if you would, to 2 Samuel, chapter 22. We'll continue our
study in this wonderful chapter of Scripture. 2 Samuel, chapter 22. This is a
song that was written after David had been delivered from Saul
and from his enemies. The name of the message is Light
and Darkness. Light and Darkness. 2 Samuel 22, tonight we'll read
from verses 20 to 31. He bought 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
cleanliness 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 as for his
statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also upright before
him and have kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore the
Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness, according
to my cleanliness in his eyesight. With the merciful thou wilt show
thyself mercy, show thyself merciful. And with the upright man, thou
wilt show thyself upright. With the pure, thou wilt show
thyself pure. And with the forward, thou wilt
show thyself unsavory. And the afflicted people, thou
wilt save. Thou wilt save. But thine eyes
are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down. For thou
art my lamp, O Lord, And the Lord will lighten my darkness.
For by thee I have run through a troop. 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 them that
trust in him. So last, two weeks ago, when
we met on Sunday evening, we considered verses 20 to 25 of
this chapter. And we saw that those verses
speak of Christ. We looked at verse 20. where
we considered that this speaks of Christ as He's been bought
to heaven. He hath bought me forth also
into a large place. He delivered me because He delighted
in me. Now every saint of God can say
this too, though, that He's delivered us because He delights in us.
But always remember, again, the only way He delights in us, God
delights in us, is we're in Christ. We're in Christ. And God only
delights in Christ, but he delights in his people who are in Christ,
who are in Christ. He's the head, we're the body. And thus the scripture speaks
of Christ being raised by God for our justification. And again,
he's seated right now, he's seated right now at the right hand of
the Father. He's not, again, like I said
this morning, he's not waiting to rule, he's not waiting to
reign, he rules and reigns right this second. And every second
into eternity, he rules and reigns. He's at the right hand of God,
interceding for his people in ruling and glory and majesty.
We also consider how verses 21 to 24 could only speak of Christ
as our righteousness is like dirty rags in the eyes of the
Lord. And we consider that only Christ has kept the ways of the
Lord. It's he who has never departed from the ways of the Lord. We're
sinners, we fail miserably, don't we? Even after we're saved, we
fail miserably. But praise God, our salvation's
not dependent upon us. It's dependent upon what Christ
did, and Christ alone. And Christ only is the only one
who's kept the ways of the Lord. Christ is the only one who's
never departed from the ways of the Lord. As our substitute,
again, in all his life, he never once departed from the ways of
the Lord. He always did that which was pleasing to the Father.
And he did that for us. He did that for us. And it can
only be said of Christ that He again did not depart from the
statutes of God. He's the sinless one. He's the
upright one. He's the perfect one. He's the
pure one. Only Christ and Christ alone.
Let's look at verses 21 to 24. The Lord rewarded me according
to my righteousness, according to the cleanliness 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 as for his statutes, I did not depart from
them. I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from
mine iniquity. Then we consider verse 25, which says, therefore
the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness,
according to my cleanliness in his eyesight. Again, this can
only speak of Christ. It can only speak of Christ.
He's the only one who's clean in the sight of God. He's the
only one. Even when he was dying on the
cross, the scripture says that he offered himself up without
spot before God. He's perfect. He's sinless in
his life and in his death, beloved. Oh, it's wonderful. Absolutely
wonderful. So it says, therefore hath the
Lord recompensed me according to my rights, according to my
cleanliness in his eyesight. He's the only one who's sinless.
He's sinless, and think of this. Think of this. We're sinners
in thought, word, and deed. And everything we do is sin.
Everything. Christ is totally sinless. Sinless
in thought, sinless in word, and sinless in deed. Perfect. It's hard for us to imagine that,
isn't it? It really is. But always remember, he's God.
He's God incarnate in the flesh. He's bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh. He's 100% man, but he's also
100% God. Oh, what a mystery, isn't it?
