Psalm 64 to the chief musician of Psalm
of David. Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer. Preserve my life from fear of
the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel
of the wicked, from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity. who
whet their tongue like a sword and bend their bows to shoot
their arrows, even bitter words, that they may shoot in secret
at the perfect. Suddenly do they shoot at him
and fear not. They encourage themselves in
an evil manner. They commune of laying snares
privately. They say who shall see them.
They search out iniquities. They accomplish a diligent search. Both the inward thought of every
one of them and the heart is deep, but God shall shoot at
them with an arrow. Suddenly shall they be wounded,
so they make their own tongue to fall upon themselves. All
that see them shall flee away. And all men shall fear and shall
declare the work of God, for they shall wisely consider of
his doing. The righteous shall be glad in
the Lord, and shall trust in Him, and all the upright in heart
shall glory. Now, one doesn't have to look
too hard in a psalm like this to see and know and understand
that these are the words of Christ. He sent for us an example and
He has undertaken to bear our sorrows and our troubles before
the throne of God. And He did so by becoming flesh
and blood, by walking among men as a man, and actually being
exercised by those things that we are exercised by. I don't
think there's any greater wonder in all of the universe than to
pause and consider that, that Christ walked among us as a man. Now I've said that many times,
but I'm never, I can't ever really, it just baffles me every time
that I think about it, every time I consider it, that He who
made the world and all the things that we see, took upon Himself
flesh and blood and walked among men as a man. He never ceased to be God, but
He was no less than man in any sense in which men can consider
it. He didn't just appear to be man.
Some say, well, He wasn't really a man. looked like a man, and
no, he was a man. He is a man. He rose from the
dead as a man. And he lives forever as a man. It is a wondrous thing, beyond
comprehension. And the man who says, well, I
know all about it, I've got it figured out, he just doesn't
know, because he hasn't figured out anything. And, you know,
a man's ignorance is often seen in what he professes to know.
You know, you can usually tell, I see this illustrated quite
often, the people that come in the store, and they think they
know something about you know, their car or whatever, and some
of them do of course, but quite often a man will let you know
pretty soon how little he does know by telling you what he thinks
he knows. You know, people will tell you
what they, they're an expert on this and they're going to
tell you about it and of course, you know, you having perhaps
a little more understanding than they do, you understand what
they don't really know. You know, it's like a lot of
times people go to the doctor. I'm sure they go to the vet.
And they say, well, here's what the problem is. And they don't
know what the problem is. Now, they think they know what
the problem is, but they don't really know what the problem
is. So men often, in speaking of the things that they think
they know, they really, what they're showing is they're ignorant. You know, it's like someone said,
and I don't know if I can get this right, but anyway, you know,
it's better to be quiet and men think that you're a fool than
it is to open your mouth and prove it. So these things are not really
meant for us as part of the wonder wherein we fall down and worship
the Lord because His ways are past finding out. I mean just
the concept of God being eternal is beyond any comprehension of
men. Men have no comprehension of
eternity. I mean, we think we do. Well,
that just means forever. Well, what does that mean? I
mean, what is forever? What is without beginning and
without end? See, we can't comprehend that
because we're creatures of time. God made us creatures of time.
