Looking at Psalm 18, the title of this psalm is, To
the chief musician, a psalm of David, the servant of the Lord,
who spake unto the Lord the words of this psalm, in the day that
the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and
from the hand of Saul. And he said, if you look in II
Samuel, Chapter 23, this is about a verbatim recording of what David did say
there in that chapter. It says here, I will love thee,
O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust,
my buckler and the horn of my salvation. and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who
is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from mine
enemies. The sores of death compassed
me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sores
of hell compassed me about. The snares of death prevented
me. In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of His
temple. My cry came before him, even unto his ears. Then the
earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the hills
were moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. There went up a
smoke out of his nostrils, and a fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. He
bowed the heavens also and came down, and darkness was under
his feet. And he rode upon a cherub and
did fly, yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made
darkness his secret place. His pavilion round about him
were dark waters and faint clouds of the skies. At the brightness
that was before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and
coals of fire. The Lord also thundered in the
heavens, and the highest gave his voice. hailstones and coals
of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows and
scattered them. He shot out lightnings and discomfited
them. Then the channels of waters were
seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at
thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them which hated
me. for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in
the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. He brought
me forth also into a large place. He delivered me because He delighted
in me. The Lord rewarded me according
to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands
hath He recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the
Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments
were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.
I was also upright before him, and kept myself from mine iniquity. And therefore hath the Lord recompensed
me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of
my hands in his eyesight. With the merciful thou wilt show
thyself merciful. With an upright man thou wilt
show thyself upright. With the pure thou wilt show
thyself pure, and with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward.
For thou wilt save the afflicted people, but will bring down high
lows. For thou wilt light my candle,
the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by thee I have
run through a troop, And by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect.
The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those
that trust in Him. For who is God, save the Lord? Or who is a rock, save our God? It is God that girdeth me with
strength and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hind's
feet and setteth me upon my high places. He teaches my hands to
war, so that a bowl of steel is broken by mine arms. Thou
hast also given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy right
hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. I have pursued mine enemies and
overtaken them, neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
I have wounded them that they were not able to rise, they are
fallen under my feet. For thou hast girded me with
strength unto the battle. Thou hast subdued unto me those
that rose up against me. Thou hast also given me the necks
of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. They
cried, but there was none to save them, even unto the Lord,
but he answered them not. Then did I beat them small as
the dust before the wind. I did cast them out as the dirt
in the streets. Thou hast delivered me from the
strivings of the people, and thou hast made me the head of
the heathen. A people whom I have not known
shall serve me. As soon as they hear of me, they
shall obey me. The strangers shall submit themselves
unto me. The strangers shall fade away
and be afraid out of their close places. The Lord liveth, and
blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. It is God that avenges me, and
subdueth the people under me. He delivereth me from mine enemies. Yea, thou liftest me up above
those that rise up against me. Thou hast delivered me from the
violent man. Therefore will I give thanks
unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto
thy name. Great deliverance giveth he to
his king, and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to
his seed for evermore." Now, this is a glorious psalm for
sure. And the occasion, of course,
of this psalm is David recounting the many deliverances that he
was given. For it says here that he spoke
these words unto the Lord in the day that the Lord delivered
him from the hand of all his enemies. Now this was not one
particular day. In other words, it was not that
David just had a day out of the days of all of his life that
this occurred on. But rather, it is speaking of
the fact that this did occur And he was delivered from his
enemies in the day of David, that is, in the time in which
David lived. This is the day of David. This
is the day of salvation. It does not mean a twenty-four
hour period. It does not mean a specific moment
in time, but it means the day, the period of time, that is,
this is that moment of time wherein the Lord is pleased to deliver
His people. And so David, over there in the book of Samuel
when it speaks after David got through with this, and then in
the next chapter it says, thus ended the words of David. That
was not the end of all that David said. So we have to understand
what the Scripture means when it sets forth such a thing as
that. And as you look at the Scripture,
it's its own interpreter. You don't really need great wisdom
of men to grasp the things of God if the Lord is pleased to
open your mind to see these things, because He reveals them to us
in the pages of His book. There are no contradictions here.
