Well, why don't you turn with
me this morning and we'll talk with you just a little bit about
Psalm 28. Psalm 28. Well, let me backtrack on this. I was meaning to look at Psalm
28 this morning whenever I opened up my Bible program on my computer
and everything. I accidentally clicked on Isaiah
28 and I just was going back down and reading through the
chapter again. I wasn't paying attention to the chapter verse
though. I just was reading through the paragraph and I just started
reading down through there and Isaiah. As I was going through it, I
was like, man, first let's get to the part that I wanted to
talk about this morning. And I just kept going and kept
going and kept going. Well, anyway, I got blessed by
reading Isaiah 28. But so if you haven't read Isaiah
28, go read Isaiah 28. But I wanted to talk about Psalm
28 this morning. But I spent half my time this
morning reading Isaiah 28. So I don't know if there's any
connection between the two. If the Lord wanted me to know,
I don't know, but anyway. Psalm 28 this morning, if you
would. This is another Psalm of David
that we are looking at here. And we looked at a few things
through the Psalms. I think the Psalms is a wonderful
book of scripture, especially as it points to Christ. We learn
in the New Testament that all the Psalms and the prophets speak
of him. But we also learn in the scripture that the Bible
says that in the volume of the book it was written of him So
every page and every book every chapter All speaks of Christ
and we we talk about that quite often But we see this is another
psalm of David and as I mentioned Last week, I think it was or
maybe was the week before last sometimes whenever we look especially
in the Psalms we see a overlapping applications. We've seen before
how it talked of Christ. I mean, it talked of David. This
is coming from David. It talked of David, but it also
is typified of Christ, but it also can be talking about the
people of God who are in Christ Jesus. Now, in this particular
psalm, I believe it is David is speaking these things and
this actually could be speaking of the interaction with Absalom
and all this kind of stuff. But I think what this is actually
trying to convey to us, since in the volume of the book it
is written of him, this is speaking of Christ typified And it also
is speaking of his people because the first part of this psalm
seems to be the supplication of the Lord on behalf of his
people. And then the last part of this
is speaking of his people, of what he is, not only is he supplicating
to God on his own behalf, but he is then supplicating for his
people in the latter half. The reason he supplicates to
God on his behalf is so that he might mediate for his people
in that latter half. Let's go to the Lord and ask
Him to be with us this morning before we get into this. Father,
we come to You this morning and we thank You so much for the
Word of God that You have given to us, the testimony of Christ
Jesus. Father, we know that we have
nothing in us that can understand and receive, perceive, discern,
to know the things that this scripture holds for us. And Father,
I surely know that there's nothing within me that can present this,
teach this, convey this in such a way that it might be profitable
to these brethren, except that you be with us today. We need
You here today and we humbly ask that Your presence be among
us in teaching and in preaching and in exaltation, in edification
and exaltation. Father, we pray that You would
be with us as we go through these verses that we might see Jesus.
We thank You, Lord, for His work on our behalf. We thank You for
the continuing mediation that He has even now as the Spirit
of Christ comes and teaches us, as He comes and aids us and enables
us to worship. Lord, we know all these things
come by His hand and we are so grateful for that and we ask
it, Lord, if it be Your will that we continue in these things,
that You might keep us faithful, that You might keep us in the
most holy faith and doctrine that Christ has given to us.
And so Lord, we do come looking for your help today. In Christ's
name that we pray. Amen. Starting in verse one,
it says, I'm just going to read down the nine verses here, and
then we'll kind of go back. It says, unto thee will I cry,
O Lord, my rock, be not silent to me, lest if thou be silent
to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. Hear the
voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee, when I lift
up my hands toward thy holy oracle. Draw me not away with the wicked
and with the workers of iniquity which speak peace to their neighbors,
but mischief is in their hearts. Give them according to their
deeds and according to their wickedness of their endeavors,
give them after the work of their hands, render to them their dessert. Because they regard not the works
of the Lord, nor the operation of his hand, he shall destroy
them and not build them up. Blessed be the Lord, because
he hath heard the voice of my supplications. The Lord is my
strength and my shield. My heart trusteth in him, and
I am helped. Therefore, my heart greatly rejoices,
and with my song will I praise him. The Lord is their strength and
He is the saving strength of His anointed. Save thy people
and bless thine inheritance. Feed them also and lift them
up forever. Now, I kind of want to somewhat
start at the end of this. I hadn't planned on this, but
just being impressed by this last verse, we almost see the
whole view of salvation in a nutshell in verse 9. He says, save thy people, bless
thine inheritance, feed them, lift them up forever. Now what
are we seeing here? Those whom the Lord foreknew,
He called. Those whom He called, He justified. Those whom He justified, He glorified. What do we see here? Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings according to His, what? I may not misquote it. Ephesians chapter 1. who have blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having
predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the
praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein
he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having
made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his
good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. Why, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of time he might gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth,
even in Him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of Him, who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will, that we should
be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ."
