Let us open our Bibles again
to Psalm 44. I titled the message, the gospel
that I must hear. The gospel I must hear. David
says in verse one, we have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers
have told us what work thou didst in their days, in the times of
old. And you can imagine young David
growing up, hearing the stories of the history of Israel, It's
likely David heard the story of Boaz from Boaz and Ruth. If he didn't hear it from them,
he heard it straight from Obed, his grandfather, their son. David
grew up hearing the story of how God spoke and created the
world. He heard stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He knew them
by heart. He knew the story of how Israel
left Egypt and how they came to the promised land under the
power of God. And I believe what David is saying
in this first verse is I wish the Lord would do those mighty
acts in my time. I wish he'd do those things now.
Gideon asked that outright. He said, where be all his miracles?
Our fathers told us of. I've heard of all these miracles,
but I haven't seen any. I sure would like to. Wouldn't
you? Many of us have felt that way.
Many of us have spent years and years Hearing the stories of
how in time past, God moved in special, miraculous ways. We
read in the book of Acts of how many different great revivals
we read about in the book of Acts. We hear about Luther and
the Reformation. I'd have loved to have seen Luther
go nail those theses up on the door of the church. I'd have
loved that. I'd love to see that. I'd love to see those revivals
when Spurgeon and Whitfield preached. We've heard of a revival right
here in our town. 1950, Walsh Barnard came to town,
preached at Pollard Baptist Church. We've heard stories of Henry's
experiences and things he's seen the Lord do in many different
places he's preached all around. The man can tell a story, can't
he? He got a lot of stories to tell. Boy, you just sit and listen
to him tell the stories of things he's seen. And we hear those
things. And we think, I do, I bet you
do too. I sure would like to see the
Lord do that in our day. I sure would. I wish he would.
Well, here's a word of encouragement. You know, God had changed. He's
the same yesterday, today and forever. The gospel hadn't changed. It lost its effectiveness, has
it? It's just as pure and powerful as it ever has been because the
subject of the gospel hadn't changed. And men haven't changed. Men are just as depraved and
in as much need of Christ as they ever have been. God hasn't
changed. God is still in the business
of saving sinners. Now, I don't know if there's
going to be a revival where the Lord saves hundreds of people
or not. I don't know. But this is what I do know. If
Lord's pleased to save just one sinner, just one, it'll be a
revival for that one, won't it? And if the Lord's pleased to
save one or if he's pleased to save a hundred, I can tell you
how he's going to do it. He's going to do it through the
preaching of the gospel. This is the gospel that I must
hear. I have five points from this
psalm that I believe will show us the gospel we all must hear.
The first point is obvious. The gospel must be heard. It's
got to be heard. David begins talking about the
things that he's heard. He's heard them from giants of
the past. But you know, that's not hearing
the gospel. That's hearing a historical fact. That's hearing a doctrinal
fact. Now, don't make any mistake. It's good for us to hear the
gospel. It's very good for us to hear
the word. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
If God's going to give us saving faith, he's going to do it through
the preaching of his gospel. I know that. That's what Cornelius
told Peter when we read that to open the surface. He said,
Peter, we're all here present before God. to hear all things
that are commanded thee of God. We're here to hear. So it's good
for us to be there, and we need to hear. But in order to be saved,
I must hear the gospel by faith, not just with these ears, not
just memorize some facts about the gospel, but I must hear it
by faith. So our prayer is, Lord, make
me hear. I understand I'm deaf, I'm spiritually
deaf, so Lord, make me hear. I understand I don't have any
faith. So, Lord, would you give me faith to hear so that I believe
Christ? You saved the fathers in time
past. Would you give me that same faith? Would you save me
just like you did them? I have the same need. You're
the same God, the same Savior. Would you save me that way? And
that's what Christ does for all of his people. Look over at Luke
chapter 7. One of the great evidences that
Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah is He made the blind to see and
