Let's open our Bibles again to
Psalm 43. I titled the message this evening,
Why Am I Cast Down? Now, you'll notice, I hope, that
Psalm 43 is very similar to Psalm 42 that we looked at last Wednesday. I believe last Wednesday The
Lord met with us, gave us a word from Him. There's just unusual
response to that message. Psalm 43 is very similar to Psalm
42. I reckon if you liked the message
last Wednesday, you'll like the one this Wednesday. It speaks
of the same thing. Why am I cast down? David here
talks about being cast down and he's struggling with himself.
He's arguing with himself about why he should not be cast down.
And I began looking at this and I wondered, well, why do we have
two Psalms in a row dealing with this same subject of being cast
down and God's people being spiritually depressed? I shouldn't have really
wondered that. The answer is obvious. It's because
of how easily we become cast down, how easily we become spiritually
depressed and how believers need constant encouragement in Christ. And in this short psalm, David
gives us nine reasons why the believer should not be cast down. We may be cast down, but we will
not be destroyed. We will not be destroyed. So
the first reason David gives us is this. I shouldn't be cast
down because Christ died as my substitute. He says in verse
one, judge me, O God. Now he begins this psalm by asking
the Lord to judge him. He does that five times in the
Psalms. Lord, judge me. Now that can
take your breath if you think about it. That's a scary thing
for son of Adam to say to almighty God, judge me. But every time
David says this all five times in the Psalms, he says, judge
me. What he means is this. Judge me in Christ. Look back
just a few pages. Psalm 35. He says that plainly
here. Psalm 35. Verse 23. Stir up thyself and
awake to my judgment, even to my call unto my cause, my God
and my Lord. Judge me, O Lord, my God, according
to thy righteousness and let them not rejoice over me. Don't
judge me in my rags of righteousness. Judge me in thy righteousness.
Judge me in the righteousness that you've given me in Christ
obedience. Now that has to be, when David says it, plainly,
that's what he means there. Judge me in thy righteousness.
Now there are only two reasons David would ask the Lord to judge
him. There's only two reasons. Number one, because he's so self-righteous,
he thinks his obedience and his goodness really is enough to
satisfy God. But we know David doesn't think
that. This is the same man that said, my sin is ever before me.
But he doesn't think he can be good enough in himself. So secondly,
David would only ask this question because he is so confident. Judge
me in Christ. He is so confident that Christ
has made him completely righteous. And that's the believer's confidence.
Our confidence is always Lord Jesus Christ. He's perfect. His obedience is perfect. Everything
about him is perfect. And I am complete in him. The
obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ to the law. is my personal obedience
before God. So I know I'm innocent. And an
innocent man is never afraid to be judged. If an innocent
man was taken and he would be held in jail, he would be anxious
to go before the judge. Judge me. I'm innocent. I'll be set free. That's what
David is saying here. He is so confident in Christ,
he's willing to be judged. Christ the sinner substitutes.
was made sin for his people. Brethren, those are not just
words on paper. That's not something that just really smart theologians
can discuss. You know, this is not something
that Matthew Henry and John Gill discuss, and none of us can understand
what they're talking about. This is the believer's confidence.
The Lord Jesus Christ actually took the sin of his people and
his body on the tree. He suffered and died. in my place
as my substitute, because He took my sin away from me and
took it into Himself. And the blood of His sacrifice
really was enough to pay the sin debt. His blood is so pure,
so precious, He washed me free from all of my sin, and I'm innocent
before God. The blood of Christ has washed
me so completely, even God can't find my sin anymore. That's the
believer's confidence. And that brings such joy to the
hearts of God's people to know I'm innocent. And if I'm innocent,
I have no reason to fear death and no reason to fear facing
God in judgment. Because God's pleased with me
in Christ, then I'm going to have joy. Even though ungodly
people hate me and persecute me, even though my old man I
carry around with me constantly persecutes me, constantly is
dragging me down, I'm going to have joy because God's pleased
with me in Christ. I'm gonna have joy in Christ,
even though I am completely unsatisfied with myself, I'll have joy in
Christ because nothing satisfies me, nothing brings me more joy
than Him, knowing I'm complete in Him. I'm not gonna be cast
down because Christ died as my substitute. Second, I shouldn't
be cast down because Christ is my intercessor. He says, judge
me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. David
asked the Lord to plead his cause, to intercede for me. Look over
at 1 John 2. My cause is always going to turn
out good if Christ pleads my case. It'll always turn out good
because if Christ pleads my case, He's got something to plead.
