So in our Bibles, again, to Psalm
7. The title of the message this evening is Judge Me According
to My Righteousness. Judge me according to my righteousness. I've taken that title from a
statement David makes in verse 8. He says the Lord shall judge
the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to
my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in
me. When you first read that, our
initial thought is, how can any son of David make that statement? I told Monday, I told Janet the
title of the message I was working on. And she said, well, I know
where you're going with that. But on the surface, that sounds
pretty self-righteous, doesn't it? Well, let's see if the Spirit
will let me get there where I do intend to go. Now, this is what
we know. We know that we can't produce
any righteousness. All of our so-called righteousnesses
are nothing but rags that are defiled by sin. If we would be
judged by the righteousness that we personally produce, we're
going to be named. We know that. So David, when
he makes this statement, can only be making this statement
in Christ. That's what I want us to see.
That's where I do intend for us to get to this evening. See
that for our edification and for our comfort. At the beginning
of the song, the first thing we see is this is the son of
David speaking Christ, our Savior, and he speaks, our Savior speaks,
trusting his father. First one. He says, Oh, Lord,
my God, in thee do I trust. Save me from all them that persecute
me and deliver me. Lest he tear my soul like a lion,
rending it in pieces while there's none to deliver. Now, this is
Christ speaking to his father. And he says, Father, I trust
you. I put my trust in you to deliver
me from those that persecute me. Now, it's something that's
very easy to see how it is we trust the father. How is it that
the son trusts the father? Well, the father and the son
entered into a covenant of grace and eternity. In that covenant,
the father elected a people to save. He gave them to his son
to redeem. And the father and the son agreed,
they agreed with each other, that the son would become a man.
And as a man, he would produce a perfect righteousness that
the father would give to those people that he chose, those he
chose to save. And then the son would die to
pay for their sin. And the father said, I will accept
your righteousness. I will accept your sacrifice
for the salvation of your people. I will count that as all it takes
to save those people. And in the fullness of time,
the son became a man. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
this earth and he did exactly what he promised his father he'd
do. He promised his father, I'll work out a righteousness for
my people that you'll accept. I'll give myself as a sacrifice
that will satisfy your justice. He came and he did exactly what
he promised he'd do. Because God always does what
he promises. He produced a Perfect obedience
to the law. He obeyed God's law always and
thought, word and deed. And that obedience, that righteousness
is what God gives to his elect to make them righteous. He imputes
it to them. And then doing what he promised
to do, Christ went to the cross and he suffered and he died to
pay the sin debt of God's elect. He did what he promised. He held
up his end of the bargain, didn't he? Now Christ's Savior says,
Father, I trust you. that you'll do what you said
you'd do and accept everyone that I died for. And we know
that Christ is going to get what he asked for there. He says he
trusts the Father to do what he said he'd do. Well, he's going
to get what he asked for because God always does what he promises.
God the Father and God the Son. God the Holy Spirit. God always
does what he promises he'd do. Now Christ will be delivered.
into the hands of wicked men. He's going to be persecuted.
He's going to suffer. He's going to be hated. He's
going to be given to their hands to do whatever it is they want
to do with him. And when they do what they what
their wicked hearts desire to do, all they're going to accomplish
is what God determined for it be done. They're going to do
what it takes to save God's people through the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Once that sacrifice is complete,
the father will deliver Christ out of their hands. He's done
it. Never again will Christ be in the hands of a man to decide
what they'll do with Him. That's the problem with false
religion. They put Jesus in your hands.
You've got to make the decision. You've got to decide what to
do. That's a gross error. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
in our hands to decide what we'll do with Him. He's been delivered
from the hands of men once and for all. The truth of the matter
is we're in his hands to decide what he'll do with us. We're
completely dependent upon him to have mercy and grace upon
us. See the father and the son, they entered into this covenant
of grace and they each trusted each other to ratify it. Look
over at Ephesians chapter one. I'll show you here how the father
trusted the son. Ephesians 1 verse 11. In whom also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who work with all things after the counsel of his own will that
we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in
Christ. Now that one who first trusted
in Christ is him who has a purpose who work with all things after
the counsel of his own will. That's the father. The father's
the first one to ever trust Christ to save his people. And the son
did what he came to do. He kept his promise to his father.
