title of this message, God of
My Righteousness. God of My Righteousness. If I
have true righteousness, God gave
it to me. It's His, and He gave it to me. That's where I got it. Now this
is a psalm of David and he starts out and he says, hear me, hear me when I call. Be heard of God. Can't put a price on that, can
you? Can I put a worth on that? After I read his word, I prayed. And I prayed that he heard me. Heard Cecil when he prayed in
the study. You know, prayer is a serious,
serious business. And to be heard of God, hear
me when I call, to be able to come to the throne of grace and cast all my cares upon Him,
knowing that He cares for me, to have His undivided attention,
to have the undivided attention of the Creator, my Creator, my
God. the God of my salvation, to be
heard, to be heard. God has told us to call upon
Him, and He has told us that in calling
upon Him He would not be in vain. Look over in Isaiah 45. Look in verse 19. I have not spoken in secret in
a dark place of the earth. I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. He tells us to call upon him,
to cast our cares upon him. For He cares for us. And He will
answer our prayers according to His will. You see, this is
what we have to come to. Thy will be done. But He's going
to answer the prayers of His children. He's going to do it. And the reason is this. The reason
I can come to Him and ask Him to hear me. It can't be read
like this. Answer me. Answer me when I call."
You say, that sounds bold. Does not the word of God say,
come boldly to the throne of grace? True faith comes boldly, believing,
expecting God to do just as He said He'd do. Boldly is not arrogance. It's believing God. It's taking
God at His word. That's what it's doing. But here's
the reason I can come boldly to the throne of grace and ask
Almighty God to hear me, to answer me, is this, O God of my righteousness, I'm coming before God as a righteous
son. You've heard this many, many
times over the years. We are as righteous as God's
own Son, Jesus Christ. In him we are as righteous as
he is. And our righteousness is of God. It's of God. He says here, O God of my righteousness,
God who is righteous is the God of my righteousness. If I have
any righteousness that God accepts, it came from
him. It came from Him. I can stand
in His presence. He can answer my prayers because
in His Son, I am righteous. You are righteous. You believe
the gospel? You believe God? You're righteous. And that's not just how He sees
us. That's the way we are in Christ. We're righteous. The righteousness
that I have comes from Him. He's the author of it. He's the
giver of it. Therefore, I don't need to be
afraid. I don't need to be afraid to call upon Him, to come to
Him. Oh God, hear me. I tell you what, if we dare to
pray and to pray in the name of His Son, I want to be heard. Do you want to be heard? If not,
what are you doing praying? If you're going to come before
the throne of grace, if you're going to come using the name
of Christ, you want to be heard. Hear me, hear me. And it's not presumption for
a child to call upon his father and expect to be heard. It's
not presumption. Thou hast enlarged me when I
was in distress. God can make all our trials abound
to our good. While I was looking over this
sitting up here, I thought of this. Spiritual enlargement comes
from distress, trials, heartaches, heartaches. Spiritual enlargement
comes from that. When the church and the disciples
went out Our Lord rose from the grave back to the Father. It
was through affliction that the church was scattered. And in
the book of Acts, it says, as they went out, they preached.
They preached through that distress and the trials that they were
under, which we've never suffered as a church like they did. But
through that distress and that trial, They went out, and they
went out preaching the gospel, and the church was enlarged. Oh, you know, when Satan and
men think that they have gotten the upper hand on the church
through trials and pressure, all it's doing is enlarging it. It may not enlarge by numbers,
but I know this. Spiritually, you'll be enlarged.
You'll know more of God. I'll tell you this, there'll
be a time as you get older, you younger people, there'll be a
time as you get older when this verse, hear me when I call, means
something. It didn't mean as much to me
30 years ago or 15 years ago. Not like it does now. I can read
that and I think, I know what he's talking about. Lord, hear
me when I call. I mean, this gives me encouragement When I
call upon God, Lord, hear me. Like you did David and other
saints of old. Hear me when I call. And David
here also looks back upon the past mercies of God, and he finds
comfort and encouragement that God will deliver him once again. And that's something else. That's
something else as you get older. And you older ones in the Lord,
you know this. I can say this from experience.
The trials that I face now, I look back at the ones that He's brought
me through. And He did not leave me. He did not desert me. He brought us through them. And I look back and I serve the
same God. God hasn't changed. God's the same. He changes not.
As He has been, so will He be. So whatever I face now, He's
going to bring me through it. He's going to bring you through it. David said, Thou hast enlarged
me when I was in distress. He's looking back. He's looking
back on his past trials, and he sees that God's brought him
through it. Can we not say, Here I raise
my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I come." Can we not say that? Many times. Not just one time,
but many times. God is faithful to his word.
