Well, good evening. If you would
open your Bibles with me to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter
four. I'd like to begin our service
reading a few verses from Hebrews chapter four, beginning in verse 12. For the word of God is quick
and powerful, sharper than a two edged sword, piercing even to
the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight,
but all things are naked and open under the eyes of him with
whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Let's do that now. Let's come
before the throne of grace, the God's throne of grace, and seek
God's blessing. Our father, We do bow before
your throne of grace, thankful that we can come and find grace
to help in time of need. Father, I pray that this evening
that you would bless our time of worship and that you would
give us an hour of true heart worship. Father, I pray that
you'd be with me in this hour, that you'd send your spirit upon
me and Speak to my heart and open my mouth that I could in
clear and simple terms preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Father, I beg of thee that you enable me to preach
in the power of the spirit, not in the weakness of human intellect,
but in the power of your spirit. Father, bless the hearts of those
who hear. Cause your word to reach to the hearts of your people,
to give life, to comfort and instruct and point us to our
Lord Jesus Christ, that we would believe Him and rest more and
more fully in Him. Father, we bow before you, thankful
people. We're thankful for the many blessings
of this life. Even in this time of great trouble
and trial, you blessed your people. You are still a God who's the
God of all mercy, the God of all grace. The earth is still
full of your mercy and your grace. And Father, we're thankful. We're
thankful that you can bless these electronic services, that you're
still blessing your word to your glory and to the hearts of your
people. And Father, we dare not forget to pray for our country
and our world going through this great sickness and difficulty
that you would be pleased, Father, to heal the land, that you'd
be pleased to give some treatment, some cure, alleviate this, this
great trouble and suffering of the people. That Father, you
might enable your people to meet together. Once again, lift up
our voices in praise and thanksgiving and worship you. As we're all
together in one body in one house. Father, we pray for the sick
and the afflicted and especially of our number of your people,
Father, who need you especially. We pray you'd comfort their hearts,
that you'd touch their bodies and their minds, give peace and
heal and deliver according to thy will, as soon as it could
be thy will. All these things we ask and we give thanks in
that name, which is above every name, the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen. Right now, if you would
turn back in your Bibles to Psalm 119. I'm going to continue our
study in Psalm 119 this evening. The title of the message is Christ
from A to Z part three. Now you'll remember that Psalm
119 is a poem that has one eight verse stanza for each letter,
each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. And the theme
of this song, the theme of every stanza is the word of God, both
the written word of God and Christ, the incarnate word. Now, it's
not my intention to try to speak verse by verse through this whole
psalm, but I want to give you the main point of each one of
these stanzas to show all of us how that Christ is all in
salvation. He's all in all, hence the title
from A to Z, Christ is all. And tonight we begin the sixth
stanza, which tells us about God's mercy. Now, the Hebrew
letter for this stanza is used as a conjunction, like we would
use the word and. This stanza tells us how God's
mercy is tied to every aspect of salvation. And the first thing
I see in this in this stanza that begins in verse 41 is we
are sinners. You and I are sinners who need
saving. And there's the conjunction.
And we're sinners who need a saving. And God gives mercy to sinners. Verse 41, Psalm 119. Let thy
mercies come also unto me, O Lord. even thy salvation according
to thy word. Now we need what the Psalmist
says, God's mercy to come unto us. And the reason for that is
our sin has separated us from God. There's a great gulf between
us and God and man cannot cross it. You and I cannot come to
God as we are. We cannot come to God by our
good religious works. You and I are lost and dead in
sin. So we cannot save ourselves.
That's why the Psalmist says we need God's mercy to come to
us. He says, I need thy salvation.
We need God's salvation to come to us. David calls it thy salvation. This is God's salvation. God's
salvation is the salvation that God purposed, that God promised. It's the salvation that God purchased.
It's the salvation that God brings to us and applies to the hearts
of his people. And the psalmist is pleading
for mercy. He said, I need mercy. Lord, save me by your mercy.
