If you would, open your Bibles
again to Psalm 138. I have entitled the message, A
Psalm for the Lowly. If anyone here tonight is lowly,
I've got a psalm for you. David begins in verse 1. He says,
I will praise thee with my whole heart. Before the gods will I
sing praise unto thee. Now, true praise is not just
lip service. It comes from the heart and not
the human heart. True praise can only come from
the new heart that God gives in the new birth. That old heart
will never praise the Lord, but that new heart will. All of that
new heart will praise the Lord. It takes a broken heart to mourn
over sin, to cry to God for mercy. It takes the whole heart to praise
the Lord. And even with our whole heart,
we can't do him justice, can we? But the whole heart will
praise the Lord. And praise is important. Spurgeon
made this statement. He said, if half the time spent
in councils and controversies been given to the praising of
the Lord, the church would have been far sounder and stronger
than she is this day. And I believe he's right. Praise
is important. David said, I will praise the Lord, even in the
presence of idols. And I don't think David means
so much, although I'm sure he would praise the Lord in the
presence of idols that, you know, scattered around wherever. I
think he's talking about how prevalent idolatry is. And that's disappointing. In
our day, idolatry is random. But we won't let disappointment
over how rampant false religion is stop us from praising the
Lord. They do oppose the Lord. The
more they oppose the Lord, the more I'll praise Him. They hate
particular redemption. They hate the sovereign Savior.
They do. The more they hate Him, the more
I'll love Him. They promote, the more they promote
self and they deny being completely dependent upon the Lord, the
more I will enjoy relying on the Savior, and the more I will
enjoy praising Him. In the rest of this psalm, David
gives us seven reasons why the lowly will praise the Lord. And
the first one is this. The lowly will praise the Lord
for His sacrifice for sin. Look at the beginning of verse
two. I will worship toward thy holy temple. Now, our worship
is not just willy-nilly. It's not just repeating a form
of religious ceremony over and over and over again. It's not
just repeating certain words and chants and things over and
over again. Our worship is done in wisdom. Believers know who
they worship and why they worship. We worship in the way that God
has appointed. Now to these Old Testament Jews,
that way that God had appointed was in the tabernacle or the
temple, depending on when you lived. And it was very important
to worship at that temple. Remember the story of Jonah. There he was, swallowed up by
that great fish, because he refused to go to Nineveh and preach the
gospel, because he knew if he did, God would be merciful. And
that great fish came and swallowed him up. And there he sat in the
belly of that great fish. Darkness, couldn't see anything.
Seaweed wrapped around his head. And what did he say? I'm going
to look again toward thy holy temple. Even in the belly of
that fish, he didn't know which way was up. In his heart, he
looked toward that holy temple and worshipped. Well, why was
it important to worship toward the holy temple? Because that's
where God said he was to be worshipped. That was where God said, I'll
meet man there. That's where he's to be worshipped.
And you know the centerpiece of that temple was the altar. And that altar was the place
where the sacrifice was slain. And that sacrifice was offered
to God. The temple is where the sacrifice for sin was made. The
temple is where that high priest took the blood and sprinkled
it on the mercy seat, covering the wall. True worship always
centers around the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
put the sin of his people away by the sacrifice of himself.
He didn't slay an animal. He offered himself a sacrifice
for sin. And it's interesting, when David
wrote this psalm, Temple wasn't built yet. David's king when
he writes this psalm. Solomon built the temple. David
didn't. David is so confident that the Lord will keep his promise. He looked for the finished work
that hadn't even begun yet. It wasn't like they, you know,
broke ground and it was started. No. Nothing has started. And David looked to the finished
work. He's looking not just to a building, but to the Savior
that God promised would come and save His people. And David
at this time was looking forward to the coming of the Savior,
the very same Savior we look back to His coming and we look
forward to His coming again. He's looking to the same Savior.
He's looking to this one that the tabernacle pictured. God
can only be worshipped. He can only be praised through
the Lord Jesus Christ and the lowly give thanks for his sacrifice
for sin. Secondly, the lowly will praise
the Lord for how he saves sinners. Look back here in verse 2. I
will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for
thy loving kindness and for thy truth. Now John covered this
Sunday. How God saves sinners is important
in loving kindness and truth. True salvation must be both.