Now, in the minds of men there are often contradictions and
conundrums and things that we cannot understand. But the answer
is always to be found in the Word of God. It is not going
to be found outside of the Word of God. It is going to be shown
to be in the Word of God. Now it is a true thing that the
Lord does send to His people, teachers, for the purpose of
setting these things forth. But any man that comes preaching
and teaching, giving men answers that aren't found and based in
the Word of God, is not a true preacher of righteousness. You
know, if the things that we believe are founded on man's natural
understanding, then that's going to fail. But if those things
that we believe are founded on the Word of God, they cannot
fail, can't pass away. So he says here, I will love
thee, O Lord, my strength. Now, as we have said as we're
going through these Psalms, these are indeed the Psalms of David,
the prayers of David. The Lord made him the penman
of these things. But these are primarily and essentially
the prayers and the words of the Lord Jesus Christ spoken
through David. Now keep in mind that the Lord
identifies with His people and He imputes His righteousness.
Brother Al spoke of it this morning, that the righteousness of Christ
is imputed to the people of God in such fashion that It is our
righteousness. When Christ says, I'm perfect,
then He's speaking of us. We're made perfect in Christ.
Now, we don't possess that in our flesh. We don't possess that
in the natural man, but we possess it as we are made perfect in
Christ. I have many faults and failures,
too numerous to mention, but in Christ I don't have any. Who shall bring any charge against
God's elect? As they stand in Christ, there
is no accuser that can come forth and accuse the people of God
in Christ. What a glorious thing! And so
David, when he speaks some of these things, is speaking in
a prophetic fashion. He is speaking as he is made
righteous in Jesus Christ, because these things cannot be said of
any man who is in the flesh. It's just impossible that it
would be. I will love thee, O Lord, my
strength. Even such a simple thing, if
you want to call that simple, that's not simple. Now, men would
look at it as being simple because, oh, well, we just love the Lord.
Well, listen, the natural man cannot and will not and does
not love the Lord. He might say he does. You know,
he might religiously learn that. Just like that man that came
to the Lord there and he said, well, you know, what do we need
to do to inherit life? Or he said, well, what's the
commandment? Well, he perfectly told the Lord
what the commandment was. But you see, his assumption was
that he did those things. And that's what happens when
men, you know, all the times when they take the law, And they
set it forth in their glory in the law, and they say, well,
here it is, as though we are abiding by this. You know, we
want the king's commandments up here because we are walking
in these things. No, dear brethren, the king's
commandments reveal to us how far from the truth we really
are. And so we are not. those who
love the Lord in the flesh, but by the grace of God as He works
in us in and through Jesus Christ, we can say of assurity, I love
the Lord. And David says here, I will love
thee, O Lord, my strength, because that is my desire in the Spirit
as the Spirit of God works in me, both the will and to do of
His good pleasure. And I don't believe that a child
of God cannot. express His love to the Lord
because of that very Word. I will love Thee, O Lord, my
strength. The Lord is our strength. He
was the strength of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Father. He
came not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent
Me. And surely the Lord is our strength. He is that One that
holds us up. Now, oft times men try to Strengthen
one another. You know, we want to be strong,
brother, be strong. Well, you can't be strong except
you're strong in the Lord. I mean, because we're not strong.
We'll fade away as a leaf. The Lord is my rock. He's that
one upon which we stand. You know, a rock's immovable.
Like the rock of Gibraltar, it's there. And the Lord is my rock
and my fortress. He is that one in whom we are
protected. He is my deliverer. He is that
one that brings me out of the troubles that I might find myself
in. My God, my strength, in whom
I will trust. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ perfectly
fulfilled these things, and He works in His people to give them
such a desire that we would trust in the Lord. He is our trust
in whom I will trust. I will trust in the Lord. Now,
if we belong to the Lord, we will trust Him. We cannot do
anything else. I mean, a child of God in whom
has been given the Spirit of the Son, crying, Abba, Father,
what else can he do but trust the Lord? He can't trust the
arm of the flesh. There is nothing there to trust.
I mean, we know how weak we are, but we know how strong He is
in whom I will trust, my buckler. I think that we talked about
this a while back, but a buckler is a small shield that was carried
on the arm to fend off blows from swords. It has to do with
close fighting. Now, there were shields that
they developed over the course of time. Isn't it amazing how
that one of the main places of invention of man from the beginning has
been in implements of warfare, ways to kill each other more
efficiently and more thoroughly, and kill more people at the time.