Oh, what a mystery the incarnation is. It's marvelous. It's absolutely
marvelous. Absolutely marvelous. So again,
verse 25 only speaks of Christ. Let's read now verses 26 to 31. With the merciful, thou wilt
show thyself merciful. And with the upright man, thou
wilt show thyself upright. With the pure, thou wilt show
thyself pure. And with the forward, thou wilt
show thyself unsavory. And the afflicted people, thou
wilt save. But thine eyes are upon the haughty,
that thou mayest bring them down. For thou art my lamp, O Lord. And the Lord will lighten my
darkness. For by thee I have run through
a troop. By my God have I leapt over a
wall. I've leaped over a wall. As for
God, His way is perfect. His way is perfect. The word
of the Lord is tried. He's a buckler to all them that
trust in Him. Look at verse 26. It says, With
the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful. And with the upright,
thou will show thyself upright. Now God's people are merciful
to others. We're merciful to others. We're
merciful to others because we've been shown mercy. We've been
shown mercy. Brother Mahan used to always
say, he said, those who have been shown mercy or given mercy,
show mercy. It's true. It's true. We're not what we used to be.
We're not what we used to be. We're new creatures in Christ.
We're new creatures in Christ. And John brings us forth in the
epistle we've been studying on Wednesday night in 1 John. He
says that God's people love the brethren. Well, there was a time
when we didn't love the brethren. Now we do. Now we do. There was a time when we didn't
love the Lord. Now we do. Now we do. John Gale brings forth that those
who have received mercy will give mercy when he comments this.
He says, one that has received grace and mercy from the Lord
and has the principles of grace and goodness wrought in him is
kind and merciful to others. Kind and merciful to others.
And God shows mercy to whomever he pleases. To whomever
he pleases. Turn, if you would, to Exodus,
chapter 33, and then put your fingers in Romans, chapter 9.
We see this truth proclaimed both in the Old Testament and
in the New. Both in the Old Testament and
in the New. God shows mercy to whomever He
pleases. And again, this is bought forth
in both Testaments. Look at Exodus, chapter 33, verse
19. This is a wonderful truth. And he said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious. And we'll show mercy on whom
I will show mercy. Now, always remember that our
God is the same yesterday, today and forever. I used to believe
that the God of the Old Testament was different than the God of
the New Testament. That's what I used to believe.
I don't believe that. God's the same. He's the same. He's unchanging. He's unchanging. Same God in
the Old Testament, same God in the New Testament. He shows mercy
to whomever he pleases. Now let's turn to Romans. Romans
chapter 9. Look at this. Paul's writing about how God
says, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. And then he
says in verse 14 of Romans chapter nine, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? That would be the natural man's response. Look at verse,
read verse 13 and 14. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Well, the scripture declares,
God forbid. The fact that, I remember this story, and I love this story.
There was an old preacher who preached a message, and his grandson
came in to visit him. He was in the study, and his
grandson came in to visit him, and he said, Grandpa, you mentioned
that the scripture says that God loved Jacob, but hated Esau,
and he says, How would God hate Esau? And he says, grandson,
when you can understand how God could love Jacob, then you have
the answer. Isn't that amazing? That's the
greater marvel. Because we all come from the
same rock, right? Oh my, oh my. Marvel at the fact that Jacob
have I loved. If you're a believer, marvel
at the fact. God's loved us from eternity. From eternity. What shall we then say? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Paul writes, God forbid. We've
received mercy, right? And look what he says here. He
brings up what Moses said. For he sayeth to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Now look at this. Paul adds this,
so then it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. Again, it's not by anything you
can do in your mind or by any works that you can do. But of God that showeth mercy. The only reason we are saved
and other folks are lost is because God has made us to differ and
God has shown us mercy in Christ. And that is amazing grace, isn't
it? That is amazing grace, right
there. Absolute amazing grace. Oh my, what a great God. And think of how the everlasting
mercy of God, the everlasting love of God for His people is
on display in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ died for us
on Calvary's cross. It's on full display, beloved.
at Calvary's cross. Our Lord became our surety. And He's the surety of His people
from all eternity, because He's the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. That's who our great Savior is.