He will plead His sacrifice. The father will always accept.
Verse John 2, verse 1. My little children, these things
write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
And our advocate pleads himself. He pleads his righteousness.
He is Jesus Christ, the righteous. He pleads that he is the righteousness
of his people. And if he's the righteousness
of his people, they're not guilty. The father will always accept
them. Verse two, and he's the propitiation for our sins and
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Christ pleads his sacrifice before the father and says, he's the
propitiation. You know that word propitiation
is mercy sin. Christ is the mercy sin. He's
the propitiation that covers the sin of his people. And God
will never cast me out or condemn me. if Christ is pleading for
me, because He's pleading His righteousness and His blood.
Now, I know in this present world, it's hard for us to see past
this world. It's hard for us to see past
our fleshly circumstances. When we're brought down, we're
like David, and as he wrote this psalm, he's on the run from his
son Absalom, from his own son, he's on the run. We find ourselves
being persecuted in pain and turmoil. It's hard to see past
those fleshly circumstances. But if we really knew what it
meant, that God will never condemn us. Because Christ died for us. He was condemned for us. And
because Christ is pleading His sacrifice for us, always, He
ever lives to make intercession for the Father. If we really
knew what that meant, wouldn't be cast down for another moment.
He really knew the joy of that. Christ is our intercessor. Thirdly,
David says, I shouldn't be cast down because Christ is my deliverer.
At the end of verse one, he says, Oh, deliver me from the deceitful
and unjust man. Deliver me. Oh, deliver me. That's
the believer's constant cry. Oh, deliver me. But you know,
if Christ died for you, God's already delivered you. He already
has. You know, one of the names of
Christ is the Deliverer. Romans 11 verse 26 says, all
Israel shall be saved. Here's why we know all Israel
shall be saved. There shall come out of Zion,
the Deliverer. Capital D, that's somebody's
name. There shall come out of Zion, the Deliverer, and he'll
turn ungodliness away from Jacob. He's going to deliver his people
from their own ungodliness. He's the Deliverer. Now the deceitful
and unjust man David refers to here, it could be Absalom who's
chasing after him. It could be his trusted advisor
Hithophel who abandoned David and went against David and went
with Absalom. But David almost certainly here is talking about
the deceitful and unjust old man that he carries around with
him all the time. You know that fellow. He's deceitful. He's unjust. One day, the Lord
is going to deliver us from that unjust man, that deceitful man,
and we'll never deal with the effects of sin again. Now, there's
several ways the Lord has already delivered his people. He is delivering
them. Number one, Christ has delivered
his people from all of their sin. Christ was delivered for
our offenses and raised again for our justification. He's delivered
us from those things because he was made sin for us. Second,
the sacrifice of Christ has delivered his people from justice. Many
times the four evangelists wrote how Christ was delivered into
the hands of the Jews, into the hands of the Romans and the hands
of the Gentiles. He was delivered to their will.
And more importantly and worse for his suffering, he was delivered
into the hands of justice. He was delivered into the hand
of his father, also his people. would never be delivered to that.