I mean, if you can come up with a weapon that just kills everybody,
I mean, you've really done something. I mean, that's basically what
the atomic bomb is. Man, we can just kill everybody
now. We've really got it. We're strong. And that's just
the way it is, but nonetheless, These things are given. Warfare
was given, was put into earth by the Lord for the purpose of
showing that there is a warfare that goes on between that spiritual
man and the carnal man. There is a warfare and the Lord
is the one who is the strength of the people of God in the midst
of that. So every time you read about a war among men, killing
and hacking on one another, just remember that the purpose of
warfare is to demonstrate the work of God in His people in
fighting off all the enemies. I kind of got off my train of
thought there, but men over time, as men develop the ability to
shoot arrows at one another, because you know originally when
they first started fighting with one another, all they could do
was just club one another and stuff, and they came up with
knives and they could cut one another. And then he came up
with spears and stuff. But then they decided, well,
man, we can shoot these arrows at one another from a long way
off because the goal is to be able to kill the other guy without
him being able to kill you. So they come up with that and
that worked pretty good until somebody said, well, wait a minute,
if they are going to kill us like that, we will get us these
big shields and then when those errors, we can protect ourselves.
And you have all seen these movies and stuff, and I do not know
if it is accurate, but it probably was, of the way that they would
put those big shields up and get down under them when they
would shoot those errors. you know, hit the shields and
that sort of thing. Well, this particular shield
that he's talking about here is not the shield of that sort
that is the covering, but rather it's that one that's worn on
the arm to, in close fighting where somebody's hacking at you
with a sword, you can put that shield up there and the sword
hits the shield rather than cutting you. But the Lord is our buckler. He's that one that's right in
there in the midst of the battle with us. He's not sitting over
here out away and looking and saying, well, I sure hope that
they can do this. Now that's the way that a lot
of people picture the battle of the people of God, is that
the Lord's sitting over there and He's rooting for us and He's
saying, come on, you can do it, you can do it. Well, dear brethren,
that's not the picture that the Scripture gives of the Lord fighting
our battles. He's in the midst of the fight.
And He is our buckler. And He is that One who wields
that shield and He's parrying the blows of the powers of darkness
that come against the people of God. He is our buckler and
the horn of my salvation, my high tower. You know, if you can get up high,
that's always been one of the goals of warfare, is it not?
To get up high. I mean, that always, when you
read about these battles, they always tried to get the high
ground, because it's harder to fight going uphill than it is
to fight going downhill. And so, to have the high ground,
to have the high tower, He is our high tower, that one upon
which we can survey the battlefield. We can see what's going on, but
nonetheless, He is that one who holds us up there where we can
see what's going on. See, we're not fighting the battle
on our own, but He's fighting for us. We're in a position where
we can see that as we're in Christ. He is our high tower. I will
call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be
saved from mine enemies." Now as he said, I will call upon
the Lord and because I call upon the Lord, I will be saved. No,
he is saying I will call upon the Lord because He is the one
who will deliver me. He is worthy of praise. I shall
be delivered not because I called, but because He saw me. in the
place that I was, and He delivered me. I will call upon the Lord,
who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine
enemies. The sores of death compassed
me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sores
of hell compassed me about. The snares of death prevented
me or went before me. In my distress I called upon
the Lord and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his
temple and my cry came before him even to his ears." Now I
believe that this is prophetically and specifically the prayers
of the Lord Jesus Christ as the sorrows of death took hold upon
him as he prayed in the garden. as it were great drops of blood,
sweat, as it were great drops of blood, as he agonized, as
he grappled with death. You know, death is not simply
a physical thing. Physical death is certainly something
that we do not look forward to. It is not something that we like
to talk about, per se. But physical death in itself
is not the worst of things, but it is far worse that a man enter
into the death wherein he is separated from Almighty God. Now that's the death that is
to be feared. And the sorrows of death come
past me. That is, all of those things.
You see, wait on the Lord Jesus Christ. And he knew this, that
he was going to be separated from God, did he not? He, knowing
all things, he knew the time would come when he would cry
and the Lord would not hear him. Now why was that? So that the
time would never come for his people when they would call and
the Lord would not hear. Because the Lord has borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows. And the Scripture says that the
sorrows of death compassed him. The sorrows of death come past
him so that the sorrows of death may never come past the people
of God. It may never overwhelm us and
bring us down to the pit. The sorrows of death come past
me and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. You know,
fear is a very uncomfortable position to be in when we are
fearful. And the floods of ungodly men, I
mean, the Lord faced ungodly men every day, did He not? These
that tempted Him, coming in to Him in the name of religion and
speaking, oh, you know, we want to know the right way. And you
know, if a man dies and his wife, You know, a man dies and his
brother takes a man's wife and all this. Well, whose wife is
she going to be in the resurrection? As though they were really interested
in that. No, they were just trying to
snare him. They were trying to mock the things that he was teaching.