And He came in time, at God's appointed time. He came into
this world To redeem His people, I ask you, is not God's loving
kindness on full display in the fact that He did that? Oh, it's
wondrous grace. Absolute wondrous grace. His
loving kindness for His people is on full display when He did
this. Full display. And when He, the Word of God,
assumed human nature, and went about doing good to the souls
and bodies of man, He healed the diseased and fed the hungry,
and He had compassion on the ignorant. And them that were
out of the way, then, as our merciful High Priest of His people,
He bore the sins of His people. He, the sinless, spotless Lamb
of God, bore our sins, beloved. And the sword of God's justice
was plunged into Christ. In our place, that which should
have fell upon you and I who believe, fell upon our Savior,
beloved. Fell upon Him. We're deserving of that, but
He took our place. He took our place before the
law and justice of God, and He redeemed us with His precious
blood. Paying the penalty, paying all
that God demanded. for our sins. It's, let these
words ring through your heart and fill your heart with joy.
It is finished. Praise God, the believer says.
This is wonderful. Wonderful. What a savior. What
a redeemer. He shows mercy. He's merciful. To whom he'll be merciful. Oh
my. Oh my. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
53. Isaiah 53. Christ having made
full satisfaction for the sins of His people and purchasing
them with His blood, God raised Him from the grave to show that
God's satisfied with His sacrifice. And then He continues to watch
over us, doesn't He? He continues to watch over us.
He takes care of us. Those He purchased with His blood.
Even when we're in the midst of trials and afflictions, and
we don't understand, He's ever with us. Ever with us. He'll never leave us nor forsake
us. Look what it says here about
the sacrifice of Christ in Isaiah 53, verses 10 and 11. Yet it
pleased the Lord to bruise Him. It pleased the Father to bruise
Christ. Yet put Him to grief, when Thou
shalt make His soul an offering for sin. The sinless one dying
for sinners. making himself an offering for
our sins. Oh my. He shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hands. And it's prospered. He's brought many sons to glory,
isn't he? All his people. And he'll take every, there will
not be one of God's sheep that was given to him by the Father
in eternity that will ever be lost. Because he purchased every
single one of them with his precious blood. And what peace that can
give the believer in Christ. What peace that can give us. And the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall, underline this, if you want to underline, look
at this beautiful word, and shall be satisfied. Two words, I love
Brother Henry used to always say, two words, if you get two
words out of the whole message, substitution and satisfaction. Christ is the believer's substitute
and God is absolutely satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ.
Oh, it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. This
is the truth of the gospel. This is the truth of the gospel.
Christ was a substitute. He made full satisfaction before
God for the sins of his people. He purchased them with his own
precious blood. And He's ever with us. Let's
read verse 26 again. In 2 Samuel, chapter 22, verse
6. With the merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful. And with
the upright man, thou wilt show thyself upright. Again, let's read the latter
part there. With the upright man, thou wilt show thyself upright. Well, you know what the Hebrew
word here for upright means? It means blameless. It means complete. What are we in Christ before
God? Blameless and complete. He's the head, we're the body.
This again, speaking of Christ, but we also know that God's people
will be presented one day, holy, unblameable, unreprovable in
his sight. But God looks upon us now. and
he don't see our sin. He sees Christ, beloved. He sees
Christ. It's wonderful. Oh my. Let's read now verses 26 and
27 together. With the merciful, thou will
show thyself merciful. And with the upright man, thou
will show thyself upright. With the pure, thou will show
thyself pure. And with the forward, thou will
show thyself unsavory. So we saw that the Hebrew word
for upright means blameless and complete. Well, the Hebrew word
for pure here means clean, pure, genuine. Pure, clean, pure, genuine. And we all know that we who believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ are only pure in God's eyes, right? Only blameless in God's eyes
in Christ. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. in and through Christ, who is
the pure, upright, sinless man, God incarnate in the flesh. And
again, let us marvel in this. We're only blameless and complete
in Christ. This is wonderful. Good news
for sinners. Good news. Turn, if you would,
to Titus chapter one, verse 14. And Paul's writing to Titus here,