That's the only thing we can really know and understand is
time. I mean, we think of eternity
as just a long time, but time and eternity are not related. There's no such thing as time
in eternity. And you know, that's a glorious
thought, and it's beyond my comprehension. Don't get me to try to explain
it, because I can't explain that. But I can fall down by the grace
of God and worship Him who is eternal and know that He is before
all things and by Him all things consist. And that's a glorious
thought and a wonder for the sons of God. And so he says,
hear my voice, O God, in my prayer, preserve my life from fear of
the enemy. Don't let me fall into a place
of fear. David said, such times as I'm
afraid, I will trust in the Lord. He also said, I will trust in
the Lord and not be afraid. And so it is a glorious thing
that the Lord does deliver His people from fear. Now, the Scripture
says we were all our lifetime subject to bondage, but He has
delivered us from that. because we now know that One
who is the Savior of sinners, who drives away our fear. I mean,
if the greatest fear of a man is that his sin will overtake
him and destroy him, and by the grace of God he's given eyes
to see Him who saves sinners from that sin, that's a glorious
thing. That's a deliverance. See, that's
what salvation is. It's being brought to the place
where we see Christ as the Savior. That we're satisfied with Christ
as the Savior. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. Now, does that
mean that He waits till we confess our sins? He says, well, I can't
forgive Him yet, but well, He confessed it, I'm going to forgive
Him. No. The confession of sin is the
means whereby God brings His people to the place where they
can enter in in their mind and heart to the knowledge of the
fact that He does forgive sin. Because you see, the man that
doesn't confess his sin, he can never have any concept of the
forgiveness of sin. But he who by the grace of God
is brought to that place to confess his sin before Almighty God,
I'm not just talking about saying some empty thing, well I'm sorry
for doing what I did or this, that or the other, but he knows
his sin to be against Almighty God and he hates it. And he desires
to be done with it, he desires to be free from it. That is the
mercy of God to bring a man there. And it is the driving away of
fear. Preserve my life from fear of
the enemy. Now, why would he pray such a
thing as that? Because he bore our sin and he
bore our sorrow. And his prayer for us is that
we would be delivered from fear. See, perfect love casteth out
fear. There is no fear in perfect love. Now, we can't often see the perfect
love of God for us. And we certainly don't magnify
or don't manifest a perfect love towards Him. And our visions
clouded to see His perfect love to us, but from time to time
He gives us little glimpses of that. when He causes us to see
that Christ died for us on Calvary's cross. And that love drives away
fear. See, a man who is brought down
to the feet of Christ crying out for mercy, his fear is set
aside because you see the Lord said come unto me all you that
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. He didn't say I may give you
rest, he said I will do it. Oh by the grace of God be given
that grace to call upon his name, to come down to his feet. What a place of soulless and
comfort for a fearing man. Think of how quickly the fear
of the disciples turned from a moment when the Lord's asleep
in this bow of this ship and they come to Him and say, Lord,
don't you care that we perish? And He speaks to the winds and
the waves and everything just becomes calm. And where did their fear go?
See, their fear of being destroyed in the storm was completely removed,
was it not? I mean, because everything just
stopped. And then, their eyes will say,
what kind of man is this? Oh, glory to God. You know, what
a wondrous thing. that it is when the Lord is pleased
to bring His people to that place where they can call upon His
name and He's pleased to reach down His hand and remove their
fear. because that is the purpose and
that is the work that He will perform and does perform in His
people. Hide me from the secret counsel
of the wicked, from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity, who
whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows, and shoot
their arrows, even bitter words. Now, this is just a commentary
on the life of the Lord Jesus Christ as he walked among men. I mean, this is, he's praying
this prayer in our behalf, but he's praying it as it really
unfolds in time to him. Think about it. The secret counsels
of the wicked. I mean, they took counsel to
put him to death. They said, we can't have this
man going around here. We've got to do something about
it. Now they didn't just come out in the open and say, we're
going to kill you. No, behind the scenes. See, because
it wouldn't be right, would it, for them to go in the streets
and declare that they were going to murder this man, Jesus. What kind of a religious man
would do such a thing as that? But see, when they get in secret
places, behind closed doors, and it's just them and nobody's
listening in as they think they have private counsels. Isn't that the way that sin enters into the hearts of God's
people? It's in the secret places, is it not? We were saying about
a moment ago. See, I mean, we're not gonna
go down the street and rob a bank, or we're not gonna go out here
and do some outlandish thing that's just out in the open for
everybody to see. But in the secret place. See,
we, when we think we're hidden, and we think, yeah, well, nobody
will know about this. and we make all sorts of things
in our mind. You know in the Grace Gazette
this week I was talking about the conscience and how that Eve was deceived by
Satan. Satan came and he told her a
lie, the first lie that is recorded in the scripture. He said, has
God really said, or basically saying God didn't really say
that you'll die, or you're not really going to die if you do
this. Has God really said that? And
Eve was deceived by it, and you know what her action was? She believed a lie. She believed the lie because
she was deceived, but then what'd she do? She told herself, well, old Satan's right. Now see, that
was where her problem came in. I mean, she couldn't help Satan
coming along and saying God didn't say that. I mean, he could say
anything he wanted to, but what happened was she believed the
lie, and then she told herself it would be all right to eat. She believed what he said. And
she believed her own lie. And that's the way sin enters. That's the way we embrace our
sin. It's when we start believing
our lies. Our own lies. It says, well you
know nobody's going to know. I mean, and God, He'll overlook
that. It won't be anything big deal.
And it would just be, I'd enjoy that. It really would make things
easier. Or whatever, a thousand different
things that we can tell ourselves. But when we do that, then we
have lied to ourselves. The secret counsel of the wicked.