They didn't care about him. Ungodly men day by day. I mean,
often, or on more than one occasion, the Lord said, O faithless generation,
He said, how can I bear up under this? I mean, I'm compassed daily
about with people that don't have any understanding of the
things of God. The floods of ungodly men made
me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed
me about. The snares of death went before
me. All of these horrors that men
can imagine, the Lord Jesus Christ bore. for us. And he said, in
my distress, was the Lord in distress? Most surely He was.
He was in great distress. So much so that the Scripture
says that the Lord sent angels to comfort Him and strengthen
Him in the midst of His troubles as He prayed to the Lord. He heard my voice. I called upon
the Lord. In my distress I called upon
the Lord and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of his
temple and my cry came before him, even into his ears." Now, how did he know that as a man except that it was by
faith? Now you see, the Lord Jesus Christ
was a man of faith. I mean, it is the most difficult
thing for us to do, to recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ was
a man, just like any man. Because we know He is God, but
yet He walked among men as a man. And it is necessary in men that
they have faith, because they do not see all things. Now, he
saw all things as being that one who is everlasting, but yet
as a man, he had the limitations that were upon men. Now, don't
ask me to explain that because I can't, but I know that it's
so from the things which he said. The sorrows of hell come past
me. In my distress, I called upon
the Lord, and He heard me. My cry came before Him even into
His ears, even though Now think about this, even though the things
which he prayed for he didn't see the immediate answer to,
did he? Because when he prayed in the
garden, it wasn't many moments hence until they came and they
took him. He was betrayed and they compassed
him about even in a greater way. But yet in faith, he says, my
cry came before him. In trouble, oftentimes, we don't
see an immediate answer to our prayer. But by the grace of God,
He gives us a mind and heart to continue to call upon Him,
even in such times as we don't see the answer to it. But listen
to this. Now this is a glorious passage
of Scripture here, and I believe this is the response You see
that the Lord has to the prayer of His Son crying out to Him. It says here, then the earth
shook and trembled. The foundations also of the hills
moved and were shaken because He was wroth. Who was wroth?
God was angry. Why was He angry? He was angry
because one of those whom He loved, in fact, in this instance,
the one whom He loved supremely, His only begotten Son, whom He
loved with an everlasting love. This one was crying out to Him. This one was calling upon His
name. And God Himself was angry with
the wicked. The Scripture says He is angry
with the wicked every day. And this is the description of
it. The earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the hills
moved and were shaken because it was raw. Did not the earth
move and the earthquake and the sun was darkened when the Lord
Jesus Christ hung on Calvary's cross? Why was it? Because of
the anger of God against sin, against ungodly
men. These things happened. The hills
moved and were shaken because He was wrought. Then there went
up a smoke out of His nostrils, fire out of His mouth devoured,
coals were kindled." There is no limit to that which God will
do in the behalf of His people. He bowed to heavens also and
came down and darkness was under His feet. And he rode upon a cherub and
did fly. He did fly upon the wings of
the wind." Now, this is very poetic language to describe the
glories of God and the moving of God to the swift relief of
His people, to the sure relief of His people as He comes. He rode upon a cherub and did
fly. Nothing could stop Him. He made
darkness His secret place. His pavilion round about Him
were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. There is not a
thing in the world that a man can do to penetrate any of that,
is there? Except for His mercy and kindness
to show men who He is. Because He dwells in the light
to which no man can approach. He dwells in the darkness to
which no man can approach. He is inapproachable, except
it pleases Him to show Himself to men. At the brightness that
was before him, his thick clouds passed." Now look at this. He says his pavilion right about
him were dark waters and thick clouds, and then it says, "...at
the brightness that was before him." I mean, he can be dark
and bright at the same time. Now you can't imagine that, neither
can I, but yet he is that one. that was before me as thick clouds
pass, hailstones and coals of fire." Now these things are mentioned
over in the book of Revelation, that there would be hailstones
and coals of fire, fire and brimstone that falls from the heavens.