And he pens these words, again, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit
of God. Look what he writes in Titus
1, verses 14 to 16. Titus 1, verses 14 to 16. And again, keep in mind, I'll
read the two verses over there in 2 Samuel again. With the merciful,
thou wilt show thyself merciful. And with the upright man, thou
wilt show thyself upright. With the pure, thou wilt show
thyself pure. And with the forward, thou wilt show thyself unsavory. Now look at Titus. Titus here in chapter 1 verses
14 to 16, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments
of man that turn from the truth. Unto the pure all things are
pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing
pure. But even their minds and conscience
is defiled. So we see here, unto the pure
all things are pure, And then we see a contrast, but unto them
that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. Even their minds
and conscience is defiled. They profess, this is the unbelieving
and defiled, they profess that they know God, but in works they
deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good
work reprobate. Now the Judaizers, the false
teachers, insisted that Christians were still under the law. They
insisted that Christians were still under the law in regard
to certain kinds of foods and certain traditions that they
had to continue to do, certain washings and purifications as
ordered by Moses. But Paul is here bringing forth
that those who love Christ and are made righteous by his merit,
that all food and drink is received, if you read the context of this,
that all food and drink is received with thanksgiving. And they are
not defiled by what enters the mouth. We saw that earlier this
morning in the main message. We saw that too. Our master told
us that. It's what comes out of the heart
that defiles a man, not what goes in. Not what goes in the
mouth, it's what comes out. Because what comes out comes
from our heart. Comes from our heart. So he's bringing forth here that
Christ In Christ alone, for those who love Christ, they're made
righteous by Christ and by his blood, that all food and drink
is received with thanksgiving. With thanksgiving. And they're
not defiled again by what comes into their mouth. And again,
you read the context of this. But to those who are polluted
and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Nothing is pure. For they sin
in all that they do. in all that they do. And again,
remember that it says unto the pure, all things are pure. Remember,
we're only pure in Christ. We're only pure in Christ, we
who believe. But who the polluted and unbelieving, nothing is pure,
nothing. For they sin in all that they
do. They gain no merit and favor with God by guarding against
their uncleanness. They say, well, we don't do that.
We don't do that. We don't eat that. We don't drink. And they say it with, of course,
an air of self-righteousness. With an air of self-righteousness.
But their pollution, beloved, is inward of the mind and heart. And again, they're full of sin.
And even that which is pure is polluted by them. Now, there's
certain things we shouldn't do. Right? There is. There is. And
we're taught by God that, aren't we? We're taught by God. We're
taught by him. And there's certain things we
won't do around a weaker brother and sister either. Right? Because
Paul tells us that. He tells us. Even if we feel
we have the liberty to do that, we don't want to sin against
our brother and sister's conscience. So we refrain. But beloved, we
are free in Christ. We are free in Christ. But again,
the love of Christ constrains us from sin. Constrains us from
sin. Oh, it's marvelous. It's absolutely
marvelous. So when it says, but even their
mind and conscience is defiled, the mind denotes their understanding. Their understanding, their conscious,
it relates to the heart. It relates to the heart, they're
defiled. And I can honestly say that I remember that state Looking
back now that I'm saved, I remember I was in that state. The word of God meant nothing
to me. I didn't know, I had a thought of who I thought God was, but
it turns out he wasn't the God of the Bible. It was the God
of my imagination. That's who it was. Oh my, but
when he reveals himself to you, oh my, what a God. What a Savior is Jesus Christ
our Lord. Oh, he's wonderful. Let's go
back to 2 Samuel. And we'll see again these verses bring forth
Christ, because only Christ was upright in the eyes of the Lord,
and only Christ is pure in the eyes of the Lord. And so marvel
at these words, you who are in Christ. Look at this. Verses
26 and 27. With the merciful thou wilt show
thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt show thyself
upright. With the pure thou wilt show
thyself pure, and with the forward thou wilt show thyself unsavory.
So the true believer in Christ, to the true believer in Christ,
God's righteousness is as dear and precious as His mercy and
grace. Because it's His righteousness
that we're clothed in. It's the righteousness of Christ.
