If you would, let's turn our
Bibles to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. So good to sit up here and see
Joyce Brown back. I missed you. I'm so glad you're
back. Here in Romans chapter 11, the apostles talking about
the Lord's taking the gospel away from the Jews to send the
gospel to the Gentiles. We'll pick up in verse 18 of
Romans chapter 11, where he says, most not against the branches.
But if thou boasts, thou barest not the root, but the root thee.
That will say then the branches are broken off that I might be
grafted in. Well, because of unbelief, they
were broken off. And thou standest by faith, but
be not high minded, but fear. For if God spare not the natural
branches, take heed, lest he also spare not thee. Behold,
therefore, the goodness and severity of God on them which fail, severity,
but toward thee, goodness. If thou continue in his goodness,
otherwise thou also should be cut off. And they also, if they
abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in. For God
is able to graft them in again. And we'll end our reading there. Let's turn to page number 20,
number 20. We praise thee, O God, our Redeemer,
Creator. In grateful devotion our tribute
we bring. We lay it before Thee, we kneel
and adore Thee, We bless Thy holy name, glad praises we sing. We worship Thee, God of our fathers,
we bless Thee. Through life's storm and tempest,
our guide hast Thou been. When perils o'ertake us, escape
Thou wilt make us. and by thy help, O Lord, our
battles to win. With voices united, our praises
we offer to Great Jehovah, glad anthems we raise. Thy strong arm will guide us,
our God is beside us. To Thee, our great Redeemer,
forever be praise. Good song. We ought to sing that
more often. 526. 526. Another great song. Come ye thankful people come. Come, ye thankful people, come. Praise the song of Harvest Home. All is safely gathered in. as the winter storms begin. God our Maker doth provide for
our needs to be supplied. Come to God's own temple, come! Praise the song of Harvest Home. All the world is God's own field,
Fruit unto his praise to yield, Wheat and tares together sown,
Unto joy or sorrow grown. First the blade and then the
ear, Then the full corn shall appear. Lord of harvest, grant
that we Wholesome grain and pure may be. For the Lord our God
shall come and shall take his harvest home. From his fields shall in that
day all offenses purge away. But the fruitful is to store
In His garner evermore. Even so, Lord, quickly come to
thy final harvest home, gather thou thy people in, free from
sorrow, free from sin, Purified in thy presence to abide,
Come with all thine angels come, Raise the glorious harvest home. Our scripture reading will be
taken from Psalm 94. Psalm 94. Oh, Lord God, to whom vengeance
belongeth. Oh, God, to whom vengeance belongeth,
show thyself. Lift up thyself, thou judge of
the earth. Render a reward to the proud. Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked triumph? How long shall they utter and
speak hard things? And all the workers of iniquity
boast themselves. They break in pieces thy people,
O Lord, and afflict thine heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger
and murder the fatherless. Yet they say the Lord shall not
see. Neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. Understand ye
brutish among the people, and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall
he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall
he not see? He that chasteneth the heathen,
shall not he correct? He that teacheth man knowledge,
shall not he know? The Lord knoweth the thoughts
of man, that they are vanity. Blessed is the man whom thou
chastenest, O Lord, and teaches to him out of thy law, that thou
mayest give him rest from the days of adversity until the pit
he dig for the wicked. For the Lord will not cast off
his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. But judgment
shall return under righteousness and all the upright in heart
shall follow it. Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?
Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? Unless
the Lord had been my help, My soul would almost dwelt in silence.
When I said my foot slippeth, thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.
In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight
my soul. Shall the throne of iniquity
have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? They
gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous and
condemn the innocent blood. But the Lord is my defense, and
my God is the rock of my refuge. He should bring upon them their
own iniquity and should cut them off in their own wickedness.
Yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off. Let's bow together
in prayer. Our father, how thankful we are
that this is the day appointed that we can meet together with
our brothers and sisters to worship thee. Father, we're thankful
that this is the time, the hour that you've appointed. We can
open your word and read it. We can sing the songs of praise
and we can come before you, before your throne in prayer. And Father,
I pray that you bless us tonight with your spirit, that you bless
us with your presence. You promised where two or three
are gathered together in thy name, that you'd be in the midst
of us. Father, we beg your presence
this evening that you would enable us to worship you in spirit and
in truth. Father, speak to the hearts of
your people through your word this evening. Don't leave us
alone. Don't leave the preacher alone. Don't leave the hearer alone.
