The song we sang a moment ago
says, Millions there of flaming seraphs fly across the heavenly
plain. There they sing immortal praises. Glory, glory is their strain. The Lord created the angels to
magnify His name. Isaiah, when he saw the Lord
high and lifted up, And he said that there were those seraphs
that fly around his throne, and some did cover their eyes, and
some did cover their ears. And they sang, Holy, Holy, Holy,
Lord God Almighty. But then the songwriter says
this. I mean, if you can picture that,
What a grand thing that was such a glorious sight that Isaiah
couldn't even really look upon it. He fell on his face and he
said, Lord, this is too much for me. He says, I can't stand
this. And we think of that glory, but
listen to this. As a songwriter, I believe he
captured this most beautifully. He says, but me thinks A sweeter
concert makes the heavenly arches ring,
and a song is heard in Zion which the angels cannot sing. See the heavenly host in rapture
gaze upon the shining band, wandering out in their costly garments
and the laurels in their hand. Isn't it a wondrous thing that
those creatures whom the Scripture says man was created a little
lower than the angel? Angels are a higher creature. But it is unto men that the Lord
has brought His greatest treasure and has given us a song to sing
that even the angels wonder at. They desire to look into these
things and they cannot. There upon the golden pavement
see the ransom march along while the splendid courts of glory
sweetly echo to their song. What a wondrous thing it is that
the Lord would demonstrate to the powers and principalities
the triumph and the glory of His grace, though they cannot
really get the essence of it, yet they can see the grandeur
of it. And even as we as men look upon the grandeur of that
glorious sight with the angels, and in some measure we desire
to be as the angels, but dear brethren, we have been lifted
to a place of greater blessing than even the angels. And what
a glorious thing it is that the angels look upon us. Even as
we look upon them with wonder, they look upon us with an even
greater wonder and desire that they might taste and know of
these things that you and I are given. What a blessing is brought
to the sons of God! Oh, their crowns, how bright
they sparkle, such as monarchs never wear. They are gone to
heavenly pastures. Jesus is their shepherd. Rain, sweet shepherd, every rain. May He be praised. We looked
this morning at Psalm 41. It says to the chief musician,
the Psalm of David, Blessed is he that considereth poor, the
Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve
him and keep him alive. He shall be blessed upon the
earth, and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing.
Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. I said, Lord, be
merciful unto me. Heal my soul, for I have sinned
against thee. Mine enemies speak evil of me.
When shall he die and his name perish? And if he come to see
me, he speaketh vanity, his heart gathereth iniquity to itself.
When he goeth abroad, he telleth it. All that hate me whisper
together against me, against me do they devise my hurt. And
evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him, and now that he
lieth, he shall rise up no more. Yea, mine own familiar friend,
in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted
up his heel against me. But thou, O Lord, be merciful
unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them. By this I
know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph
over me. And as for me, thou upholdest
me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting and to everlasting. Amen. and amen. Now to the chief musician, a
psalm of David. David, of course, was a man greatly
blessed by the Lord to pen the Psalms. It's amazing how the Lord directs
the steps of His people to bring to pass the things that He does. We wouldn't have the Scriptures
as we know them, this is humanly speaking, had not the people
who penned these words been through the things that they went through.
In other words, we couldn't know of these things unless somebody
walked through these things. And there was a lot of heartache
and trouble and problems that came to make this up. But the
Lord meant it all for good. Just like when He saw His creation,
He said He was pleased with it. Now some people seem to think
that the Lord is kind of disappointed. in His creation. But He is not
disappointed at all because it is exactly as He wanted it to
be. And the purpose that He would
fulfill in the earth, He has done that. And that is to bring
glory to His name through the redemption of the people in Jesus
Christ. That is the reason for the creation
of the world, to manifest His glory. And may we always remember
that. But I was thinking there, In
light of those things we were talking about, about looking
at the glory of the angels and often thinking, man, wouldn't
it be really something to be an angel and to be able to move
around? I don't know how the angels move
around or what they do or anything else, but it's a thing we often
think about. You know, there is a spiritual
realm of things that are going on that are in many ways unbeknownst
to us, but yet the Lord has set all of this in motion and He
guides and directs these things. Even as the Scripture says, He
gave a charge to the angels even unto Jesus Christ so that He
might not even hit His foot against a stone. And what a glorious
thing that is. But I was thinking about that,
you know, as blessed as David was in the station he had in
his life, he would gladly take the place of the least of the
saints of God who have been privileged to see the redemptive work of
Christ manifested. And why do I say that? Well,
the Lord said, there has not arisen a prophet from among men,
that is, someone born of men. There has not arisen a greater
prophet than John the Baptist. But He said, I tell you this,
that he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater
than John the Baptist. Now John the Baptist was the
forerunner of Christ, but he is saying there that even the
weakest of the saints, those who have seen the redemptive
work of Christ... See, John never saw it, did he?