He made the deaf to hear. And those were pictures of what
He does for all of His people spiritually. Luke chapter 7 verse
19. And John calling unto Him two
of His disciples sent them to Jesus saying, Art thou he that
should come or look we for another? When the men were come unto Him,
they sent John the Baptist has sent us unto thee, saying, Art
thou he that should come, or look we for another? And in the
same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and
of evil spirits. And unto many that were blind
he gave sight. Then Jesus answering, said unto them, Go your way,
and tell John what things you have seen and heard, how the
blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf
hear, the dead are raised, and to the poor the gospel. is preached. So our prayer is, Lord, I'm poor. Would you preach the gospel to
me? Give me faith to hear it and believe it. I'm blind. Would
you give me sight to see? I'm deaf. Would you make me hear
and believe? If we would be saved, we must
hear the gospel with ear faith. We must believe it, not just
hear it, but believe it. All right, here's the second
thing about the gospel that I need to hear. It declares that salvation
is a work of God alone. Verse two, David says, we've
heard how thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand and
plantest them. How thou didst afflict the people
and cast them out. Now, you know, the whole story
of Israel, they were down in Egypt for 400 years, almost all
of that 400 years, they were slaves in Egypt and they left
that place. They left the richest, most powerful
nation. They had the most powerful army,
the most technologically advanced army in the world. And they left
that place without firing a shot. God's power delivered them. They
were delivered by God's power. They were delivered through the
blood of the Passover lamb. And God brought them safely to
the promised land, just exactly like he promised Abraham that
he would. Well, that's all given to us as a picture. If you and
I would be saved, God's going to have to deliver us from our
sin with that same power. And if we're delivered, you and
I aren't going to fire a shot. And what I mean by that is this.
We're not going to contribute one good work to our salvation.
We're not going to make ourselves more savable. We're not going
to contribute one thing to it because the only thing we have
to contribute is sin. Now, if we're saved, we're going to be
saved by the power of God through the blood of Christ. Lamb of
God, our Passover, sacrificed for us. Now there was Israel. All of them there, they were
slaves in Egypt. They didn't have a thing. They didn't own
anything. They were slaves. But when they
left that place, they were rich. Because as they were leaving,
the Egyptians gave them gold and silver and jewels, just loaded
them up with stuff so that they'd leave faster and never come back.
That God just used that miracle to make his people rich before
they headed out into the wilderness. And that's what God does for
all of his people. When God saves a sinner, he makes them rich
because he's rich in mercy. He's rich in grace and he gives
them everything they need freely. Now that's the grace I need.
I need to hear the gospel that declares God's sovereign grace
if I would be saved. Then when the children of Israel,
after 40 years in the wilderness, they came to the promised land
and the Lord drove out the heathen that lived there. Look back at
Joshua chapter 24. Israel didn't drive them out.
You know, they didn't have a trained army or anything, did they? Israel
didn't drive them out. Joshua didn't drive them out.
The Lord drove them out. Joshua 24 verse 11. And you went over Jordan, and
came unto Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against you,
the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites,
and the Gergesites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I delivered
them into your hand. And I sent the hornet before
you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings
of the Amorites, but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.
And I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and
cities which you built not, and you dwell in them. Of the vineyards
and olive yards which you planted not, now do you eat. Now therefore,
fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and truth." The
Lord did all that for His people. He just gave them all of that
land. They just moved in, and they
rested in houses they didn't build. They harvested crops they
didn't plant. When they very first came in
the city, the hornets drove the people out, and Israel came in
the city, they sat down and ate a hot meal they didn't even prepare.