It can't be one or the other. It must be both. Yet one idolater
says, well, God is love. So that means God loves everyone.
And all they have, all that idolater has is a weak, sentimental idol
who, as far as I can tell, has got Alzheimer's because he's
constantly sending people to hell that he used to love. He
must have forgot that he loved them. The love of that idol means
nothing, does it? No. And the other idolater, his
idol is doctrine. And he says his idol is holy
and just. And his God saves sinners in
a cold, antiseptic way, showing no pity for the sinner. To him,
salvation is just a legal transaction, a cold, legal transaction. And in his preaching, there's
no pity for sinners. That's not salvation. Salvation
must be done in both love and truth. God said in his word,
he has loved his people with an everlasting love. It's a love
without beginning and without ending. That's the only way God
could love a sinner like me. The only way. He loved me when
I didn't even exist. He loved me when I was his enemy. He loved me when I hated him
and I was unlovable. Yet he still loved me, and I'm
so thankful. God is love. That's true. But
this is also true. God's holy. God cannot overlook
sin. He can't overlook sin even in
those that he loves. I can overlook my daughter's
mistakes because I love them. God's love is not like my love,
and aren't we glad? If God just ignores my sin because
he loves me, that salvation is not just. And something that's
not just can be overturned. I read a story today about a
man. He spent 14 years in prison for rape of a little girl. Well, he didn't do it. His sentence
was unjust and it was overturned. If salvation is unjust, it can
be overturned. But if it's just, it'll stand
forever. God saves his people in both
love and truth. But now how is that possible?
Love and truth to a sinner are contradictory terms. How can
those two both be true at the same time? Only in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth, love and truth came by Jesus Christ. God loved
his people so much, he sent the truth into the world. God sent
his Son into the world to put away the sin of his people under
his precious blood. That sacrifice of Christ that
the lowly praise God for, that sacrifice is the ultimate act
of both love and truth. At Calvary, God showed his unspeakable
love for his people that he would sacrifice his Son to save those
people. At the same time, he shows he
hates sin. He did punish his son because
sin was found on him. Both love and truth. God shows
mercy to sinners and still punishes their sin by punishing his son
as their substitute. That's reason for the lowly to
praise. The only way salvation is possible.
Thirdly, the lowly will praise the Lord for his word. Look here
at the end of verse two. For thou hast magnified thy word
above all thy name." Now I looked and looked and looked and looked
and looked at this phrase over the past couple of days. And there's a, well you could
talk for two hours about everything I've read about this, but since
the Lord has magnified his word above all his name, how much
should we magnify his word? How highly should we esteem the
Word of God if God has magnified it above His name? I don't know
if you can exactly set one attribute of God above the others, but
this is what I know. The name of the Lord depends
upon Him keeping His Word. God promised to send a flood.
Did He do it? God promised He would bring Israel
out of Egypt and bring them to the Promised Land. A land filled
with giants and strong armies and fenced cities. Did he do
it? He did. God promised he'd send a Savior.
In the fullness of time, the Savior's going to appear. Earth
waited a long time, but did he do it? He did. God promised he
would bring his righteousness near. Did he do it? Well, he
did. God's promised to save his people
and he will not Lose one. You reckon he'll do it? I think
he will. He's going to have his people.
He promised he'll bring every last one of them to glory and
present them before the Father. Father, here I am the children
that you've given me. He'll do it. The glory of his
name depends upon it. Now, I'm just a man, but my word
means a great deal to me. Because the reputation of my
name means something to me. And if I tell you I'll do something,
I will go to great lengths to do it. Because I don't want to
ruin my name with you. It's very important to me. Well,
how much more to God? Infinitely more important is
His name to Him. And God magnifies His name by
fulfilling His word. Every attribute of God would
fail. If he let one line of this book be untrue, every attribute
of God, his holiness would fail. If God didn't keep his word,
God lied and his holiness would fail. If God didn't keep his
word, his mercy and his grace and his love would fail because
he let one go that he purchased with the blood of his son. God has more respect to the word
of his mouth that he does the work of his hands. Think about
that. God will make new heavens and
new earths someday. He'll never make another truth.