But Father, open my mouth that I might in clear and simple terms
preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and clearly point
sinners to Christ the Savior. Father, give us a hearing ear
and a believing heart to believe the things that we hear preached
and let us by faith, lay hold upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Find
our salvation, our righteousness, our peace, our joy, and our comfort
in him. Father, what we ask for ourselves,
we ask for all of your people who are meeting together tonight
to worship thee. Bless your people, bless your
word everywhere it's preached for your glory, Father, and for
the good of your people. We're so thankful for the countless
many gifts you so freely bestowed upon us. You've given us homes
and jobs and families, and how you've blessed, Father, we're
so thankful. We ask that you give us the wisdom
and the generous heart to use the things that you've given
us wisely, not selfishly, but for the good of your people,
for the good of your kingdom. That applies to the goods that
you've given us, our talents, our whatever it is you've given
us, Father, let us use them in your service. We're thankful
for the children that you've given to us and Father, how we
pray mercy for their souls. We pray you'd watch over them,
keep them. Father, we beg of thee that you'd
be merciful in your time that you would reveal to them who
and what they are and reveal to them the Lord Jesus Christ,
not just in doctrine, but in person, in faith, and cause them
to run to him. Father, we pray for those who
are in a time of great trouble and hurting and sickness and
sorrow and brokenhearted and in such straits they can't seem
to find a way out. Father, I pray you'd be with
them. We pray that you'd heal, that you'd comfort, that you'd
provide a way out. Above all, that you'd give them
the fulfillment of your promise that you're with your people
in the deep waters. We're thankful for the deliverance
you've given To others, Father, I pray that you continue to watch
over us and lead us and guide us. Father, bless us in this
hour, we pray. Let us set aside the cares and
thoughts of this life and, Father, enable us to worship Thee and
leave here rejoicing in Christ our Savior. For it's in His precious
name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Trembling soul, beset by fears,
thy God reigning. Look above, And dry thy tears
like a rainbow. All thy foes with power assail,
not against thee shall prevail. Trust in Him, He'll never fail. Thy God reigneth. Sinful soul, thy death is paid. Thy God reigneth. On the Lord thy sins were laid,
thy God reigneth. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus
shed his blood, all sin to set thee free. Thy God reigneth. Thy God reigneth. Seeking soul to Jesus turn, Thy
God reigneth. None that seek Him will He spurn,
Thy God reigneth. Wond'ring, she, the shepherd
seeks, When, when found, he ever keeps. Loud and clear the watchmen cry, Thy God reigneth. Church of Christ, awake, awake! Thy God reigneth. Forward then, fresh courage Thy God reigneth. Soon descending from His throne,
He shall claim thee for His own. By God reigned it, by God reigned
it. Let's open our Bibles again to
Psalm 94. I titled the message this evening,
Salvation and Vengeance. The psalmist rightly begins in
verse 1 saying that vengeance belongs to God. He says, O Lord
God, to whom vengeance belongeth. O God, to whom vengeance belongeth,
show thyself. Now you can tell when you read
through this psalm that it is the psalmist's desire to see
the Lord take vengeance on those who are persecuting Israel at
that time. And we can all understand that,
can't we? You just think how you would
pray. I know how I would pray. Think how you would pray. If
somebody was killing our wives and our children, they're surrounding
the cities and starving us to death. You're watching your loved
ones die. And that was a common occurrence
in Israel's history, so we can understand the psalmist desiring
and praying this way, that the Lord take vengeance on the wicked. I mean, think about how you prayed
after our country was attacked by our enemies on 9-11. How did
you pray? That's where the psalmist is
here. This is the way he's praying. But, you know, we have to be
careful. We have to be very careful. I mean, the psalmist here is
writing and praying under divine inspiration. You and I never
do that. So we have to be careful about
how we pray in these matters that we're not seeking revenge.