According to your word, according to your word, save me according
to the mercy that's described in your word. Now God's God's
word declares mercy for sinners. It declares mercy, mercy, not
merit mercy. So our cry is Lord have mercy
on me. And here's the conjunction. Have
mercy on me. And God shows mercy. God shows
electing mercy, calling, saving, regenerating mercy. God shows
saving mercy, keeping mercy, mercy for sinners, mercy that
does everything that they need. So you and I need mercy. And
God reveals his mercy to his people through his word, both
the written word and Christ incarnate. God's written word tells us about
God's mercy. It tells us what kind of mercy
it is. It's sovereign mercy. It's mercy
on whom God will. It's saving mercy. It's calling
mercy. It's mercy that saves sinners,
not good people, but sinners. And God's word tells us what
we are, that we're sinners. See, not only does God's word
tell us about God's mercy, God's word tells us how we need God's
mercy. that we are sinners and God's
mercy is for sinners. And God's word tells us where
this mercy is found. It's all found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's mercy for his people is
all because of what Christ has done for his people and what
Christ has done in his people. So our plea is now, Lord, let
your promise of mercy come to a sinner like me. I need it.
I'm a sinner. Lord, let your promise, the mercy
that you promised in your word, Your sovereign mercy for sinners.
Let it come to me. The second thing I see in this
stanza is that we are guilty. You and I are guilty. And here's
the conjunction. And God's mercy answers every
charge against us. Verse 42. So shall I have wherewith
to answer him that reproacheth me, for I trust in thy word. Now, believers are reproached
because of our sin. The word reproach means upbraided.
You know, we're accused of our sin and then we're upbraided
for it. We're chastised, we're rebuked because of our sin. And
they're not lying. No, we're guilty. You and I are
guilty sinners and we need something to answer these charges against
us. Well, the answer is God's mercy. Now, the definition of
mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. The only way a
holy God cannot give guilty sinners what they deserve is if he punishes
our sin on somebody else. The only way God can have mercy
on you and me is if he gives Christ our substitute, the suffering
and the death that our sin deserves. Then and only then can he give
us what Christ deserves. That's how God has mercy on sinners. It's by punishing our sin in
the person of our substitute. So it's the sacrifice of Christ
that is the believer's answer to every charge against us. No
matter what charge it is, our answer, our plea is the sacrifice
of Christ. See, someone brings a charge
against us. We can't say we're innocent. We can't say we didn't
do it because we're guilty. The only answer we have to the
charges that are brought against us is that Christ died for me,
that Christ paid for my sin by his death for me. So when people
of the world charge you with your sin. They point out, well,
you're no better than me. You're just a sinner just like
me. You say, but that's right. You're absolutely right. And
I'm sorry that my sin has hurt you. But my plea, my plea is
not that I'm any better than you. My plea is Christ paid for
my sin. That's the only answer I have
against the charges brought against me. When Satan, accuser of the
brethren, accuses you, our only answer to Satan is Calvary. Look to Christ, how he paid for
our sin by his death upon the tree. Look to Calvary. That's
where Christ put Satan out of business. That's where he took
his power away. He took his power to accuse God's
people away from Satan when he paid for their sins. See, Christ's
death, his sacrifice, that's the answer to the charges brought
against us. And then when your own heart
troubles you, and if you belong to God, it will. Your heart will
trouble you. It'll accuse you and make you
feel guilty. It'll keep you from sleeping
at night. It'll torment you. When that happens to you, look
to Christ. Your answer to your guilty conscience
is the death of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ, how the blood of Christ
paid for your sin. That's the only way any son of
Adam could ever have a clear conscience. The answer to all
the charges against us is the sacrifice of Christ. That's how
God has mercy on his people. All right, the third thing I
see in this stanza is in verse 43. We need mercy to save us,
and here's the conjunction, and God's mercy fits our need. Verse
43. And take not the word of truth
utterly out of my mouth, for I have hoped in thy judgments.