There's just one. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my word shall not pass away. Well, how did the Father fulfill
his word? Through the Lord Jesus Christ,
the incarnate word. Christ fulfilled all of God's
truth. Therefore, the Father has given
him a name. which is above every name. He's
magnified the Incarnate Word above everything. The Word that
you hold in your lap is the Word of God. The Word that you hold
in your lap is the only way God ever reveals His Son to men. See what you're holding in your
lap. Everything that a lowly sinner needs to know about God
is right here. Everything. Not everything there
is to know about God, but everything a lowly sinner needs to know
about God is revealed on these pages. Everything, everything
that God has for a sinner in salvation found in his son is
revealed in these pages and nowhere else. I can praise God for both
his written word and especially the incarnate word because they're
one and God's magnified them above his name. The lowly will praise the Lord
because he's heard my cry for mercy. Look at verse 3. In the
day when I cried, thou answerest me and strengthenest me with
strength in my soul. Now, you all know me. You've heard me preach a time
or two, and you know that I tell you over and over and over again,
go to Christ. Look to Christ. Flee to him.
Call on him for mercy. God heard me. He heard my cry
for mercy. That's proof positive. God hears
sinners. That's proof positive. God hears
sinners and saves them. Could be he'd save you, too,
if he'd call on you. Could be. Because I know this.
The Lord says in his word, he answers prayers. And you know,
our prayers don't need to be well spoken. They don't need
to be eloquent. When my girls were just little,
you know, two, and they couldn't speak very well, they didn't
need to be eloquent to get my attention. They got my attention
real well. Our prayers don't even have to
be words. Not only do they not have to be eloquent, they don't
even have to be words. They can just be a groan. They
can be a cry. God hears the cries of his people. Now parents, when I was a boy,
I heard parents say this, and I thought, what on earth are
they talking about? But when I became a parent, I knew what
they were talking about. You hear the cries of your children,
and you know, I know that's a hurt cry, or that's a fake cry, or
that's a sad cry. You know it when you hear it.
God hears the cries of His people, and He answers with strength
in the soul, in the soul. We cry to the Lord for salvation. And God gives new life in the
soul. We cry to Him to be fed and be
taught. He strengthens the inner man
through the preaching of His Word in the soul. We cry to the
Lord in trial and trouble. Now, the Lord may not lighten
the load, but He gives strength in the soul to bear the load. He gives strength to bear it.
The lonely can cry unto the Lord and be heard. And look here at
verse 4. All the kings of the earth shall
praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth.
Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the
glory of the Lord." Now every son of Adam should
call on the Lord for mercy. Every one of us are sinners.
We all need mercy, and God is the only one who is able to save.
So every one of us should call on the Lord for mercy. And most
of the writers agree that this verse four and five here of David
is not so much a prophecy as it is a prayer of the king. His
prayer is that the Lord would save all the kings of the earth,
that he'd have mercy on them. And that's a good prayer, very
good prayer. The world would be better off
if God did. Egypt was a whole lot better off under the rule
of Joseph, weren't they? Babylon was a whole lot better
off under the rule of Daniel when Daniel was, you know, the
head man. They're a whole lot better off.
But it seems unlikely that this prayer will be answered, that
all the kings of the earth would praise the Lord. You see, you're
calling, brethren, how not many mighty, not many noble are called.
But just because not many are called does not mean God's not
able. He's able, and we should pray
for our leaders. God's able to save kings and
rulers, so we should pray for them. And if the Lord ever reveals
Himself to you, you'll praise Him, no matter if you're a king
or a pauper. That king is going to see himself
as one of these lowly poor God's saviors. I can tell you that.
No matter who you are, you'll praise the Lord. And if the king
or a pauper comes to know Christ, you know how that'll happen?