The Lord drove the people out right before dinner time. Right
before the meal was finished cooking, the Lord drove the people
out. Israel came in and sat down to a hot meal that they didn't
prepare. My friend, that's salvation. Salvation is simply enjoying
everything that God has already done for His people and given
to us freely in Christ. We rest in Christ. We eat the
bread of life. We drink the water of life that's
all been provided for us in our Lord Jesus Christ. And we never
contribute one of our works to it. Salvation is a work that
God does for his people and he gives it to him freely. It's
a work he does for us and in us. It's all something he gives
to his people freely. Salvation is the work of God
alone. All right, here's the third thing. The gospel that
I must hear declares salvation. This is kind of a continuation
of the second point. This declares salvation by sovereign
grace, grace of the king and not by works. Verse three, for
they got not the lane and possession by their sword, neither did their
own arm save them, but by thy right hand and thine arm and
the light of thy countenance, because thou hast a favor unto
them. Thou art my king, O God. command deliverances for Jacob. That's the same thing that Cornelius
said. We're here to hear everything God's commanded you to say. This
message is a message of sovereign grace. It's a command from the
king and God's people are going to go free because the king demands,
he commands deliverances for his people. Whatever it is he
commands, he speaks and it's done. God's sovereign. Now you
know that applies everything. You can't think of something
that is not under the reign, the control of God, the King,
that applies to everything. And, you know, that includes
salvation because God's sovereign in all things. You know, God
doesn't just command the weather and he doesn't just command the
events of providence for the good of the flesh. He does those
things, but he doesn't do those things and then leave the salvation
of souls up to the decision of the creature. Now, that'd just
be foolish, and God's not foolish. But that's what men think. Men
have some understanding that God's sovereign over the weather.
Now, they might not like to admit it, but you just wait. When there's
a drought, they're going to start to pray. They're going to pray
for rain. When the rain's falling, it won't stop, and the river's
rising, you just wait. They're going to pray. They're
going to pray that rain stops. And you know why they're going
to do that? They know God's in control of that. Only God can
make it rain, only God can stop the rain. They understand He's
sovereign over the weather. Men have some understanding that
God's sovereign over sicknesses and diseases. Now, they might
not like to think it or admit it, you know, on a normal day-by-day
basis, but you wait till somebody's just really sick, and you know
what they're going to do? They're going to pray. and ask
God to heal. They're going to get on Facebook
and tell everybody, start praying for me, would you? They're sending
out these prayer requests. You know why they do that? They got
some sense that God's sovereign over disease. And He is. They're
right. He is. That's true. Then this is my question to them.
No, I guess it's not my question to them. I'm not preaching to
them. It's a question to you and me. Why would God be sovereign
over those things? The weather, the diseases, things
that affect the flesh. but not the salvation of the
soul, which is far more valuable. He wouldn't, would he? No, God's
sovereign in salvation. Almighty God chose a people to
save. And brethren, those people shall
be saved. Because God's sovereign, He commanded
their deliverance. He sent His Son to die for those
people. And Christ died for those people
to put their sin away. Then those people shall be saved. They shall enjoy the salvation
that Christ purchased for them. The salvation of a sinner has
got to be by sovereign grace because the sinner has nothing
to contribute. If we're a sinner, we need to
understand, we ought to understand, we've got no good works to contribute.
Everything I do is sin. So if a sinner like me is going
to be saved, it must be done by sovereign grace because the
king commanded it because I can't earn it. And that's the picture
that David's given us here. Do you know why God gave Israel
the promised land? He took all those people out
of Egypt. They say it's the least three
million, all their animals. He took them out in the wilderness.
He delivered them by his power. He showed them miracle after
miracle, after miracle, after miracle, which makes me think,
oh, I say, I like the Lord to do that in my day. All those
people saw the miracles. Every one of them, except for
two, over the age of 20, died in the wilderness. See, just
seeing the miracles is not going to do any good, is it? No, we've
got to have heart faith. And those rebels, God brought
them out and Moses was ready to give up on them. Do you know
why God still brought the people into the land? Because he had
commanded it. He promised Abraham he'd do it.
And that's why he did it, because of his sovereign grace, his covenant
grace to his people. Now, you might be thinking, somebody
might be thinking this, that the children of Israel were not
always completely inactive in taking the promised land, were
they? No. When they left Egypt, what did
they do? I mean, they didn't just do nothing. They went out
and got a lamb, pinned it up for a certain number of days
to watch it, make sure it was a lamb without blemish, without
spot. At the appointed time, they killed that lamb. They roasted
its body with fire. They caught the blood in the
basin, they took the lamb inside, and they came out, and the father
put blood on the doorpost, and went in and shut the door, and
sat down and ate the Passover, and waited for God to come through
and deliver him. If they didn't have the lamb to eat, if they
didn't have the blood on the doorpost, they weren't leaving
Egypt for that firstborn. Well, the firstborn wasn't anyway.
