All right, let's open our Bibles
now to Psalm 86. I titled the message this evening,
Teach Me Thy Way. I took my title from the opening
words of verse 11 of Psalm 86. Teach me thy way, O Lord. Now, salvation is being taught
of God. But being taught what? Salvation
is being taught the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said that the
father teaches his people and everyone that has learned of
the father cometh unto Christ. The father teaches the Lord Jesus
Christ. He teaches us that salvation
is all in him. And David is a ready student
here. He's asking the Lord to teach
me. And he asked the Lord specifically, teach me your way. Now, God's
way is not a what? God's way is not a set of doctrines.
God's way is not a way to live. God's way is a who? The Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. And in every way, Christ is the
way. Christ is the way to God. There's
not many different ways to God. We all go in different directions
and wind up in the same place. No, Christ is the way to God. Christ is the way of salvation. There's no other way of salvation.
There's no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. Christ is the way of salvation.
Christ is the way of eternal life. Eternal life is knowing
him. Christ is the way of forgiveness. Would you have your sin forgiven?
Go to Christ. He's the only way of forgiveness.
Christ is the way of righteousness. Christ is the way of holiness
and the Lord must teach us this way because by nature we don't
know it. That's why David asked the Lord
to teach him. You know, every way that we think
when you're talking spiritually, every way that we naturally think
is wrong without exception. Solomon said there's a way that
seemeth right unto man. It seems so right to him. It
makes such sense to him. But the problem is it makes sense
to his dead mind. Solomon said the end thereof
are the ways of death. Men make up ways to be saved. They make up a way to earn eternal
life. They make up a way to worship
God. But man's way always brings death. It never brings life. because
Christ is the way of life. And by nature, we don't see him
and we don't want him. So we need the Lord to teach
us his way. Now, I'll give you a couple examples.
By nature, man thinks that every religious person is saved. We
just think, well, I might disagree with them on some things, but
they got to be good somehow. Look how religious they are.
And man says, I just want to be loving. So I'm just not going
to say that the religious way that somebody else chooses is
bad. That would be unloving. I'm not going to say that. Well,
look at Psalm 119. That's not what David said. When
David was taught God's Word. Psalm 119 verse 103. How sweet are thy words unto
my taste. Yea, sweeter than honey to my
mouth through thy precepts, through your word, through your law,
I get understanding. Therefore, when I get this understanding,
I hate every false way. See, once I learned the sweetness
of God's way, I hate every sour way. Once I learned Christ, I
hate every false way because I love him. Now that doesn't
mean we've got to be mean about it. Matter of fact, we shouldn't
be mean about it, but it can't be tolerated. It can't be compromised
with. It can't be accepted. And being
taught Christ is more than learning to repeat the right doctrine.
It's more than being able to point out the error of somebody
else. Look out there wrong. That's not being taught. Christ
being taught. Christ is loving him. It's trusting
him. It's knowing that there's no
other way of salvation. And not only do I know there's
no other way of salvation, I don't want any other way. But Christ,
if I've been taught Christ. Being taught Christ is being
taught that there is no other hope of eternal life. And I wouldn't
want one anyway. Being taught Christ is knowing
there's no other gospel. The Apostle Paul said, which
is not another. There's no other gospel other than the gospel
of Christ. And this was the difference between
Moses and the children of Israel. The children of Israel saw God's
power in all of his acts toward them, didn't they? They saw his
power in the plagues. They saw his power in delivering
them from Egypt. They saw God's power, the awesomeness
of God's power in giving the law. And you know what they said
when they saw that? Moses, don't you let him speak
to us. You go speak to him and you come back and tell us what
he said. They saw His power. But that's all that they saw.
They saw His power leading them through the wilderness. But God
showed Moses His way. God showed Moses why He did what
He did. God showed Moses how all of those
things pointed to Christ. So when the children of Israel
saw the law, they saw God's acts. They saw Well, here's a way that
I'm supposed to earn holiness. This is what God requires of
me. So I can do this and God looks at me. They saw the act. But Moses, when he saw the law,
he saw Christ. He saw Christ who would come
and keep the law because we came. Moses saw God's way. He saw God's
purpose in giving the law. It was to point us to Christ.
