Psalm 9

You guys know you got water running back there? Unless somebody's getting baptized, I don't know about you. Might have a problem. It's really good to see you all again. I think it's been two years since me and Rob were talking about the other day, how much we enjoyed being up here with you. And it's a blessing to be here. I think it's a good night. It's good for me, at least.

If you would turn to Psalm chapter 9. Psalm chapter nine, we're gonna look at the first 10 verses of this psalm tonight. This is a psalm of praise to the Lord written by David. I wanna read it first. So we get to Psalm nine, pick up there in verse one. David says this, he says, I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will show forth all thy marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee. I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most high.

When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. For thou hast maintained my right and my cause. That word maintained, what it means is accomplished. Thou hast accomplished my right and my cause. Thou sattest in the throne judging right. Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end, and thou hast destroyed cities. Their memorial is perished with them.

But the Lord shall endure forever. He hath prepared his throne for judgment, and he shall judge the world in righteousness. He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

Now I remind you that everything written in this book is divinely inspired by God himself, and that includes the titles of these psalms. When you think about what David is penning here under divine inspiration, this is a psalm of praise unto the Lord. And this is the title that God the Holy Spirit gives him to title it.

It should be at the top of your heading there, right next to Psalm 9. This is the heading, it says, to the chief musician upon Methleben, a psalm of David. You know what Methleben means? It means death of the son. David is inspired by God to pen this psalm of praise unto the Lord, and he says, title it this, The Death of the Son.

And that's everything, that's everything this message has to offer, that's the message of the gospel. Jesus Christ, why is he worthy of such praise? Here's the questions that are answered here, is who does every believer praise? What do we praise him for? Why do we praise him in the first place?

Here's the first one, the Son. We praise the Son for who He is. Who is He? He's God. He is that One who thought it not robbery to make Himself equal with God because He is God. All the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in a man. A God-man, Christ Jesus. That's who we praise. God the Son. What do we praise Him for? Because the Son died. He went to the cross bearing the sins of his people, and he put those sins away, and now we are free. We're free from the law. We're free from the wrath of God. Never to be returned to that state, the son died voluntarily, willingly. You think of the father being willing to sacrifice his only begotten son.

For who? For us. For sinners. How praiseworthy the son in his death. And then finally, why? Why do we praise him? It's because He causes us to. A new heart and a new nature is given. And it takes a new heart and a new nature to truly praise God. That's everything David has to say in this psalm. Now let me show you that. Look at verse one again. David says, I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart.

Now what's a whole heart? You think of doing something wholeheartedly. It means giving your all, right? Every fiber of your being, everything about you is going towards this one goal, this one task, whatever it may be. And that's kind of the meaning here, but not really.

The whole heart that's talked about here is talking about a complete heart. It's talking about a heart that lacks absolutely nothing. A heart that is perfectly righteous, a heart that is perfectly holy, A heart that perfectly worships God and loves God and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the whole heart he's talking about here. He says you have to have a whole heart. If you're not given this whole heart, this perfect heart, this new man in Christ Jesus, you can't praise God. You can't love God. You can't believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's impossible.

Now let's take a moment and let's learn something about this whole heart for just a second. Turn over to Jeremiah 24. I won't have you turn to too many scriptures tonight, but I want you to see this one. Jeremiah 24, when you get there, look at verse seven. This is the Lord speaking, and he says in Jeremiah 24, seven, he says, and I will give them in heart to know me, that I am the Lord. and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

There it is again, the whole heart, the complete heart. What can we learn about this whole heart? Well, the first thing is this, is you can't give yourself a whole heart. And you can't give yourself a new nature, and you can't breathe spiritual life into yourself.

He says that right there in verse seven. He says, and I will give them a heart. He says, I have to give it, sovereignly. I have to give them a new man, a new spirit, the perfect man in Christ Jesus. My very mind, my very heart, I've got to give it to them. You cannot receive the things of God unless you have this new man, this life. And he's sovereign in giving it, and you can't earn it. You can't deserve it. You can't work for it. It can only be freely given.

Here's the second thing we can see. Everybody who's given this whole heart, they know that Jesus Christ is Lord. And you think of this. When the Lord went to the cross, he had two malefactors that were crucified next to him, and both those men were railing on him. Both of them hated him. Neither one of them knew him.

And in the last moments of one of those man's lives, the Lord gave that man a whole heart. He gave him the spirit of God dwelling in him. And he said, don't you fear God. He'd been railing on the Lord the entire time, and all of a sudden that stopped. He says, don't you fear God, recognizing you're in the same condemnation.