What is this but a description of the glory of God? set forth
before men. I mean, how can it be that a
man would think that he could stand in the presence of such
a One as this? The Lord also thundered in the
heavens, and the highest gave His voice, hailstones and coals
of fire." And you remember when the Lord Jesus hung on the cross
and He gave up the ghost and there was darkness. and the thunder,
and the centurions say, surely this man was the Son of God. Because the Lord thundered from
heaven. The Lord made His voice heard. The highest gave His voice. Hail stones and coals of fire,
yea, He sent out His arrows and scattered them. He shot out lightnings
and discomfited them. Yes, surely, He brought to bear
the wrath of His law upon His only begotten Son. But make no
mistake about it, the destruction of those who put Him there is
certain. Because He said even of that
one who betrayed Him, it was better if this man had never
been born. The Lord sent out His arrows.
He scattered them. He shot out lightnings and He
discomfited them. That is, He vanquished them.
He just completely discombobulated them. He overcame them. Then the channels of waters were
seen and the foundations of the world were discovered at Thy
rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils. He sent from above. He took me.
He drew me out of many waters. Now, here again, he speaks of that
deliverance which was his in prospect. Now, the Lord Jesus
Christ, He bore the sin and sorrow of His people. But He did so
with the prospect of what would be gained by it. Now how do we
know that? It says, who for the joy that
was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame. It doesn't mean that He didn't
have shame, because He wasn't made to feel shame. He was made
to feel grief. He was made to bear our sorrows.
But for the joy that was set before Him, that is, He looked
beyond that. Even as He says here, He delivered
me from my strong enemy. Who was the enemy that was a
strong enemy? Who is the strongest enemy of
the children of God? Well, what I am speaking of,
those are true things, but the greatest enemy is what? Death. Death. But you see, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He speaks as He was delivered from that enemy, because that
enemy had no hold on Him. But yet He tasted death for His
people in order that they might not be cast away from the Lord. He delivered me from my strong
enemy and from them which hated me, for they were too strong
for me. See, in the flesh, In the flesh,
the Lord had no power over death. But He knew one who could deliver
Him from death. Because it is appointed unto
men once to die. But you see, death could not
hold the Lord Jesus Christ. It was appointed that He should
taste death, but not that He should be dead in the ultimate
sense of the word. They prevented me in the day
of my calamity, or they went before me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my stay. The Lord was that One that held
me up. He was that One that comforted
me in the midst of my trouble. He brought me forth also into
a large place. He delivered me because He delighted
in me. The deliverance of the Lord Jesus
Christ from death, from the tomb, was because He was the Lord's
delight. He was His only begotten Son.
Now we know that legally as He became sin for us and tasted
death for every man, as the Scripture says that He did, yet death could not ultimately hold Him
for several reasons. One, it had no actual claim upon
His flesh. I mean, had He not subjected
Himself to death, death couldn't have ever done anything, because
the soul that's in it shall die. Well, He never sinned, except
as He took our sin upon Him, and He became sin for us. And
in that fashion, He did die. And He died the death of every
man. That same death, every man will
die. But He said, the Lord brought
me into a large place, or a wealthy place, as He says in another
place in the Scripture. The Lord has brought me into
a wealthy place, that is, to a big place, to a good place.
He delivered me because He delighted in me. Now think of this in relation
of David. As he says, the Lord delivered
me because He delighted in me. Now some would take that as David
being boastful. No. You see, when a man says,
the Lord delighted in me, unless he is thinking that the Lord
delighted in him because of something good in him, then he has got
the wrong idea there. But if he understands the Lord
does delight in His people, it is a glorious thing to recognize
the Lord does delight in the people of God. They are precious
to Him. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. Why? Because He delights in them.
