Psalm 85, another of the Psalms
for the sons of Korah. Lord, thou hast been favorable
unto thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity
of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin.
Selah. Thou hast taken away all thy
wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine
anger. Turn us, O God, of our salvation, and cause thine anger
toward us to cease. Wilt thou be angry with us forever?
Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou
not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show
us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. I will hear
what God the Lord will speak, For he will speak peace unto
his people and to his saints, but let them not turn again to
folly or foolishness. Surely his salvation is nigh
them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy
and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the
earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the
Lord shall give that which is good and our land shall yield
her increase. Righteousness shall go before
him and shall set us in the way of his steps. Now this is an interesting psalm
to say the least because it seems to take several turns in it,
but in reality the truth that is being set forth is the same
from beginning to end. Lord, thou hast been favorable
unto thy land. If we stop right there then we
would get the gist and the real meaning of the whole psalm. The
Lord has been favorable unto thy land, to those people of
his choice, to those who are the chosen of God. He has been
favorable to them from the beginning even to the end. Thou hast brought
back the captivity of Jacob. That is, thou hast delivered
Jacob. And how often do we see And especially as Brother Al
is leading us through the book of Numbers there, we will see
the judgments of God upon the children of Israel, but we always
see His deliverance of the children of Israel. He has not chosen
the people in the earth to destroy them. He has chosen the people
in the earth to deliver them. And that's the blessing that
we see throughout the Word of God, that the Lord is the Savior
of His people. He's not trying to save His people.
I had a fellow the other day telling me that the Lord was
trying to teach us something. And I told him, well, the Lord
don't try to teach people something. The Lord teaches people something.
The Lord doesn't try to do anything. You know, we try to do things
and we fail, but the Lord does not fail in the things that He
undertakes to do. So don't ever say the Lord's
trying to do something because He's not trying to do something,
He's doing something. And what He is doing is demonstrating
His love for His people and His deliverance of His people but
the fact that he will not leave his people in the midst of their
darkness and their wanderings from him. Now he calls the children
of Israel to wander in the wilderness for forty years, like Brother
Al said, I mean, they were just right there. They could have
went over there any time. I mean, they sent the spies into
the land and they could have went right on in there, humanly
speaking, but that wasn't in the purpose of God, because they
weren't ready to go in there. And so it was that the Lord would
teach them many painful lessons, as He does us in the present
time. Now the scripture tells us that
the Lord chastens His people. Now a lot of times people look
at the chastening of the Lord as a quid pro quo type thing. In other words, if you do this,
God is going to punish you. Now it is a true thing that the
Lord does bring recompense for sin in the earth. But for the
people of God, make no mistake about this, that the recompense
of our sin is completely laid upon the back of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so the Lord does not punish
His people for their sin. What the Lord does do is show
us and teach us of our sin. He manifests our sin to us just
like He did with David David was a man after God's own heart,
but David was a man. And the Lord would teach David
exactly what kind of a man he was, and we see the whole unfolding
of that business with Bathsheba. So when did the chastening of
David begin? Was it after he had committed
sin with Bathsheba? I say no. I say it began when
he took the first step up those steps to the rooftop, because
the Lord would teach David what He was by nature. And the Lord
will teach His people what they are by nature. He will not allow
us to go forward in life with the notion and concept that we
have some righteousness within us that can cause Him to be pleased
with us. Our righteousness is Christ.
Christ alone. And so that's the work of God
in the lives of His people. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin. Now, that's exactly what Paul
says in the 8th chapter of Romans, is it not? There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
Not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. That is a description
of the people of God. God has taken away our sin. He has covered our iniquity.
Selah. Thou hast taken away all thy
wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger. Now we know that. Do we not? I mean, the Lord has told us
that. Now, there are times when we sometimes forget that. It becomes
not present in our mind. The Lord would bring us back.
He would remind us that there is no condemnation because in
Christ is our redemption and all of our sins. Brethren, if
you have a sin, that you believe is not covered in Christ, then
you are in trouble. All of your sin is taken away
in Christ. There's therefore now no condemnation. That's no condemnation. Now some
people like to say, well, there may be a little bit. You better
watch out. There may be some condemnation.