You know, there's a difference between revenge and vengeance. Revenge is to extract punishment
for a wrong, especially in a resentful and big vindictive spirit. That's
revenge. Vengeance. is to punish injustice. Vengeance is an exact payment
for a crime. It's not done in passion, it's
done to satisfy justice. So there's a difference between
revenge and vengeance. Now we know that the Lord will
take vengeance upon his enemies. The psalmist is right, vengeance
belongs to God. I mean, God said, vengeance is
mine, I will repay. Now look in Romans, excuse me,
Romans chapter 12. This is quoted to us, Romans
chapter 12. You know, when the Lord says,
vengeance is mine, I will repay. He's telling us to not seek revenge,
but to leave vengeance to the Lord because we'll go too far
in our sinful passions and he'll give what's right. Romans chapter
12, verse 17. Recompense to no man evil for
evil, Provide things honest in the sight of all men, if it be
possible. As much as lieth in you, live
peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves. Don't seek revenge, but rather
give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine.
I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger,
feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink.
For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be
not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. So we're not
to seek revenge, but leave vengeance to the Lord. And rather than
look at these verses this evening, in light of asking the Lord to
take vengeance upon our enemies, and we've all got them, every
believer has enemies in this world. And the Lord's going to
take vengeance on them sooner or later. But rather than look
at these verses in that light, I want us to look at these verses
in light of asking the Lord to save us from his vengeance. What's the difference between
God's people and his enemies? Now, what's the difference? They
got the same nature. They have the same sin. The only
difference is God's grace, isn't it? So how is it that God can
be merciful to me and still take vengeance on my sin? See, it's
easy for us to look and see the sin of other people, especially
our enemies. It's easy to see their sin and
see how God should punish them. But what about our sin? Now,
let's never forget this. Our sin is just as bad, just
as bad as the worst criminal you can think of. Our sin is
just as bad. It's just as vile. We're just
as guilty. So how can the Lord destroy somebody
else for their sin? and not destroy me for the very
same sin? That's what I want us to look
at tonight. It's a good question, isn't it?
How can the Lord destroy the wicked for their sin and not
destroy me for the very same sin? Now, God is holy. God must punish every sin because
he's holy. And remember, vengeance is God
dispensing justice against sin. It's not getting even. It's just
to satisfy justice. And the wages of sin is death. Now God's going to make that
payment and he won't be late on it. That's a paycheck he'll
never miss. The wages of sin is death for
every sin. He can't overlook any sin because
God's holy. But God will take vengeance against
every enemy who does not bow to Christ. God will take vengeance
on them. Now that's going to happen. I
don't have to worry and wonder if that's going to happen. I
don't know when it's going to happen, but I know it will. But
like I said, this is what I'm far more interested in. How can
God, God's holy, he's got to take vengeance against my sin.
How can God take vengeance against my sin and not damn me? How can that be? And I say the
same thing the psalmist says here, Lord, show thyself. And
what that word means is make your glory shine forth. If God will make his glory shine
forth to us this evening, we'll see exactly how it is that God
can take vengeance on our sin and not damn us. I'd say most
all of you here know this, God's greatest glory, of all the glory
of God, everything about him, every attribute is glorious,
isn't it? But God's greatest glory is his sovereign mercy
to sinners. And that's not just me making
it up because that matches my doctrine. Moses asked the Lord
one day, Lord, show me your glory. And the Lord didn't say, now
Moses, didn't you just see all the miracles that I did? Didn't
you just see all the plagues? Didn't you just see how it was
dark in Egypt and light in Goshen? Didn't you see there was no flies
and no frogs and the blood didn't turn to water where my people
were and it did everywhere in Egypt? Didn't you just see the
Passover? Didn't you just see me part the Red Sea? God didn't
say that, did he? Moses had seen all those miracles and Moses
knew this. There's a greater glory. I've
seen that. I've seen your power. Lord, show
me your glory. And God said, all right, I'll
show you my glory, Moses. This is my greatest glory. I'll
make my goodness to pass before you. I'll make my goodness. I
will proclaim my name, my character to you. And here's my name. Here's my character. Here's my
greatest glory. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. and I will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy. Now that's the very definition
of sovereign grace, isn't it? God giving grace to whom he will,
when he will. That's God's sovereign grace
and it's his greatest glory. Now God's greatest glory is mercy,
but it can't be at the expense of his vengeance. It can't be
at the expense of his justice, can it? Now it's God's right
to dispense judgment against sin. It's his right because all
of our sin is against him. Our sin hurts other people, but
all of our sin is against God. So it's God's right to dispense