The firstborn was gonna die. So they weren't completely inactive.
In faith, they put the blood on the doorpost, and went in
and ate the lamb. They got to Jericho, They had
to cross the River Jordan. The water was way up high. They
had to cross the River Jordan. God made Jordan stand up in walls,
just like he did the Red Sea. And they strolled into the Promised
Land. They got to Jericho, that great walled city, this mighty
army. Well, they weren't completely
inactive while they were waiting for God to give them victory
word. Once a day, they marched around that city, completely
circled it, went back to their camp. Did that for six days.
On the seventh day, they walked around it and the priest blew
the trumpet and the walls fell flat. They went in and took the
victory. Now, they weren't completely
inactive, were they? But who won the victory that
day? No, it was the Lord who gave them the victory. Yes, they
blew the trumpets. Those trumpets represent the
sound of the gospel. The sound of the gospel must
go forward. But the Lord's the one that's
going to have to give the victory. It's all the Lord's doing. There
are other times Joshua led the army into battle and they fought
hard. At times, the enemy would prevail.
At times, Joshua would prevail. The army fought hard. Now they
won the battle. But why did they win the battle?
Well, one, because their superior military skills is because the
Lord's countenance was with them. The light of his countenance
was with him. Yes, they fought in the battle,
but they won because the Lord favored them. See, they couldn't
do one thing without the Lord. They did what the Lord commanded
them to do, but they couldn't do anything without Him. But
you know what they learned? With Him, they could do anything.
Now, here's the picture. Here's why I went through all
that to make this point. Sinners are not saved without hearing
the gospel. We must hear. We've got to be
somewhere. We've got to get ourselves somewhere
where we can hear the gospel. No sinner's ever saved without
seeking the Lord. We must seek the Lord. Nobody's
ever saved without prayer. Nobody's ever saved unless somebody's
begging for mercy. Nobody can be saved without repentance.
Those are things you must do. If you would be saved, you must
repent. You must believe. Yet none of
those things we do save anybody, do they? No. Christ saves. Christ does all the work of salvation. Now that doesn't take away the
fact we must hear. We must seek the Lord. We must
pray. We must repent. But salvation is of the Lord. We're dependent on Him to save
us. So where does that leave us?
Salvation is by sovereign grace. Then beg the sovereign to save
you. Call on the Lord. Seek Him with all your heart
because He's the only one who can save you. Seek Him with all
your heart because He promised He'd save sinners. Salvation
of sinners is by sovereign grace. All right, now the story doesn't
end there. Here's the fourth thing. The gospel that I must
hear gives me an accurate picture of the life of a believer. Verse
five, through thee will we push down our enemies. Through thy
name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For
I'm not trusting my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But thou
hast saved us from our enemies, hast put them to shame that hated
us. Now you know how these verses
apply to Israel. They came into Canaan and they
pushed all those countries out. They pushed them out and took
the land. But they never did trust their weapons or their
fighting ability to defeat their enemies. If they did, they lost.
They always depended upon the Lord. If they trusted the Lord
to defeat every enemy, the enemy was done away with. But here's
the spiritual application of these verses. They give us an
accurate picture of the life of a believer. We face many enemies
and we can't trust our weapons or our fighting ability or our
willpower to defeat sin. You know, we can't just say,
I'm going to have this strong willpower, not sin and not think
these things that do. No, we've got to trust the Lord
to defeat every enemy. That's an accurate picture of
the life of a believer. If the gospel that we preach
is going to help God's sheep, it's going to feed them, it's
going to comfort them, we've got to be honest with people.