And then, in turn, the son trusted the father to do what he said
he'd do. That's how the Pharisees were mocking Christ as he suffered,
weren't they? They said, he trusted in God. Let God deliver him now, if I
have him. He said he trusted God. He said
he's the son of God. Let's see if God will have him
now. Let's see if God will deliver him now. Well, he didn't. After
he died, he delivered them. He delivered Christ from their
hands once and for all. And they said, let's see if God
will have him. Oh, he'll have him. He accepted him. When Christ
ascended back on high, the Father accepted him. Gave him the seat
of honor and glory. Gave him the seat at his right
hand. Gave him the seat on the throne
of glory. And all that means is simply
this, the salvation of God's elect is accomplished. It should. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
they all kept their word. They did exactly what they promised
to do in the covenant of grace. We'll get to the spirit in a
minute, but needless to say, they all kept, they kept their
promise. They did what they promised to do. Then next in verse three,
we see the Savior suffering injustice. Now we'll read verses three through
five. We're going to leave that parenthetical phrase out in verse
four. Come back to that in a minute. Verse three. Oh, Lord, my God,
if I have done this, if there be iniquity in my hands, if I
have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me, let the
enemy persecute my soul and take it. Yea, let him tread down my
life upon the earth and lay mine honor in the dust. Now, here's
the circumstances under which David wrote this song. He'd been
falsely accused by some relative of King Saul's. He'd been falsely
accused of treason against the king. And David asked the Lord,
deliver me. Don't let me suffer at the hands
of justice because I'm innocent of this. I'm not guilty of committing
treason against Saul. I've done nothing to try to take
his throne or diminish his glory. And David was. He was innocent
of this. He was guilty of many other sins,
but this particular charge, David was innocent. But see what he
says? He says, if I am guilty and I
don't know it, if I've committed this sin and I don't know it,
let me be punished. David's not trying to skirt to
law. He's not trying to skirt justice. He says, if I'm guilty,
then let me suffer. But if I'm innocent, deliver
me. Now listen to Christ, the son of David, speaking here.
David was innocent of this charge. Lord Jesus Christ was innocent
of every charge. He's the only innocent man who
ever lived. In every way, he was sinless. Yet at the cross, of all the
things that are recorded, our Savior said at the cross, never
one time did he ever protest and say, I'm innocent, I should
be delivered from this. Never one time. Standing before
Pilate, hanging on the cross in his agony, He never asked
to be delivered because he's innocent. Why not? When those Jews made
all those false accusations against him, they had to go out and find
people who were, you know, what lowlifes. They had to go find
people who were willing to lie about this fella. And then none
of their lies could agree. When they made all those false
accusations against him, he never opened his mouth. Pilate tried
to get him to say something. He said, why won't you even talk
to me? Don't you know I got the power to condemn you if I want?
The Lord spoke up then, didn't he? He said, you've got no power
at all except my Father give it to you. But never one time
did he ever defend himself against those charges. Fulfilling Isaiah
53. He was oppressed, he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
as a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he opened not his
mouth. Why not? Why didn't he cry, I'm
innocent, I shouldn't be here? If somebody arrested me, and
put me in jail for something I didn't do, I'd be screaming
it at the top of my lungs. He's innocent. Why didn't he?