They would be delivered from justice. Look over to second
Corinthians chapter one. Second Corinthians one verse
nine. But we had the sentence of death
in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God
who raised at the dead, who delivered us. from so great a death, and
doth deliver, and in whom we trust that he will yet deliver
us." See, there's all three tenses. He's already delivered us. He
is delivering us and he will yet deliver us. Christ has already
delivered his people from the penalty of sin by suffering the
penalty himself. And thirdly, Christ is delivering
his people from the sin of this world. by bringing them through
it, by bringing through this world, all of its trials, all
of its heartaches, he doth deliver. He's delivering his people from
this. David said in Psalm 34, many are the afflictions of the
righteous. There are many afflictions in
this world of sin, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.
He is delivering his people right now. And fourthly, he will yet
deliver his people. One day he's going to deliver
his people from all from all heartache, from all sorrow, and
they will be with Him forever. Paul wrote in Colossians 1 verse
13, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us in the kingdom of His dear Son. One day He's
gonna make that perfect. One day He's gonna make that
perfect, where we will be in that kingdom with the King, both
body and soul, eternally. Now why should I be cast out?
Why should I be cast down by anything that's going on on this
journey from here to there? I know how this story is going
to end. You've heard this illustration before, but it just came up again
this evening. Yesterday, Jan and I were sitting
down to get ready to watch our show as we watch, you know, and
she was popping some popcorn, doing something, getting ready
to react. I want to see how the cats are doing. I turned it on. It was
nine to nothing. I turned it off real fast. I'm
glad I'm not watching that. Sheila told me this morning,
they didn't watch it till this morning. When it was nine to nothing, you weren't
worried, were you? I know how this thing's going
to end up. Be made just like Christ. Be
with Him forever. If I get a hold of that, I won't
be quite so cashed down, even when the journey gets difficult.
All right, fourthly, I shouldn't be cashed down because Christ
is my strength. Back in our text, Psalm 43, verse
2, David says, for thou art the God of my strength. Now we get
cast down because we just get so tired. The way gets so hard,
the burden gets so heavy, the trial gets so difficult, and
we think we can't go another step. I can't deal with this
situation one more second. But you know, really? That's
true about every situation. I mean, we ought to know I can't
handle any situation by myself. There's not one situation we
ever face that we're strong enough to handle on our own. Not one.
But the Lord sends these trials. He sends them to us to take the
starch out of us. You know, he had to take Moses
to the backside of a mountain and wheel him down for 40 years
till Moses was ready to be used in God's service. He's got to
send these trials to take the starch out of us. So we're reminded
how weak we really are. And when we're reminded how weak
we really are, we're reminded of something else. We're reminded
of how dependent we are upon the Lord. See, it's not just
I do everything I can do and then the Lord takes up the slack.
That's not how it works, is it? No, the Lord has to do it all.
Because we're powerless. We're not able to do anything
without Him. But here David says, the Lord is my strength. towards
my strength. He's given me strength for every
trial in the past. He's going to give me strength
to face this one too. We are so weak. We need to, what
a thrill for such weak people to know that the Lord is our
strength. That's true in every sense of
the word. We're so weak we can't do anything physically unless
the Lord gives us strength and breath to do it. The Lord's got
to give us even the next breath. He's got to give us strength
to do anything. And we certainly can't do anything spiritually,
can we? We can't do one thing unless the Lord gives us the
strength to do it. We can't pray. We can't worship. Just try to
pray and try to worship without the Lord giving us strength. We can't understand anything
we read in the Word. We can't see anything in the
Word. We can't see Christ. Do you know, we can't even rest
until the Lord gives us strength to rest in Christ. Until He gives
us the strength to rest in Christ, we're always going to be out
there working, trying to earn enough so we can rest. He's got
to even give us the strength to rest. That's how dependent
on Him we are. When the Lord gives us a glimpse
of how weak we are, then we're going to be strong. Because we'll
rely on Christ who is our strength. I am so weak, I can't do anything. But I can do all things if Christ
would strengthen me. Because He is my strength. And
I'm not going to be quite so discouraged when I face situations
I can't handle. Because the Lord is my strength.