No, there's no condemnation for the sons of God. But make no
mistake, the Lord will teach you what you are, and He'll keep
driving you back to your knees to call upon His name to recognize,
O Lord, You are my righteousness, and without Thee I have none. Then He says, He said, Thou hast
turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger, but then The
next sentence he says, Turn us, O God, of our salvation, and
cause thine anger towards us to cease. That almost seems like a contradiction,
does it not? Lord, you took your anger away,
but caused your anger to cease. So what is the thing here? What's
going on? Well, I believe it's a two-fold
thing. Now keep in mind, as we have
said, that we believe that these are the expressions of Christ,
that these are as He was a man and He learned obedience by the
things which He suffered. Would you not say that He knew
what it was to suffer the fierce anger of Almighty God? Did He
not hang on Calvary's cross and say, My God, My God, why hast
Thou forsaken Me? But you see, all of that fierce
anger was poured out on him. Now it's real. See, don't ever
consider that the anger and the fierceness of the wrath that
was poured out on Christ was somehow or other just kind of
like a make-believe type thing, just something that we talk about,
but it was the wrath of Almighty God, the hatred of God against
sin, against the sin of His people. I remember Brother Barnard saying
that, you know, if a man does not believe that God will punish
sin, all he has to do is look at Calvary's cross. I mean, there
is the absolute proof that God hates sin. because Christ became
sin for us. He took our sin upon himself,
and in the sight of Almighty God, he became an outcast. Turn us, O God, of our salvation. See, Job said, though he slay
me, yet will I trust in him. And we know that our God is a
consuming fire. We know that He can snuff us
out in a heartbeat. I mean, He can cause us to cease
to exist just like that if it pleased Him to do so. We understand
that. But yet, to whom do we flee? Lord, to whom shall we go? That is the word of eternal life.
See, God's people can't trust anybody else. I mean, the Lord
said that. He said, My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. You find a man that is not following
Christ, he is not one of Christ. Now, the Lord may change his
heart and mind. I mean, he may actually be one
of the elect, and not be brought out of darkness yet. So I'm not
saying we can determine that, but I'm saying this, that when
a man is sent to his heart not to follow Christ, he's not one
of God's sheep. Because the Lord said, my sheep
hear my voice. And another shepherd They'll
not hear. We're not interested in what
some other shepherd comes along and says. You know, if somebody
discovers, as men often make discoveries, you know, they go
along and they think they've come up with something and they
say, well, now we've determined, you know, that Christ really
wasn't the Savior. I mean, what do we care what
he says? I mean, it doesn't make any difference. See, I mean,
we can't do anything else. As Job said, if He slays me,
I've got to trust Him. I don't have any place else to
turn. He's my hope. Turn us, O God, of our salvation.
He is the God of our salvation. We don't have any other. And
cause Thine anger towards us to cease. Wilt Thou be angry
with us forever? Wilt Thou draw out Thine anger
to all generations? Here the psalmist, I believe,
is speaking about when the chastening hand of the Lord is upon us,
we often think of it as the anger of the Lord. Do we not? I mean, the scripture even says
when he was dealing with the nation of Israel that his anger
was turned against them. in the book of the Revelation
when he speaks to the churches. He says, you better straighten
up or I'm coming quickly. Now, as we look at that, again,
some have erred in thinking that he's speaking there to his elect
among the saints of God. But I believe he's speaking to
the church in a general sense. In other words, he's speaking
to the church as he would sift the wheat, as he
would separate the sheep from the goats. Because he said, I
want you to hear. He said, he that hath an ear
to hear, let him hear, because the children of God will hear.
I mean, when the Lord said, come out from among them and be ye
separate, the children of God hear. They don't say, Lord, you
don't know what you're talking about. We're going to do something
different. No, they hear him. They desire to walk in his way.
They want to follow his path. And so it is that it appears
to the saints of God quite often that they are enduring the wrath
of God, but in reality, He's just bringing us to a place for
us to see the wrath that was poured out on Christ in our behalf. To remind us what we are by nature. That it was our sin that was
put upon the Savior. Will thou be angry with us forever?
Will thou draw out thine anger to all generations? What's the
answer to that? No. No, He will not. as far as the people of God are
concerned. Will Thou not revive us again? That's a rhetorical
question. The answer is already there.
Will Thou not revive us again that Thy people may rejoice in
Thee? Yes. Yes, He will. He will revive
His people. But is it not that which He works
in His people to cause them to desire that He revive us? Oh, I believe it was that one
of the prophets, a minor prophet, said, Oh Lord, revive thy work
in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years. Visit
us in wrath, remember mercy. See, we desire the reviving work
of God. I believe that there are times
of revival in the sense that God is pleased from time to time
to cause a great work to take place that can't be explained.