Because he'd been made guilty. He had been made guilty of the
sin of his people. You and I are guilty of every
accusation they threw against our Savior. We're guilty of every
one of them and more. even transgression or even treason,
even resurrection or insurrection against the king. Maybe not the
political king, but against God. We're guilty of insurrection
against God, trying to take God off of his throne. So Christ
went to the cross willingly. David said here, if I'm guilty,
let me suffer. Christ went to the cross willingly
to suffer justice, to suffer the justice for the sin of his
people. Christ our substitute said, I'm guilty. I've been made
guilty of the sin of my people, so Father, let your justice be
satisfied by my suffering, my death, and let my people go free. That's where this parenthetical
phrase in verse four comes in. Yea, I have delivered him, that
without cause is mine enemy. Now he's speaking there about
King Saul. Saul was David's enemy. And David never gave Saul cause
to be his enemy. But they sure were enemies, weren't
they? I mean, Saul did everything in this world he could possibly
think of to do to get rid of David. Tried to kill him so many
times. Yet two times, David had Saul right where he wanted him.
The men there with him said, now you can kill him. This is
the day the Lord's appointed for you. Saul was sound asleep. David was right there. David
could have killed him. Two times. Both times, he did nothing but
cut off the hem of Saul's robe. He let him go. He delivered his
enemy, didn't he? God never gave you and me reason.
He never gave us cause to be his enemy, did he? He'd been
nothing but good to us. But we've made ourselves his
enemy by our sin and rebellion against him. So Christ came to
deliver his enemies. He came to set his enemies free
not just by letting them go, not just by ignoring their sin,
but by taking their sin and his own body on the tree and putting
it away with his sacrifice to satisfy God's justice. So instead
of saying how Christ is our enemy, now what are his people saying?
Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus. What a friend. This friend
satisfied God's justice by taking our sin, putting it away with
the blood of his sacrifice. All right, here's the third thing.
Christ died, but he did rise again because his sacrifice put
away all the sin that was laid on him. Verse six. Arise, O Lord,
in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies
and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded. This
is the cry of our Savior. Father, I died to satisfy your
justice. So don't leave my body in the
grave because my death did satisfy your justice. He says, Father,
I did what you commanded me to do. So don't leave my body in
the grave. And sure enough, three days after
they put him in the tomb, the father raised Christ from the
grave because his sacrifice did completely remove all of the
sin that was laid upon him. That's what we dealt with in
Sonny's message, Romans 4, 25. Speaking of Christ who was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. He was
raised again not in order to justify his people. He was raised
again because his death did justify his people, made them without
sin. So it was impossible for Christ
our Savior to stay dead in that tomb because his blood had taken
away the sin that was laid on him. The only reason for death
is sin. Sin is gone. It's impossible
for him to stay dead. He rose again as the victorious
savior because his blood, his broken body, which we're going
to observe and picture in just a few minutes, justified his
people, took their sin away. But that's not enough. He couldn't
leave it there. Fourth, Christ asked the father,
now give me, give me everybody I died for. Verse seven. So shall
the congregation of the people compass thee about. For their
sakes, therefore, return thou on high." The son says, Father,
send your Spirit to call all my people to me. Gather them
all to me. Now, I wish I could make this
so clear. Only the Spirit can, but I wish
I could make it clear to our hearts. It's coming to Christ. Salvation
is being in Christ. Salvation is not being called
to a changed life. Salvation is not called to us
starting to act better. Salvation is not being called
to the right set of doctrines or to the right form of religion.
Salvation is being called to Christ. Salvation is knowing
and trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is a vital union with
Christ. And it is the Savior's will that
all of His people be gathered to Him. Just like a mother hen
gathers those chicks around her. It is our Savior's will that
all of His people be gathered to Him. And this you can bank
on. They will. That's our confidence
in preaching. That's our confidence in praying
for our lost loved ones. Everyone Christ died for will
be brought to him. The Spirit will speak to it.
It is the Savior's will. This is what he prayed in his
great high priestly prayer. Father, let all those that I
died for, let all those that I justified be with me forever,
that they may be with me where I am and behold my glory that
you gave me. There's no reason they wouldn't
be. There's no reason they wouldn't be brought to Christ. He put
their sin away. He made them righteous. There's
no reason God wouldn't accept them. Their sin's gone. So He
does accept all of His people. He sends His Spirit to gather
them all to Christ because Christ is the successful Savior who
cannot fail to save His people from their sins and give them
life, give them peace and unity with Him. All right, now here's
the fifth thing. It's verse 8. This is a plea
that only Christ can make about what he has personally done.