He's going to take care of that. Just like He has to take care
of everything else. I shouldn't be cast down because
God will never cast off any of his people. He says, verse two,
for thou art the God of my strength. Why dost thou cast me off? Why
go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Now
we know up here, we got the doctrine down up here, don't we? The Lord
will never cast off his people. We got that down. But when we can't get a sense
of the Lord's presence, We fear God's cast me off because I never
was one of his people. And I can see why God would cast
me off, can't you? I can see why. Look at my sin. I can see why
God would cast me off. I can see why he wouldn't want
me. And that makes me depressed. But isn't it shameful that we
would ask this question, why have you cast me off? We can't
be hard on David because every believer in this room has asked
that question. Why have you cast me on? Why don't you hear when
I cry? Why don't you come when I cry?
Why don't you send comfort? Why don't you send help when
I cry? And we think, why has God cast me on? And when we ask
that question, we bring into question the very character of
God. We bring into question His faithfulness and His honesty.
I'll tell you the reason I'm cast down. It's because I'm doubting
God's faithfulness. But that's why I'm cast down.
Now, why would I ever do that? Why would I doubt his faithfulness?
Why would I doubt his character? He's never given me a reason
to doubt him. The only reason I'm doubting is because of my
own weakness, my own sin. God promised, God who cannot
lie promised, he will never forsake his people. God will never break
a promise. He'll never break his word. If
you find yourself discouraged and you feel like God's not hearing
you, you feel like God may cast you off, I'll tell you what you
do. You trust the promise of God, not your feelings. You trust
the character of God and not your feelings. You may feel like
God's cast you off, but you ignore those sinful, darkened feelings
and you trust the promise of God. Trust God who cannot lie.
Just trust God's holy character. Trust His gracious character.
He's a loving character. And you won't be cast down. No,
you'll be uplifted. At 6, David says, I shouldn't
be cast down because Christ is my light. Oh, send out thy light
and thy truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring
me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. Now we say,
when we say that Christ is our light, what we mean is this,
that Christ is our life. You don't have to turn here.
You know it well. Let me read it to you. John chapter 1 verse 4. John says, In Him was life, and
the life was the light of men. When we say Christ is our light,
we mean He's our life. The life was the light of men. If Christ is my light, why would
I be cast out? If He's my light, I have spiritual
life. I have eternal life. If He's
my life, I can never die. Why would I be cast down? You
know, when this body gets sick and begins to fall apart and
die, why would I be cast down? I've got to shed this dead body
flesh. It's got to die. I've got to
shed it. But I will never die. If I believe Christ, I won't,
because He's my life. Christ is the light. Christ is
the light that lets us see what we really are. The only way we
can know how sinful, how filthy, how depraved we are is in the
light of Christ, by seeing ourselves in comparison to who He is. You
know, I think I'm pretty good when I compare myself with y'all.
Y'all think you're real good when you compare yourself to
me. Oh, if I ever see who He is, I'll be like Job. See, I'm
covering my mouth. I talk about things I'm not talking
about. I had no idea how wretched I really was. I saw Christ. Christ is the light that lets
us understand how God can save a sinner like me and still be
God. It's only somebody that doesn't
have any light can think, well, God will just save me if I decide
to accept Jesus and let Him in my heart. That's a salvation
that doesn't let God be God. That's a salvation that doesn't
let God punish sin. That's a salvation without justice.
But if Christ is our light, we see, now I understand, how is
it that God could save the likes of me and still be going? It's
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in His obedience
becoming my obedience. It's in Him being made sin for
me and being my sacrifice for sin that satisfied God's justice. It's in the light of Christ I
understand how God can save a sinner and still be going. The end of
Christ is my light. All that darkness and ignorance
of fear is cast out. When light comes in, darkness
has got to go. If Christ is my light, I don't
have to live cast down in the darkness of my sin and my ignorance. I live in the light of His countenance. Throughout Scripture, light and
joy, light and happiness go hand in hand. If Christ is my light,
I'm not going to be cast down. I've got light. Seventh, David
says, I shouldn't be cast down because Christ is going to lead
me. He'll lead me to himself. He says, let thy light and thy
truth, let them lead me. Let them bring me under thy holy
hill and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar
of God. Now, the Holy Spirit always leads
sinners to one place. He only ever leads them to one
place. He leads them to Christ. Our Lord talked to his disciples
and told them, I'm going to send you another comforter. The Lord
told them, described to them the Holy Spirit. He said the
Holy Spirit is never going to speak of himself. I tell you
what that means. The Holy Spirit won't speak of
himself. It means that the Holy Spirit is not going to come into
people and put them in such a religious fervor that they act a fool.