Because it says right here, they heard the words of thy mouth. They heard the word of God. So the lowly cry to the Lord,
praise him because they heard his cry, whether they're a king
or a pauper. Fifth, the lowly will praise the Lord because
he respects the lowly. Verse six, this is the verse
that draw me to this psalm in the first place. Though the Lord
be high, Yet hath he respect unto the lowly, but the proud
he knoweth afar off. A number of years ago, I went
on a business trip. It was a four or five day affair
in Chicago. Janet went with me. And we went
to dinner one night with two millionaires. And I thought,
well, this is going to be interesting. They're going to be competing
against each other about who's got the most. And it was kind
of interesting. And I noticed as we sat at dinner,
One of them could not even bring himself to look at that waitress. She brought him the menu and
he just reached back, he wouldn't even look at her. She brought
him his food, he just barely, you know, even acknowledged her
presence. She filled up his glass, you know, he never said a word.
Just, she's too far beneath him to give any consideration to
her. The other man, she came to take his order. And she asked
for his order. And first thing he said, before
he gave her his order, he said, how are you today? Are you having
a good day? And she was kind of surprised. She said, well, I am. And he
said, well, good. Every time she'd come to fill
his glass or bring him his food, he'd say, thank you. I appreciate
that. To this day, I have respect for one of those men and absolutely
none, no respect whatsoever for that other man. Because I feel this way that
true greatness is displayed in how you treat someone who can't
do anything for you. Well, how high is the Lord? He's
the high and lofty one. No man can approach unto him
he dwells so high. He's high in holiness, a standard
that no man can begin to match. He's high in his love. It's everlasting. He's high in mercy. He's rich
in mercy. God's ways are so high. They're
past finding out. Look over in Isaiah 55. Verse 8. For my thoughts are
not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts higher than your thoughts." His ways are past finding out.
They're so much higher than us. The Lord is so high. David said
in Psalm 113, he's got to humble himself to behold the things
that are in heaven. All that in glory that we read
about. God's got to humble himself to behold that. That's how high
he is. Well, how low are we? Sinners. The best of our creatures are
the dust. I mean, that's all we are is just dust stacked up
together. We're completely empty. Void of anything good. All we
can do is sin. We're covered in filthy rags
of our own righteousness. We're described as having no
soundness, there's nothing in us but wounds and bruises and
putrefying sores. Words cannot express the gap
that exists between God and sinful men. Can't be expressed. Well, if true greatness is displayed
in how you treat someone who can't do anything for you, how
great must God Almighty be to show respect to the lowly? And
how does God show that respect? He sent His Son to die for the
sins of those rebellious dead sinners so He could give those
lowly sinners eternal life. So He could wash those sinners
from their filthiness in the blood of His Son and make those
sinners to be just like His Son. To cleanse them from all iniquity. To raise them from the dunghill
and set them among princes. But here's the funny thing about
respect. Respect is earned, isn't it? It's not just given. Respect
is earned. I remember when Tara and Abby
started bringing two young men to services with them. And I
thought, huh, new boyfriends. Here they are. And they seemed
like nice enough fellows to me. But over the years, I got to
know those two men. And they earned my respect. Highly
respected. because of the way they conduct
themselves. How can God show any respect
to a creature, to a sinful man? We'll look over in Genesis 4,
I'll show you. This is the first time The word
respect is used in scripture. Verse 3. And in the process of
time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground
an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of
the firstlings of his flock, and of the fact thereof. And
the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. It doesn't
say the Lord had respect unto his offering. He had respect
unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering,
he had not respect. How can God respect a sinner? It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul Mahan said the answer to every question is Christ. That's
how God can respect a sinner because Christ earned that respect
for us as our representative. God can respect a sinner through
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. God looks at that sacrifice
and says it's enough. He has respect for everyone who's
in Christ. Now how does the Father respect
the Son? Completely. He spoke from heaven. This is
my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He has all respect for
the Son. He brought Him back to His right
hand, seated on high. And the Father respects every
lowly sinner who is in Christ the exact same way. He has respect
to the lowly. And the Lord Jesus gave us an
example of His respect to the lowly. One day, he's passing
through Jericho, and there's that blind Bartimaeus. Filthy,
stinking, just dressed in rags. He's a beggar, and he's crying
out for begging for mercy. And everybody around is trying
to hush him up. Just, you know, we'll give you
a quarter later, trying to, you know, hide him. This is an embarrassment
to our town, somebody like this, you know what I'm saying? And
they're trying to hide him and shush him. And blind Bartimaeus is
crying for mercy. And the Lord of Glory had respect
to the cry of that filthy beggar, and he stopped the Lord of Glory
in his tracks. He has respect to the lowly. The lowly esteem themselves to
be nothing, but the Lord holds them in high esteem. He views
them with pleasure. He listens to them carefully,
but the proud he holds afar off. Nebuchadnezzar learned that lesson,
didn't he? He came out one day and said, look at this beautiful
city that I built. So full of pride, later that afternoon,
he was eating grass like a cow. And he learned, the Lord is able
to abase them and full of pride. The Lord holds those proud afar
off. But the lowly, he holds up in
his bosom. I can praise the Lord for that.