vengeance. It's God's right to punish sin
by sending a sinner to hell because our sin is sin against the eternal
God. But it's also God's right to
be merciful to whom he will be merciful. It's his right. It's God's right, and here's
how He did it. It's God's right to transfer the sin of His people
in its thick, dark blackness. It's His right to transfer that
sin from His people to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's His right
for Him to take out His vengeance on that sin upon His Son. To cause His Son to suffer and
to die. To fulfill the law's last requirement,
there's got to be death perceived. Before he died, the Lord Jesus
Christ suffered hell on the tree. He did it. He suffered an eternity
of hell in three hours. Hell, whatever hell is, you know,
we've all got this vision of hell. You know, I said Christ
suffered hell on the cross. The thing that passed through
all of our minds is this place that's full of fire and brimstone
and the devil over in the corner laughing. That's what went through
everybody's mind. But that's not I mean, I don't know what
all hell is, but I know what makes hell the worst. It's the
absence of God's gracious, loving presence. God's presence is there
in his justice, his vengeance, but it's the absence of God's
loving, gracious presence. And when the father turned his
back on his son, his son suffered hell upon the tree. And then
And only then when vengeance had been taken out, when the
exact payment for sin had been extracted, then and only then
did the Lord Jesus Christ fulfill the law's last demand. There's
got to be death for sin. So he gave up the ghost. Nobody
could take his life from him. So he gave up the ghost so that
his people would never die. That was God's right. to transfer
the sin of His people unto Christ, the sinner's substitute, and
to have it all paid for by Him, not by us. Now that's God's crown
right. He's able to do that because
He's God. We can't understand how He did
it. Trying to understand how did Christ be made sin and yet
be holy? Does that mean He was a sinner?
That's an exercise in futility. We can't know. We can't comprehend
such an act. This was a transaction between
God and God for his people. All we need to know is that's
my salvation. That's how my sin was put away. I don't understand how that transaction
took place, but by God's grace, I can believe this. That's how
it was put away. That's how he put it away. See,
vengeance belongs to God. He will punish every sin with
death. But thank God this is also true,
because His greatest glory is His sovereign mercy to His people.
God will never forsake His people, even though they're sinful. He
will never forsake His people because He already forsook His
Son for them. Look at verse 14. For the Lord
will not cast off His people, Neither will he forsake his inheritance. God will never forsake his people. They're sinful. They're oh, they're
shameful. They got weak faith. They're
just they're full of doubts and fears and sin. They leave Christ
in a heartbeat if they could. Well, how can it be that God
will never forsake his people? Because of the death of Christ
at Calvary. The Father already forsook his people. He is the
person of their substitute. The psalmist asks here for God
to show himself. Let your glory shine forth. Well,
I tell you where that was done most preeminently in human history. At Calvary. At Calvary, God's
glory shone forth. At Calvary, God glorified his
every attribute. God's vengeance against sin was
on display at Calvary, wasn't it? How Christ suffered. That's
God's vengeance against sin. The father wouldn't even lighten
up his hand on his son. That's his vengeance against
sin. We see these paintings people
do of the, they call it the passion of Christ on the cross. We lose our lunch if civilized
people like us saw Christ on the tree. The unimaginable suffering
of his just what we could see of his body. Oh, but while you
behold that, get a hold of this. God's mercy was also on display
at Calvary. God's wisdom was on display at
Calvary. You think, well, wouldn't God
be wise enough to find a way to deliver his son? God was wise
enough to find a way to deliver His people through the sacrifice
of His Son. If that's not mercy, I don't
know what is. That God would kill His Son to
save the likes of you and me. Can you think of anything more
merciful than that? Here is God's glory. He was showing mercy to
sinners through His vengeance for sin. Not by ignoring their
sin, but by punishing it fully. God showed mercy through justice. God, in love and mercy and pity
for His people, took their sin away from them and put it on
His Son. And in justice, He took out vengeance
and put His Son to death. It was the Father that put His
Son to death. I always laugh, probably around
Easter every year, you start to see these things on the History
Channel, National Geographic, you know, They get these great
religious scholars together and they're going to try to decide
who is it to kill Jesus? Who crucified Jesus? Was it the
Jews or was it the Romans? Well, you need a third option
because it's not either one of them. It's the father. The father. The father plunged his sword
of justice into the heart of his son in vengeance to satisfy
his justice against the sin of his people. And the Lord Jesus
Christ, the sinner's substitute, died the death that his people
earned for their sin. And gods are let go free and
they live. They live the life that Christ
earned for them by his obedience. The Lord Jesus Christ traded
his righteousness to his people in exchange for their sin. He
traded places with them and died the death that they deserve.