You know, somebody roll around the floor and foam at the mouth
and phone song books and act like they're speaking in tongues.
That is not the work of the Holy Spirit. No, it's not. Because
if somebody's doing that, what are you doing? We're all looking
at them, aren't we? That's drawing attention to them.
We're thinking, well, either they've gone off their rocker,
or that's the Holy Spirit. And we're looking everywhere
except to Christ. He's not going to speak of Himself.
He's not going to draw attention to Himself. The Savior said,
He shall glorify Me. For He shall receive of Mine
and show it to you. The Holy Spirit shows Christ
his people. He always leads God's people
to Christ. And that's what David says here.
He's asking the Lord to lead him to thy holy hill. Now, the holy hill is the throne
of God. It's the holy place where God
dwells. Lead me to the throne of God. I tell you what, I'm not going
to be cast down. If I find myself bowing before a throne of grace,
I can be cast down there. Then he says the spirit will
lead him to thy tabernacle. And you know that tabernacle
is the picture of Christ. Now, at this time, David was
on the run from Absalom. He's out there in the wilderness
somewhere. And David longed to go back to the tabernacle. He
longed to go back to the house of the Lord. He longed to go
back to that place of worship, public worship. But whenever
we speak of the tabernacle, we're not just speaking of a building,
the tabernacle or the temple, either one. We're not speaking
of a building. That tabernacle is a picture of Christ. Every
stitch and stick of that tabernacle pictured the Lord Jesus Christ,
pictured His work of redemption for His people. So many things
were incorruptible wood covered with gold, showing us the Lord
Jesus Christ and His two natures. He's God and man. He's the God-man.
100% God. 100% man. The white linen showed the
holiness of Christ. And that holiness is the holiness
of His people. The holiness He gives them is
pure, perfect white linen. There is just one door to the
tabernacle. Showing us, giving us a picture of Christ. There's
one way to God. Would you go to God? There's one way. Go in
Christ and you'll be accepted. All those sacrifices they offered
out there in the courtyard, in that brazen altar, Now, none
of them took away sin, did they? No, they didn't take away sin
because they had to keep being offered every morning, every
afternoon, every evening, every year. They had to keep being
offered over and over and over again. But they served this purpose
to give us a picture of Christ, the Lamb of God, whose sacrifice
would take away the sin of the world. Inside that building,
that little tent, there was the altar of incense, which pictures
Christ, our mediator, the one making intercession for us, the
one David asked to plead for me. he's got something to put
in them. Because the blood of the sacrifice
has been applied. On the day of atonement, they'd
sacrifice that bullock out there and the priest would come in
and put that blood, the blood from off the brazen altar, they'd
put it on the golden altar, the altar of incense, showing it's
the blood of the sacrifice that gives power to the prayers of
Christ, to the intercession of Christ. On the other side of
the room, there's a table of showbread. showing us Christ,
giving us a picture of Christ, the living bread from heaven.
Any man eats of this bread, he'll live forever. There's the candlestick,
which pictures Christ, the light of the world. Behind the veil,
there was the Ark of the Covenant. Inside that Ark was the broken
law. Remember, Moses got the law from God. God broke the law
on those two tables of stone with his own fingers. And Moses
no sooner got off that mountain, he threw it down broken. Anger
for the children of Israel. God called him back up and said,
Hew out two more tables of stone and come up here. God rode him
again and told Moses, Now you take those. Don't you keep them
in your hand. Put them in the Ark of the Covenant.