He died before Christ performed the work that he came to do.
But dear brethren, we have seen it, not with these eyes, but
with the eye of faith by the grace of God. We have seen those
things that He has done and we have been blessed and we have
been given all of these things in a book, in a record that is
set forth. A record that is so complete
that the Lord said a man would be cursed if he added anything
to it or took anything from it. A complete record. John said,
If they had recorded all the things that the Lord Jesus did,
He said all the books in the world couldn't have contained
it. And yet, this is what the Lord would bring to us. A lot
of times they spend more time trying to figure out stuff they
can't know than they do rejoicing in the things that they can. I see all these guys running
around And they got these prophecy seminars and all this stuff,
and they write these books, you know, on all this stuff. They
don't know what they're talking about. I mean, they don't know
this stuff. Now, they make people think they
do, and they can gather up a crowd, you know, that wants to hear
all these things. But, dear brethren, there is
no grander or more glorious revelation given to the children of God
than to see Jesus Christ high and lifted up as the King of
kings and Lord of lords. Whether we know anything at all
about the mysteries that may yet unfold before us, the grandest
mystery of all time has been set forth in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ as He came into the world to reveal Himself
as the Savior of men, Jew and Gentile alike. I mean, Paul said,
it's a mystery that was kept hidden from the foundation of
the world, but is now made manifest. Christ in you, the hope of glory. What a glorious thing. And so,
we look at this psalm, and it's kind of like a broken record.
I say this all the time, but it's just the truth. This is
a psalm of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is that which is about Christ. It is the Word of Christ. It
is the prayer of Christ. And as we look at this, blessed
is he that considereth the poor. Now, the Lord said, blessed is
the poor. Did He not say, blessed are the
poor, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God. Now,
he says here, blessed is he that considereth the poor. Now, there
are several ways in which we can look at this, and I think
there is application for all of them. Blessed is he that considereth
the poor. Now, first off, I believe that
would be speaking primarily of the Lord Jesus Christ as the
one who does consider the poor. He said to his disciples, you
know, the poor you have always with you, now speaking about
the literal poor, that is, the poor in this world's goods, but
they have been set forth in the earth. See, every time you see
a poor man, every time you see somebody begging by the side
of the road, rather than turning your nose up at them, you ought
to praise God that He has sent forth a manifestation of what
every sinner is before Almighty God. Isn't that the truth? I mean, you know those guys standing
out there who will work for food? Well, you know they won't work
for food, because if they'd work for food, they'd be working for
food. So they won't work for food, but you know how often
it is that we come before the Lord and we say, Lord, we're
going to do this. You know, if you'll just bless us, we'll just
be obedient to you. And we know when we come up there,
we're not going to do that. But oh, the Lord would remind
us that it's not by works of righteousness that we have done,
but according to His mercy that He saved us. And so, you know,
I'm not telling you what to do when you see somebody holding
one of those signs, but I'm just saying you ought to be reminded
that that's how you are before the Lord. And if it wasn't for
His mercy and His kindness, you'd starve to death. But He is pleased
to consider the poor. And He does help those that can't
help themselves. And so, He is that one that considers
the poor. But there is also another application
of this. Blessed is he that considereth
the poor. The Proverbs said that he that
giveth to the poor, lendeth unto the Lord. And such as he giveth,
he will repay. Now, isn't it an amazing thing
how the Lord brings people into your life that you wish He wouldn't. You ever have anybody like that?