He said, tells his father, judge me and my righteousness in my
own integrity. Verse eight, the Lord shall judge
the people. He shall judge the people. He's
the judge. There's no escaping the judgment. The Lord shall
judge the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to mine integrity that's in me. Now we know the
Lord's going to judge the people. He's going to judge everyone.
Every one of us, one day, must face the judgment seat of Christ.
And if we would be accepted, if we would be brought into God's
presence forever, if we would be brought into eternal glory
and rest, we must be perfect. Brother Eric just preached a
message on that not too long ago. If it's going to be accepted,
it's got to be perfect. Well, we're not perfect. And
ourselves, we're not perfect. And the result of that is suffering
eternally for our sin. David, when he wrote this psalm,
is innocent of treason. But you and I aren't. We're not
guilty. We are guilty of every sin. Then
here's the million-dollar question. How can there be any hope for
us? Is there any good news for somebody like us? We don't want
to go to God and have Him judge us for what we've personally
done, do we? There's no way we want that. But Christ says to
his father, judge me in my righteousness and my integrity. Now he can
say that because he's perfect. He knew no sin. He did no sin.
He's the perfect man. But he was made sin for his people.
And his sacrifice put all of that sin away. And the only reason
that the father accepted the sacrifice of Christ is his personal
sinlessness. His personal righteousness. And
that makes His sacrifice successful. That makes His sacrifice able
to put sin away. Because He's the sinless sacrifice.
I would gladly die for my wife. Gladly would I do that. But it
wouldn't do her soul any good. Because all I am is sin. But Christ is the sinless sacrifice. His personal righteousness made
Him able to put away the sin of His people. All the sin of
God's elect was laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He was made
sin for us. Now, because of His sacrifice,
all that sin is gone. So He prays to the Father in
union with His people, judge me and judge my people, not in
their righteousness, not in their sin, but in my righteousness
and my integrity. That brings so much peace and
comfort to my heart. to know that if I can be judged
in Christ, if I can be judged in His righteousness and His
integrity and not my own, I will be saved. The Father will accept
me if He sees me in Christ, if He sees me in His righteousness
and His integrity. That's the only way I can find
any rest and peace. And that's what all of His people
have in Him. And since that's true, We can
pray this same prayer. We can have the same cry to our
Father and always be accepted in Christ for Christ's sake.
The believer can truly say, Lord, save me because I trust you. I do trust you. I don't trust
you like I wish I would, but I do trust you. Verse one. Oh,
Lord, my God, indeed do I trust. Save me from all them that persecute
me and deliver me. lest he tear my soul like a lion,
rending it in pieces while there's none to deliver." The believer
can truly pray, Lord, I trust you. I trust your righteousness. I trust your sacrifice. I trust
your grace. I trust your love for your people.