That substitution. That's how God can take vengeance
upon the sin of his people and still be merciful to them. Look
at Isaiah chapter 61. In preaching this message of
substitution, that will satisfy the need of everybody in the
auditorium who's listening. I don't care who they are. The
message of substitution is the message God uses to save sinners. And that very same message of
substitution is the message that God uses to comfort the hearts
of his people, to strengthen them and feed them. Here's the
preacher, Isaiah 61 verse one. The spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison
to them that are bound. Now this is Christ the Savior,
the preacher speaking. Well, how is it that he, how
does he preach good tidings of the gospel? How does he preach
the gospel to the meek? How, what message does he use
to bind up the broken heart? Those whose hearts are broken.
How does he, what message does he use to proclaim liberty to
the captives, to set the captive free? It's the message of substitution. It's by preaching the message
that Christ, our substitute, bore the vengeance of God for
his people. And that enabled God to be both
just and justifier, to save the meek, to heal the brokenhearted,
and to set the captive free. That's what he says in verse
two. He came to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
the year of Jubilee, and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all that mourn. See, here's how God's people
are saved. and they're comforted by this very same message. It's
hearing of this day of vengeance. When the Father punished the
sin of God's people in Christ our Savior, Christ our substitute,
and put him to death so that we can live. That's the message
that'll save the lost. And it's the very same message
that will comfort and strengthen the hearts of God's people. God's
elect are redeemed. They're saved because their sin's
gone. Christ took your sin away from
you, put it under his blood, died for you. Your sin's gone. God who sees everything, the
judge of all, says what sin? It's gone. It's gone. God's elect
are comforted because Christ took their sin away and the Father
said, there's no more fury left in me. There's no more vengeance
left in me. It's all been poured out on my
son. Then what's left for God's people?
If all his vengeance has been poured out on our substitute,
what's left for God's people? His greatest glory. Mercy. Grace to his people. So our prayer
is the same prayer as the psalmist here. Lord, show yourself. Lord, reveal yourself to us.
Reveal yourself to us through the preaching of the gospel.
and make your glory shine forth by enabling us to preach and
to hear Christ and him crucified. Here's a good prayer. Lord, get
glory to your name by saving a sinner like me. God will save you if he can get
all the glory for doing it. Now, if you're going to get some,
he's not going to do it, but God will save you. If He can
get all the glory for doing it, then Lord, get glory to your
name by saving a sinner like me. The Lord will answer that
prayer because it glorifies Him. Now, in these next seven verses,
we're just going to look down through verse eight. I'm going
to do it quickly. I want to look at the next seven
verses with this same pattern. The Lord, I know He will deal
with His enemies. I know He will. And He lists
several different kind of categories, you know, characteristics of his enemies,
the Lord will deal with them. But this is what I want to see.
How can the Lord, I've got the same sin, I got the same problem.
So how can the Lord deal with the sin of this enemy? How can
he deal with my sin and still show me mercy? Verse two, lift
up thyself, thou judge of the earth, render a reward to the
proud. Now, you know, none of us want
to suffer wrongfully. You know, if you are suffering
wrongfully, there is absolutely nothing wrong with asking the
Lord to deliver us from a proud, unjust judge. I'm not saying
we ought not ask the Lord to, you know, to deal with these
problems for us. And I know this, one way or another,
at one time or another, the Lord will render a just reward to
the proud. those who have mistreated God's
people. Maybe it won't be in this life. Maybe it will. I don't
know. But I know in eternity he's going
to deal with it. And the punishment will exactly fit the crime. And
that is so horrible to think about. We ought not take any
joy in it. Right now, we shouldn't. Right
now, we shouldn't. Maybe, maybe the Lord will be
merciful to and give them a new heart like He did me. I sure
hope so, don't you? And if He does, I hope the Lord
will break my proud heart and help me to embrace Him. Don't
you? But whatever the Lord does with
the proud, the wicked in this life who are such a heartache
to God's people, I tell you what my biggest concern is. is how
can the Lord not destroy me for the pride of my heart? You know
something about pride? We all do. And my prayer is,
Lord, this is a prayer for every believer, kill pride in my heart. Give me a humble heart. Lord, conquer my proud heart
by giving me a new heart, a new, humble, submissive heart. That's
what I want. Because I know this from God's
Word. God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.