And we indeed justly, we're getting exactly what we deserve. But this man has done nothing amiss. And then he said something that is kind of ambiguous, but at the same time, it's beautiful because it's a young, whole heart. This man had just been birthed in the kingdom of God, just minutes. And this is all he could come up with. This was the desire of his heart. Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. How did he know?

Lord, he's the sovereign, this is God. This is the one who chooses. This is the one who gives life. This is the one who saves. This is the one who damns. This is the Lord, this one hanging on this cross. Me and you, we're here, we're getting exactly what we deserve. He's here accomplishing salvation for his people. This is the Lord.

How did he know? Because he was given a whole heart. And then he mutters these very ambiguous words. It's a young whole heart. He says, just remember me. If you just will it. If you just will my salvation, I don't know all the ins and outs of salvation. I don't understand how this whole thing's, what I know is you're the Lord, and if you just will my salvation, everything's gonna be just fine. Just remember me. You remember what the Lord said to him? He said, today, you'll be with me in paradise.

Now here's the next thing we can find out about this whole heart. It returns unto God. That's what he says there at the end of verse seven. He says, for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. When you think about returning, When I think about returning, you start here, and you go over here, and you return back, right? That's what we think of when we think of returning. That's not what this is talking about. It's talking about turning back, going backwards, returning. We return unto God. We turn from ourselves. Turn from any thoughts of saving ourselves, any thoughts of a good work, any thoughts of virtue or the possibility of it in us, we turn from all that, and we turn to Him, and we have eyes only for Him.

Where's my salvation found? In Him. Lock, stock, and barrel, this is all I have, Christ and Him crucified. What's the one thing? When I enter glory, what is the one thing? Why should you be here? What is your only plea? He died. Mithilebin. That's my only plea. The Son died. That's all I've got. We're turned from ourselves to Christ, looking only to him. Now go back to your text, we can see something else. Look at verse two. This whole heart is a heart of rejoicing as well. Verse two he says, I will be glad and rejoice, where? In thee.

All salvation is found in Christ. And the only way that'll be joyful to you, that'll be good news to you, is if you've been given a whole heart. I tell you, if you've been given this whole heart, this perfect man in Christ Jesus, this thought that all of salvation being found in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the best news I've ever heard.

Why does the Father elect a man? It's because he's always been in Christ. He chooses Christ, so everybody in him he gets. Why does the Father love a man? Understand that the Father's love is in one man, it's in Christ. If he loves any man, it's because that man has always been in perfect union, always been in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ go and accomplish salvation for these particular people? Was this arbitrary, that he entered into this covenant? No, this is his bride. These people who have always shared an eternal union with him.

How do we stand righteous because we've always been in Him? How are we accepted? We are accepted in the Beloved, in Christ. Folks, of everything I've mentioned here, have I mentioned a thing of that that rests on the shoulders of me and you? It all rests in Him. And I tell you what, if you're a sinner, that is the best news you've ever heard. Rejoice and be glad in Him that all of salvation is found in Christ. It's not found anywhere else. That's good, isn't it? And finally this, it takes a whole heart, a perfect heart, a perfect man in Christ Jesus to recognize the absolute and utter ruin of that natural heart.

I thought of this scripture, this is Amos, not too many people read out Amos, this is Amos 3.3.

He says, can two walk together except they be agreed? You've heard that one before, right? In the natural man, and the man the Lord has not revealed himself to, there's complete agreement in him. Because there's not two walking, there's only one man walking in him.

He's agreed, he's agreed that there's virtue inside of him. He has agreed that salvation is attainable if he just does his best. He's agreed that salvation is found outside of Christ in some way, and it rests on his shoulders in some way. There is no struggle inside a man who only has one nature, because there's not two men walking there. There's only one man walking, and they're perfectly agreed. Salvation is by works. God is not sovereign. I'm in control. He's perfectly in agreement.

But in a believer, there's two men. There's a whole heart, there's a perfect man in Christ Jesus. He couldn't get any more perfect, he couldn't get any more holy, he couldn't get any more faithful. And there is that natural man as well. And he is the polar opposite. He is unrighteous, he is sinful, he is wicked, he is God-hating, and he is unfaithful in every which way you can imagine.

And he walks side by side with that whole heart in that man. How can two walk together lest they be agreed? They can't. They don't walk together, they just fight with each other all the time. And so in us there is this constant struggle, and it feels wrong.