We see once again in 2 Timothy, Chapter 1 and verse 9, it says,
"...who have saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." So this
ninth verse here in the Psalms basically shows everything that
we see that God does for us He has saved us, saved thy people. Jesus here is praying to the
Lord. You know, we always run to John
17 as the Lord's prayer for his people. But listen, if you go
through the psalms, you see he's praying for us on many occasions. This is the Lord going before
God. Now he is God, but he is in his
mediatorial work as the man Christ. He is going to God and he is
praying to God on our behalf. He is bringing supplications
before God for his people that God would save them, bless them,
that he would feed them and lift them up forever. So we see not
only saved by people, and we've talked about this before, we
are saved by election. We are saved by sanctification. We are saved by justification.
We are saved by conversion. See, there are many different
ways in which we are delivered or we are saved. Now, the legal
salvation, justification before God, that which has made us righteous,
that has made us right before God, is by the shed blood of
Jesus Christ. But our sanctification also comes
in that our being set apart. The reason that God before the
foundation of the world set us apart or elected us in grace
and his love set upon us is because of Christ. The reason that we
have been called according to his purpose is because of Christ. So everything that has to do
with our salvation is centered upon Christ. And so the saving
that we see, the many deliverances that we see that the scripture
speaks of is not just legal salvation, but God also at the request,
at the prayer of Jesus Christ, who prayed in accordance with
the purpose of God, who prayed in accordance to the will of
God. Remember, he said, not my will be done, but thy will be
done, that I have come to do all that thou hast given me.
that of those that thou hast given me I shall lose none."
Everything that Jesus did, He did in that office, in that capacity
as the Christ, as the anointed of God, He came and did because
that is the purpose and the will and the predestinated work that
God had before the foundation of the world had declared. And
He was bringing that about. He is the, as we talked about
last week, He is the right hand of God's power. He is His arm. He is His strength. He is His
workman who is coming about. He is His husbandry. He is the
one who is out here sowing the seed. He is the one who is out
here bringing in the harvest. He is the one out here that is
tilling up the ground. He is the one that is out there
doing all the work. Christ Jesus is the center point
of all things. And so we see here in this ninth
verse, we see Christ supplicating to God that his people, the inheritance,
as it says right there in verse nine, thine inheritance, bless
thine inheritance. Feed them. I'm reminded of Jesus,
whenever he was talking to Peter, whenever he was telling Peter,
you know, Satan has desired to sift thee. And he told him, he
said, but when thou art converted, feed the sheep. See, Christ hasn't
left anything to chance. He hasn't left anything undone.
He hasn't forgot any little detail as it pertains to the salvation
of his people. From the very election of God,
to the mediation of the new covenant, to the experiential, conversional,
outworking, inward feeling, inward teaching, preservation of the
people of God to the very last until He brings them in, glorified
with Him, and they become the inheritors, joint heirs of Him,
the whole shebang, if you would. He is the mediator of that. He is the one who is supplicating
on their behalf, and He says here, every aspect of it, I heard
a, or not heard, I read a comment from a primitive Baptist preacher
today on the forum that I'm on where he said that, you know,
eternal salvation is surely of the Lord and he has done everything
and secured all that stuff. But he said that God has not
determined every little thing as far as it is here in time
about how things take place. Brethren, the Lord didn't leave
that up to us. The Lord hasn't left that up
to us. Every little minute detail, and listen, I tell you what,
brother, I've listened to a few sermons this week that have just
blessed my heart as I've been driving around at work and everything.