Now, every believer confesses that I'm a sinner. The only way
I could be saved is by God's mercy. This is my plea. God's mercy. It took God's mercy
to save me. That's the only hope that I have
is Christ was judged for my sin. He died for me. I need God's
mercy to save me. But the believer will go on and
say, I constantly still need God's mercy. Our constant plea
is, Lord, don't take your mercy from me, because if you do, I'll
perish. Lord, don't let me hope in anything else. Don't let my
head turn to look and hope and start trusting in something else.
Don't let me start confessing that any of my works had any
part to play in my salvation. Let mercy be my confession, always,
everywhere, in front of everyone. That's what the psalmist says
in verse 46. I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings. and will not be ashamed. I'm
going to confess God's mercy. It's God's mercy that saved me.
It's God's mercy that keeps me because mercy, God's mercy is
my only plea. So Lord, let your mercies come
upon me and don't ever let them leave me because that's the only
way I can be kept. He says in verse 44, so shall
I keep thy law continually forever and ever. Now first, this verse
means the only way that I can keep God's law. is by being in
the person of Christ, my representative. When he kept the law, I kept
it because God put me in him. Now that's mercy, isn't it? That
God would put us in Christ and that we would keep the law in
the person of God's Son, who has made flesh to be our representative.
That's how I've kept the law, in Christ. But secondly, it means
this. God's people will be faithful.
And the only way that I can be kept faithful to the end is God's
mercy. If God lifts his finger off of
me for even a moment, I'll turn to the false religion of flesh
just like that. I need God's mercy both to save
me and to keep me. And here's the conjunction. That's
just the kind of mercy God gives. He gives his people exactly the
kind of mercy that they need, that fits their need. All right. The fourth thing I see in this
stanza is we are enslaved and God's mercy gives liberty. Verse
45. And I will walk at liberty for
I seek thy precepts. Now we are born in bondage to
sin. In bondage to it. We can't escape it. We are not
free to stop sinning because we have a sin nature and that's
all it can do. All it can do is sin. God's holy
and just law has put us in the jailhouse. We're not free. We're
not. We're not able to go free from
the judgment that is coming that our sins deserve. So we need
to be set free. We need to be set free. And God's
mercy gives liberty. The Lord Jesus Christ said he
came to set the prisoner free. He came to set the prisoner free,
not by making a jailbreak, not by busting them out and ignoring
God's justice. No, Christ came to set his people
free. by taking their place in the prison for them, by becoming
guilty for them and taking their place in the prison for them. Christ set his people free from
judgment by dying in the place of his people. He took our place
under the sentence of the law and he suffered and died in the
place of his people. And now they're free from condemnation.
They're free from punishment because their sin has already
been punished in the person of their substitute. So now God's
people, not only they're free from judgment, if you believe
Christ, you are free from the law, free from the law. You're free from the demands
of the law. You're free from having to live with that horrible
burden of the law hanging over your head. You don't have to
keep the law to be justified. You're justified in Christ. You
kept the law in Christ and you don't have to keep the law to
be sanctified. You don't have to, you don't have to behave
a certain way in order to be holy. Christ is your sanctification. You're holy in Him. You are free
from the law. You have no obligation, no relationship
with the law whatsoever if you believe Christ. He kept the law
for you and set you free from the law. And now you're at liberty. You're at liberty to serve God.
Not as a slave. Not because you have to. Not
because you're being forced to. You're set at liberty to serve
God out of love as a child. as a loving child of the King.