Who is the wicked? Is all them wicked people out
there? I mean, when you read the term the wicked in the Scripture,
And we all do this. We're all guilty of it. And there's
an application of it in this way, but what's our first thought
when you read in the Scripture about the wicked? Who do you
picture that to be? Huh? No, it's all them other people.
It's that bunch of Democrats. I mean, that's the wicked. You
know, that's how we think about that when we read about the wicked. But dear brethren, let's be honest,
who is the wicked? Who's the most wicked man you
know? You live with him, and I'm not
talking to you women about your husbands. That might be true,
but the secret counsel of the wicked. There's none good, no,
not one. They're all. turn aside. From the insurrection of the
workers of iniquity. An insurrection, that's like
when people rise up in protest. That's when, like the folks is
doing over in Hong Kong or wherever. I think it's Hong Kong where
they're having all these protests and what not. That's an insurrection. Now, you know because of the
sin of men It's often difficult really to comprehend and know
as we would think of the justice of things. Governments, the Lord
put governments in place to control. the sinfulness of men. I mean,
that's what the purpose of governments are. The Lord put kings in place
of rulership. The Scripture says this, to punish
the wicked doer, an evil doer. And so that is the purpose of
governments. Now, unfortunately, governments
are run by wicked men. So you've got to have somebody
riding herd on them. So I don't know who. You know,
it's kind of a complex situation. So if people rise up in an insurrection
against the government, You know, what is the right and the wrong
thing? I mean, if a bunch of us got together and we said,
well, we're not going to have that bunch up there in Washington
telling us what to do, and we got our guns and we got off out
here, and we said, come get us, you know, you're not going to
make us do what you're going to do, and they come down here
and they get us, well, I mean, Where's the right and the wrong
in that? You see, all of that is wrong.
It's wrong from the beginning. So when I look at these insurrections
such as taking place in Hong Kong, I might have my leanings
toward, I think these people are in the right, You know, they're
looking for freedom and all this, but then on the other hand, they
are going against the government that God put in place for them
to rule over them, whether they like it or not. So when you get
all the answers about how to solve that problem, you tell
me, you know, because I don't have the answer. I don't know. you know it is uh... but political
upheaval is going to take place wars and rumors of wars are going
to happen in the earth and there's nothing that we're going to do
as a nation or any other nation is going to do that's going to
cause that to cease it's just a fact of life it's just the
way that things are it's because of the sinfulness of men but
insurrection of the workers of iniquity See, an insurrection
is that which comes against the government, and what is the government
that men go against? What is ultimately the government
that they go against? It's the rulership of the Lord.
I mean, if the Lord says, this is the way it's going to be,
men say, no, we want it another way. And so we need to be mindful
that this is true. And I'm not saying that there's
not in the world times for political upheaval and all of that. I don't
know the answer to it. But I know one thing, and that
is that the Lord puts men in places of power according to
the good pleasure of his will. Now he may raise up other men
to take them down. But we need to be careful when
we get to thinking that we're sure that we're the one sent
to bring that to pass. But the insurrection, all rebellion
is ultimately against God. Is it not? I mean, all rebellion
is ultimately against God because he's the one who told us what
to do. And as Adam, our father, set
the pattern for us. And we said, no, we're not gonna
do that. Because you see, Eve was deceived, but Adam was not. Adam said, you know, I'm gonna get this. I've always
wanted to know the difference between good and evil. Always
wanted to know that. Ever since the Lord said, don't
do it. I said, man, I don't know that. So when Eve did it, he
said, well, man, here's my chance. We'll go, we'll band together
here, and we'll rise up against this one who told us no. We'll
do it. And that's what he did. So Eve
was deceived, but Adam was not. And thus plunged us, because
him being our head and representative, even as Christ is our head and
representative in bringing us righteousness. Adam, the first
Adam, he brought us into destruction. Who, speaking about those that
are the workers of iniquity, who wet their tongue like a sword
and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words,
Was that not that which was done to Christ? They spoke bitterly
against Him. made up all sorts of things that
they could to destroy them. They bent their bows to shoot
their arrows. They took aim at him, didn't
they? They said, you know, we'll get him. He's down here in the
marketplace. We'll come down here and we'll trick him. We'll get him. We'll put him
in a bind. I've told this story before,
but the old fellow I used to work with years ago, when I was
living in Lake City, He would see me, I'd take my
Bible and read it at lunchtime, we used to eat on the job site,
and he'd see me doing that. So one day he said, well you,
he says, you believe the Bible? And I said, well, yes sir, I
believe I do. And he said, do you believe God
can do anything? And I said, yes sir, I do. And
so he kind of laughed and he said, well, he said, well, God,
he said, can God throw a butt-headed cow over the fence by the horn? And he just laughed because he
just figured, well, you know, he just, he found out something
God couldn't do. I mean, he, you see, that was
in the, that's in the nature of men, isn't it? Well, God can't