They belong to Him. Why does He delight in them? Because He sees them in Christ. And He delights in Christ. He
delighteth in me. The Lord rewarded me according
to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands,
that He recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the
Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God." Now I believe,
it is pretty clear to me that David is speaking in a prophetic
fashion, and he is also speaking as he has a standing in Christ. Because these are the words of
Christ. The Lord rewarded me according
to my righteousness. Has He ever rewarded you according
to your righteousness? You wouldn't get much, would
you? No, he rewarded David according
to his righteousness because who was his righteousness? His
righteousness was Christ. We do expect to be rewarded according
to our righteousness because we believe that Christ is our
righteousness. And dear brethren, the basis
of all that we We do stand in the justice of God because, as
we said last week, God will be just. You can be sure of this,
that God's justice will stand through the ages of time. He will be just. He may show
mercy, but He will be just. And the basis upon which our
salvation rests is not primarily on the mercy of God, though we
are indeed the objects of His mercy, but it is because of the
justice of God, who sees that which Christ has done in our
behalf. According to the cleanness of
my hands hath He recompensed me, for I have kept the ways
of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. He did
not. For all His judgments were before me, and I did not put
away His statutes from me. He said, Thy word is ever before
me. Oh, you know, the desire of God's
people is to walk in the law of God. In Thy law do I meditate
day and night, David said. Well, why is that? Is he speaking
as David in the flesh? No, he is saying the Spirit of
God works in me a desire to meditate in the things of God. And the
sadness that we have is how far short of what that goal that
we set and see in our minds is, to walk in the way of God. We
do not entertain the notion that we do walk in the way of God
except as we see what Christ has done. and as He is our perfection. I did not put away His statutes.
I was also upright before Him and I kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore hath the Lord recompensed
me according to my righteousness." What is our righteousness? It
is Christ. Do we not have that expectation
that He will reward us according to our righteousness? But our
righteousness is Christ. according to the cleanness of
my hands in his eyesight. With the merciful thou wilt show
thyself merciful." Now, you see, the Lord Jesus Christ came to
pay for our sin, but He was the only one who could not only pay
for our sin debt, but impute to us righteousness. Now, had
He merely died for us, and paid our sin debt, we still would
have been in a mess. We couldn't have entered into
the heavens, could we? Even though we were not judged
as sinners, we still cannot enter into heaven because of the fact
that we are by nature sinners. But you see, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He not only took our sin debt, but He has imputed His righteousness
to us. See, our sin is imputed to Him,
but His righteousness is imputed to us. It's not enough that a
man does not sin, but he must be perfectly righteous. And so
it is here that He says, "...with the merciful thou wilt show thyself
merciful." So it's not enough just to keep the law, but we
have to be merciful. You see, that was one of the
things that the rich young rulers that came to the Lord that he
did not see. about the law. He saw the law
as a letter to be kept. But he did not realize that the
law was more than the letter to be kept. It was to be kept
in the whole. Thou shalt love thy neighbors
thyself. He said, well, if you would be perfect, go sell all
you have and give it to the poor. You know, I mean, if you are
going to be full of mercy, if you are going to be full of kindness,
then demonstrate. Go ahead, do it. And he went
away sorrowful. knowing that He had not done
that. He could not do that. But with
the merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful. With an upright
man, thou wilt show thyself upright. With the pure, thou wilt show
thyself pure. Because the Lord is our purity. He is that One who showed mercy,
did He not? Bruce Reed, will he not break
the smoking flax? Will he not quench? Because his
hands drip with mercy. With an upright man thou wilt
show thyself upright. With the pure thou wilt show
thyself pure. And with the froward thou wilt
show thyself froward." Because you see, the opposite is true. If a man is found righteous before
God, then God will receive that righteous man in Christ. But if a man is froward, that
is, if his mind is set against the way of God and he is determined
to go in his own way, then the Lord says, Go on in your own
way. But he will be froward with that man. He will cast him away.
So a man cannot come into the presence of the Lord in a place
of rebellion. It is impossible. For thou wilt
save the afflicted people, but wilt bring down high looks. And we'll stop right there. What
a glorious thing. The Lord will save the afflicted
people. He'll save those that are in
a place of need. He'll save those that know themselves
to have no righteousness of their own. He'll save those that call
upon His name. He'll save those who need salvation. By His grace, He causes that
to occur. Paul was a man that did not think
he needed to be saved. Why not? Because he figured he
already was. Now most folks today, they already
figure they are. I mean, you would be hard pressed
really to go around very many of these churches and find anybody
to tell you they were not saved. They probably do not know much
about what that even means, but they will tell you that they
are. And who knows? I don't know who belongs to the
Lord and who doesn't. But I know this, that except
a man is caused to approach unto God by the mercy of God, he'll
never call upon His name. He'll never seek the Lord. But
in the mercy of God, he does call his people in his own time
because he delights in them. He delights to show mercy. Oh,
is there anyone that would call upon the name of the Lord? Would
we be those people? Would we cry out to the Lord
for mercy? Would we seek Him while He may yet be found? Or
are we content just to go along our merry way, satisfied with
the world and the way of the world? Oh, that the Lord might
give us a heart and mind to call upon Him today.