Say things like, Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Say, is that healthy? Is it healthy to be this walking contradiction? Yeah, it absolutely is. Turn over to Genesis 25 for a minute. Let me give you the illustration of that. This might be helpful. Look at verse 22. Let's back up to verse 21. And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren. She couldn't have any kids. There was no life in her. And the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. And the children struggled together within her.

And she said, if it be so, why am I thus? If I've been given what I want, if I've been given life, Why do I have this war in me? Why do I have this struggle in me? If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord, and the Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. She said, why is there a struggle going on inside me? If there's life here, why do I feel this war that's going on inside of me? That's the war that exists in every believer, because you have two men walking inside of you, and they are not agreed. They are polar opposites and they're constantly at war. And that is the healthy state of every believer. Paul said it like this. It's something we can all relate to. He says, for that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not.

But that what I hate, that do I. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? That's an eternal struggle, and that is the healthy state of every believer. And I'll tell you what, that elder, that old nature, because he's older than the new nature, he does service.

It keeps us constantly looking to Christ. Constant reminder, I'm a sinner, I'm in need of mercy, not yesterday, today. I'm in need of grace today, this very moment. Now with that in mind and recognizing that, you have to have a whole heart to praise the Lord.

David gives us five things I think here that make the Lord praiseworthy. Five key words we can look at. Go back to your text, look at verse three. He says in verse three, he says, when my enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. That's the first thing he's praiseworthy for right there, for the very presence of the Lord.

And much like you, I have no doubt, I am covetous of his presence. I want his presence for me. I want to feel his hand of leadership upon me. I want him to lead me and guide me in all things and protect me. And I want to be able to feel it. I want to have some understanding of it. I want to be able to detect his presence. And I am greedy of that. I am covetous of that. I want that.

And so many times we get discouraged when we don't feel like we have it. We feel like the Lord is far off. We feel like he doesn't have his hand of leadership on us. But if we're a believer, the Lord's promised, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. Meaning that whether we can feel it or not, bears no reality on the situation. We always have his presence. If God be for us, who could be against us?

Now I give you the example of that. It comes out of 2 Kings 6. You remember, the king of Syria was tired of Elisha foiling his plans. So they're down in Dothan, him and his servant. And so the king of Syria comes with all his chariots and all his horses. And Elisha's servant walks outside and he sees just thousands of horses and chariots. And he looks over to Elisha and he says, Master, how shall we do? We're about to get killed. There's two of us and there's thousands of them. What's going on? And Elisha said, There's more for us than there for them.

He said the Lord opened his eyes and opened that servant's eyes and he saw chariots of fire and horses all over the place. The Lord's protection had always been there. It had always been there. He just couldn't see it. Thank God, the way I feel, it's not the way things really are. The way I see things, the way I feel things, they bear no resemblance of the real situation. Those chariots, those horses, that fire, it's always there. He's always there in our protection. But there's a deeper layer to this.

He's talking about the blessedness of the Lord's presence. This is something that David said in a later Psalm. He said in Psalm 68a, he said, the earth shook and the heavens also dropped at the presence of God. Even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. Now I want you to think about his presence for us here in the side of the wall. That law that simply condemns me and declares my guilt over and over, he stands in the presence of the law.

And we stand where? In him. All salvation is found in Christ. We stand in him. And the law looks him over just as deep as it can possibly go. And he says, I finally found one. I finally found one that is righteous and perfect and pure. And we stand in him. And so when the law looks him over, it looks us over and says, they are the same. We've got nothing to say to this man. He stands as our presence before the law.

He is our righteousness before that law, and it really is ours. When he says, you have done well, you have done well. You're one and the same, I can't tell the difference. Isn't that a blessing? Now here's the second thing, look at verse four. For thou hast maintained, or as I said before, that means accomplished, my right and my cause.

Thou settest in the throne judging right. He's to be praised for his accomplishments. What did he accomplish on the cross? I'll tell you the first thing he accomplished, the very glory of the Godhead. That's what it was about. It was about God glorifying the Godhead in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and on that cross, all the wonderful attributes of God in its totality were manifest on that cross.

Especially this, God being just and the justifier of the ungodly. No one else could do that. No one else who could satisfy the perfect justice of God and yet justify the ungodly. All the perfection of God was displayed on that cross and the very glory of God was displayed there.