I believe you. I believe you. So I trust your
promise. I trust you'll do what you promised
you'd do. Look over in 1 Peter chapter
2. I told you this before, if you would plead with God, my
dad used to call it arguing with God. If you would argue with
God, if you plead with Him, the best course of action is to always
plead His promise, to plead what He said. That's what Peter says
here in 1 Peter 2, verse 6. Wherefore, also it is contained
in the Scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, a lap precious. He that believeth on him shall
not be confounded. That word confounded is to be
put to shame. To be put to open shame because
our guilt is revealed. The believer's plea is, Lord,
I believe you. Would you save me according to
your promise? You promised anyone who believes on Christ shall
not be guilty, shall not be found guilty. Lord, I believe you. I trust you. Would you keep your
promise to this sinner? Lord, I'm defenseless. You're
the only one to whom I can turn. My sin's against me and it would
destroy me. I've got absolutely no defense
against it. But Lord, You can get rid of
me. You can put my sin under the blood of Christ. And that's
what I trust in. I trust the blood of Christ is
all it takes to take my sin away. That's the only plea a guilty
sinner can have, isn't it? Our only plea is the blood of
Christ. His blood blotteth out our transgression. And that's a good plea, the blood
of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ, because every enemy a believer
ever had was destroyed at Calvary. When the Father poured out His
wrath against our sin upon His Son, our every enemy was destroyed. Sin was destroyed. Satan, his
head was crushed. Death was conquered. Every enemy
is conquered through the death of Christ. God's wrath against
the sin of His people is gone. So we're accepted in the beloved. We're accepted for Christ's sake. We're defended and we're safe
in Him. Now let me say this about this
trust in Christ. Like I said, every believer can
honestly say, I trust Him. I believe in Him. But this trust
in Christ, This is not a decision I made. It's not a decision somebody
talked me into making one day. It's trust that God put in my
heart. That's the only way I can get there. I can't just decide
to believe on Jesus. And believe me, I can tell you
from experience the years and years I tried to do it. You can't. This trust comes from faith that
God puts in the heart. I believe on Christ. I put all
of my trust in Him as a result of seeing his sacrifice for my
sin. That's what our Savior said,
when I'm lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all unto me. This trust is a result of seeing
his sacrifice, of seeing his love, of seeing his grace. Once
I've seen Christ, I know this, I don't have any other hope but
him. There's no place to put my trust
in but him. I don't want it anywhere else but him. So our cry is,
Lord, save me, deliver me, for Christ's sake, because you're
well pleased with Him. And do you know the Father has
never rejected anybody coming to Him with that plea, pleading
to be accepted in Christ alone. Here's something both the sinner
and the Father can agree upon. We both can agree we trust Christ
to save His people from their sin. We can both agree that Christ
is all that will satisfy us. Christ is all that would ever
satisfy the Father. And if the Lord ever shows us
our sin, the only thing that will ever satisfy us is Christ. Only Christ can satisfy both
the Father and the sinner at the same time. So then our prayer
is, Lord, save me in justice. Make it right to save me. Don't
pull some strings, you know, behind the curtain there, you
know. Don't skirt the law. Lord, save
me in justice. Oh Lord my God, if I've done
this, if there be iniquity in my hand, if I've rewarded evil
unto him that was at peace with me, yea, I have delivered him
that without cause is my enemy. See the believer doesn't just
want a fire escape from hell. The believer isn't just hoping
and waiting some day to get a great big mansion in the sky. God saves
sinners and a sinner wants to be saved from his sin. We're not so interested in being
saved from wrath now. The heart's desire of someone
who God has made a sinner. Their desire is to be saved from
sin. A dirty sinner. You know what
he wants? To be cleansed from sin. I don't
want to just cover the filth up. Wash me in the blood of the
Lamb. You just think about if you come
in from working outside all day. Pretty soon it's going to be
spring. Everybody's going to want to be getting outside working
in the yard, sprucing things up, right? After you've been
digging around in the dirt all day, doing the garden or whatever
it is, you're dirty, you're filthy, you stink, you've been sweating
all day. You don't want to come in and just take off your clothes
and put on clean ones and leave all that dirt and filth there.
That just doesn't even feel good. What do you want? I want to shower. This filth needs to be cleansed.
That's what a dirty sinner wants. I need to be cleansed from my
sin. The diseased sinner. What's his
desire? It's to be made whole. He doesn't
much care if you give him the deed to a big house. What is
his need? To be made whole. Wash me in
the blood of the Lamb. Cleanse me from this disease.
I don't just want to go to heaven when I die. Now, I mean, I do
want it, but why do I want to go to heaven? Because Christ
is there. The believer's desire is to be
with Christ. A sinner needs salvation and
wants salvation that's found in the blood of the substitutionary
death of Christ. Our plea is, Lord, take my sin
away. Make me what I'm not. I'm guilty
in myself. Make me innocent in Christ. All
I am is unrighteous. Make me righteous in Christ.