And here's a good example for us today. The whole religious
world and pretty much all the world in general knows this fact. Jesus of Nazareth died on a cross.
Now I grant you, I've not traveled very far, but I don't think I've
ever met somebody that didn't know that. Jesus Christ, Jesus
of Nazareth died on a cross. That's knowing God's act, isn't
it? Knowing God's way is knowing
why Christ died on the cross. He died for the sin of his people.
He died to put the sin of his people away. Knowing God's way
is knowing what Christ accomplished on the cross. He accomplished
the eternal salvation of his elect people. He didn't die to
make salvation possible for as many people as might want him.
He died to accomplish the salvation of his people. That's knowing
God's way. The same thing applies to his
resurrection. Pretty much the whole world knows about it. I'm
seeing all kinds of specials about it now on the National
Geographic and History Channel, all these things there. In a
few weeks, everybody's gonna be so taken up with the resurrection
of Jesus of Nazareth. The whole religious world knows
Christ rose from the dead. That's knowing God's act. Knowing
God's way is knowing what does it mean that Christ rose from
the dead. Christ rose from the dead as
the evidence. He justified his people by his
death. God couldn't have raised him
from the dead if the sin that was charged to him was still
on him. No, he put the sin of his people away. Sin's gone. Well, if all the
sin laid on Christ is gone, blotted out under his blood, then everyone
for whom he died must be saved because he justified them by
his blood. The fact that Christ arose from
the dead means this, He is the successful, victorious people
and He cannot fail to save His people. That's knowing God's
way. Now that's the Savior I want
to trust. That's the Savior I want to know, don't you? Teach me
Him. That's what David's saying, teach me Him. And when the Lord
teaches us His way, you know what He teaches us? From beginning
to end, it's all Christ. I started putting my notes today.
It's all of Christ. I scratched that out. It's more
accurate to say from beginning to end, it's all Christ. It's
all him. Now trust him. That's what David's
asking God to teach us here. And I want to give us five results
of God teaching us his way. Number one is this. If God's
taught me his way, I'm going to walk in his truth. Verse 11,
teach me thy way, O Lord. I will walk in thy truth." Now,
just like the way of God, the Lord Jesus Christ is the truth
of God. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. So what is it to walk in truth? Well, to walk in God's
truth is to walk in faith. It's to walk the very same way
you began. You who believe God, how did
you begin? You began looking to Christ. You began You began
your spiritual life believing in. Well, to walk in Christ,
to walk in the truth is continue walking, continue looking to
Christ, continue living by faith. Nobody's ever been saved by faith.
And then they got to keep themselves saved by how they keep the law.
You don't keep yourself saved by being better than the average
Joe. We're saved by looking to Christ and we walk in truth by
walking, looking to him, trusting Christ. And if you're looking
to Christ, if you're looking to Him by faith, you're going
to know the way to go because you follow Him. You'll know how
to act. You'll act in love. You'll act
in grace because you're looking to Him. You're not going to need
the law to tell you what to do. You're looking to the Savior.
Walking in truth is walking like I really do believe the truth. I believe the truth of who Christ
is. I believe the truth of who I am. And you know how I know
the truth of who I am? By looking to Christ. When I
see Him, then I see how sinful I am. Then I see how much I need
Him. The truth about myself is this.
I'm a sinner. Everything I do is sin. I am
incapable of doing anything righteous or anything holy. Well, walking
in truth is knowing I don't try to come to God by what I do.
I only come to Him by the merit of Christ. The truth about Christ
is He's the Savior of sinners. That's who He is. Buddy, He fits
my need. I'm a sinner. I need Him. So
I live trusting Christ. Trusting that He'll do what He
said He'd do. That He would save a poor sinner like me without
any of my works added to it. And I just depend upon Him. That's
walking in truth. When we walk in truth, our works will not be perfect.