It is all over the Scriptures how God has not only predestinated
everything, but controlled everything. And we'll get back to some of
that later, but here we see the salvation or the election of
the people, the blessing them with all spiritual blessings,
and in that, as we've seen before, justification, sanctification,
glorification, calling, conversion, the gospel, everything, the fellowship
of the brethren. That's a blessing to the inheritance
of God, that God has given the fellowship of the brethren together. Whenever we come together and
gather as the people of God in the church. That right there,
brethren, is a blessing of God that He has given us to be able
to come and to bear with one another each other's burdens,
to weep with those who weep, to rejoice with those who rejoice,
to be able to be encouraged and edified by one another as we
talk about our daily lives with each other and what's been going
on, like we did before we started this morning, sharing about the
things that the Lord has done this week and encounters that
we've had. All these things, these are part
of the blessings. But we see here, He says to feed
them. God has, even before the foundation
of the world, has predetermined that His sheep would be fed as
He wants them to be fed. How they're going to be fed,
when they're going to be fed, and how much they're going to
be fed, God has determined that because He is the Good Shepherd.
And He has not left that to chance. He's not just said, I hope a
preacher comes along to them and finds them somewhere in the
middle of the, you know, Sahara Desert or the African deserts
or the, you know, wherever they're at, the bush or whatever. I hope
some preacher gets to them. No, if they're His children,
He will feed them. And just like He told Peter,
He said, when the sower converted, meaning that He already knew
that Peter would be converted, that He would turn and come back
to him, that he would repent, continue on with the Lord, which
also, by the way, not to get off on this again, but if he
knew that, then he already knew and it was determined that Satan
was going to sift him, that he knew Peter was going to deny
him and in that sin of denial, the Lord already had that purpose. He had that purpose to allow
Satan to sit Peter, to allow Peter to be brought to his knees,
and how proud and arrogant Peter was before all that, but to be
brought to his knees, but to also be humbled in the fact that
even though Peter began to know the depths of his depravity in
denying the Lord, that the Lord still was going to use him And
he would be a servant to the Lord. Feed my sheep. He provided the means and the
necessary person that would be there to feed the flock of God. And listen, Peter did. Whenever he was turned, whenever
he came and repented and came back, what did he do? He fed
the sheep. He stood as that pastor of that
church. He stood as the one that everybody
looked to. for guidance, for help, for doctrine. And he was able to then to come
as aid to those other brethren as we see in 1 and 2 Peter. He was able to come to see whenever
those people was being sifted by Satan through destruction
of Jerusalem and the judgment of Christ coming back and judging
Jerusalem and all the attacks and the tribulation and the trials
that they were going through and the persecution that they
were experiencing even by the hand of the religious leaders,
that in and through all that, Peter knew our Lord is able to
uphold us. He experienced that. And He is
not going to leave us. He is going to be there for us.
And so He fed them. He continued to feed them with
the things of Christ. So God has provided that for
them. Everything that we need, God has provided for us. Sometimes
we don't realize it. Sometimes we don't even think
that He is doing that. We think that He's actually doing
the opposite of that. You know, that old song, wilt
thou pursue thy worm to death? You know? Lord, why is this,
I humbly cry, wilt thou pursue thy worm to death? But the Lord
says it is in this way that I reply for prayers for faith and grace. You know, this is how I and my
sovereign will have determined and in my wisdom has determined
that you come to me and how you're sustained by me. Feed them and
look, we see saved by people, bless them, feed them, and it
says lift them up forever. Oh, how much we could talk about
being preserved by Jesus Christ. Isn't He not our preservation?
Hasn't He promised that He would keep us and not let us fall?
