you. Now they think they have a cause,
but they don't. They think they're in the right.
One of them said, they're gonna try and kill you and do God a
favor. There was a fellow running around
by the name of Saul of Tarsus, who was an enemy to the people
of God, and by that I mean by believers. He was trying to put
them in jail, He was consenting unto the death of Stephen. He
was a stranger at that time. But God, in his infinite mercy
and grace, knocked Saul of Tarsus off that donkey. And you know
what? From that point on, Saul of Tarsus
wasn't a stranger anymore. And he wasn't an oppressor either. Because this is it. If they had
sent God before them, they wouldn't be strangers. They'd be brothers. If they had sent God before them,
they wouldn't oppress. They'd help. They'd love. They'd believe. And they would
also praise his name. David says this, behold God is
mine helper and the Lord is with them that uphold my soul. God is with me and God is with
my brothers and sisters in Christ. Ain't that a thing of beauty? And believers are to uphold. one another. The Lord is with
them that uphold my soul. That's what your love and support
means for each other. You are upholding the soul of
your brother or your sister in Christ. Ah, that's great. And you know how you can do that?
Behold, God is mine helper. Love one another. Uphold one
another You know, we as believers have enough enemies we don't
need trouble in the house of God and that's just honest truth
about it and Here's the last thing I'll say about that because
if you're the brethren You're the brethren of Christ He's our
elder brother. He's not ashamed to call his
people brethren So what's that mean Act like it, just act like
it. Uphold one another, love one
another. We're the family of God, believers
are. And God is your helper, just
as God was David's helper. He's gonna reward evil to my
enemies. Cut them off in thy truth. God's against my enemies because
they're his enemies. And I'm against my enemies because
they're God's enemies. I remember still, Walter, that
Sunday night, whatever it was, 35 years ago, whatever, 30 some
years ago, and people, one guy balled up a fist at me, all manner of cane was raised
that day in that church. And I told Walter this later,
and I mean this from my heart, seriously, I was not personally
offended at that. Of course, I wasn't invested
in it, wasn't raised up in it the same way you were. I'd only
been there a year or whatever. But seriously, I mean, even though
I was threatened, I was not angry with those people, I was hurt. Because they were rejecting the
God that I know. You understand, you can reject
me all day long, I can take it. I grew up with seven brothers
and sisters. Trust me, I've been rejected by professionals. I can take it, I don't take things
personally like that. But here, this thing here, no,
no, this was just sadness on my part. Because here was, I
just realized, Walter, this, that was no place for me. And
I didn't talk to him, he didn't talk to me, I just knew I was
not going back. Because they had rejected the
God that I love. And it just, it saddened me.
And it still saddens me today. Because a couple of them people
I liked. Most of the ones I liked are here. But you know, this is the thing.
People who reject God will reject you. Why? Because they're your enemies,
whether you know it or not. They're your enemies. And they're God's enemies, that's
why they're your enemies. They will not have this man to
rule over them by his strength. And David says this, I love this
part, I gotta hurry up. I will freely sacrifice unto
thee, I will praise thy name, O Lord, for it's good. It's good! And here, I will freely
sacrifice unto thee. This, right here, is the definition
of a free will offering. a true freewill offering. I'm
not talking about where they gave money to build the temple.
That was a freewill offering also. And that's the only freewill
offering you'll find in the Bible. But here, this is a freewill
sacrifice. I will praise you freely. Freely. You know why? Because he's worthy to be praised.
And I know it. David knew it. Psalms 119 and 108, it says this. Except I beseech thee the free
will offerings of my mouth. Of my mouth. Oh Lord, and teach
me thy judgments. Believers are to freely offer
the sacrifice of praise unto God. What's Hebrews 13 and 15? By
him, therefore, by Christ, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name. Save me by thy name. You give
praise to the name of God, you're giving praise to God. And you
do it continually. continually bring forth praise
to our Redeemer God, our just God and Savior. Why? And I love this, for it's good. That's all David says, that's
good. Now here's the thing, what more
do you really need? It's good to praise God. if you know him. You can try and praise God if
you don't know him, but you don't know what you're doing. And that's
the way the world is, that's where the world is right now.
That's where the religious world is right now. I think it's that place across
the street from 13th Street in Ashland that has 13th Street
Free Will Baptist Church across the roof. They're advertising
their heresy. Because they're saying their
will is free and they're not offering the free will praise
unto God, this God that David knew. He has delivered me from out,
he has delivered me out of all trouble. Yes he has. Now David was still
being chased around. David was chased around later.
He didn't say he delivered him out of circumstance. He didn't
say he delivered him out of conditions. This is a fact. He has delivered
me out. He has, hath. It's past tense. You have been delivered out of
all your sin if you know the Redeemer God. if you know Jesus
Christ. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. We have been freed, delivered,
from the law of sin and death. And I have been delivered out
of what God has in store for his enemies. He hath delivered me out of all
trouble, and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies. Lots of people are trying to
get saved. David prayed to God to be saved. And most people
don't understand the difference. And I think some people even
ask to be saved. However, from what I've seen
in some places and heard in others, they seem to ask out of a sense
of entitlement. Know what that word means? They
think they deserve it. I prayed the prayer, you gotta
save me. No, God's gonna do his will and
his work in his way. And if that's your attitude,
I don't think you've met him. I don't think you know him. Because true, knowing sinners
cry to God for mercy. Sinners come to Christ for mercy
and for grace. Sinners do. And only sinners
do. Now I'm not asking if you know you're a sinner.
I'm gonna ask something different. Do you know you're a sinner who
actually sins? Because I know a lot of people
are admitting, oh, we're all sinners, brother. But they gotta throw
everybody in together. No, it's not, I'm a sinner. And
you know why I know I'm a sinner? And you know why I know why I
sin? It's because I am sin. See, that is something God has
to reveal to a man, because that ain't natural knowledge. That's
a thing of the spirit of God, which has got to be revealed
by his Holy Spirit. We have not received again the
spirit of bondage, again, under fear, but the spirit of adoption. Because the spirit of bondage
unto fear is always followed by that spirit of adoption. To whereby we can call, cry out,
Abba, Father. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for this time, this place. Most of all for you, our Lord
Jesus Christ, came, and completely fulfilled your will in our salvation,
in our redemption, in our reconciliation. Thank you, Father. Be with Walter
as he comes to preach your word. Give us ears to hear and hearts
to understand and enlighten our minds to your truth again this
day. Amen.