Then Lord, give me a humble heart. Take away the pride that makes
me think I can do something that will make God accept me. Take
away the pride in my heart that makes me think I can do something
better than you so God will love me more than you. What a horrible
thing. But Lord, humble me. Humble me. So humility is just an accurate
view of ourselves. Lord, humble me so I get an accurate
view of myself. See, I can't do anything so that
I'm forced to look to Christ for all my salvation. So I'm
forced to look to Christ that I'd be accepted in Him. See,
that's how God kills pride in the hearts of His people. It's
by giving them a new heart. If God, by faith, ever gives
us a view, of the Lord Jesus Christ suffering and dying for
the likes of us, that'll go a long way towards taking care of this
pride business, won't it? We can't be, we're going to have
all, pride's going to rear its ugly head everywhere, but it's
going to be awful hard for it to do it when we're looking at
Christ crucified anyway. All right, verse three. Lord,
how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? Now the Lord will deal with the
wicked. He always will. The wicked flourish
and prosper and it seems like it goes on a long, long time. But God will deal with them.
Look back at Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Verse 32. The wicked watcheth the righteous,
and seeketh to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in
his hand, nor condemn him when he's judged. He's not going to
condemn his people when they're judged by the wicked. So you
wait on the Lord, and keep his way. He'll exalt thee to inherit
the land. When the wicked are cut off,
thou shalt see it. I've seen the wicked in great
power, spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed
away, and lo, he was not. Yay, I sought him, but he could
not be found. God's going to deal with the
wicked, and suddenly, they're going to be gone. Recently was the anniversary
of D-Day, and much to Janet's chagrin, I just taped, or on
our DVR, recorded everything there was on the channel. I had
the D-Day marathon. That time in human history, fascinates
me. One of the greatest times in
human history. Those wicked, wicked people that
were sweeping the earth seemed like it was going on forever.
Years and years, didn't it? And suddenly they're gone. They
were no more. Now I know that the Lord is going
to deal with the wicked. And that does give me some patience
to wait on the Lord, doesn't it, you? I wish my patience was
perfect. It was a whole lot better than
it is. Usually, I'm wanting things to happen a whole lot sooner
than the Lord moves, but it gives me some patience to wait on the
Lord. He's going to deal with these things. But I tell you
what my main concern is. My main concern is not seeing
the wicked in this earth suffer. This is my main concern. That
the Lord will not let my wickedness prevail against me. I know there's
wicked people on this earth, but if the Lord somehow could
put me in a bubble and never allow a wicked person to touch
me again, to never allow me to see who we call the wicked again,
I'm telling you what, my own wickedness would still damn me.
My concern is that Lord won't let my wickedness overtake me. So my prayer is, Lord, Take it
away. Don't let my wickedness prevail
against me, but take it away. Give me a new nature that's not
wicked, a nature that's holy and righteous. Cause me to be
born again. So there's a new man born of
you who will rule over the old man. Now we talk about the new
man ruling over the old man, man, the spirit ruling over the
man of the flesh. Don't think that that means suddenly
you're going to start sending Because if that's what you think,
you're going to be sorely disappointed. No. Here's how the new man reigns
over the old man. It's by enabling me to believe
Christ where I could not believe him before. I remember being
a boy and one of my favorite passages I would look at was
Ephesians chapter two. And I would sit and look at that
thing till my eyes were just crossed, trying to make myself
believe. I should. I could see this is
describing a wonderful Savior. I couldn't make myself believe.