I'm not putting something on you and saying, your work's got
to be perfect. I really got to show this without a crack. No,
sir. Walking in truth does not mean we're perfect. Look at 1
Kings 3. I'll show you this. Now, certainly
there is no excuse for our sin. I'm not excusing our sin whatsoever.
But walking in truth is not living a sinless life is walking, looking
to Christ and trusting Christ. First Kings chapter three. In verse five. In Gibeon, the Lord appeared
to Solomon, a dream by night, and God asked, What shall I give
thee? And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto thy servant,
David, my father, great mercy, according as he walked before
thee in truth. Now, David walked before God
in truth and in righteousness and in the uprightness of heart
with thee. And thou has kept for him this great kindness that
thou has given him a son to sit on his throne as it is as it
is this day. Now, you all know the life of
David, don't you? David committed too many sins for us to even
list. But the word of God says he walked
in truth. Now the only way that's possible
that David walked in truth is that he walked by faith in Christ. That he walked depending upon
Christ. That's walking in truth. It's
depending on Christ. It's depending on Him to keep. God's the one that put us in
the straight and narrow way, isn't He? We didn't find that
way ourselves. God put us in it. But depending
on God is depending on Him to keep us in that straight and
narrow path by his mercy. Walking in his truth is walking
depending upon Christ. All right, number two, if God's
taught me his way, my heart will fear him. The end of verse 11,
David says, unite my heart to fear thy name. Now, salvation
is a heart work. This, what we're talking about,
this teaching here is not teaching in the head. It's a heart work. God has got to give us a new
heart in the new God can't even teach our old heart. That old
heart is hard and dead and can't learn. This teaching we're talking
about is God giving us a new heart and a new birth. Walking
in truth is not a matter of outward conduct. Our outward conduct
ought to be good, but that's not walking in truth. Walking
in truth is not just a mere head knowledge of facts. By teaching
the Word, you're well taught those facts, but that's not walking
in truth. Walking in truth is a matter of the heart. It's heart
fear. It's heart reverence and worship
of the Lord. And God's got to give us that
heart because we don't have it by nature. Scripture says our
natural heart hates God. Our carnal mind, our carnal heart,
our carnal nature is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed
can it be. So God's got to give us a new
heart. And if my heart is united to Christ, I will not leave him. I especially won't leave Christ
to be joined to those who hate him and who hate his way of salvation
by grace. If my heart is united to Christ,
I will not be able to tolerate false religion. Now, like I said
earlier, you don't have to be mean about it, but I'm not going
to compromise with them. I'm not going to join up with
them if my heart's united to Christ. Look back a few pages
at Psalm 26. Psalm 26. In verse 3, David says, Psalm
26, verse 3, For thy lovingkindness is before my eyes, and I have
walked in thy truth. Now here is a description of
having walked in thy truth. I have not sat with vain persons,
neither will I go in with dissemblers. That word dissemblers means those
that put up dividers. They use a cloak to cover the
truth, to cover up what they're doing and make it not plain. That's false religion. Dave said,
I'm not sat with them. Verse five, he says, I've hated
the congregation of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked.
Now, brethren, false religion is wicked, and that's not me
being mean now. That's what God's word says.
And to sit in fellowship with the wicked just because I want
to be all loving and accepting, you know, that's the thing in
our day. You got to accept everybody what they're doing. Well, the
Word of God says that's wicked. David said, I haven't done it.
Verse six, he says, I washed my hands in innocency. So will
I compass thine altar, O Lord, that I may publish with the voice
of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works. David says,
I'm going to spend my time talking about all God's wondrous works,
his wondrous works of grace and love and mercy. I'm going to
I'm going to spend my time where Christ is preached around his
altar. I'm going to be where the gospel
is preached. And that heart that fears the Lord is united to Christ. And it will not leave Him. And
you tell it by a person's walk. And I'll use this example. A
man who will leave his wife for another woman, doesn't love his
wife. A heart that fears the Lord is
committed to Christ. No matter what. I mean, no matter
what comes, I've got to have Him first, and nothing's going
to come between me and Him. A man who finds, and I've worked
with men like this, they find every excuse not to go home at
the end of the workday, not to go home to his family, is not
committed to his family. You can't convince me that he
is. And a heart that fears the Lord will not tolerate false
religion that lies about Christ. who will sit and listen to lies
about the character of her husband doesn't love him. The same thing's
true about the bride of Christ. If we can sit and listen to lies
about the character of our Savior, it's because we don't love him.