That's where they'll be kept safe. And that Ark of the Covenant
was the incorruptible wood covered with gold. A picture of Christ
who kept the law for his people. Never broken in him. On top of
that Ark was the mercy seat. Pure gold. Pictured. how Christ covered the sin of
His people. How did He do that? It's with the blood. Remember,
every year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would come in,
dip his finger in the blood of sacrifice, and sprinkle it on
that years and years and years. They kept sprinkling that blood
on top of that mercy seat. I reckon that mercy seat was
just completely covered with blood. Couldn't see the gold.
Completely covered with blood. Showing us this is the one place
God will meet with sin. the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the tabernacle, David.
Take me to Christ. He is everything I need. Everything
you can imagine I need, He's it. If you'll lead me to Him,
I won't be cast down. Then David says, the Spirit will
cause me to go to the altar of God. Take me to the place where
the sacrifice is offered, that put my sin away. Now, there's
only one place a sinner can have a true reason to have hope and
joy and peace. It's in the sacrifice of Christ.
Now, you can't have heart peace, comfort, encouragement in the
ceremony. This is not coming to a physical
altar. You know, in our day, people
have replaced the altar with this table down front, you know,
and coming to this, they call it an altar. Somehow coming to
this makes you saved. That's not the altar we're talking
about. You'll not, you can do that all you want, but you'll
not find any comfort for your soul in going through those ceremonies.
We have an altar. Look over to Hebrews chapter
13. We have an altar. The altar of
God we're going to is our Lord Jesus Christ. It's his sacrifice
that is the only hope for my soul. That's an excellent hope. The
scripture tells us the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses
us from all sin. Hebrews 13 verse nine, here's
the altar that David's talking about. Verse nine, he said, be
not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines, for it's
good that the heart be established with grace, not with meats, which
is not profited then, which have been occupied therein. Don't
get caught up in all these ceremonies, emotions of religion, that doesn't
do any good. We have an altar, whereof they
have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. We who believe
Christ have an altar, and our altar is the Lord Jesus Christ. And people who serve the law,
and when I say serve the law, I mean people who try to make
God happy with them by what they do, by how much law they keep
or how moral they live. Those people that are doing that,
serving the law, trying to make God happy with them by their
morality, cannot come to Christ. Mike, they cannot. They cannot.
You cannot come to Christ through the law. Can't be done. You cannot
come to Christ through your goodness because it'll never be good enough.
You can only come to God in Christ. He's the altar. We come as a
sinner who needs Christ to do everything for us. And that's
exactly what this altar represents. It represents how Christ did
everything for His people. It's all in Christ. He's the
perfect sacrifice. As a man, he lived a perfect,
holy, sinless life. And because he's righteous, because
he's perfect, because he's holy, he can be the sacrifice that
puts sin away. Christ is a sacrifice. Christ
is the high priest who offered the sacrifice. He had to offer
himself to God, didn't he? He's the priest who offered the
sacrifice. He's the altar on which the sacrifice was offered.
He's the God to whom the sacrifice was offered, and He's the God
that accepted the sacrifice. Christ is all. Christ is all. I'm just not going to be able
to be cast down anymore when I see that Christ is everything
that I need, and I'm completely in Him. Eighth, back in our text, Psalm
43, I shouldn't be cast down because Christ is my joy. He
says in verse 4, Then I will go unto the altar of God, unto
God my exceeding joy. Yea, upon the harp will I praise
thee, O God, my God. Now why should I be cast down?
David says, Christ is my joy. And he's not just my joy, David,
he's my exceeding joy. He's my exceeding joy. Now this
much I know. Christ hadn't changed. Is that
right? He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He hasn't changed. Yesterday, I was so happy. Today,
I'm so cast down the dumps. Now what's changed? Well, He
hasn't changed. I must be the one that's changed.