He said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. He's faithful
to his people. He said, call upon me. This is
one of my favorite scriptures. This is one of those scriptures
that I hold on to when the fire gets turned up, when troubles
come. God, you see it. You can say
that without arrogance. You can take God's Word to Him.
Just like Cole was... If I say anything to Cole, he
doesn't forget it. Paul, you see it. So you don't
promise that boy anything. You see it. Call upon me in the day of trouble,
and I will deliver you, and thou shalt glorify me." Lord, you
said, do that. You said, call upon me in the
day of trouble, and you'd deliver. You'd deliver. We have God to
look to. We have His Word to look to.
We have past experience to look to. Is that not enough? Is that not enough? And so he says here, have mercy
upon me. That's also read, be gracious,
be gracious unto me. Lord, be gracious unto me. Let
me find mercy. If there's anything that I find myself praying now
more than ever in my life, it's Lord, just be merciful to me.
Be merciful to my family. Be merciful. Lord, show mercy. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. Hear the groaning of my heart.
Lord, hear it. What a mercy for God to hear
our prayer. Mercy is one of our greatest
needs. So ask for it. Ask for it. He says, O ye sons of men, how
long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you lie
on God? When our Lord walked on this
earth, they constantly, constantly was trying to turn His glory,
who He is, into shame. You're a winebibber. You're a
gluttonous man. We know you're the carpenter's
son. We know you're family. No, you don't. That's God's Son. That's God's Son. How long will you turn my glory
into shame? How long will you lie on God
and His Christ? How long will you preach another
gospel, as we've been looking at in Galatians? How long will
you lie on God? How long will you stand in a
pulpit and lie on God? How long will you take the glory
of God, which is the gospel, and twist it and turn it into
another gospel, which Paul said is not another? Telling men and
women that God loves everyone the same. Now, if you want to
get on somebody's bad side, tell them the truth here. Tell them
the truth. I'm talking about the natural
man, not those whom God saves. Look over in chapter 5, "...the foolish shall not stand
in thy sight, thou hatest all workers of iniquity." It does
not read, thou hatest iniquity, or all iniquity. It reads, thou
hatest all the workers of iniquity. Don't cheapen the love of God
by just spreading it out there and saying, well, he loves everybody
the same. No, he does not. You know, the
scripture plainly says that God hated Esau, loved Jacob. And I'm just going to leave it
right there. I'm going to leave it right there. This is way over
my head. It's over our heads, will you? How long, how long? How long
will you tell men and women that Jesus Christ died to save every
son of Adam? He said, how long? How long? You love vanity, nothing, unleashing,
that's lying. How long are you going to do
that? The Lord Jesus Christ died to save everyone whom the Father
gave to Him. And that is a multitude of sinners
that no man can number. And every one of them hated Christ
before he saved them. He had to give me a heart and
you a heart to love Him. He had to give us a new nature,
a nature to love Him, a nature to desire Him, a nature to...
He had to give us a taste for the gospel. Growing up, they said I had rheumatic fever
when I was five, six years old. And one of the remedies the doctor
told my mother to use was I had to eat liver, beef liver. I cannot walk in a room without
cooking. I had no taste for it. It made
me sick. I can remember her forcing it
down me, making me eat that stuff, and I mean, oh. And I'd have to eat it again. Because that iron, you know,
that kind of junk in it. I wish it was junk. It was junk
to me at that time. But I had no taste for it. I
have no taste for it to this day. I hate it. I hate it. And
there was a time I had no taste for Christ. I had no taste for the gospel.
I had no taste for God. I know what, I can look back,
I remember what I wanted to do. I know what I had a taste for. Until one day, by His grace,
He called me and gave me a taste for the gospel, for Christ. How long will you love vanity
and leasing? How long will you love these
things? I'll tell you how long a man
will love vanity and he'll seek after leasing or lying. I just
want somebody to tell you what you want to hear. Until God saves
him or he dies. He perishes. If the Lord doesn't do something
for me, He doesn't do something in me, I will always love that
which is nothing, perishing, and lying. Like, tell me, just
pat me on the back and tell me I'm a good old boy. Tell me what
a good fellow I am. That's a lie. We may be good compared to one
another, I know that. But God doesn't go by the same
standards you and I go by. He goes by an impeccable standard.
Absolute righteousness. Hear me when I call, O God of
my righteousness. But know this, know this, that
the Lord has set apart Him that is godly for himself. Know this,
the godly man is God's chosen man. He's a work of God. God called Abraham by his grace, but where did he call
him from? Idolatry. He was just like the
rest of his family and neighbors, in idolatry. Down there in the
land of the Chaldeans, that's where he was. He was an idolatrous
man, and God called him out. God called him out and enabled him to believe the
gospel. Abraham, it says, believed God.