I couldn't. And one day, I believed. I don't know when that
first started exactly, but one day I found I believe. And now I can't not believe. I heard Don Fortner make this
statement one time. It was brilliant in its brevity. He said somebody asked him one
day, do you ever not believe? He said, I try not to every day. That's that old man. But the
new man won't let him. He can't not believe. He rules
over that. He believes Christ. He loves
Christ and he can't quit loving Christ. He can't quit believing
Christ. Now that's my comfort of salvation. It's looking to Christ. It's
trusting Him. God's given me a man of faith. Do you believe God? When you
hear the gospel preached, do you believe it? That's the only
evidence you'll ever have you're elect of God. You know your calling
and your election by your faith in Christ. And one day the Lord
is going to put down this wicked man of the flesh. And whoever
left here is going to put him in the ground. And don't you
weep for me because I won't be there. The moment this flesh
dies, the moment this old man dies, the new man is set free
and he goes to be with the Lord. And then we're going to see God's
glory, aren't we? Oh, then we will. All right,
verse four, back in our text, Psalm 94. How long shall they
utter and speak hard things? All the workers of iniquity boast
themselves. Now, the workers of iniquity,
they're going to boast as long as God lets them live. They're
going to boast and, you know, they think they might be boasting
about all their good deeds, but listen, they're boasting in their
sin. And they're going to do as long as God lets them live.
And the worst people who are boasting, They're not people
boasting about open sin. The worst are religious people,
boasting about everything they've done for God, boasting about
what good Christians they are, because all the good works that
they have, those are the people that have the most iniquity before
God. And we wonder sometimes, how
long is God going to let them boast like that? How long is
he going to let this go? For he shuts their mouth. He's
going to shut it either in grace or in judgment. How long is he
going to let this go on? And I see these false prophets
on TV and I get all bent out of shape and I wonder how long
these fellows have been on, been spewing the sewage since I was
a little boy. How long is God going to let
this go on? But I tell you what my main concern is, is that God
would make me quit boasting in my works. Here's my desire by
God's grace, that the Holy Spirit would reveal Christ to me. Let
me see him by faith and make me like Joe, put my
hand over my mouth. See, I'm not saying another word
so that I'll just quit boasting about anything other than the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is my prayer. I'm a preacher. I'm supposed
to get up three times a week and open my mouth and have something
to say. My prayer is, Lord, to shut my mouth unless he gives
me something to say about the Lord Jesus Christ. If he do for
me, he do for you what he did for Isaiah and take those tongs
and get a coal from off the altar, a live coal and put it on your
lips. Now you got something to say.
Now you've got something to say. Where'd that coal come from?
It came from the altar where they offered the sacrifice. Now your lips
have been sanctified. You've got something to say about
the sacrifice of Christ for sinners. Now that message will be worth
listening to, won't it? And it'll be a blessing to every
sinner who hears it. All right, verse 5. They break in pieces thy people,
O Lord, and afflict thine inheritance, or thine heritage. They slay
the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless. Yet they
say the Lord will not see, neither so the God of Jacob regarded.
Now it's true that wicked afflict God's people. You know, at this
time and all throughout big periods of history, they tortured and
killed God's people. We have many examples of it in
scripture. There's a whole book of it in
my study, if you care to read it, Fox's Book of Martyrs. And
they'd do the very same thing today if they thought society
would let them do it. And you know, I'd hate to be the person
who mistreated and killed God's people. I'd hate to be them.
A dear friend of mine said one time, someone had fired me for
refusing to deal dishonestly with a vendor. And I was just
tore up as a train wreck. And he told me, I feel sorry
for that man. I feel sorry for him for, I feel sorry for me.
And he said, Oh, God's going to deal with him someday. In the worst way that we can
imagine for touching one of his children this way. And you know,
the Lord said that's true. He said it had been better than
a millstone would hang around his neck and were drowned in
the depths of the sea. He said, now woe unto the world
because of offenses. It must needs be that offenses
come, but woe to that man by whom it cometh. God's going to
deal with them. I can't do anything about that.
But I tell you what my biggest concern is, is what my sin has
done to me. Just like being separated from
the wicked, if I ever saw him, my own wickedness would damn
me. Well, even if I was separated from those who would afflict
God's people, I'd still be afflicted. My own sin afflicts me every
day, and eventually it'll kill me. My sin has made me an orphan
in my father Adam. My sin has made me a murderer,
made me guilty of murdering the Son of God. My sin has made me
despise and reject Christ the Savior. It hasn't made me reject
my version of Jesus. Like Henry said, everybody loves
sweet little old Jesus, the one that they made up in their head.