It's dear to us, isn't it? It's dear to us. Because we see
in Jesus, the God-man, That righteousness which God accepts, which God
accepts, in which he's clothed the sin. Look at the end of verse
27, and with the forward, thou wilt show thyself unsavory. If
a man walks in a forward way and opposes God, if God leaves
him in that state, he'll soon find out that God will recompense
to him what he deserves. What he deserves. Rebels may
boast today, They may scoff at the things of God and His people,
but they will find, they will find in that great day that God
is unbending. He's unbending in His wrath,
and He's unbending in His justice. And that wrath will be poured
out upon them, poured out upon them. And we marvel, don't we? Because we know we're just as
deserving of that as they are. Mercy. I'll be merciful to whom
I'll be merciful. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion, our great God says. And the believer in
Christ, right, says praise be to God, he had mercy on me. Don't
we? Every one of us. Every one of
us. What a Savior. What a great God
we have. Now let's read verse 28. And
the afflicted people thou wilt save, but thine eyes are upon
the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down. Now note in
verse 28, we see that God's people are afflicted people. Afflicted
people. And we who are the redeemed of
the Lord, we know this to be true, don't we? We know this
to be true. But we've seen, as I've said
many times from this pulpit, we've seen the Lord deliver us
time and time and time again. And we could just keep going
because we have seen His almighty deliverances for His people.
But we also know that these words are true. We know that we're
an afflicted people, but have you ever thought of this? For God's people? This will be the only affliction
we'll ever see. We'll ever see. The only affliction,
the only sorrow that we'll ever see. When we get the glory, there'll
be no more affliction. There'll be no more sorrow or
pain. Oh my. But we are an afflicted people
while we're here. While we're here on this earth,
we're an afflicted people. Often afflicted. We're afflicted
with our own sin, aren't we? Oh, we mourn over our sin. We
mourn over our sin. We mourn over the corruption
of our flesh. And we're afflicted with temptations.
We're afflicted with trials. And we're afflicted by the world.
Sometimes being persecuted by them. Never forget we were once among
them. I love what Brother Henry used to bring out all the time.
Never forget the rock you were hewn from. Don't ever forget
where the Lord bought you from. Don't ever forget. Never forget
the rock you were hewn from. We were once partakers with the
world, and we at one time partook with them in the afflictions
of God's people. I know I did, to my shame. But now he's saved
me. Now he's revealed himself to
me and to you who believe too. Now we're among the afflicted
people, beloved. We're now among the afflicted
people. That's the people he saved. But
we know again, we know again that the only afflictions that
we face are right here on this earth. are right here on this
earth. And we know our lives like a
vapor in the eyes of the Lord. Oh my. The people of God went
through great affliction. After the crucifixion of Christ,
the destruction of Jerusalem, they were greatly afflicted and
persecuted by the Jews. Peter wrote two epistles to the
afflicted saints of God. And what did he do in each of
those epistles? He pointed them right to Christ. He pointed them
right to Christ, beloved. Oh, God's people always have
been and always will be greatly afflicted and persecuted by the
world. David knew what affliction was.
He had Saul try to kill him. He had Saul try to kill him.
And also later, his own son turned against him. He knew what affliction
was. He knew what affliction was.
And think of our Savior. Think of our Savior. He's a man
of sorrow and acquainted with grave, the scriptures say. He
was in all points tempted like we, yet without sin. Yet without
sin. Think of the sufferings he went
through when he redeemed us from our sins. Think of when the wrath of God
fell upon him, not just for you and I, but for all the elect
of all the ages. Oh my. When you consider what
Christ done for us, and I'm not trying to make light of our afflictions,
but when we consider what Christ did for us to redeem us, it does
make our afflictions seem light, even though I don't like going
through affliction, and I know you don't either. None of us
like that. But remember, we're being conformed to the image
of Christ. Conformed to the image of Christ. But our afflictions
are light in comparison to what Christ suffered when he suffered. Let's read verse 28 again. And
the afflicted people thou wilt save, but thine eyes are upon
the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down. So note the
contrast in this verse. The contrast in this verse is
God's people were once proud in our natural state, and we
still struggle with sin, don't we? And we still struggle with
pride. But we're a people who know now
that we cannot save ourselves. We know that, we've been taught
that by God. We can't save ourselves, and we know that no one can save
us but Christ. He's the only one we can look
to. And we proclaim that we're saved by Christ and Christ alone. But God will bring down the proud.