He didn't believe in a God. He believed God. There's a difference. God has chosen from Adam's race
an innumerable company of people, and he's called them to himself. The godly man is God's man. He's
a worker of God. We are not and were not made
for ourselves. We were not made for ourselves.
We've been made a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ. We've
been bought with the price. We are not our own. We are His. Locked, stocked, and barreled.
And I'm glad so. I don't want to belong to myself.
That's one person I don't want to belong to is me. I want to
belong to Him. I want Him to direct my steps.
I want Him to direct my path. I want Him to guide me, give
me wisdom. I want Him to do that. We are
for His glory. We got the apple of his eye.
And the Lord, now notice the confidence of faith here. He
said, you know, it started out in verse one, hear me when I
call, O God. But here in verse three, he said,
Lord, the Lord, he said, the Lord will hear when I call unto
him. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that when you call upon God that he hears you? The Lord Jesus Christ. See, this
all applies to Christ also. First to Him, then to us. He
said, I know you always hear me. He says here, the Lord will
hear when I call unto Him. He's the God of my righteousness.
He's the one who's made me righteous. He's the one who chose me. And
when I call on Him, He will hear me. He will hear me. Here is our confidence. If I'm
His, if my righteousness is from Him, then He will hear me when
I call. The fervent prayer of a righteous man, a man in
Christ, availeth much. Elijah was a man of like passions,
like we are, afflictions. He suffered the same afflictions.
And it says that he prayed that it would not rain. And for three
years, it did not rain. A man just like us, a sinful
man, a man born in sin just like you and I, but a man chosen of
God. God's man prayed and it did not
rain for three years. And you know what happened before
it rained again? He prayed and then it rained after three years. If we could just learn something
about calling upon God and believing, trusting Him to answer, expecting
Him to answer. After He says that, the Lord
will hear when I call unto Him, standing all, that can be read
tremble, tremble, standing all and sin not, Stand
in awe at the very being of God. Stand in awe at the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, God in human flesh. Stand in awe of
what God has done for you in Christ. Stand in awe that God has put
away all your sins. He's given you righteousness,
forgiveness, a place in His kingdom, heir of all things. Stand in
awe of that. It also means tremble. Tremble. Have a right respect
and fear of God. What we are about to receive
cannot be described, but we can stand in awe of it. And sin not. Sin is never approved of God. Ever. When that adulterous woman
was brought and thrown down at the feet of our Lord, he wrote on the ground and then
they all, he said, you who are without sin cast the first stone.
They all left one by one. He said, does any man condemn
you? She said, no. He said, neither do I. Go and
sin no more. And you know what? He meant that. He meant for her not just to
go and don't do adultery again. He literally meant and means
go and sin no more. But John says, if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father. Our desire, the desire,
I believe, of every child of God is not to sin again. And we do. We make forgiveness. We pray in the name of Christ
for mercy, for cleansing, and hope and try not to do it again. And we do it again. But then
our resolve is not to do it again. That's our life. Go and sin no more. He never
approves of sin. And commune with your own heart
upon your bed and be still. Rest. Man, it's hard for us to
rest. It is so hard for us to rest. Be still. We learn most when
we shut up. But we close our mouths and open
our ears. I don't learn anything when my
mouth is running. I'm just telling you what I know.
Or you figure out what I don't know. You realize I don't know
much at all. But be still. Be still. It says in Psalm 46, be still
and know That I'm God. Be still from fretting, from
much care, and trust me, trust me. The same God who has brought
you thus far will lead you home and offer the sacrifice of righteousness. Seek after and do those things
that are right. That's what he's saying. Do those
things that are right and well-pleasing in his sight. Which is exactly
what we are doing tonight. Worship. Worshipping God. Singing His praises. Love one
another. Do good. If you have the opportunity,
do good to all men. If you have the opportunity.
And give, looking for nothing in return. That's what our Lord
teaches. And just put your trust in Him. Put your trust in Him. He will provide. I remember Henry
saying this one time, he said, if it's on your heart,
if you think it's on your heart to give something, give it. Don't
start, don't start trying to calculate and what can I do this,
can I afford, you know. He said, if it's on your heart
to do it, do it. Do it. Paul Mahan called me yesterday. He said, I'm just thinking about
you. I just want you to know it. He called me and said he
was thinking about me and talked to me a little while. He said,
I've learned that if you're thinking about somebody, call and let
them know it. Call and let them know it. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness.