Free, you're free, you're liberty, free from the law, free from
the law, oh, happy condition. And God's people are free from
condemnation, from punishment for their sin. There is therefore
now, how much condemnation? None. No condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, because Christ was already condemned
for you. You're free. And that makes God's people free
from the fear of death. There is nothing to fear from
death. If Christ died for you, if Christ
died for you, Christ died for you, the moment of the death
of your body will be the best moment of your whole life. Now
you're free. The death of the believer is
all gain to the believer. Now, it leaves the loved ones
behind with sadness and sorrow and broken hearts. But for the
believer, death is all gain. The death of this body is simply
graduation day. We depart this earth and go be
with Christ, which is far better. Now, for the believer who believes
Christ, there's no reason to fear death. Matter of fact, there's
a reason to look forward to it. We can look forward to it because
of God's mercy. God's mercy gave us liberty and
set us free from the fear of death. That's the kind of mercy
we need. Oh, thank God for his mercy. All right, now the seventh stanza
has to do with comfort from God's word. This stanza, which is like
our letter Z, stands for a weapon or a sword. Now, you know, I
know what immediately came to your mind. It was the word of
God. That's the word of God is our only weapon. And the believers
only weapon is sharper than a two edged sword. So what does a weapon
of war have to do with peace and comfort? I mean, it sounds
like we're getting ready for a fight. We're taking up this this sword,
this weapon. What does that have to do with
comfort? Well, let me see if I can give you an example. I
have heard multiple times that during this pandemic, Gun and
ammo sales are at record highs. And I'll tell you the reason
for that. People are scared. And you know what they want?
They want something that makes them feel like they're protected.
They feel like they can find some comfort if they feel like
they're protected. So they're going out there and
buying guns and ammunition to feel comforted. That's what this
is talking about right here. This whole stanza. That's exactly
what it's talking about. When the believer wants comfort,
All we have to do is turn to our weapon, the word of God,
the word of God, and take it up, take it up, read it and remember
it. Remember it. The Hebrew word
that's used in this stanza that's translated remember starts with
this letter Z, the same letter that is in this stanza. The way our weapon comforts us,
the way God's word comforts us, is by remembering it. Remembering
it. David finds comfort first. This
remembering is in two ways. First, David finds comfort in
the Lord remembering his word. In the Lord remembering the promises
and mercy and grace that's promised in his word. And second, David
finds comfort by the Lord making us remember God's word. You know, many of us can't just
pull a scripture out of our head at any moment's notice. But how
many times have you been in need and God brings a passage, a word
of his scripture to your mind and it comforts you. That's what
David's talking about. First, we're comforted in the
Lord remembering his word. And second, by the Lord making
us remember his word. And we find comfort when the
Lord remembers his word and keeps his promise. Verse 49. Remember
the word unto thy servant, upon which thou has caused me to hope. Now, this is what David's saying.
This is the plea of the believer. Lord, you have caused me to hope
in your word. Now, don't let me down. You've
caused me to hope in your word. Keep your word. Remember your
word. Lord, you've caused me to hope in Christ, the incarnate
word, to put all my hope of salvation in him. You've caused me to hope
in the mercy and grace that I read about in your word. You caused
me to hope in life, the life that came when you planted your
word in my heart, that God's word is a seed that gives life.
Well, you've caused me to hope in that life when you planted
your word in my heart. You caused me to hope in the
forgiveness of my sin that I found in your word. You've caused me
to hope for righteousness in Christ, my righteousness, that
I read in your word. Jehovah said, Kenu, I found him
in your word. You've caused me to hope in him.
Now, Lord, don't let me down. Fulfill your promise. The only
hope I have of anything spiritual is what I have found in God's
word. Now, Lord, remember your word. This is our prayer. Remember
your word. Fulfill your promise of salvation
and righteousness and forgiveness and life in Christ. Lord, remember
your word and fulfill it. David is not saying this like,
you know, the Lord might forget his word or he might forget to
keep his promise. That's not what he's saying. This is David pleading. that
God's promise, God's word is all of his hope. He doesn't have
any other hope. But you know, hoping in God's word is a good
hope. Hoping in Christ is a good hope,
if all your hope is Christ. Hoping that God will remember
his word, that's a good hope. You know why? Because God never
forgets. Never does he forget. Wasn't
that the dying hope of that poor thief on the cross? Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. And I know from scripture that
was a good hope because what did our Lord say to him? Verily
I say unto thee, today shall thou be with me in paradise,
hoping that the Lord remembers his word. That's a good hope.