Huh? You wish they'd just leave you
alone. But they show up every now and then and they say, I
need something. And you just say, oh man. You
know, I don't want to do this. But then by the grace of God,
He reminds you that that's exactly what you are before the Lord. You know, blessed is he that
considers the poor. Now, I don't have all the answers. You know, I know the answer.
And there is no real answer because the Lord said those kind of people
will be in the world to the end, because He will show men what
they are by nature. And I know we've got to be wise
as serpents and harmless as doves. And I know that sometimes, you
know, those people are just taking advantage of the kindness of
people's hearts. I understand all of that. But
the Scripture says, He that pitieth the poor lendeth unto the Lord. Now, when you give somebody something,
You know, what they do with it, it doesn't make a better difference
in the world. God, again, I'm not telling you not to be wise
and not to think things through and all of that, but when you
give something to somebody in the name of the Lord, it doesn't
matter what they do with it, because that's between them and
the Lord. You know, when you give somebody
something in the name of the Lord, you got the blessing, did
you not? I mean, you're the one that received
the blessing. You're not waiting and saying,
well, Lord, you know I gave that and so down the road I'm expecting
something to happen to me. No, that's not it. You've got
blessed in the gift. See, the blessing is in the gift,
not what you get as a result of the gift. A lot of people
want to give somebody something and then they want to see what
they're going to do with it so they can feel good. Well, I gave him that
and he went and did right with it. No, you missed it. You see, you're not looking for
the outcome You're just, by the grace of God, as you consider
the poor and consider yourself as one of them, you've received
the blessing. It's more blessed to give than
to receive. That's a true thing. What a glorious
blessing to have that brought to your awareness and stamped
in your heart, because it is true. But then there's another
way in which we might consider this. Blessed is he that considereth
the poor, and who was poorer among men than the Lord Jesus
Christ. He was the poorest of men. He
had not where to lay his head. He didn't own anything. He was acquainted with grief. He was a man of sorrows. I mean,
he just walked among men. He knew what it was to be poor.
And yet, he knew what it was to own the cattle on a thousand
hills. I mean, he had all things. So he wasn't lacking in anything
that he needed, but yet he was in the poor. So blessed is he
that considereth the poor. Blessed is that man that looketh
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is that man. That man
is happy because he is brought to see that thing. The Lord will
deliver him in time of trouble. Now who is it speaking about?
Is it speaking about the Lord will deliver the man who considers
the poor? Or is it talking about the Lord
will deliver the poor. I believe it is the latter. The
Lord will deliver the poor. He will help those who He is
pleased to consider. The Lord will deliver the poor.
The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive. And he shall
be blessed upon the earth, and thou wilt not deliver him to
the will of his enemies." Now, this also has another meaning
having to do with Christ Himself. These things are true. Now, the
Lord was taken by the wicked hands and slain. And the way
that the world often looks at what happened to Christ is that,
well, the devil accomplished his will upon Christ. No, he
did not. The Lord Jesus Christ wasn't
delivered up to the will of Satan. He wasn't delivered up to the
powers of darkness. He wasn't turned over to them.
But it was according to God's grand design, you see, that all
these things occurred. And so he was not forsaken. The
Lord will preserve him, keep him alive. And He did keep him
alive, did He not, until such time as he was pleased to lay
down his life. He said, I can lay it down, I
can take it again. No man taketh my life from me.
It was impossible that men could have by wicked hands slew him
except for one thing. It was according to the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God that ye have taken him, and
by wicked hands have crucified and slain. It is according to
the purpose of God. And thou wilt not deliver him
unto the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him
upon the bed of languishing. Thou wilt make all his bed in
his sickness. A strange way of saying that.
I believe it has to do with the fact that the Lord will restore
him or help him in the midst of his sickness. And again, he's
talking about the poor. Now what is the sickness of the
poor? It's that he's poor. And the Lord will help the poor.