Do that which is right. Worship God, love one another,
do good to all men, give, looking for nothing in return, and put
your trust in the Lord. The more we come to know Him,
the more we trust Him. The more we trust Him, the less
we'll toss and turn on our bed at night. Now there'll be many that say,
who will show us any good? I know that. There'll be many
who will say, who's going to prosper us? You know what this
world is all about? This world is all about what
can I get? What can I get? Who will increase our corn and
our wine? If they knew God, they wouldn't
have to ask that, would they? We know who will do us good. The interest of this world is
in temporal things. It's in temporal good, it's in
temporal blessings. But the interest of the believer
is in Christ and God who is good. Here's what the believer wants.
Here's what I want from this congregation. I pray this, the Lord do this. Verse 6, Lord, lift thou up the
light of thy countenance upon us. Let us, let this congregation
have thy favor. Oh, to be favored of God. This
is the real good. This is it. Let them have the
worldly goods. Let us have Christ, who is the
heavenly good. I always put gladness in my heart.
If you have real gladness, if you have real gladness, lasting
gladness, that will go through the trials and the heartaches,
and if you have it, God put it there. God put it there. There's a gladness there that
you can't explain. There's a joy there you cannot explain. You cannot put it into words,
but it's there. It's there. When God saved us by his grace,
at the same time he put gladness in our hearts. I've never heard
a sinner get mad because God saved him. Have you ever heard that? No,
I've never heard one of them. Never heard a sinner get mad
because God was gracious to him. Plucked him like a brand out
of the fire. This salvation that we have in
Christ, through the grace of God, produces gladness in the
heart. And it far exceeds, he says here,
their corn and their wine. There's no comparison to it,
no comparison. If you want real gladness and
real joy, you can only find it in Him. You can only find it in Christ. The older ones here, I think,
know something about that. They know something about the
emptiness, the emptiness of this world. This world, I was lying
in bed last night and I was thinking about this world and I thought
how hollow, how shallow it is. It's so transitory. It's so fleeting. It gets so old and decays. It's like that song you sing,
might give me Christ or else I die. That's the only thing
worth having. It's the only one worth having.
I mean, really, if you have Him, you have it all. You have it
all. Now, verse 8, I'll close. After this prayer, He says, God,
He says, Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. Thou
hast enlarged me when I was in distress. Have mercy upon me.
and hear my prayer." After he goes down through this prayer,
this psalm, he says in verse 8, I will both
lay me down in peace and sleep. Peace comes before
sleep. Peace comes before a good night's
rest. For thou, Lord, only makest me
to dwell in safety." When a man finds in Christ, when a sinner
finds in Christ all that he or she needs, and they know it,
they know it, they know they have God's favor, they know that
they're chosen of God, they can lay down when God is your watchman. When
he's the watchman on the wall and he's the wall, you can lay
down in peace and sleep. Does the news bother you? I can tell you the truth. I don't
lose a minute's sleep over the news. I don't watch it hardly
at all. I try to catch just the weather.
Rarely do I watch the news. I don't want to hear it. I don't
need to know all the junk that's going on. I know what's going
on. I know what's going on. I'm telling you this. You have Christ. You have God. You know God in Christ. You can lay down in peace and
sleep in a storm. God who made us, Christ who died
for us, and the Spirit who indwells us will keep us from the evil
one, but lay down in peace and sleep. He's the only one who can make
us to listen, to dwell safely. How many men were around Reagan
when he got shot? All those servicemen, all those
secret servicemen, they were all around him that shot President
Kennedy. You can go on and it didn't. How many people were surrounded
by that guy trying to save him? How many? God is our watchman. He said,
Thou only, King David, Absalom is after him. This, really this,
not just because this is the next chapter, next psalm that
follows verse, chapter, or psalm three, but this really is a continuation
of this psalm, of psalm three. Solomon's Absalom is after him. And all those men who have gathered
up at Absalom, and David goes across to Kidron, and he has
a little old band with him. I mean, just a little old band
with him. And he lays down. He says, now I'm going to lay
down tonight in peace. And I will sleep. Because thou
only causes me to dwell in safety. Thou only. God is my safety. And someday, someday, not far
from now, I'm gonna die. I'm gonna lay
down. I'm gonna lay down. And I'm gonna
sleep. I'm gonna lay down in peace. I'm going to sleep, and the Lord's
going to keep me safe. He's going to take me home. I have nothing to fear. I have
nothing to fear. I don't have the law to fear,
Satan to fear, men to fear, or the grave to fear. Because in
Christ, our lives are hid with Christ in God. And it's safe. It's safe. Oh God of my righteousness. I'm here. I'm righteous and I'm
safe.