The Lord did not forget that thief and he's not going to forget
anyone else for whom he died. That's a good hope that he will
not forget us. Read on verse 50. This is my
comfort in my affliction for thy word hath quickened me. And
David says, well, my body suffers affliction both from without
and from within. I tell you where I find my comfort. He says it's in God's word. My
comfort is that God has quickened me. He's given me new spiritual
life by the seed of his word. God has caused me to be born
again by the seed of his word. And that's my comfort. I can't
say I'm always going to have comfort that my flesh will not
die. I can't say based upon anything
I find in God's word that I can have comfort, just complete comfort
and assurance that I will not contract this coronavirus that's
making so many people sick and killing so many people right
now. There's absolutely nothing in God's word that promises me
that. So my flesh is going to get sick. It's going from something,
somehow it's going to get sick and it's going to die. But my
comfort is this, while my flesh dies, I'll never die because
God has quickened me. He's given me new spiritual life. And when this flesh gets laid
in the ground, that new man that God has quickened is finally
going to be set free from this clay prison to go be with the
Lord. David says, that's my comfort.
That's why I can't find comfort in promising that God promised
me I'm going to get better. I may not. This is my comfort.
God's quickened me. And when this clay prison finally
falls to the ground, I'll be set free to go be with the Lord.
That comforts my heart. The thought of being with the
Savior face to face, that comforts my heart. See, the Lord promised
whosoever lives and believes in Him will never die. They'll
never die the second death. And that comforts me when I remember
the Lord's word, when he causes that to be brought to my mind,
the Lord will remember his promise. He'll never let one of his people
die the second day. So David finds comfort that the
Lord remembers his word. He'll remember his promise. He'll
remember his promise to all of his people, just like he remembered
his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's our comfort.
The Lord remembers his promise. He'll not let one of his words
fall to the ground. And then David finds comfort
in this, that the Lord makes him, he makes his people to remember
his word. Verse 51. The proud have had
me greatly in derision, yet have I not declined from thy law.
I remember thy judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself. David says, the proud have risen
against me. And he could mean the world.
You know, this world is so full of the pride of the flesh and
it rises up against us. There's no doubt about it. But
this is also my own flesh. My own flesh is just depraved,
just as wicked, just as proud as it ever was. And my flesh
constantly rises up against me. My flesh constantly tries to
make me fear. and to doubt and to bring me
back into captivity to the law. And when my own flesh is tormenting
me like that, rising up against me, I tell you where I find comfort.
In remembering God's Word. Remembering the promises of God's
Word. I've got nothing to fear if I
believe Christ. That's God's promise. And when
I remember that promise, my heart's comforted. When I'm full of fear
because of my sin, I can't deny my sin. I can't say I sin less
than I used to. I can't have any hope in that. But my comfort
is Christ is my righteousness. I'm righteous through Christ's
obedience to the law, not my failed attempts at keeping the
law. When I'm full of fear because of the world around me, that
the world could rise up against me, that I could catch some dread
disease that's going through the world, when I'm full of fear
because of the world around me, my comfort is Christ. Christ
the Savior told His people, You be in good cheer. I've overcome
the world. And I'm full of fear because
of the trials and storms of life. My comfort is Christ who is in
control. Brothers and sisters, the sovereignty
of Christ is not just a fancy theological doctrine that we
kind of stick up a nail on the wall and forget that it's over
there. Our comfort, our assurance is Our Savior is in control. What's happening to us is happening
because God's not doing it to us, but doing it for us. He is in control. Even the wind
and the sea obey this man. Oh, our Savior is in control.