Justify me and cleanse me and sanctify me so that you'll get
honor and glory in saving somebody like me. Lord, save me in justice. That's the only way my soul can
rest. I know that in salvation you've
given me, you've satisfied your justice. That's the only way
salvation serves. Where is His holy justice satisfied? You read this Bible cover to
cover, you only find one place. The Father's justice, God's justice
is only satisfied in the death of Christ. Then if we would be
accepted, that's our plea. Lord, don't look at me, don't
look at anything I've done. Look at me in Christ. Who He
is and what He's done for me. Lord, save me by Your grace.
Deliver me, even though I've made you my enemy. Without a
cause, deliver me in your grace. Do you know the Lord always hears
that prayer? Any sinner come and pleading
grace for Christ's sake is always accepted. And then this is the
believer's prayer. Call me to Christ. Put me in Christ. Verse seven,
so shall the congregation of the people compass thee about.
For their sakes, therefore, return thou on high. Now there are a great many things
that I desire. I want to grow in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be known as
a faithful person. I want to be known as a kind
and a generous person. I really do desire to see the
Lord save many people for His glory. I desire that. But I tell
you what I desire most of all. I long to know Christ. I can say with the Apostle Paul,
oh, that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection.
I don't just want to know about Christ. I want to know Him. I want to know Him. Lord, the
only way I can know Him is if you reveal Him to me. Call me
to Him. camp around him so that I won't
leave him. If you'll put me in him, if you'll
call me to him, everything else is going to be all right. Now,
verse 8, here's where I've been trying to get to the whole time.
Now the believer can pray. The Lord shall judge the people.
Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according
to mine integrity that's in me. Now we know my sin has got to
be punished. We know that. So our plea is,
Lord, judge me and punish my sin in Christ my substitute. Judge me as righteous because
you've made me righteous in Christ. You know, when we talk about
my righteousness as a righteousness that God's going to accept, you
know we're not talking about anything we've ever personally
done. Christ is our righteousness. Jehovah said, Kenu, the Lord
our righteousness. He's our righteousness or we
don't have any. But my obedience before God is the obedience that
Christ had as a man. It's not my obedience, it's His.
Every time Christ did every thou shalt of the law, so did I. When Christ didn't do every thou
shalt not of the law, I didn't either. That's my obedience. My obedience before God is Christ's
obedience. That's why David says in verse
17, I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness and will
sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High because it's His
righteousness. That's the only righteousness
there is to speak of. But now this is true as well. That obedience,
that righteousness of Christ, it really is mine. It belongs to me. Not because
I earned it. Because God gave it to me. He
gave it to me as a free gift. When God gave me the righteousness
of Christ, when He imputed Christ's righteousness to me, it actually
became mine. And that's the only righteousness
I want God to judge me in. If I'm perfect, if I'm perfect
in Christ, then judge me in Him. And I know I'll be accepted.
That was the answer to our prayer. Lord, make it right to save.
Make me what I'm not. The believers made righteous
because Christ was made sin for us. The believers made innocent
because Christ, our substitute, was made guilty for us. Now,
what a salvation. What a salvation. If the Lord
will save us in Christ through His broken body, through His
shed blood that satisfied God's justice, it's only right that
He save us. Isn't it? It's only right. If
He's given us the righteousness of Christ, if Christ has taken
away our sin, it's only right that God save us. That we can
go through the rest of this life with that confidence. He'll never
pass me out because of anything I've done or not done. He'll
always keep me. He'll always accept me for Christ's
sake. For the sake of the sacrifice
of Christ, our substitute. That's what we're going to observe
right now as the men pass out the elements. We take this wine
and this bread. That's what we're saying. Lord,
I trust you. I trust this is all of my hope
of salvation is in what this table pictures. The Christ's
precious body was broken. Because he took my sin. in his
body on the tree. And it was broken for my sin. As he suffered and he bled, he
hung there on the cross and bled out. That precious blood was
shed to pay for my sin. I know it was shed for a multitude
no man can number. But when I take that cup, this
is what I'm saying. Father, I trust you. I trust
you. You said the blood of Christ
is enough. I believe you. That's my hope.
That's good hope, isn't it? All right, Wayne, you may distribute
the bread.