If I'm cast down, it's because I'm looking for comfort somewhere
other than Christ alone. I'm looking for joy somewhere
other than Christ, who's my exceeding joy. But if I'm looking to Christ,
Who is my exceeding joy? I'm not going to be cast down.
You think of the joy, if you believe Christ, now you think
of the joy there is in knowing Him, in having Him. Christ's
love for His people, His unending love. Does that bring you joy?
Think about His sacrifice. How He willingly sacrificed Himself
for His people. His sacrifice puts your sin away.
Does that bring you joy? How about His presence? Those
times He gives you His presence in your heart, He gives you His
presence in the worship service. Does that bring you joy? How
about this when you're cast down? How about His keeping power?
Oh, you might feel cast down, but you're not going to fall.
You're not going to be destroyed. He's not going to let you go because of His keeping
power. David says, that brings me so
much joy. He goes to find his heart. Maybe
he's had it put away. It needs to be dusted off. It
needs to be tuned up so that maybe he'll get my heart. See,
he started this psalm, and he started the last one, too, cast
down, wasn't he? But when he starts to think of who Christ
is, he begins to play and sing, and let's all sing praises to
his God. Then last, I shouldn't be cast
down because Christ is my salvation. Verse five, why art thou cast
down on my soul? And why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope in God, for I will yet praise him who is the health
of my countenance and my God. Now this phrase, the health of
my countenance, I told you this last week, means his presence
is salvation. The mere presence of Christ is
my salvation. It's been fully accomplished
and it's secure in him. The presence of Christ in my
heart, that's my hope of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The presence of Christ on the throne of glory. That's my assurance
of salvation. He ever liveth to make intercession
for them. Lord Jesus Christ is no longer
a babe in a manger. He's not a babe in a manger.
He's already fulfilled the law of the man. He's already served
that purpose. He's not suffering on a cross. There's no reason
to have a carving or a picture of some man hanging on a cross
Because that ain't Christ. He's not suffering on the cross
anymore. He was once offered for sin, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring them to God. The sacrifice has been offered.
The great transaction is done. Christ is not in the tomb. You
may as well not waste your money to go over there to Israel, the
Holy Land, wherever you want to call it, and go try to find
the tomb where they laid Jesus. They got a spot. They say, this
is the spot. They got a whole building built
up over it, and they got all kinds of stuff out there. Great
big tourist attraction. You can go there if you want.
See the spot. They say, this is the spot. They sunk that cross
down in the Holy Land. They take you over here and say,
this is the spot where he's buried. I don't even think you can go
in there. They just say, just trust us, down there's a cave,
that's where he's buried. You don't find anything there. You
don't find any peace or comfort for your soul there. He's not
there. The angel had to tell them that.
He's not here, he's risen. What do you want to go there
for? What are you seeking the living among the dead? He's not
there. No, he's already risen again
for our justification. I'll tell you where the presence
of Christ is. He's ascended back to glory.
There he sits, to this very moment, waiting to his enemies be made
his footstool. And his presence there in glory
guarantees all of his people are going to follow him there. But how can I be cast down? How can I be cast down? He is
my hope. David says, why are you disquieted? Hope in God. He's our hope. We have a good hope. I won't
be cast down. That's what we're going to confess
here in just a minute. We observe the Lord's table.
We take this table. This is a confession. I'm confessing
that the obedience of Christ, His perfect life, is the only
righteousness that I have before God. I eat that bread and drink
that wine. I'm confessing my only hope of
salvation is in union with Christ. It's got to be union with Him.
I eat that bread and I drink that wine. it becomes part of
my body. It has union with my body. That's
my confession. The only hope of salvation I
have is in union with Christ. And I also confess this. The
only hope I have that my sin has been put away is that Christ
was sacrificed for me. And my joy is in him. My hope
is in him. My assurance is in him. My salvation
is in him. That's what we confess as we
observe this All right, Wayne, you man, if you would, come and
distribute the bread.