That comforts my heart when I remember that. When I find myself full
of fear, fearing the death of this body, my comfort is Christ. Christ is my life. This place
is not my life. Christ is my life. Christ is
my resurrection. I can never die the second death
if Christ died for me. In every fear, my comfort is
Christ. When horror takes hold upon me,
my comfort and my song is Christ. Look what David says in verse
53. Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that
forsake thy law. Thy statutes have been my songs
and the house of my pilgrimage. The house of my pilgrimage is
this body. That's what he's talking about.
I'm making this pilgrimage in this clay tent. And I go through
the horrors of this life, the fears, the sin, the travails
of this life. And my comfort is Christ. And
when I think of Christ, I remember his word. I remember his promises.
I'm so comforted, I sing for joy. God's put a song in my heart,
a song of grace in my heart. Christ is my comfort, and I sing
of Him. My hope is so sweet in Him, I
sing of Him. Now you just take that and apply
that to anything that causes you fear. Anything that goes
bump in the night and scares you to death, you remember this.
Remember God's Word. Christ is our comfort. Verse
55. I have remembered thy name, O
Lord, in the night. In the night, when it's all quiet
and dark and I'm all alone, what's my comfort? I've remembered thy
name. O Lord, in the night, and I've
kept thy law. This I had because I kept thy
precepts. This comfort that I had, I've
had because I remember, I kept, I remembered God's word. I've
kept God's law in my heart because God's put it there. God's put
it there. Now listen, if God put his word
in my heart, I have nothing to fear. And I can make good on
that if you'll look at Jeremiah chapter 31. If God's put His
Word in my heart, if He's put it in this clay house, this house
of my pilgrimage, and He's put His Word in my heart, I have
absolutely nothing to fear. And I won't fear if I remember
His Word. Jeremiah 31 verse 33. Behold the days come, saith the
Lord, I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant
I made with their fathers, not according to the covenant of
the law. And the day that I took them by the hand to bring them
out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although
I was in husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this should be
the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel. After those
days, saith the Lord, I'll put my law in their inward parts. I'll put it in there. and I'll
write it, I'll write my word, I'll write my law in their hearts
and will be their God and they should be my people. And they
shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his
brother saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For
I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin
no more. If God put his word in your heart,
God says, I'm going to forgive your iniquity. I'll be your God. You'll be my people and I will
remember your sin no more. Let that sink in for a second. Then you've got nothing to fear,
do you? See, God's word is our comfort. That's the theme of
that stanza. Now let's look at the eighth
stanza back in our text, Psalm 119. The eighth stanza in this
psalm tells us about repentance and faith. The Hebrew letter
for this stanza means life. We have life because God's given
us life. He's granted us to have life.
And anyone who has life, anyone who has spiritual life, they
turn to Christ. And that's what repentance is.
Repentance is not just being sorry that I sinned. Lots of
people are sorry that they sin. Their sorrow is they got caught.
Their sorrow is they're suffering for it. Repentance is to turning. It's to turn to Christ. To turn
from our idols and turn to Christ as our all. Repentance is a change
of mind. It's a 180 degree turn. So that I think the opposite
of everything that I used to think. When I repent, I repent
because God's given me a new mind. So I change my mind. I change my mind about my works
that I used to be so proud of, and now I've done a 180 degree
turn. I consider them all done. When
I repent, God gives me a new mind. I also change my mind about
Christ. Now Christ the Savior is not
just a theory. He's my all. He's my wisdom. He's my righteousness, my sanctification
and my redemption. He's my all. And that's just
exactly the way I want it. I want my all to depend upon
him. When I repent, this is how I
can tell that I've repented. I want all of my salvation to
be in Christ and none of it to be in my works. That's how I
can tell if I've repented. And the only way I can repent,
the only way I can turn to a 180 degree turn like that is by finding
out who Christ is from his word. Verse 57, David says, thou art
my portion, O Lord. I have said that I would keep
thy words. Now, when I repent, I want Christ
to be my portion. I want him to be my inheritance.