do that. Well, of course, I didn't have
an answer for him, you know. I just said, well, I said, if
me and you understand it, I don't think we could. But I said, I
believe God could throw a butt-headed cow over the fence by the horns
because I believe He could cause him to grow horns just in time
to do it and then make him butt-headed at the end. You know, so All
of that doesn't make, but that's just the nature of man, is it
not? They bend their bow, they say,
now we got him. And they did that with the Lord,
did they not? I remember one instance, they came to him and
they said, you know, do you and your disciples
pay tribute? And he said, well, He said, let
me see a coin. And he said, whose image in superscription
is this on the coin? And he said, Caesar's. And he
said, well, I'll tell you what. He said, render to Caesar the
things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are
God's. And the scriptures said, they dare not ask him any more
questions, because he made a fool out of them. You know? But they
didn't come from bending their bow, see? They were going to
find something. They shoot their air, even bitter
words, even as those who came to Him with that woman taking
in adultery. And they said, now we've got
Him. What's He going to say now? But one by one, they went out
as the Lord convicted them of their own sin. even bitter words,
that they may shoot in secret at the perfect. Now, if you don't
think this is about Christ, then explain this to me. Here it says
that they may shoot in secret at the perfect. Now I know that
in the Scriptures, the word perfect does not always mean what we
usually consider the perfect to be, that is, that which is
mature or full age, or that's what perfect often means. But
in this particular instance, this word perfect means without
fault. There's none that's without fault.
I couldn't be brought before a court and before the judge
and be found guiltless. If they could just take and make
a movie of your life and show it up at the courthouse, which
one of us wouldn't be in jail? Huh? I mean everybody would be
in jail, would you not? Or at least paying some pretty
hefty fines if you could just be brought up for everything
that you have done. So you're not faultless, but
you see Christ, He had no fault whatsoever. None of the stuff
that they could accuse Him of. They couldn't even make up something
and cause it to be true. They couldn't find anything.
Now I could just generally think of some things and probably convict
every one of y'all in here, just on general principles, maybe
not specifically, but I could just come up with some stuff
and I know I'd say, well, I know they've lied. I know they've cheated on various
things from time to time. I know they've taken advantage
of some other people. I know they've thought some evil
thoughts. See, all those general things, that would all convict
us, would it not? But they couldn't come up with
anything, yet they shoot in secret at the perfect. Because you see,
that's the only way they could get him was to shoot in secret
and come up with things that were not true. Suddenly do they
shoot at him and fear not. See, they didn't think about
it. Had they known, and the scripture even says this, had they known
who he was, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Had they known it. But they didn't know. See, God
didn't give them the privilege to know. It is a privilege to
know him. It's not just something men can
figure out. Surely this one whom they reasoned
with daily, who constantly told them of God's righteousness and
gave them not a leg to stand on, surely, and there was some
of them among them who did become believers by the grace of God,
Nicodemus being one of them. But they couldn't figure it out. See, they said they had no fear,
we're going to destroy him. And they sent this band of soldiers. Wouldn't you have liked to have
been among them with a task like that? To go down there and do
this, if you knew who he was. Now it's an amazing thing to
me that any of them did carry through with it after When they
came up there, and they said, we seek Jesus of Nazareth, and
he said, I am, and the scripture says, I am he, but really what
he said was, I am. And the scripture says, they
all fell backwards. I can just picture it, you know,
like you see in the Three Stooges, how they all fall down, you know,
all together, and I can see how they were just like the Three
Stooges. They all just fell backwards. But the amazing thing is, because
of the wickedness that's innate in men's hearts, rather than
saying, Lord, they got up and they arrested Him, because it
was according to the ordained purpose of God that they do so. They fear not. Men don't fear
God. I mean, you know, the natural
man, he doesn't have any fear of God. I have people tell me, you know,
I've had a lot of people say, oh, I don't fear dying. Well,
that's just because you don't know who the judge is. Now I know there's a perfect
love cast without fear, and there is a sense in which we do not
fear death. Death, where is our sting? O
grave, where is our victory? But as a natural man, faced with
the prospect of dying and standing before the judge of all the earth,
that's a fearful thing. And a man who fears God, he trembles
at the thought of such a thing. Even though by the grace of God
he'd be given a hope and an expectation in the mercy of God. But they
fear not. They encourage themselves in
an evil manner. I know you have, but you know,
we've all been in situations where we were going to do something,
somebody proposed to do something. you know, as kids and what have
you. And we said, well, you know, we better not do that. Well,
then someone said, oh, come on, let's do it. And one wouldn't
have done it, but because they encouraged themselves, they went
ahead and did it. They followed a multitude to
do evil. And so it is, they encourage
themselves in an evil manner. They commune of laying snares
privately. They say, who shall see them?