I mean, he will deliver the poor and the needy, those that call
upon him, make all his bed in his sickness, that is, just like
somebody tends to the sick. When somebody is sick and they
can't get out of bed, it's a real blessing when somebody tends
to them, is it not? Brings them something to eat,
and perhaps cools their fevered brow, and speaks to them, helps
them, encourages them, whatever. That's what the Lord does to
those whom He loves. He makes His bed in His sickness. I said, Lord, be merciful unto
me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. Well, that
couldn't possibly be speaking of Christ, could it? Well, did
He not bear our sin, carry our sorrows? You know, people get
worried about that when you would take this and apply it to Christ. And we are not saying that Christ
in any wise had any sin of His own, but He did indeed completely
and perfectly bear our sin. And had He not come before the
Lord confessing our sin unto the Lord, could He have borne
our sin? I mean, when they brought the escaped goat there, could
the sin be transferred to that goat except they put their hands
upon him? And so he is that one who has
carried our sin. And he carried our sin as he
confessed it before the Lord, that he was the sin bearer. He
said, this sin is my sin. I am taking it from them and
putting it upon myself. Heal my soul, for I have sinned
against thee. Mine enemies speak evil of me.
When shall He die in His name? Paris. That's what they say.
We want to be rid of Him. And now what they said when they
said crucify Him. We want to be done with Him.
We're tired of Him going around the countryside and stirring
up all this trouble and everything and causing people to question
us. I'm speaking that these are the
leaders of the Jews. They say we don't want somebody
getting in on our territory here. We want to get rid of Him. By
an enemy they speak evil of me." They did. They bore false witness
against him. When shall he die and his name
perish, it is necessary that one must die, they said, for the nations. Little did they
know that they spoke prophecy and truth, for it was necessary. And if he come to see me, he
speaketh vanity. His heart gathers iniquity to
himself when he goeth abroad, he telleth it." Judas, I believe,
is speaking, and I believe it is very plainly borne out that
this is what he is speaking of, I mean here, because, you know,
Judas was in his very close company. What did Judas do? He made that
he was his friend, but then when he went to the Sanhedrin, he
says, I can tell you some things. He says, I can tell you where
he's at. When he goes abroad, he tells
you. He says, yes, I can get him. All that hate me whisper
together against me. Against me do they devise my
heart. So when he brought that charge to them, they said, well,
you know, this is a good deal. Let's give this cat thirty pieces
of silver and he'll carry through on this. Yeah, we got this just
right where we want it. They hate me, whisper together.
See, they didn't go out into the broad ways and and declare what it was they
were going to do. They did this behind closed doors.
They didn't make this thing known, but they whispered together in
their desire to destroy the Lord Jesus Christ against me, do they
devise my hurt or do they plot against me? All they that hate
me whisper together against me, they do devise my hurt. An evil
disease, say they, cleaveth past unto him. This man is a sinner.
This man is a wicked man because he goes about and he heals people
on Sabbath day. We've got to get rid of him.
He's a blasphemer. Why, he said that he could tear
down the temple and in three days raise it again. Who does
he think he is? An evil disease, say they cleave
fast unto him. And now that he lies, he shall
rise up no more. If we can get rid of him, we'll
be done with him. I like the words, he shall rise up no more,
but what did he do? He rose, did he not? They said,
we'll put him down and we won't have to worry about him anymore. Yea, now listen to this. Yea,
mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my
bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. Now how do we know
that that's exactly A prophecy here, speaking of Judas. And
Adam, we know that this is a psalm concerning the prayer of the
Lord Jesus Christ, because these are the words of Christ, the
very words of Christ. Verse 13-18. He said, I speak
not of you all, I know whom I have chosen. But that the Scripture
may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me hath lifted up
his heel against me. Now I tell you before it come,
that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever
I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that
sent me." Who was it that ate bread with
the Lord? Judas, his own familiar friend. The Lord said friend. He did not call him his friend.
Was he not his friend? He was his friend, but he knew
what was in Judas' heart. In fact, the Scripture says that
he was ordained unto this very end. The Lord said it would have been
better if he had never been born. as far as he's concerned. Yet
the Lord had a purpose. And he fulfilled that purpose.