Look at 1 John 1. Wayne read this in the study. And when he read it, I thought,
boy, I wish I'd thought of this. This is what I'm saying right
here. 1 John 1, verse 6. If we say that we have fellowship
with him and we walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. If we can have fellowship with
darkness, our heart is not united to Christ. Impossible. Now look
at Jeremiah chapter 32. I'm going to take away all the
fear. and all the anxiety about this
heart. We talk about a heart that fears
the Lord, won't tolerate false religion, will be committed to
Christ, will be united to Christ, and it won't leave Him. And I
know what comes across our minds. I'd leave Him if I could. I'll
walk in darkness if He doesn't stop me. I won't be committed
to Him at all. I'm so selfish, I won't be committed
to Christ first. Hang on a minute. This heart
that's taught of God, that's united to Christ is the heart
that God gives his people. So they will not leave him and
they will not quit worshiping him. He won't allow it. Jeremiah
chapter 32 verse 38. And they should be my people
and I will be their God and I will give them one heart. They're
all going to have the same heart. I'm going to give them one heart.
in one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them
and for their children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them and I will not turn away from them to do
them good. See, that's why we won't turn
away from him because he makes this covenant. I will not turn
away from them to do them good, but I'll put my fear in their
hearts and they shall not depart from me. They will not depart
from me because I'm going to give them this this new heart
that's taught of God, that's united to Christ. And they will
not leave me. All right, thirdly, back in our
text, Psalm 86. If God has taught me his way,
I will glorify his name. Verse 12, David says, I will
praise thee, O Lord, my God, with all my heart, and I will
glorify thy name forevermore. Now glorifying God's name is
praising every attribute of God. And we talk about the attributes
of God. The attributes of God tell us what God's like. His
attributes describe His personality. Well, God's taught me His way.
I'm gonna praise His electing love. I'm not gonna argue about
God electing a people. I'm gonna rejoice in this and
glorify God, praise Him that Almighty God would stoop to choose
a sinner like me. I'm gonna glorify His electing
love. I'm going to praise God's redeeming love. God sent his
son to die for a sinner like me. Now, you got a little while? I can glorify God about that,
can't you? If God's taught me, I'm going
to praise God's regenerating grace. How can I praise God enough
that he would give eternal life to a sinner like me? I'm going
to praise him for that. I'm going to praise God's calling
grace. God didn't leave this thing to
chance. He called and He called a sinner like me and made me
come to Him. Gave me a heart that wanted to
come to Him. And I'll praise God for His keeping grace. I
haven't kept myself up to this point and I'm not going to keep
myself in the future. God's going to keep me by the
power of His grace. I'm going to praise Him for that.
If God's taught me His way, I'm going to praise God's wisdom
in how He saved His people. Only God is wise enough to provide
a ransom that will enable Him to still be holy, to be just,
and still justify a sinner like me through the sacrifice of His
Son. I'm going to praise God for His
wisdom that provides such a sure salvation. If God's taught me
His way, I'm going to praise Him for His righteousness. Jehovah
said, King, the Lord, my righteousness. I'm going to praise God that
He has made His Son to be my righteousness. And He didn't
leave it up to me to have to keep the law well enough to get
it. But that He made His Son to be my righteousness. I'm going
to praise Him for that. Now all that sounds real good,
doesn't it? but praise doesn't end there. If God's taught me
His way, I'm gonna praise. It's easy to praise God for everything
He does. Just gives me everything I want,
everything I need. It's easy to praise Him for that, isn't
it? And we ought, I'm not saying we ought not, we should. But
if God's taught me His way, I'm gonna praise God's sovereign
right to do as He will. To say whom He will, when He
will. And I don't say that lightly.