If you don't believe on the Lord Jesus or you don't believe on
Christ and then you have a life of ease and material and fleshly
blessing and you just believe on Christ and everything's going
to be wonderful after that, don't think that. Matter of fact, just
the opposite is true. The moment you believe on Christ,
that's when your battles really begin. The moment you believe
on Christ, a civil war begins inside of you between the old
man and the new man. The moment you believe on Christ,
your trials are going to start in earnest. And if we're not
honest with people, when those things happen, They face these
difficult times. They're going to lose their faith.
They're going to think, you know, God really hadn't saved them.
They're going to just think all kinds of horrible things. So
when this happens to you, don't quit. Don't quit. Don't think
that God hasn't saved you. Where are we left? We're left
with just one option. Keep trusting the Lord. Keep
looking to him. Keep depending upon him. Now
in all these enemies that David's referring to, I tell you mostly
he's referring to one. There's one specific enemy he's
referring to here. Chiefly, he's talking about the
old man that all of us carry around with us. He says at the
end of verse four, command deliverances for Jacob. And Jacob is a picture
of the old man. You remember when Jacob first
met the Lord at Bethel. Oh, everything changed. Everything changed. He wrestled
with the Lord all night, and Jacob got a new name. No longer
will you be called Jacob. You're not cheat and supplanter
anymore. Now your name is Israel. You're a prince with God. But
that prince of God, Israel, carried Jacob around with him for the
rest of his life, didn't he? He surely did. That's what happens
when God saves one of his people. When a sinner believes on Christ,
everything's changed. Just like it was for Jacob, everything's
changed. Just like Jacob, we get a new
name. Our new name's not Israel. Our
new name is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness.
We get a new citizenship. He's translated us, transferred
us from the kingdom of darkness, transferred us in the kingdom
of his dear son. We get a new master. We get a
new motive to serve our master, not as a slave or a fearful servant,
but as a loving son. There's a new man born in us
who's new in every way, opposite from the flesh in every way.
That's such good news. But let's be honest with people.
Nothing about that old man has changed. He's not changed in
the least. And we're going to carry him
around with us till the day we die. and he's going to cause
us problems every step of the way. You're going to have to
drag him against his will every step of the way. It's going to
be a hotly contested civil war. You're going to have to fight
as long as this flesh is living. So how can we push that enemy
down? How can we push that old man
down and tread him under our feet? Well, there's just one
way. There's just one way. It's not
by our willpower. No, it's by trusting. in Christ. It's not our religious works,
it's not our strength, it's faith in Christ. When God first saved
us, what did you do? You were looking to Christ, weren't
you? You were trusting Him completely. Without anything you could think
of to add to it, you trusted Him completely. Well, how do
you continue this spiritual life? The exact same way that you started.
Trusting Christ, believing Him, and trusting Him to keep you. Just like you trust Him to save
you, you trust Him to keep you. Now you remember the story of
Jacob and Esau. God commanded, before those boys were born,
He commanded, the elder is going to serve the younger. Now that's
just contrary to nature. It's contrary to nature, the
elder would serve the younger. And when those boys grew, as
they were born and they grew, and you looked at the two of
them, it's contrary to natural reasoning that that elder should
serve the younger. I mean, Esau's a man. I mean,
this guy's a man. He's strong. He's able to go
out in the wilderness and kill animals and hunt and survive.
I mean, he's a man's man. Jacob's a mama's boy. How's Jacob
gonna make Esau serve him? That just doesn't make any sense.
Well, just one way, because the Lord commanded it and it was
done. That's exactly what happened,
isn't it? Now that's given to us as a picture. The exact same
thing is true of the new man and the old man. How? How can the new man rule over
the old man? The old man's got more experience.
He'd been here longer, hadn't he? He'd been steeped in sin
a long time. How can that new man have the
power over the old man? But new man's going to rule.
And here's how he's going to rule over the old man. because
the old man cannot stop the new man from believing Christ. The
old man cannot stop the new man from loving Christ and trusting
him. See, we think, well, I don't want to sin, but I still do.
You know, I want to pray, but I can't. I want to live up, be
holy, but you know, I can't. So we think it looks to me like
the old man rules, but here's the way you determine who rules.