But it's made me reject the Lord Jesus Christ of this book. Our
Lord said it'd been better for that man if he hadn't been born.
So my main concern is how can I be delivered from God's vengeance
against that? Well, one way, by hiding in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The only way we can be delivered
from that hellish punishment is by hiding in Christ. Because
you see, if Christ was afflicted for me, I never will be. If Christ died for my sin, I'll
never die. If God put me in Christ, I'll
never be a widow because the Lord Jesus Christ is my bridegroom.
If God's put me in Christ, I'll never be an orphan. Our Lord
told His disciples, I'll not leave you orphans. Comfortless
is the word He uses, but the word in the original means orphan. He said, I'll not leave you orphans
because God is our Father. Oh, thank God for His grace that
somebody like God would do something so wonderful for somebody like
me. That's my only hope. Now verse
8, we'll close. He says, Understand ye brutish
among the people, and ye fools, when will you be wise? Now we
have to be careful not to ask the fools, when will you be wise?
When will you wisen up? We've got to be careful not to
get too upset with the lost because they can't find the way. They're
lost. They can't leave their false refuge and come to Christ.
We just can't be careful and be too frustrated with them.
Now they're deaf. They're blind. That's why they can't come. And
you know, I do want, everybody hears me preach, I want them
to see the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray God will give them understanding
to see that Christ is all. That's what this whole book says.
Christ is all. And I want the Lord to give me
understanding. I mean, it's not just like, you
know, I'm up here in this ivory tower and I've got all this wisdom
to dispense. I tell you, the first thing I want every day
is the Lord to give me wisdom. Something I pray for every day.
Lord, give me wisdom. Give me wisdom to be a pastor. Give me wisdom to see in your
word. Give me the message you'd have
me preach. I want God to give me an understanding because I'm
brutish by nature. I'm no better than a brute beast.
I was so foolish I was trying to build an eternal house on
the shifting sands of my works, sitting under the greatest gospel
preacher of my generation. That's how foolish I was by nature,
and that's the nature we all got. Well, when will I be made
wise? I'll tell you when, when God
speaks through His Word, by His servant. You know, when I'll
have wisdom, I'll be wise when God shows me the Lord Jesus Christ.
Even somebody as ignorant as me by nature, if I've got, God's
let me see Christ, I've got the wisdom to know how it is God
can still be God and show mercy to a sinner like me. That's the
wisdom of God. You can understand that in a
first grade education. Now God's glory shines forth. When we see Christ crucified
and we say, thank you, Lord. Thank you for your mercy and
your grace. Thank you for giving me a place to hear. Thank you
for giving me a place I can come and hear the gospel preached.
So, Lord, when I come, would you give me an understanding
heart? Would you give me a hearing ear? And that's my hope and my comfort.
He said he would. He said he'd give that to his
people. All right, let's bow together and pray. Our Father, how we thank you
for this your word, how we thank you for your infinite wisdom
and your mercy and your grace that you would find a ransom
for your sinful people and that you would crucify and kill your
darling son to put away the sin of the people that you chose
to save and that you send the gospel to us, that you not just
leave the salvation of your people up to chance, up to their decision,
but you send the gospel to them, that you cause them by your spirit
to be born again, to have a nature that believes Christ, that loves
Christ, that sees Christ, that clings to Christ. Father, how
we thank you. How I pray we beg of you that
we could leave here this evening seeing that Christ is all. He's all we need. and cause us
to leave rejoicing in Him. It's in His precious name. We
ask these things for His glory. Amen. Let's stand and turn to page
two. Page two. Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down. Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
All thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded love Thou art. Visit us with Thy salvation Enter
every trembling heart Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit Into
every troubled breast Let us all in Thee Let us find that
second rest. Take away our pit to sinning,
Alpha and Omega be. End of faith as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty. Come, Almighty, to deliver, let
us all Thy life receive. Suddenly return, and never, nevermore
Thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thy host above, Pray and praise Thee without
ceasing, Glory in Thy perfect love. Finished in Thy new creation,
pure and spotless let us be. Let us see Thy great salvation
perfectly restored in Thee. Change from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before
Thee, Lost in wonder, love and praise. you