Hasn't He promised that faithful is He who will also do it, who
will also keep it? That He has done all things for
me and therefore in doing all things for me, He's going to
sustain me and keep me and to keep us from falling away that
we will never be able to fall away. That He will hold us up
to the end. That He's not going to allow
anything to come and bring any charge against His elect. That
nothing, no matter how sinful that they might be, no matter
how evil they continue to be in the flesh, that nothing can
bring any accusation before Him because He has already judged
that sin in Christ Jesus? And so the preservation is there
not only because He by His Spirit keeps us, but His judgment is
already befalling upon us in Christ Jesus. So there is nothing
that can condemn us anymore. The law is out of the way. The
law has gone away. And Satan and all his temptations
and all this flesh and the sin that is still there cannot pull
us away from Christ. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God. He has done everything for us. And so we see the whole panoply
of salvation in that ninth verse there. But let's go back. That's
how Christ ended that prayer there. But let's go back. It says, Under thee will I cry
Oh Lord, my rock, be not silent to me, lest that thou be silent
to me, I become like them that go down into the pit." The Lord
hears his cry and he said, if it's not for God who is going
to be my strength, if it's not for God who is going to be my
rock, then I'm going to be just like any other person. I'm just
going to die and go into the pit. I don't think he's necessarily
meaning hell there, although we use that term Speaking of
hell, but this phrase is also used throughout the Old Testament,
just meaning about going into the grave. He's like, unto thee
will I cry, O Lord, my rod, be not silent to me. Don't turn
away from me. Don't let me go. Keep in contact
with me. Let me know that you're there,
because if you're not my strength, if you're not there, if I'm just
here as man, if I'm just here as man only, I've become like
them that go to the pit. I'm just going to die and cease
to be. I'm going to die." But he said,
but because thou art my rock, because there is more to this
than just a human man coming and doing these things. Brethren,
listen, we had to have a mediator who was both God and man. We
had to have one who not only was mediating for God, to man,
but we had to have someone who was mediating man to God. See,
God is not going to have any dealings with sinful man unless
there be a mediator. And man surely cannot communicate
and have anything to do before a holy God because of his sin
unless there be a mediator. There had to be one who was able
to mediate for both parties. One who is a mediator of God
to man, and one who is a mediator of man to God. So the Lord Jesus
Christ came. And he knew if the Lord was not
with him, if he had not that which was of the divine essence
upon him, if he was not God himself, and that that rock was not there,
that that stability of divinity was not there, then he is just
a man, and that man can't accomplish the purpose that God had sent
him to do, and he would not do anything but just die and go
to the pit. So the Lord acknowledged the fact that as the mediator,
as the God-man mediator, it is both God and man in Him that
comes to do this work. He says, hear the voice of my
supplications when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands
toward thy holy oracle, or that word oracle there means thy holy
temple or thy holy sanctuary, the holy tabernacle. He says,
hear my voice whenever I cry unto thee, when I lift up my
hands toward thy holy oracle. Draw me not away with the wicked
and with the workers of iniquity which speak peace to their neighbors,
but mischief is in their heart. Brethren, whenever I see that,
I think about modern day religionists today and how they preach and
they speak peace to their neighbors. I'm trying to think of what passage
of scripture it was. I think it might have been in Jeremiah,
but I can't remember, where the Bible says that there are those
who speak peace, peace when there is no peace. You know, these
modern day preachers out there are preaching peace to the people
when there is no peace. They're preaching peace because
they're looking to the external. They're thinking, if you do this,
if you do that, if you keep yourself up to this standard right here,
then you know you're a Christian. Isn't that what the fleshly man
likes to hear? The fleshly man, he likes to
see his list. Here, give me a list. Give me
a list. Give me my list. Give me my marching
orders. I used to hear that in churches.