I want him to be my salvation and my life. And I have said,
when I repent, this is what I say, I've kept, I believe God's word. I'm going to keep believing.
I'm going to keep believing. because God's given me a new
heart that can't believe anything else, that can't love anything
else. Verse 58, he says, I am treated by favor with my whole
heart. Be merciful unto me according
to thy word. You and I repent. I turn my feet
or when I repent, I see that my sin is so heinous. I see my sin for what it is.
I see all those things I used to think were good things that
would make God happy with me. I see those things are done.
And instead of being proud of them, resting and hoping in them,
now I beg God for mercy from them. See, I used to be real
proud of my works. And now I beg God for mercy because
of those things. And I tell you why I do that.
Because God showed me myself in the light of God's word. Verse
59, David said, this is repentance. I thought on my ways and I turned
my feet under thy testimonies. Now when I repent, I turn my
feet. I start going a different way.
I start going my way. I start going the way that I
was going. I turn to follow Christ and to trust Christ. I'll show
you this in Ephesians chapter 2. When God gives us life, along
with that life comes understanding. It's understanding to know what
my works are. It's understanding who Christ
is, so I'll follow him. Here's our works, our ways, the
way we were going before God found us. This is the way every
son of Adam is going. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1.
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.
When a time passed, you walked. And this is the way you walk.
This is the way you went according to the course of this world.
You were walking according to the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
and you can't say that wasn't me, among whom also we all had
our conversation in times past, in the lust of our flesh. This
is the way we are walking, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and we're by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. Now, people hear about the lust
of the flesh and the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
And they think about all kinds of heinous acts and different
things. Undeniably, those are heinous,
horrible things. But want to know what's worse?
The lust of the flesh, the desire of the flesh and of the mind
is to be my own God, to be my own Savior, to trust in my own
works. That's the way we were going,
every last one of us. By nature, that's the way we
were going. And God comes in mercy and gives us life. Now
I see. Now I see my way. Now I see that
for what it really is. So what must, when God shows
me myself, what must I do? I must turn to Christ and trust
him, which is far better because look what we have in Christ.
Verse four, Ephesians two. But God, who's rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us. He's given us life. He's
quickened us together with Christ by grace you're saved. hath raised
us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
not in any way by anything that you've done or anything that
you haven't done. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. For where his workmanship Created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Trusting Christ. Now that's a
sure hope, isn't it? That's a good hope because of
what we have by God's grace. Now David tells us that when
God quickens us, when he quickens his people, we turn. We turn
to Christ. We come to Christ. We do this
180 degree turn and we trust Christ. Now, my friend, I want
you to listen to me. Those of you who, as of right
now, have not trusted Christ, I'm telling you, you come to
Christ. You turn to Him and you do it
in a hurry. You do it in a hurry. And if
God ever gets you in trouble, that's exactly what you'll do.
If God ever gets you in trouble and shows you who and what you
are, I mean, in a hurry you're going to come to Christ. Because
you're going to know I need to be saved, I need to be saved
right now. Today is the day of salvation. And I'm going to make haste and
come to Christ right now. See, this thing of repentance
is what I do right now. Look at verse 60 in our text,
Psalm 119. I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments. Now, if you do not know Christ,
you run to him without delay and you keep his commandments
and keeping God's commandments is this, is not keeping the 10
commandments and all the law. Keeping God's commandment is
submitting yourself to the righteousness of Christ. It's quit, quit your
works and trying to, you're trying to use to make yourself righteous.
Quit them. and trust Christ. Trust your whole self, your whole
soul to Him. And I tell you, obey God today,
right now. You trust Christ. Cast your soul
on Christ right now. And you know, this thing of repentance
is not a one-time act. You trust Christ right now. And
you keep trusting Him right now. Right now. How many ever future
right now's God gives you, you keep trusting Christ. Verse 61,
you're going to need him, because look what he says in verse 61.