He'll bring down high looks. Those who look down at others
with scorn, He'll soon bring them down. The haughty, He'll
bring them down. The Lord abhors a proud look. And one day they
will be bought down. They'll be bought down low. And
they will quake. They will quake in the presence
of the Lord. Let's look at verse 29 now. For
thou art my lamp, O Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness. For thou art my lamp, O Lord,
and the Lord will lighten my darkness. Now we know from Scripture
that God's Word is a light unto our path. And we know that Jesus
Christ, our Lord, is the one true light. David pens here that
the Lord Jehovah is his lamp. And it is he who will be David's
light in the darkness. And every believer can say this
is so. Turn, if you would, to Psalm 4. We're going to go through
a few psalms here quickly. Just a couple. We're looking
at a certain verses here. Some verses for us to consider
in the Old Testament here. Psalm 4, verse 6. Psalm 4, verse 6. There be many that say, who will
show us any good? The Lord lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. Now turn to Psalm 18. Psalm 18,
and then we'll go to Psalm 27. Psalm 18, and then Psalm 27. Psalm 18, verse 28. And remember,
I'll read the Scripture over in 2 Samuel again. For thou art
my lamp, O Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness. Psalm
18, verse 28. For thou wilt light my candle,
the Lord my God will lighten my darkness. And remember the
darkness we were in. We were in the darkness of sin,
beloved. We've been translated. From the kingdom of darkness
to the kingdom of His dear Son. Now look at Psalm 27, verse 1.
David pens this. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? But
David pens, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Now go to Psalm
97 and put your finger in Psalm 112. Psalm 97 and Psalm 112. Again, for thou art my lamp,
O Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness. Scripture says here in Psalm
97, 11, light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the
upright in heart. Light is sown for the righteous.
and gladness for the upright in heart. Now Psalm 112, verse
4. Psalm 112, verse 4. Unto the
upright there arises light in the darkness. He is gracious
and full of compassion and righteous. Unto the upright, we know that
we're only upright in Christ, there arises light in the darkness. Remember our verse? For thou
art my lamp, O Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness. Now turn, if you would, to Isaiah
60, verses 19 to 21, and I'll read Malachi 4, verse 2, which
says, But unto you that fear my name shall the Son of Righteousness
arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth and grow
up as calves of the stall. And then look at this in Isaiah
60, verses 19-21. the sun shall be no more thy
light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto
thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee in everlasting light. And thy God, thy glory, thy sun
shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself,
for the Lord shall be thine everlasting life, and the days of thy mourning
shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all
righteous, look at that, all righteous, and that's in Christ.
For they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my plantain,
the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. Now turn, if you
would, to Matthew chapter four, Matthew chapter four. So we've
seen that in the Old Testament proclaimed, how the Lord is our
light. I'll read our verse again. For
thou art my lamp, O Lord, And the Lord will lighten my darkness. Matthew 4, verse 12. Now when
Jesus had heard that John was cast in the prison, He departed
unto Galilee." Now let's go down to verses 14 to 16. "...that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet,
saying, The land of Zebulon and the land of Nephilim, by the
way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the
people which sat in darkness saw great light. To them which
sat in the region in shadow of death, light is sprung up." Oh
my! from the time Jesus began to
preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then over in Luke chapter
1, Zechariah proclaimed this about our Lord. In verses 78
and 79. Luke chapter 1, verses 78 and
79. And remember the darkness we were in. We were in the darkness
of sin. We were groping around in the
dark. And in Luke it says this, verses 78 and 79, "...through
the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dayspring from on
high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness,
and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of
peace." So God's elect among the Jews, who were not only in
a state of unregeneracy, like our natural state, they were
also in a state of darkness, ignorance, and unbelief, just
like we were, before the Lord saved us. Let's look at our verse again.
For thou art my lamp, O Lord, and the Lord will lighten my
darkness. 2 Samuel 22, 29. For thou art
my lamp, O Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness. Thou art my lamp, O Lord. Jehovah. It is he who guides us. It is
he who directs our path, beloved. As we walk in the darkness of
this world, If we walk in the darkness of the world, we who
are the children of God, we need to be directed, don't we? And
we need to be guided. We do. Let me ask you this question. Have you ever been in a room
or in a place where it's pitch black? Where it's pitch black. Have you ever been in a room
like that in your life? I've been there a few times.
where it's just absolutely pitch black. Where the moonlight isn't
even showing and it's just pitch black. And have you ever been
in a place where you're waving your arms or you're going like
this so you don't bump into a chair, right? We all do that, don't
we? Because it's so dark, even though
you're in your house and you're familiar with things, next thing
you know, you're bumping into something because it's pitch
black. So we always put our hands out in front, don't we? Or often,
when it's dark and you don't want to wake up your wife or
your husband or your kids, you're groping around for the door frame.