People saying they come to church Can the church get my marching
orders for the day? You know? Have you not heard what the marching
orders are? Have you not looked at the list that's been given
to you then? Hello? And at the bottom of that, as you
read all those marching orders, down at the bottom there is the
little asterisk, and at the In that asterisk it says, if you
don't keep every one, you shall die. Have you not seen that under
the asterisk is a double asterisk that says, oh yes, and if you
break just one, you have broken all of them. Want your marching
orders now? But brethren, there are those
who are out there preaching peace upon people because they're good
church people. They're good citizens. They try
to do the right thing. In some of these modern churches,
their aura is clean. They are in Zen. Listen, I can't
believe that Southern Baptist Churches is teaching all this
New Age Hindu, Buddhism, all this, whatever, I don't even
know how all it comes from, but all this Zoroastricism or whatever
junk, having children meditate prayer and all this kind of stuff,
it's ridiculous. But anyway, not to get off too
far from where we're at here, he says, they speak peace to their neighbors,
but there's mischief in their heart. They speak that everything is
good, that everything is right, that everything is great, but
yet inside they're hypocritical. They know themselves aren't keeping
those laws. They know that there is evil
that they're following after, but yet they say that there is
peace. And Christ is saying, draw me not away with the wicked
and with the workers of iniquity which speak peace to their neighbors,
but mischief is in their hearts. He says, don't let me be influenced
and drawn away by all those that are around me. And you think
about it, whenever Jesus was there, all those religious leaders
that kept saying all these religious things, that kept trying to appeal,
which in my opinion was funny because if they really knew Christ,
they would have known. He knows all these things. He's
written everything the prophets have said, everything that Moses
has said, everything that Abraham did, everything that they were
supposedly referencing. was all by the hand of God, all
by the hand of Christ. Yet they were telling him, have
you not heard this? Did you not know this? What about
this? What about that? Questioning
him as if they were sitting judge over him and his actions. Jesus saying, hey, don't let
me be like these wicked men who speak peace to themselves because
they think they've kept the law of Moses. You remember the rich
unruly came up to Jesus? He said, what must I do to inherit
eternal life? Jesus said, go out there and
keep the law. He said, oh, all those things
that I've kept ever since my youth, he had peace. Oh, well,
that's it. I have done all that. I'm good to go. Paul, before his Damascus Road
experience. Hey, he thought he was big money,
didn't he? He's done all the things to the
highest level. He's done all these things. And
he was serving God by putting out the way. Those who are of
the way, I'm going to put them out. See, he was speaking peace to
himself. But what happened after the Lord
humbled him, after he comes to see the truth of all things,
he said, what I thought was gain to me, I now count as what? A
pile of manure. Done. It says, give them according
to their deeds. And he's talking about those
who speak peace to the neighbors. And this ought to be a warning
to preachers out there, to people out there who want to look at
your activity, look at your performance, look at your obedience to God
as your measuring stick on where you are with the Lord. Listen,
brethren, the Lord gives to His people a knowledge of their sin.
He gives them a knowledge of their inability. He gives them
to know the depth of their depravity. Those who are who are walking
in their own obedience, walking according to the law as the rule
of faith, looking to their upkeeping, that is actually sin. That is
sin. To sin is to try to establish
my own righteousness. That is what sin is. Because
when you try to establish your own righteousness, you miss the
mark every time. Therefore, it is not faith. The law is not of faith. Walking in the law is not of
faith. To try to keep the law for righteousness
or acceptance or keeping is not faith. And that which is not
of faith is sin. And so to think that you have
peace before God or righteousness before God, acceptance before
God, you think that everything is okay with you and God because
you are being faithful to Him in obedience to Him and to His
prescribed laws. heart. And what does David, and
therefore also Christ here is the antitype, he says, give them
according to their deeds. We know the Bible says that the
Lord is going to open up the books and he is going to judge
them according to their works. Those who have not been given
the grace of God in Christ Jesus, Those who have looked to themselves,
those who have thought upon themselves, who have tried to keep the law,
to establish their own righteousness, it will be revealed to them one
of these days what their deeds exactly are. They were filthy
rags. Give them according to their
deeds and according to their wickedness of their endeavors.
Give them after the work of their hands, render to them their dessert. Why? Because they regard not
the works of the Lord. That goes back to that verse.
That they are ignorant of the righteousness of God, therefore
they go about to establish their own righteousness. They think
their deeds is going to be what gets them acceptance with God. And in that acceptance with God,
because of my good deeds, God's going to pat me on the back and
usher me into the kingdom saying, well done. by a good and faithful
servant." But Christ here is saying, give them their just
desserts. That little asterisk and double asterisk is going
to be like on the wall behind the judge. And whenever they
get there and their deeds are laid open and they see that everything
that they have done has not been up to the standard of God's holiness,
they will receive at the hand of God exactly what they deserve
and what their works deserve. The wages of sin is death. God is going to give them the
wages that they worked so hard to get. Whenever I work for my
boss all week long and it comes time for payday and he hands
me that check, those wages that I am receiving I worked hard
to get that and I am getting what I deserve because I did
that. And they're going to get exactly
what they deserve. They worked hard for their own
righteousness and this is the payment for your righteousness,
which is sin and it's death. Give them according to their
deeds. Their deeds are unrighteousness, they will receive death for it.