The bands of the wicked have robbed me, but I've not forgotten
thy law. You're the bands of the wicked.
They keep trying to come and make me turn back to my idols. You're the bands of the wicked.
They could be my old friends in the false religion of the
world. They keep coming and trying to turn me back to my idols. Well, if that's the case, I need
to get me some new friends, because look what he says in verse 63.
I'm a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep
thy precepts. I'm a companion of God's people. I want those people to be my
friends, because they're going to help me. They're going to
encourage me. They're going to encourage me and tell me constantly,
look to Christ, look to Christ. They're never going to tell me,
go back to the law, go back to your idols. They're going to
tell me, oh, let me encourage you. Let me help your heart.
by telling you one more time who Christ is. Let me tell you
about His glory, about how wonderful He is, and you keep looking to
Him. That's a good friend, isn't it?
That's the friend I need. But these bands of the wicked,
they could be people of the world, but primarily these bands of
the wicked, it's my own flesh, my own wicked flesh. This flesh,
every day, tries to get me to turn from Christ and turn back
to my own works. But if I've truly repented, I
can't turn away from Christ because God's put his word in my heart.
So I can't forget it. If I've truly repented, I can't
turn away from Christ because he won't let me. And one of the
ways he won't let me is put my word in my heart. So I can't
forget it. His word constantly pointing
me to Christ. And in closing, let me ask you
this. Why would I ever want to turn from Christ? Why would I? If I turn from Christ, I'm going
to have to turn to something lesser. He's the greatest. He is great. There's none greater
than him. If I'm going to turn from Christ,
I'm going to have to turn to something lesser. If I turn to
any of my works, if I turn to any other religious ceremony,
I'm going to have to turn to something that's lesser than
Christ, that's less glorious, that's less full, that's less
wonderful, that has less power to save. I'm going to have to
turn to something less than Christ. Now, why would I want to do that?
Look what he says in verse 64. The earth, O Lord, is full of
thy mercy. Teach me thy statues. Teach me
your word. The whole earth is full of God's
mercy. Now, why would I want to turn
from Christ and try to trust in anything else anywhere? No
matter where I am, no matter where I find myself, God's mercy
is already there. The whole earth is full of his
mercy. Then why wouldn't I want to trust him? Why wouldn't I?
And you know, that is true during this time of this pandemic. You
know, this is an awful disease has caused an awful lot of suffering. Death has caused a lot of disruption.
Even if you don't have this thing, you know, it's caused disruption
to your life. But you remember this, even though there's this
terrible plague in the earth right now, the whole earth is
still full of God's mercy. Oh, may God cause us to trust
in him. Trust in God, who is merciful
to sinners like us. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
this, your word. We thank you for the precious
promises of your word. We thank you for the revelation
of our Lord Jesus Christ that we find in your word. We thank
you for this psalm that we're studying that shows us all the
glories of your word, how that Christ is all that we need in
every situation. No matter where we might find
ourselves, Christ is our all. Christ is what we need. Father,
I pray that you'd bless your word. We're so used to meeting
with one another and it seems so strange to us and we feel
so hindered. But Father, we're thankful to
know your word's not hindered. Your word is still powerful,
sharp, Your word still reaches to the hearts of your people.
Your word still is powerful enough to reveal the glory of Christ
to your people. And Father, I pray that you do that. Fulfill the
promise of your word that you would continue to call out your
people, that you continue to feed your sheep, that you continue
to comfort and edify the hearts of your sheep. by pointing us
to Christ, and even in this difficult time, Father, using these means
to reveal Christ more fully to our hearts, that we might trust
Him and find Him to be our all and in all. Father, get glory,
we pray, to Your name by blessing Your Word, even in these days,
in this time, with these restrictions. Father, get glory to Your name
by revealing Your power to save and to keep Your people. All
these things, Father, we ask for your glory for the sake of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Until next time, may the
Lord bless you.