That people are often drawn into the kingdom of God in numbers. He brings some here a little
and there a little, but there are times of refreshing sent
from the Lord, from time to time. And there's one of the songs
we used to sing, mercy drops round us are falling, but for
the showers we plead. You see, we desire the presence
of God to be poured out in a mighty way. We long for it. And that's what the psalm is
to speak about. Will thou not revive us again? Lord, don't
let us languish, but work in us thy perfect work. Show us
thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. Because mercy and salvation go
hand in hand. You know, a lot of people believe
that God is a God of mercy. And of course, Scripture says,
his mercy endureth forever. But they forget the most important
aspect of mercy, which he revealed when he could have revealed anything
unto Moses about himself. He said, I will show mercy to
whom I will show mercy. See, he's a God of mercy, but
it's his mercy. Because it can't really be any
other kind. Because you see, if mercy can
be influenced by any outward factor, then it wouldn't be mercy,
would it? I mean, people think, well, God
will show mercy if a man will do this. You know, if you'll
be faithful, God will show mercy to you. Well, brethren, that
would be buying mercy. That wouldn't be having mercy
bestowed. But mercy is that which is given
to those that don't deserve it. And that's what mercy is. And
that's why the Lord said, I'll show mercy to whom I will show
mercy because nobody deserves it. And yet he is indeed the God
of mercy. Oh Lord, grant us thy salvation
because you see in the mercy of God is his salvation. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak, for He will speak peace unto His people. I will
hear it. If He's given me ears to hear,
I can't help but hear it. It's going to be a precious thing
to me. For He will speak peace unto His people and to His saints,
but let them not turn again to folly. Now, why do we need to
be reminded not to turn to folly? Because we're prone to turn to
folly. You know, we tell our children, Now, I want you to
be a good boy. Why do we tell them that? Because
we know that the likelihood is they're not gonna really gravitate
towards being a good boy, so they have to be reminded to be
a good boy. And so in that way, you know,
we need to be reminded not to turn to folly, because by nature,
we'll turn to folly. I mean, we'll forsake the Lord
tomorrow. We'll forget everything we ever, what they used to call
the old mule kicked off the traces and broke out and just took off. I remember one time in the tobacco
field, an old mule broke loose from his thing, and I think some
of the boys, not me of course, But, you know, had thrown some
sand spurs on the mule, you know, to get him to go up, and he finally
got enough of it, and he finally, he just broke out of that thing.
He took off across the field, of course, tearing up at the
back and everything else, and Grandpa didn't like that too
much. But in any event, that's the way people are by nature.
That's the way we are. I mean, we will turn to folly. apart from the grace of God to
restrain us. And so it's only right that we
should exhort one another. It's only right that he should
mention this, but don't let us turn again to follow. The Lord
delivers. Lead us not into temptation. Now, you know, a lot of people
have a lot of trouble with that idea when the Lord's model prayer,
He said, lead us not into temptation. but delivers from evil. Why?
Because we're prone to evil. And we ask him to deliver us
from it. Surely his salvation is nigh
them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. That is
a place of glory. When the Lord is pleased to show
salvation to his people. What a place of glory. Mercy
and truth are met together. righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Oh, what a glorious thing it
is when we consider that. I mean, this is a direct reference to Christ as He is
both just and the justifier for them which believe in Christ. Mercy and truth have met together.
They've kissed each other. You see, justice and peace are
met together. The righteousness of God is satisfied
in Christ and nowhere else. We sang about it a moment ago.
Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall
look down from heaven. Isn't that a glorious thing?
Truth shall spring out of the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ
was born in the earth. He sprang out of the womb of
Mary, who was of the earth, creature of the dust. Truth has sprung
out of the earth. And righteousness shall look
down from heaven. Because apart from the righteousness
of the one who sprang from the dust, we would have no salvation. He is that one who has both the
righteousness of Almighty God and yet the humanity of all those
for whom he suffered. Yea, the Lord shall give that
which is good, and our land shall yield her increase. See, we have
the expectation that the Lord will show mercy, that he will
be kind. But a man is a fool that believes
that apart from that being bestowed in Christ. See, a lot of people
are of the notion that, oh, everything's going to turn out all right.
You know God, He's this big grandpa-like figure up here, and He wouldn't
hurt a flea, and He's just going to help everybody out, and everything's
going to be all right. And people just kind of go along,
oh, well, you know the Lord, He knows this, and He takes all
our sin into account, and He looks at us and all that kind
of stuff. No, God hates sin. And He will judge the world with
truth and righteousness. And the truth and the righteousness
by which He will judge the world is Jesus Christ the righteous. And if you don't meet that standard,
then you are out of the favor of Almighty God. Because the
standard of righteousness, the only standard of righteousness
which is accepted in the courts of heaven is that of Christ.
So if a man doesn't stand in the righteousness of Christ,
then he has no righteousness that will be accepted in the
courts of heaven. Righteousness shall go before
him and shall settle in the way of his steps. How can a man seek the Lord, who is a natural enemy of God? How can a man desire to follow
the way of Christ when by nature he's a rebel against Christ.
There's only one way and that is the Lord in his mercy and
his kindness has to visit a man with his grace and his mercy
and open his heart to seek after him. But praise be unto God he
does that. He's in the process of doing
that even as we speak in the earth. He's calling his people
unto himself. He said, come unto me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And there's
some that'll hear that. They'll say, that means me. Lord,
help me. Lord, save me. He's a God full
of mercy and kindness, righteousness and peace, truth and justice
have met together in Christ and nowhere else. Oh, to be found
in Him is my desire.