Sixth, the lowly will praise the Lord because His grace is
sufficient. But back in our text, Psalm 138,
verse 7, Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive
me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine
hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall
save me. Trusting Christ will not make
you immune from trouble and trial in this world. As a matter of
fact, it will invite trial and trouble in this world. But God's
grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient to save,
and His grace is sufficient in times of trouble and trial. David
says, I walk in the midst of trouble. I won't sit there and
stay there forever. I walk. I keep moving. I walk. I don't run in fear. I walk. I keep moving. John Gill says,
it's a long walk, yet it will have an end. And you reach the
end, by the grace of God, because his grace is sufficient. You
will reach the end, because what our Lord said, when you pass
through the waters, I'll be there, I'll be with you. And that same
right hand of the Lord, that right hand of the Lord is the
Lord Jesus Christ. That same right hand that saves
the lowly, destroys his enemies. It was not an angel of death
that passed through Egypt that night of the Passover. It was
Christ himself, passing through, saving the firstborn. in every
home where the blood of the sacrifice was on those doorposts. And it
was Christ himself executing judgment in every home that was
not under the blood. It was Christ himself. His grace
is sufficient. And last, the lowly will praise
the Lord because salvation in Christ is secure. But in verse
8, the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy,
O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the work of thine
own hands." Now, what I'm about to say, I'm saying to those who
know the Lord. God saved you. He's made you
a new creature in Christ Jesus. He's made you holy, spotless,
pure. He's made you exactly like the
Lord Jesus Christ. As He is, so are we in this world. Not someday, right now. So are
we in this world. God made you perfect in Christ. But none of us have experienced
perfection yet, have we? But we will. Not in this world,
but we will. Paul had the exact same confidence.
Look over in Philippians chapter 1. He had the exact same confidence
as David. Everything that concerns me,
that concerns my spiritual state, that concerns my salvation before
God, all of that He will perfect. Paul said in Philippians 1 verse
6, being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. God's given you a new nature,
and one day he's going to perform it. He'll give you a new body
to match that new nature, and you'll experience perfection.
And David's confident of this. He's not talking in maybes. He's
talking in certain terms. Well, why is David so confident
that the Lord will perfect everything that concerns me? Because thy
mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. His mercy will never fail. And
that's why we know he will perfect that which concerns me. And David's
so confident. I mean, do you see just the boldness
and confidence of David here? But yet, he's lowly. He's not full of pride. He's
not lifted up with arrogancy. Confidence in God doesn't make
a believer full of pride. It makes them lowly and makes
them pray to the Lord. Lord, do what you promised and
keep me. Do what you promised and perfect
that which concerns me. Lord, forsake not the works of
thine own hands. Lord, I'm the work of your hands.
See those nail prints in the palm of your hands and remember
your work for me. Don't let me go. Lord, see your
work for me. Don't see my work for you. See
your work in me. None of my works. If the Lord
will look on us, lowly sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe
we can praise him, don't you? I believe we can. Well, Mike
has picked out an excellent song for us to close with, How Great
Thou Art.