Give them according to their wickedness of their endeavors.
Their endeavors are selfish endeavors. Their endeavors are not looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith. Their endeavors
are not it is Christ who has finished it all. Their endeavors
is not that God has the right to choose those whom He wants
to choose and not choose whom He wants to choose. And therefore,
salvation is firmly, surely of the Lord and the Lord only. So giving them according to their
endeavors will be death. Giving them after the work of
their hands. The Bible says that their hands
are quick to shed blood. That their heart is continually
evil only. All the time. But here's the big reason. Because
they regard not the works of the Lord. See, whenever you preach, and
whenever you teach, and whenever you hold to and put your hope
in what you have done, what you have accomplished, what you are
doing, then you are not regarding the works
of the Lord, you're regarding your works. The lies of free
will. The lies of free will tells you
that Jesus has died for you, but you have to choose Him. The lies of free will tell you
Jesus has died for you. You must decide whether or not
you're going to walk with Him. That you're going to deny yourself
and take up your cross and follow Him daily. The lies of free will
tell you that you can take this book and all the admonitions
and all the laws of it and put them into practice and God's
gonna say, well done, good faithful servant. The lies of free will
are gonna tell you that God has predestinated you for eternal
salvation, but if you don't keep this, you won't be saved in this
lifetime. The lies of free will are gonna
tell you that it all depends on us. You either pray the prayer,
you either shake the hand of the preacher, you either fill
out the card, go through the baptistry, join the right church,
and it may, don't forget, it has to be that church that finds
its chain link all the way back to Jesus. You gotta find that
church that that mother church said, you gotta be this church,
you can be that church, and you can be that church. No, you can't
be that church. You gotta have that church membership,
or you can't be. The lies of free will tell us
that. They don't regard the work of
the Lord. And brother, whenever I say the work of the Lord, I'm
not just talking about the work on the cross. That's the paramount. That's what establishes everything.
But listen to me. I'm talking about the work of
the Lord in everything. The work of the Lord in the legal
and the work of the Lord in the experiential. The Lord is the
one who gives the quickening, not the preacher. The Lord is
the one who gives the conviction of the heart, the repentance
to turn from the false doctrine to the correct doctrine. The
Lord is the one who gives them sorrow, genuine sorrow over sin. The Lord is the one who teaches
them the truth. The Lord is the one who sustains
them. The Lord is the one who puts
in their heart the desire for obedience. It is God who works
in them to will and to do. His good pleasure. Those are the works of God. I
mentioned to that preacher that made that statement about God
does all the things in the eternal, but we have to do the works down
here. I told him, I said, listen, if it's God who works in you
to will and to do His good pleasure, the Bible also says that known
unto God are all His works. From the end to the beginning,
And the Bible says that He will accomplish all of His works.
He is going to do the works. He is going to bring it to pass.
So that tells me that that was God's purpose, that's God's plan,
and He's the one that's bringing it about. It's not left up to
my choice and my decision. That's the works of the Lord.