That's what happened on that cross. God was greatly glorified. And here's the second thing that happened. The scriptures were fulfilled. All the scriptures speak of that day. All the scriptures speak of that place. This is the event of the eternities. This is what everything in the scripture points to, Christ and Him crucified. How many times do we read It happened so the scriptures might be fulfilled. He received the vinegar so the scriptures might be fulfilled. Just this book coming to fruition. God's not a liar. It all came true.

But what really happened on that cross? What is the accomplishment? For by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. The full, complete salvation of everybody the Lord Jesus Christ went to that cross for, it was accomplished right there on Calvary's tree.

You think of the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter, James, and John got to watch this. The Lord Jesus Christ was there. He had Elijah, he had Moses. What did they speak of? spoke of the death, the decease he should accomplish. When he said it is finished, everybody he died for, their salvation was certain and secured for the eternities.

It can't be messed up. It can't be reversed. It's over. This is another thing it accomplished. Look down at verse five of your text. Thou hast rebuked the heathen. Thou has destroyed the wicked, Thou has put out their name forever and ever. O Thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end, and Thou has destroyed cities, their memorial is perished with them.

All the Lord's enemies, Satan and death and demons and hell, they all gather around that cross thinking one thing, we've won. We finally beat him, we got everybody to turn on him, and this is our day of victory, he's being put to death, and they had absolutely no idea that his death was their undoing.

This is what it says in Revelations 12, 10. It says, and I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. That day Satan lost all his power because the only power he had was the power to accuse. And when the Lord Jesus Christ said it was finished, he put away all the sins of all his people. And there is now nothing left to accuse us for. It would say in the next verse, and they overcame him by what? By the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death. We've already overcome, by what? By what means? By the blood of the lamb.

Now, he is praiseworthy for this next thing, his endurance. Look at verse seven. It says, but the Lord shall endure forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment. The endurance of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does that mean? What is that referring to? I read the scripture and it shed some light on it. This is Psalm 102 verse 12.

It says, but thou, O Lord, shall endure forever and thy remembrance unto all generations. The endurance of the Lord Jesus Christ has something to do with his memory, particularly this, him remembering what he has promised and making good on those promises. He's not like you and me. We change every single day, we change our minds, we go back on our promises, but he changeth not. and he remembers every one of his covenants, he remembers every one of his promises, and not one of them will go unfulfilled.

And that means he is the only one that is truly and utterly trustworthy. You know, we wanna be trustworthy, don't get me wrong. I wanna make good on my word as best as I possibly can, you do too. But at the end of the day, we are not sovereign, we have no power. We can't say anything for sure. We say, if the Lord wills, right, we can do that, do that. He's the only one who said, I will, and it's done.

And he's got a promise inside this verse of scripture here. I think it's a blessing to me, maybe it's a blessing to you. Go down to verse 10. What he has to say here is a promise. Remember, he's a God that cannot lie. He always makes good on his promises. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. His name, thou shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. That's a promise.

If you're a sinner and you've got nowhere else to go and you can't bring anything to the table, he says, It's not that I will accomplish your salvation. It's that I already have. I've already died. I already put away your sins. You're free. Look to me. And I tell you what, by his grace, we do. I'm a sinner. I take him at his word. He said he died for sinners. I'm a sinner. That means he died for me. And by his grace, I put my trust in him. All my eggs are in that one basket. I've got nowhere else to go. I've got no one else to turn to. We have one thing and one place and one person, Christ and him crucified.

And we have this blessed promise. Comes right at the end of verse 10. He says, for thou Lord has not forsaken them that seek thee. Now that's a promise by a God who cannot lie. That means that will never be anybody who puts their trust in Christ alone. That's gonna end up in hell. He's faithful, the endurance of God, he's ultimately trustworthy, and he says, there'll never be anybody who trusts me, and I'll turn him away.

That's good news, isn't it? All right, look at verse eight. and he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. He's praiseworthy for his uprightness in all things. You think about that. He is upright in the salvation of a sinner.

When the Lord saves somebody, he's not sweeping anything under the carpet. When he saves a sinner, he's not saying, well, I recognize you've done all these terrible things, but I'm just gonna forget about it. I'm not gonna do anything about that. No, his mercy is a just mercy. This is the wisdom of God.

And I don't like the statement that says he found a way to be just and justifier. That's really not it. He is the way to be just and justifier. He always found the way because he's always been the way. There is one way. The perfect justice of God fell down on him. We're safe and secure in him.

And now, in his uprightness, in his perfect righteousness, in his perfect holiness, all he can do is show mercy to God's elect because it's the right thing to do. because we're sinless, because we're righteous in Christ, because we are justified. In uprightness, he shows that mercy, and that's what's right. To do anything else would be unjust. To simply show mercy, it's by his uprightness.