We can get away with this. We can do away with this man
Jesus. Nobody will know. We'll concoct this scheme and
we'll be done with him and everything will be back to normal and our
power structure won't be interrupted and we can go forward just like
things never changed. Who shall see them? They search
out iniquities, they accomplish a diligent search, both the inward
thought of every one of them, and the heart is deep. See, man's
heart is deep. It's not deep in knowledge, but
it's deep in iniquity. See, the heart of man is deep.
I mean, it's a well, it's a pit. There's no bottom to it. You
can't ever exhaust that well of wickedness. that rises up
within our heart. Just when we think we're done
with something, some problem that we've had, it'll sprout
up again, will it not? Well, we say, you know, I hear
all these people, well, we got victory over that. Well, you
better be careful when you start bragging about victory over some
problem in your life, because the likelihood is that the root
of it is still there. And that root was liable to sprout. Take not pride in your own way,
but know that the heart is deep. But God shall shoot at them with
an arrow, suddenly shall they be wounded. Now it says that
they would shoot arrows at the upright and the perfect. They
bend their bows, but I'm telling you, the arrow of God is much
more sure to hit its mark. than the arrow that they bend
their bows with. And like the old Puritan said,
the arrow which marks out our death was let loose from the
bow of God before we were ever born. The number of breaths that
we take already numbered. You can't add one to it and nobody
can take one from it. And the Lord will indeed shoot
at them with an arrow, all men. For it is pointed unto men once
to die, and after this the judgment. Suddenly shall they be wounded,
suddenly. You know, it doesn't make any
difference that death is an expected thing. It happens suddenly. You know, you can see a loved
one or a friend who has a disease that causes them to waste away
before your very eyes. And you can see them by the day
growing weaker and weaker and weaker. But when the time of their death
comes, it's sudden. Because there's no remedy for
it. I mean, that's it. And sometimes, you know, the
Lord's pleased to take somebody in the prime of life, somebody
you don't expect. And that death is sudden. But
it's not sudden with God because He's already marked it out according
to the good pleasure of His will. So shall they make their own
tongue to fall upon themselves. All that see them shall flee
away. You see, man's own words will testify against him on the
day of judgment. Lord won't have to say a thing. The words of men, their own self,
their own conscience will condemn them in that day. And all men shall fear and shall
declare the work of God, for they shall wisely consider of
his doing. And of course that's not speaking
about all men without exception, but it is talking about all men
whom God is pleased to give that fear to. All men shall fear the
Lord and declare the work of God, for they shall wisely consider
of his doing. What a grace and privilege it
is to be caused to do so. The righteous shall be glad in
the Lord and shall trust in him, and all the upright in heart
shall glory. The righteous shall be glad in
the Lord. Who is the righteous? There's
only one that's righteous. Jesus Christ, the righteous shall
be glad in the Lord, but the upright in heart shall glory. Because you see the Lord has
made us upright. Man has sought out many inventions,
but the Lord has made his children upright. How did we become upright? Not because of some activity
of our own, but because of His. His mercy and His kindness. Those
who are upright in the sight of God are those who are found
in Christ. What a glorious place to be found.
The Lord said He would separate the sheep from the goats. Goats on His left hand, sheep
on the right. Sheep are the upright. The goats
are the reprobate. And the Lord knows them that
are His. and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart
from iniquity." Because you see, that's the desire that the Lord
places within the hearts of those that have learned to trust Him. David said, I delight to do thy
will, O Lord. Of course, again, I think that
is primarily the prayer of Christ, but it is at which the Lord works
in His people, to delight in the will of God. The Word of
God, the way of God. What a wondrous privilege is
given to us to know Him.