Every one of us here have loved ones that hate the gospel. And
it breaks my heart. It just breaks my heart to see
those who I love refuse to believe the gospel, to refuse to even
listen to it. It breaks my heart. I pray for
them. I hope the Lord ever give me
an opportunity to tell them about Christ in a way that they listen.
But If they refuse to bow, I'm not going to get, by God's grace,
by God's grace, I'm not going to get mad at God and go find
me a new religion that lets my loved one into heaven even though
they hate salvation by sovereign grace alone. By God's grace,
I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to go get mad at
God and find me a new religion that lets my loved one into heaven
even though everything they believe flies contrary to God's word.
By God's grace, I'm not going to do it. That breaks my heart,
but I'm still going to bow. I'm still going to bow to God.
That's walking in God's way. Even when my heart is broken,
it's united to Christ. Praising God, praising the Lord
is praising Him even when my flesh hurts, like I almost don't
have words to describe, by believing in Him. That is praising the
Lord. You know, I think about those
martyrs. It boggles my mind how somebody
can be tied to a stake and being burned alive and sing hymns. I love singing hymns here, don't
you? Isn't it wonderful? Singing that hymn when you're
tied to a stake, being burned to death is praising the Lord,
isn't it? That's what I'm talking about. All right, fourthly, if
God has taught me his way, this is what I'm going to say. It's
all of God's mercy. Verse 13, for great is thy mercy
toward me and thou has delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
Now, if God has taught me his way, I'm not going to take any
credit for my salvation. God didn't save me because I'd
better anybody else. God saved me because his mercy
toward me was Great, great. And it had to be great mercy
because I could not, did not deserve it. And if God's taught
me his way, I'm going to give him the credit for that. I can't
take any credit for having spiritual life. God delivered me from hell. He delivered me from the grave
of my dead nature, and He's the one that gave me life. He's the
one. Just like He came to Lazarus and said, Lazarus, come forth.
He does that to every one of His people. Right? Come forth. Janet, come forth. Brady, come
forth. And they do. He did that. I didn't deserve that. God did
that for me in mercy. It's somebody who believes the
doctrines of grace and the doctrines of grace are just doctrines or
points that describe Christ the Savior, salvation and God's grace. Somebody believes that in salvation
by grace alone, you know how they show they believe it? They
don't look down their nose at anybody. Now, I'm not saying
don't make a judgment about if somebody's doing right or wrong.
You can make a determination if somebody's doing right or
wrong. You can make a determination, a judgment, if somebody, what
they're preaching is true or false. Is it true or a lie? Scripture
tells us make that determination. Try the spirits, whether they
be of God. But if God's taught me his way,
I'm not going to look down my nose at him. because I know the
only difference between me and them is God's mercy. The only difference. People who
have room to look down their nose at somebody else had something
to do with making themselves better. Isn't that right? Isn't
that the description of self-righteousness? That I, through self, made myself
better than the next guy? Well, if God's taught me His
way, I know a whole lot better than knowing self had anything
to do with my righteousness. The only thing myself had to
do in this matter of salvation is providing a sinner that God
had saved. It's all of God's mercy. It's all of His mercy.
All right, here's the last thing. If God has taught me His way,
I'll hear Christ speak in His word. If God has taught me His
way, I'll see that God's word is all about Christ. Now, I may
not see it my own self when I first read it, but I hear it preached.
I'll say, that's it. Verse 14. Oh God, the proud are
risen against me and the assemblies of violent men have sought after
my soul and have not set thee before them. But thou, oh Lord,
art a God full of compassion and gracious, long suffering
and plenteous in mercy and truth. Oh, turn unto me and have mercy
upon me. Give thy strength unto thy servant,
and save the son of thine handmaid." Now, this can only be the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking. He's the son of God's handmaid. He's the one who suffered knowing
of God's mercy and truth. This is only Christ. It can only
be Him speaking. The proud rose up against Him. Those proud religious leaders,
oh, they were so proud in their self-righteousness. But they're
blind, and they're dead, And they got together in their blindness
and they crucified the Lord of glory. And that is the most horrible
thing man has ever done, to show our hatred of Almighty God. But
you know, God used that. God used that to show mercy to
his people. God used those men. He used that
whole crowd to try and crucify him. so that he could be merciful
to his people through the blood of the sacrifice of his son.