And if you don't regard the works of the Lord, whether it be in
the legal realm or whether it be in the experiential realm,
you're doing what He's praying about right here. You're doing
it according to your deeds, your wickedness, your endeavors. You're
doing it according to your hands and you will be given your just
dessert. Because they regard not the works
of the Lord nor the operation of His hands. We know that God wouldn't do
that. God can't do that. God wouldn't do that as if we
would know what God can and can't do. The only thing that we know
that God can and can't do is what God has explicitly told
us in the testimony of God's Word that He will not or cannot
do. He cannot lie. I know that. But I'm not going to presume what
God can and can't do. I'm not going to presume just
because He's holy that He can't do whatever He wants to do. I'm
not going to do that. He shall destroy them and not
build them up. Now look at verse 6, it says,
Blessed be the Lord because He has heard the voice of my supplications. You think that there's any way
that Jesus could not bring forth supplications and the Lord not
hear it? Of course not. There's not a way in the world
that the Lord is not going to pray and get exactly what He
prayed for. Why? It's obvious, but most people
don't even think about this when they make stupid statements that
say that, well, Jesus prayed for something that He didn't
get. I've heard conditionalists say that there are things in
the Old Testament that God wanted but didn't get. The Holy Spirit
was grieved and thwarted and was stopped. Is there anything that the Lord
can pray that is not in the will of God? I mean, even when he said, if it
be thy will, let this cup pass from me. He wasn't saying, I'm
going to go and do my own thing. Lord, I want to go do my own
thing. No. What was he confirming? He said,
if it be thy will that this not take place, let thy will be done. If it be thy will that thou take
this cut from me, but not as I will, thy will be done. What was the purpose of his prayer?
That his will be done. And whenever Jesus prayed, He
prayed because He didn't speak anything except that which the
Father had given Him to speak. Meaning that God was the one
in Christ speaking the words of God. That's why He's also
called the Word. The Word was in Christ Jesus,
manifested in the flesh. The Father is in Christ Jesus,
manifested in the flesh. The Spirit in Christ Jesus manifested
in flesh. The whole Godhead is manifested
in the man Christ Jesus. He says the things of the Father.
Why? Because the Father is in Him. He can't help but speak the words
of God. He can't help but have the mind
of God. Why? Because He is God manifested
in the flesh. And he said, blessed be the Lord,
because he had heard the voice of my supplications. The man
Christ Jesus, praying as that mediator man in that role of
Christ the anointed, knew God was going to hear his prayers because he's praying the words
of God. He's praying the will of God. Was it not God's will,
brethren? Look back to verse 9. Was it
not God's predestinated plan to save His people? Was it not
God's predestination to bless them who was of Christ's inheritance? Ephesians chapter 1 said it was.
Was it not God's predestinated plan that every one of His sheep
be fed? I know my sheep and they know
me. I lay down my life for them. They hear my voice. Another's
voice they will not hear. That means they are going to
be fed from my voice and not another. That is God's predestinated thing. He predestinated the feeding
of His sheep and lift them up forever. Was it not God's predetermined
plan before the foundation of the world that they be kept and
that they be with Him where He is? Jesus prayed the will of God,
the purpose of God, because He knows the will and the purpose
of God because He's God. And everything He prays, He prays
in that will. He prays according to that purpose. And everything that He prays
for will come to pass because He has purposed it so. Not to mention, by the way, He
is the Sovereign God who has all power over all flesh, therefore
controls all things, therefore that in and of itself is the
guarantee that everything will happen exactly the way He prays
because He has the power to control all things. He's controlling
all things to bring about that purpose that he wanted before
the foundation of the world. Therefore, whenever he prays
that something be done, it's in accordance to that predestinated
purpose. And in that predestinated purpose,
he has been given power to bring it about. So whether you go before
the foundation of the world, if you go in this time period,
where we're now in the habitation that God has put us in, and the
time periods that God has put us in, whether it's this in the
experiential, or that in the eternal, Christ Jesus has been
put in charge of all of it, and He knows it, He is gonna fulfill
it, and nothing's gonna keep it from not happening. So whatever
God prays, God gives. Whatever God purposes, God gets. Whatever God does, God gets. Because none can stay His hand.
Blessed be the Lord, because He had heard the voice of my
supplications. And so he goes on to say, The Lord is my strength
and my shield. My heart trusted in Him, and
I am helped. Therefore, my heart greatly rejoices,
and with my song will I praise Him. He knows where His strength
comes from. He knows where His trust is.