I've done that before. Have you done that before? We
do. So we don't walk right into the
door frame. But we can't always see it, but we know it's there,
don't we? We know it's there. But we're groping around. We're
groping around. Oh my. So the metaphor of this
verse here, the metaphor of this verse is founded upon, Gil says,
the depressing nature of darkness and the delightfulness of light.
When we got the light on, we can see where we're going, don't
we? We can see what's ahead of us. We can see. And so the contrast
is made between the two here. Between the two. Solomon pens
these words, he says, truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant
thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. To not be in darkness. To behold the sun. And so the
presence of the Lord removes all the gloom of sorrow and enables
the believer to rejoice with exceeding joy even amidst the
trials and afflictions that we go through. Now at first we may complain,
we may at first, but the Lord always has a way, right, of bringing
us to look to Him, doesn't He? All the time. All the time. And then as we're looking to
Him, the trial or the affliction doesn't seem as hard as it once
did. Because remember, He's given
you grace and strength to get through that. To get through
that. Let's turn to Job chapter 33.
Job chapter 33. I'm going to read you a quote
by Spurgeon while you're turning there. Spurgeon brings this forth.
The lighting of a lamp is a cheerful moment for the winter's evening,
but the lifting up of a light of God's countenance is far happier. It is said that the poor in Egypt
will stint themselves of bread to buy oil for the lamp. So they
would short themselves in bread to eat just to get oil for their
lamps so they could see at night. And Spurgeon goes on and says,
we could well afford to part with all the earthly comforts
if the light of God's love could but constantly gladden our souls.
Oh my. Look at this in Job chapter 33
though. We'll read verses 18 to 33, knowing that the Lord
is the one guiding and directing our steps, too. The Scripture
says that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.
And we know that the only man that is Christ, and we walk in
Christ, don't we? We walk in Him. Look at this
in Job 33, verses 18 to 23. He keepeth back his soul from
the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. He is chastened
also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones
with strong pain, so that his life of whore bread and his soul
dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away that
it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not stick out. Yea,
his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers. if there be a messenger with
him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man
his uprightness. So we see here someone on the
affliction. They're being inflicted. And
sometimes we go through afflictions and sickness and sorrow or depression. And it's used, beloved, it's
used to show us how the Lord graciously works. And sometimes
we cry out, sometimes we cry, why is this happening to me?
We do, don't we? Sometimes we do. And as one commentator
said, sometimes we say, what have I done to deserve this?
Oh my. But we see in God's word that
we're to look to our savior. We're to look to our savior during
those times. And to know that he is ever with
us. And the preaching of the gospel of God's free and sovereign
grace brings that before us. will point us to the great physician,
the shepherd of your souls, the one who is the light for your
path, even through the darkness of life. And then we have unfolded
before us through the scriptures, the great design of salvation
in Christ. The great design of salvation
in Christ and that which was purposed by God. And then we
see the whole process as the Lord reveals it to us of divine
love and unfolded before us. for the one who trusts Christ.
And as a result of that, we find rest and comfort. Rest and comfort
amidst the storms of life, as we hear the sweet voice of pardon
through Christ. Now, with that in mind, look
at verses 24 and 30, and we see here how the Lord graciously
works as we are brought out of the pit that we were in. And
we're enlightened with the light of the living, which, think of
this back in our text in 2 Samuel, it says, For thou art my lamp,
O Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness. Now let's read verses
24 to 33. Then he is gracious unto him,
and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found
a ransom. Is that not the cry of every
believer? I've found a ransom. That's Christ. His flesh shall
be fresher than a child's. He shall return to the days of
his youth. He shall pray unto God, and he will be favorable
unto him. And oh, how favorable has God
been to us in Christ! And he shall see his face with
joy, for he will render unto man his righteousness. He looketh
upon man, and if any say, I have sinned and perverted that which
was right, and it profited me not, he will deliver his soul
from going down into the pit. Oh my, and his life shall see
the light. His life shall see the light.
Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring
back his soul from the pit, look at this, to be enlightened with
the light of the living. Born again by the Holy Spirit
of God, beloved. Mark well, O Job, hearken unto
me, hold thy peace and I will speak. If thou hast anything
to say, answer me. for I desire to justify thee.
If not, hearken unto me, hold thy peace, and I shall teach
thee wisdom. And oh, he's taught us the things
of Christ, hasn't he? God's taught us the things of
Christ. And a born-again, blood-washed believer, our souls are ravished
with Christ. Absolutely ravished with Christ.
And he's delivered us from going down in the pit, hasn't he? We
were in a pit, and he rescued us from that pit of sin. And
when you see a pit like that, it talks about one of those pits
they would throw people in during Jeremiah's time, and it was a
mirey kind of pit, mirey clay and all that, and they throw
you down there, and if you tried to climb up, it's mirey clay
and muddy water, and you just slide right back down. The only
way to get out of that pit is help must come from above. Help must, and help's come, we
were in that pit, weren't we? And help came from above, didn't
it? Oh my, oh my, we've been delivered, beloved. We've been
delivered, praise God. Praise God, and our only ransom
is Christ, who is our light and darkness. I ask you who are redeemed,
is Christ not the fairest among 10,000 to you? Oh, he is, isn't
he? Now, who's the interpreter? Well,
surely it's God, the Holy Spirit, who teaches us and guides us
and points us to Christ and Christ alone. The one who's sent by
the Lord Jesus Christ to guide us into all truth. All truth. Let's close with looking at something
in Isaiah 54. Let's turn there, which speaks
of the people of God and looking at what God says to his people
here. Isaiah 54, we'll read a few verses
here and then we'll close. Isaiah 54, we're starting verse
5. For thy maker is thine husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name. And I redeem her, the Holy One
of Israel. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the Lord hath
called thee as a woman, forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a
wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a
small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies
will I gather thee, and oh, what great mercies we've been shown,
beloved. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as
the waters of Noah unto me, for as I have sworn that the waters
of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that
I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. Look at that.
That's only through Christ, eh? That's only through Christ. For
the mountains shall apart and the hills be removed, but my
kindness shall not depart from thee. Neither shall the covenant
of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on
thee. O thou afflicted, oh, we remember, remember, the people
of God are the afflicted, will he save? O thou afflicted, tossed
with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones
with fair colors, and thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make
thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbonacles, and thy
borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord, who teaches us the Holy Spirit. He guides
us right to Christ. Right to Christ. And the great
shall be the peace of thy children. Oh, what peace we have. We have
peace with God in and through Christ Jesus our Lord. Look at
this. In righteousness shalt thou be
established. Thou shalt be far from oppression,
for thou shalt not fear. And from terror, for it shall
not come near thee. Behold, they surely gather together,
but not by me. Whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created
the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire and bringeth forth
an instrument for his work. I have created the waster to
destroy. Now look at this verse 17. I saw this. And I was just
shouting. Look at this. No weapon that
is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that
shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the
heritage of the servants of the Lord. And look at this. Look
at this little phrase right here. And their righteousness is of
me. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Their righteousness is of me. Sayeth the Lord, what are we
clothed in? The righteousness of Christ.
Oh, my. That latter part of that verse,
may that warm your soul this week. The righteousness is of
me, sayeth the Lord. Praise be to God. Praise be to
God. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for allowing us to look in thy word. And oh Lord Jesus, we know
that our righteousness only comes from thee, oh Lord. We who are
your people, we who are redeemed and purchased by thy blood. We
know that our own righteousness is like filthy rags in the eyes
of the Lord, but oh, the righteousness that we receive from thee, oh
Lord. Glory to you, Lord Jesus. It makes us acceptable before
God. We can stand in God's presence
and we marvel at that. We marvel at this truth that
we've looked at tonight. May we think upon it this week,
may we meditate upon it, and may it comfort our hearts and
souls, in Jesus' name, amen.