Yes, they crucified him. But in that death, in that crucifixion,
that sacrifice, he put away the sin of his people. And he didn't
stay dead. God raised him from the dead.
Now, you see, that's Christ speaking. Now, verse 17, show me a token
for good that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed
because thou, Lord, has opened me and comforted me. Now, I'm
not a real big fan of asking the Lord to show me a token.
Lord, if you do this, then I'll know I'm supposed to do this,
that, or the other. Lord, show me a token so I'll know if I'm
supposed to choose option A or option B. I don't know about
you, although I suspect you're a lot like me. I can pretty much
interpret anything to choose the way I want it to go all along
anyway. I'm not a big fan of asking for a token in making
decisions like that. But here we're talking about
salvation. Now we're talking about being
taught of God in the heart, taught God's way, his way of salvation
in Christ. Well, does God give a token like
that to his people? Yes, he does. He does. The token
of grace that he gives to his people is faith in the heart. so that you believe the gospel
when you hear it. Now, do you believe the gospel
when you hear it? Well, that's God's token to you.
If you believe the gospel when you hear it preached, God's already
given you a new heart. He's already done a work of grace
in your heart, because you don't believe this with the old natural
heart you're born with. You only believe this when God
gives you a new heart. Faith in Christ is the token
God gives you, that He's had mercy upon you. And the token
I thought of is Noah. You remember after Noah got off
the ark, the first time in his life he ever saw it rain. It flooded the earth and killed
everybody but ate souls and animals on that ark. That was the first
time Noah ever saw it rain. Well, God knew what would be
in Noah's mind. And when he got off that ark,
God said, Noah, I'm gonna give you a token. He used the word
token. Noah, I'm gonna give you a token.
that I'll not destroy the earth with water again. He said, look
up there in the sky. See that bow? Noah, that's my
token to you that I'll not destroy this earth again with water.
And you can tell me all you want to how there's water particles
in the air and the sun shines through it and makes these colors.
You can scientifically explain all you want to. This is what
I know. That's God's token. He's not
going to destroy this earth again with water. And Noah got off
that ark. Honey, we've got to start building
us a house. We need fire to cook with. The only wood around is
that ark, and Noah started chopping it up. He built him a house. He's in a great big gaping hole
in that ark, and it starts to rain. And Noah thinks, I remember
last time it started to rain. He looked at that ark, and he
thought, uh-oh. It's not seaworthy anymore. And he's worried. He looked in the sky, and he
saw that rainbow. And he said, I need to have it.
It's all right. There's God's token. He's not
going to destroy us. A token of his promise. All right. You want a token? When your sin,
you fear that God's condemnation and condemnation of your sin
and makes you full of fear. Are you full of fear? You want
a token that will comfort your heart? It's faith in Christ. Oh, there's the token. Yes, when
we look at ourselves, all we see is sin. If you're looking
for a token, you're not going to find it looking in you. You
want to find that token? Look to God's word. Listen to
the gospel. If you believe it when you hear
it, that's God's token to you. He's already been gracious to
you. That's the token. God taught that to your heart.
That is God teaching us his way. No wonder David said, Lord, teach
me your way. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word. How we thank you for your word
that teaches us, that reveals to our hearts the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Father, we cry with our brother
David, teach us your way, oh Lord. Lord, apply this to our
hearts. Only you can be the teacher.
Lord, teach this to our hearts. that we might leave here this
evening rejoicing in Christ our Savior. As we walk through the
rest of our journey here below, cause us to walk in your truth,
looking to and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his
blessed name we pray and give thanks.