The new man rules because the old man can't stop him from believing
Christ. You can't quit believing him.
You can't quit loving him. And there's going to be times
that you're pushed to the limit. There's going to be times you
feel bloodied and battered and just tread down. Look here at
verse 9. But thou hast cast off. Thou
hast put us to shame and goes not forth with our armies. Thou
makest us to turn back from the enemy. We have to retreat. And
they which hate us spoil for themselves. Thou hast given us
like sheep appointed for meat, and hast scattered us among the
heathen. Thou sellest thy people for naught. You sell us for nothing,
and you do not increase your wealth by their price. Thou makest
us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn, a derision to them that
are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among
the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people. My confusion
is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered
me. For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth by
reason of the enemy and the avenger. Now, that new man feels awful,
awful beaten and battered, doesn't he? But he's not completely defeated. And verse 17 tells us why. All
this has come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee. Neither
have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our hearts not turn
back, neither have our steps declined from thy way, though
thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered
us with the shadow of death. Even though we feel like we're
under the shadow of death, we've been battered, we've been bloodied,
we are not defeated because we've not forgotten God. We haven't
quit trusting God's covenant of grace. That's why it's God's
covenant of grace. And while we don't understand
What's going on? The believer still trusts God. We still trust God's covenant
mercies. God promised these mercies to
me. He promised He'd never leave
me nor forsake me. Now, I might feel like He's cast
me off and put me to shame, but that must not be so, because
He promised He'd never leave me nor forsake me. I feel like
His mercy is clean gone, but it must not be. I must be looking
at this wrong, because God promised mercy to his people. You see,
I don't have to understand what's going on in order to trust the
Lord. I don't trust the Lord because
of my circumstances. I don't I don't trust the Lord
because I say, oh, well, I see what he's doing and this is going
to come out to a good end. No, when my circumstances seem
bad, when I have absolutely no idea what the Lord is doing,
I still trust the Lord because of who he is. See, that is not
my circumstances. It's who He is. I trust the Lord
because He's true and He's faithful. I trust His promise of grace.
That's how the new man pushes the old man down and treads him
under his feet. He doesn't forget God. He doesn't
forget. He doesn't quit trusting in God's covenant mercies. Verse
20, he says, If we have forgotten the name of our God, are we stretched
out our hands to a strange God? Shall not God search this out?
For he knoweth the secrets of his heart. We say, I hope I haven't
done that. I hope I haven't forgotten the
name of our God. And we don't know. Maybe I did. I did go a
day without thinking about the Lord. What's wrong with me? Why
would I do that? The only thing we can say is
we say with Peter, Lord, you know. You know all things. You know my heart. You know it
because you gave it to me. Lord, you know I love you. I don't know a whole lot else,
but I know the Lord's trustworthy. I know I can trust him. I know
I can love him. Verse 22. Yea, for thy sake we
are killed all the day long. We're counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us
not off forever. Wherefore, hidest thou thy face
and forget our affliction and our oppression. For our souls
bow down to the dust, our belly cleaveth unto the earth." Now
hear that new man, he's brought off a low, isn't he? He brought
right down into the dust. Well, what's his only hope? Because
he's thrown down there in the dust. What's his only hope? Why
is he not destroyed? Just one reason. The mercy of
God. Arise for our help and redeem
us for thy mercy's sake. See, that's a good plea. Lord,
redeem me for your mercy's sake. Save me for your mercy's sake.
Save me for your glory's sake. And that's the life of a believer.
The life of the moment you believe Christ. I'll deal honestly with
you now. That's the moment your troubles
are going to start. You're going to have troubles like you've
never had troubles before. But the life of a believer continues,
continues, depending on the very same mercy that saved you. You're
always going to need it. And God's mercy never runs dry.