And I'll tell you what, folks, he is also upright in his condemnation of the wicked. He's sovereign in the salvation of a sinner, and he is sovereign in the condemnation of the wicked, and he's upright, and he is to be praised in both instances. And that can be hard to get hold of. But this scripture gives us some commentary on this. Let me show you that. Look over at verse 16.

It says, the Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth. Everybody who knows the Lord, they know this. His judgment, it's always upright. It's always according to his perfect justice. That's how he's known. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth.

The wicked, is snared in the work of his own hands. Now notice what comes after that, two words. Hygion and Sela. That means stop and consider this and meditate on it. It's telling you to do it twice, which means this is important. How is the Wiccan snared?

In his own hands. Now if a man is saved, it's because the Father loved him in Christ before the foundations of the world were ever built. He chose him in Christ. Christ went to that cross and he redeemed him. He lived and he died for him. He is called by the Holy Spirit simply because Christ died for him and the Father loved him and chose him.

And he has absolutely nothing to do with that. But I tell you what, if a man goes to hell, if he is condemned by God, it will not be because the Father didn't love him. and it will not be because the Father didn't choose him, and it won't be because Christ didn't die for him, and it won't be because the Holy Spirit didn't give him life. He will be condemned because he sinned against God, and he refused to bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he refused to believe on him. He is snared in the snare of his own hands.

The call to all of humanity, the external call has always been this, and it's what's written on your board out front right now. I saw it when we rolled up. Look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else. That has been the external call to all of humanity. It always has been. Look unto me, don't look anywhere else.

A man can't, naturally, and he won't, and that's a man's fault. And so if a man is caught up in condemnation, it's the work of his own hands. And the Lord is upright and he is to be praised in both instances. Amen? Look at verse nine. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. You know, two thoughts on this. Number one, he's praiseworthy for this. Who's he a refuge for? Is it for people who have some ability and can pull themselves up by the bootstraps and have some chance of coming up with some sort of righteousness?

It literally means oppressed. It means crushed. People who can't move. People who can't breathe. People who simply can't. They are absolutely and utterly impotent before God. Sinners. He's the refuge for sinners, for people who can't do anything for themselves. Blessed be His name just for that.

Here's the other thought on this. If you want the, I guess the Old Testament illustration of this, you remember the cities of refuge? Cities of refuge, there were six of them. There was three on the east side of Jordan, there was three on the west side of Jordan. And if a man had killed another man unawares, the man who got killed, his family could come after that man. And that man who did the killing, he could flee to one of those six cities. And it was interesting, they had three on one side of the river and three on the other side, and it was for this reason.

That man who killed, he had no excuse not to get to the city. There were no obstacles in the way. You couldn't say, well, I couldn't get there because of the river. No, there was free access. And he'd run up to one of those cities of refuge, and as soon as he got there, you know the first thing that took place? Judgment. They held a trial immediately.

And after that, he was taken inside that city. And as long as he was inside that city, the Avenger of Blood, that man who wanted to kill him, couldn't get to him. Now if he stepped outside that city, the Avenger of Blood could have his way with him. But as long as he was inside that city, he was safe. And he had to stay there till the death of the high priest. And as soon as the high priest died in that year, he was free. He could go home and the Avenger of Blood had absolutely nothing he could do to him. Now here's my point to all this. Look at what it says in the text in verse nine.

It says the Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. When's the time of trouble? Right now. We are sinful men and women living in a world, we are hanging on to this mortal life by just a thread, and on the other side we go to meet a just and a holy God who demands absolute perfection and rules by justice. Flee to that city right now.

That's it, he's Christ. Three on one side, three on the other side. There's no excuses. You have absolutely no excuse to. This man receiveth sinners and eats with them. If you're a sinner, he will receive you. You come. What happens when you get there? Judgment. Judgment's already been carried out in Christ. The high priest has already died.

You know what that means? That means you're free. You are free from the law. You are free from the bondage of sin. I know it doesn't feel that way, but the simple fact that you believe the gospel is evidence of that. You are absolutely free. And you remember what the Lord said to Bartimaeus? He said, go your way, your faith hath made thee whole. You're free, do whatever you want.

What'd he do? He followed Jesus in the way. And that's what every believer does. So I would implore you this evening, this very moment, look to Christ right now and praise his name because he is worthy of that praise. It's been a blessing to be with you guys tonight.

Psalm 9

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Psalm 9

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