He knows where His help is. And as we are in Him, He is also
our strength and shield. We can trust in Him. We know
that we are helped by Him. So let our heart be rejoicing. Let our mouths be full of song. Lastly, in verse 8, it says, is their strength. See how he
turned from speaking of his own self and mediatorial work to his people? He was extolling the works of
God on behalf of himself, but now he is extolling and turning
to, or excuse me not extolling, that he is now turning and mediating
the works of God on behalf of His people. The Lord is their
strength. And He is the saving strength
of His anointed. Now, we know Christ is the anointed
of God. And God is the saving strength
of His anointed. But brethren, as the people of
God, we are the anointed of God as well. And He is our saving
strength. Therefore, result of all that, save thy people. Bless thine
inheritance. Why? Because the Lord hears me. Blessed be the Lord, because
He has heard the voice of my supplications. Because the Lord
has heard the supplications of my voice, save thy people. Bless thine inheritance. Feed
them also and lift them up forever. It's just John chapter 17 bears
it out. Verse 9 says, I pray for them
I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given
me, for they are Thine, and all mine are Thine, and Thine are
mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world. And I come to Thee, Holy Father,
keep through Thine own name. He is my shield and my strength,
and He is their shield and strength. Keep through Thine own name those
whom Thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. I have kept and none of them
is lost but the son of perdition." What does it say? Keep them.
Preserve them. Lift them up forever. Keep them. I have kept them. None of them is lost but the
son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled. I have given
them by word. and the world have hated them
because they are not of the world, even as I'm not of the world.
Just like Christ was saying here, these people that are full of workers of iniquity,
that are full of everything, of their own designs and of their
own work and their own labors, says, draw me not away with the
wicked and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to
their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts. He's saying
here, I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them,
because they are not of the world. I pray not that thou should take
them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the
evil." See how he's praying on behalf of not only himself? Don't
let me be taken away by evil. Now, there is no way that we
know that there is no way that Christ could have been taken
away by evil. But he's praying that for his
people that are in him. that they be not taken away by
the evil, but they might be kept. And because God has heard his
supplication, it's going to happen. Neither pray I for these alone,
but also for them which shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe
as thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest
me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one.
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one,
and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved
them, and thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world. If Christ was loved before
the foundation of the world, that means Christ existed before
the foundation of the world. I'm not talking about the Word.
I'm talking about Christ. The man Christ Jesus. The God-man. The anointed of Jehovah. The
Messiah. The mediator between God and
man. That One who had both divine
and man in one. He was loved before the foundation
of the world, and if He was loved before the foundation of the
world, all those who were in Him were loved. O righteous Father,
the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these
have known that Thou hast sent Me, and I have declared unto
them Thy Name, and I will declare it, that the love wherewith Thou
hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them. Why is that? because Jesus lifted up His eyes
to heaven and prayed. He prayed for us. He interceded
for us. He brought supplications to God
on our behalf. And as our mediator, as our substitute,
as our supplicator, He has prayed in accordance to God's purpose
and accordance to God's will. And all that He prays for, He
will receive. And He's praying for His people,
brethren. If you're His child today, you
can no more be left behind. You can be no more lost, lose
your salvation. You can no more be disregarded.
You cannot be deemed unfaithful. Have you ever thought about that? How I know the depths of my depravity
sin that's in my... and how many times that I am
unfaithful, but yet God never deems me unfaithful. Because every unfaithful thing
that I've done has already been judged, and a righteousness of
faithfulness has been given unto me. Christ has done it all. All to Him I owe. Not that I
could ever pay anything, But he surely has done it. Alright. Anybody have anything that you'd
like to add? I was going to talk a little
bit about Christ being anointed, but uh, Lord took me in a different
direction. Maybe we'll look at it another
day. Corrections or anything? Gracious Father, once again we
come to you and we thank you so much for Christ Jesus and
his work on our behalf. We thank you for the prayers
that you brought on our behalf. Thank you for the salvation that
is in Christ Jesus. We thank you that you have thought
of everything, every detail, every minute thing. All the wondrous works you've
done for us. So Lord, we just thank you and
we pray that we might be given to keep your works in mind before
us, declaring them, not the works of man, that we might not lean
to our own understanding, that we might not lean in our own
self to the arm of flesh, but that we might truly look to a
righteousness that's been freely given to us by grace. Lord, we
know that it's all been finished before the foundation of the
world, but yet you're just manifesting the salvation in time for our
benefit. So, Lord, we just thank you for
all that you've done for us. Thank you for this time together
for these brethren that are here. And we want to just praise you
and honor you. In Christ's name.