And he was glad to do it. See, some people kind of think
that when the Lord ordains something to happen, that the people, they
do those things unwillingly. I mean, it's like, oh, Lord,
I want to obey You, I've got to disobey you now. Judas didn't. He wasn't saying, man, I don't
want to do this, Lord. Don't make me go and betray you. No, he wanted to betray the Lord. I don't know what is the underlying
reasons as far as humans might try to figure it out in these
movies and stuff. They're always trying to figure
out some reason. I don't know what it was, but
I know this. that Judas was glad to betray
Him. He was glad to get silver, was he not? Now, did he have
some remorse? Well, sure he did. But it was
natural remorse. It was that repentance which
is to be repented of. Yeah, he looked at himself just
like a drunkard looks at himself in the mirror after he sobers
up after he beat his wife half to death the night before and
he says, Oh, I'm sorry that I did that. You know, there is a natural
remorse that men can have, a conscience that does, you know, show them
the wickedness that they have, but there is a difference between
natural repentance and the repentance of the heart as David expressed
it when he said, against thee and thee only have I sinned. You see, when a man knows he
has sinned against God, that is true repentance. It's not
being sorry for what you did. Because everybody's sorry, or
not everybody, but most of the time, you know, you can get people
to be sorry. I mean, most of these guys on
death row, they'd say, well, I'm sorry that I did it. And
they probably are, I mean, you know, in some measure. But, you
know, that's not true repentance. But thou, Lord, Be merciful unto
me and raise me up that I may requite them or repay them. Brother Al read it today, the
Lord will not at all acquit the wicked. He will not by any means
clear the guilty. There is judgment. It is appointed
unto men once to die and after this the judgment. I mean, that's
just as sure as can be. The Lord will repay those who
have done these things, even as He has already manifested,
that I may requite them. You know, over in Isaiah, one
of my favorite passages of Scripture, Isaiah chapter 63, It says, Who is this that cometh
from Edom with thy garments from Basra, this that is glorious
in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength,
I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save? Wherefore art
thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth
in the wine vat, or the winepress? I have trodden the winepress
alone, and of the people there was none with me, for I will
tread them, Who? The people. He says, I will tread
them in mine anger and trample them in my fury, and their blood
shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain my rank. The Scripture says that the Lord
is angry with the wicked every day. The Scripture says He will mock
when there is calamity coming. He will hold them in derision.
The Lord will destroy His enemies just as surely as we stand here. There is no doubt about it. He
said He would do that. Our gods are consuming fire. By this I know that thou favor'st
me, because my enemy doth not triumph over me." He didn't say,
it doesn't appear that my enemy triumphed, because it was for
a season it did look that way. I mean, the disciples were quite
taken aback by all of this. And they thought that the enemy
had triumphed. But you see, he said, I'm going to rise again on the
third day. Well, they didn't no more believe that A lot of
the other stuff he told them. They just didn't believe it.
If they had believed it, they'd all have been camped out down
there at the tomb, wouldn't they? I mean, if you really believed
that the Lord was going to rise again, wouldn't you want to be
right there with Him when He came forth? I mean, I say I would,
but I would have been just like them. I wouldn't have believed
it either. How can you believe something like that? His enemies did not triumph over
Him. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity. How do
I know this is speaking about Christ? Because He said, Thou
upholdest me in mine integrity. Now can you imagine a sinner
coming to the Lord and saying, Lord, uphold me in mine integrity? I mean, do you want the Lord
to uphold you in your integrity? Do you want your integrity? Lord,
here is my integrity. No. Lord, do not look at what
I would call my integrity, because it is tainted with sin. It is that which there is no
integrity in me. But Christ, as that One who bore
our sin, yet was a man of great integrity, He was pure. and steadfast, desiring to do
his Father's will, and said, It is Me before thy face forever."
Where is the Lord Jesus Christ sitting? Seated at the right
hand of God forever. For the Lord has seen His righteousness,
and He has said to the Son, Ask of Me, and I will give thee the
heathen for thine inheritance. because all that He has belongs
to the Son. And the Son has made us heirs
and joint heirs with Him. Oh, what a glorious station that
we have, the poor and beggarly elements of the earth raised
to the highest station of wealth. I mean, what greater wealth could
be bestowed on a man than to become a joint heir with Jesus
Christ? in all the things that He has.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting and to everlasting,
Amen and Amen. Over in the book of Revelation,
we read that His name is the Faithful and Amen. Amen and Amen, because He is
that One who is worthy to be praised, not just now, but forever. Oh, that the Lord might give
us a heart and mind to praise Him, fill our mouths with thanksgiving,
and to remember the Lord's mercies, for He does indeed consider the
poor. He considers the poor even as
He causes us to consider Him as that One who became poor for
our sake. May the Lord help us.