That's the life of a believer. And if I'm going to be strengthened
for the journey, that's the gospel that I must hear. Deal honestly
with the things, the trials and difficulties and things that
I'm going to face, especially from this old man that I'm carrying
around with me. And no matter how dark the day
looks, God's mercy is going to win out. God's grace is going
to win out. He and His glory will win. All
right, here's the last thing. If I really hear the gospel,
If God answers my prayer and enables me to hear the gospel
and believe it, I'm just going to have one boast. I'm just going
to have one message to the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse eight, in
God, we boast all the day long and praise thy name forever. Every believer will have to say
the same thing. There's nothing about myself
to boast. There's just nothing there to boast about. The only
thing that I contributed to this matter of salvation, now this
matter of salvation is glorious, it's wonderful, it's grand, but
the only thing I contributed to it was my sin, my need to
be saved. So the only thing that I can
boast about is Christ my Savior. He loved me when I was unlovable. He has the capacity to love sinners. I love to boast about that. What
a glorious Savior. He has the capacity to love sinners. He saved me by dying for me,
dying in my place, taking my punishment when nobody else would. I love to boast about that. His
power to save, His death justified me, made me without sin. I love
to boast about the power of His blood. I was lost. I was a rebel. But He called
me and He kept going until He found me and He brought me home. He found me, He sought me when
I would not and could not come to Him. But He saved me against
my will with my full consent. I love to brag about how He did
that. And I'm just as weak and fickle as I ever have been, with
no strength about me whatsoever. But I know this, this same Savior,
the One who chose me, the One who came and died for me, the
One who sought me and found me, that same One is going to keep
me and feed me all the way home. I love to brag about that, how
he will never leave me nor forsake me. There are times I leave me,
often I would. Earlene told me Sunday morning,
she said, I think you're getting grayer. She said, are we that
bad? I said, no, it's not y'all, it's me. I'm just so intense
all the time and I wish I could get away from me sometime, but
I can't. The Savior never will. He'd never leave his people,
he'd take them all the way home. Don't you love to brag about
that? That's our confidence, our assurance. Do you notice
where my works fit in there? I've already mentioned them,
haven't we? Because they haven't contributed
to this whatsoever. Salvation is not of works, lest
any man should boast. No flesh is going to boast in
God's presence. We know that. So preacher, you
just tell me how Christ is everything I need. He's my wisdom. He's
my righteousness. He's my sanctification. He's
my redemption. Just tell me about Him and let
me glory in Him. If I believe Christ, I know this,
Christ is all I need. He's all I need. He's all I want
to hear preached. Don't be telling me what I've
got to do to be saved. Don't be telling me all these
things, different things I've got to do to keep my salvation
or make it all better, you know, make my life better. Just tell
me what Christ has done for me. and let me glory in Him. That's
what David's saying here. Years and years and years later,
the Apostle Paul said the exact same thing. God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
that cross is not a piece of wood, whether it was an X or
a T or a post. It's what Christ accomplished
on the cross. He accomplished the eternal redemption
of His people. Let me boast in that. Let me
glory in that. By God's grace, that's just what
we'll do. I hope that's been a blessing
to you. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word. How we thank you that you have
recorded in your word all your glorious, mighty acts of redemption. For the confidence, the assurance
of your people, And Father, we pray, we know that you will save
your people. We know there is not a shadow
of doubt about that. You will save your people from
their sin. Father, we say with our brother
David, would you do these works now in our day? Would you reveal
your mighty arm, your power, and your mercy and grace to your
people? Would you reveal Christ to our
hearts this evening? Father, cause your gospel to
go forth Use it to call out your sheep in this area. Use it to
comfort the hearts of your people. Encourage and strengthen the
hearts of your people. When the journey is so hard and
so difficult, keep us right back at square one. Let us never leave
that place where all we've got to believe is Christ. All we've
got to trust in and rest in is Christ. Father, keep revealing
yourself to us. Keep blessing your gospel. Keep
blessing the gospel of Christ to the hearts of your people
that we might be encouraged and strengthened for the journey
here below. And we give thanks for the confidence we have in
our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how we thank you for him.
Father, we pray you bless your word for the good of your people
and especially for the glory of Christ our Savior. It's in
his precious name we pray and give thanks.