Morning, everybody. If you'd like to turn over to Psalm 61. Psalm 61. We won't touch on every verse this morning, but I do want to read the whole thing. So Psalm 61 and pick up in verse one there. It's the Psalm of David.

In verse one, he says, hear my cry, O God. Attend unto my prayer. This isn't just a psalm, this is a prayer. What I think is interesting about this is that before he prays, before he goes on with his poem, this song, and his prayer, he prefaces it. This is urgent. He's not insincere at this time. He's not going through the motions. He's not making his daily devotionals. We do that a lot. We pray, well, it's what I'm supposed to do. That's part of the believer's life. That's not what's going on right now. He's in trouble. He's in great distress, and he prefaces it. He said, Lord, hear me. I need you to hear me right now. I need your help right now. There's an urgency and an exigency to what he's about to say.

Verse two, from the end of the earth will I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me. to the rock, that rock is Christ, that is higher than I. For thou has been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy. Now, we'll stop there for just a second. I love simple illustrations of the cross, and only God the Holy Spirit can do this, to take something so wonderful, so beautiful, the very divine wisdom of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ and distill it down, it's just like this. Every member of the elect, we were put in Christ from the foundations of the world and he went to that cross and the arrows of God's wrath rained down on him, our strong tower. The tower took the brunt and after the wrath came down, the tower still stood and everybody in the tower, safe. Not a scratch on us. That's the whole gospel, one little verse, just like that. Come on, verse five. I'm sorry, verse four.

It says, I will abide in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of thy wings. For thou, O God, has heard my vows. Thou has given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. Thou will prolong the king's life and his years as many generations. He shall abide before God forever. Oh, prepare mercy and truth which may preserve him. So will I sing praise unto thy name forever that I may daily perform my vows.

I don't know exactly what was going on in David's life when he wrote this. I read some commentary on it. Most of the old writers think it's when he was fleeing from Absalom. You remember that story, his son, Absalom tried to usurp David's throne. And David was incredibly sorrowful over this. He was lonely. And the sorrow wasn't so much that Absalom tried to take his throne or even try to kill him. It was the fact that he was betrayed by somebody he loved. And that would have been very, very hard. We don't know. We don't know what is going on in David's life as of right now when he pens this Psalm. But we do know this. We know the state of David's heart when he pens it. And he says it right there in verse two. He says, my heart is overwhelmed. That means enveloped, covered up, frail, feeble. It doesn't work. My heart is encompassed. It's overwhelmed. So overwhelmed in grief, yes. In sin, yes. And really there's two applications to it. In grief, yes. Every believer knows something about this. This life is full of trial and tribulation. We're promised that in the scriptures. And oftentimes, grief is overwhelming. You've got a God-given problem. This is what a real trial is like. I've got a God-given problem, and I can't get myself out of it. I can't change my circumstances. I can't help myself. I can't even change my attitude toward what is going on. I sit here. I'm completely defenseless. My heart is overwhelmed.

And when we're in that place, what does it sound like? It sounds like verse one right there. Hear my cry, oh God, attend unto my prayer. You're not going through the motions anymore, are you? Not any longer just praying out of a sense of duty, out of a sense of responsibility. I've got a problem. I've got an issue. Lord, if you don't come down here to me and do something for me and intervene for me, it's over for me. I'm gone.

And I think of Peter is in Matthew chapter 14. Remember the disciples are out in the ship. They're in the middle of the sea and the waves are kicking up this big storm and the Lord walks on the water out to the disciples, scares them to death. And Peter says, Lord, if it's you bid me that I come to you on the water. He says, come on, come on. And Peter stepped out on that water and he walked on the water just fine. When he was doing what? When he kept his eyes on Christ, walked just fine. Then he saw the winds boisterous. He saw the waves. He looked away. He looked somewhere other than Christ alone. And what happened? He started to sink. He prayed the shortest prayer that anyone's ever prayed. Lord, save me. He wasn't out of sense of duty or responsibility. He wasn't making his daily devotionals. Lord, save me. I'm going under. I'm going to die. There's only one person who can help me, you, the Lord. What an accurate and right name he gave him. Lord, you're the only one who can do anything for me right now. Lord, save me.

You know what he did? As he's always faithful to his people, every single time, he reached out and he grabbed him, and he saved him. He said, why'd you doubt, ye of little faith? I do this every single time. I'm thankful for David's Psalms. It's for this reason there are things that I think And there are imaginations that cross my mind and my heart that I would otherwise think are wrong. I would not advertise them to anyone else until I hear David, writing under divine inspiration, say the exact same thing that is going through my heart. And I keep a bookmark here in Psalm 61. Turn over to Psalm 102 for a second. Psalm 102 is very similar to Psalm 61. And this is how he begins in Psalm 102 in verse one. He starts the same way as Psalm 61. He says, hear my prayer. Oh Lord, let my cry come unto thee. Once again, he's in distress. He needs help not going through the motions, but look what he says. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble. Don't be silent unto me. You know, I can't stand that either. I can't stand having the Lord's silence. I can't stand not being able to detect His presence and His face toward me. And I wouldn't verbalize that to anyone else, but there David says it, right there. He says, don't hide your face to me. It's brutal. It's terroristic. I can't handle that. Don't hide your face from me.

Go on reading. He says, incline thine ear unto me in the day when I call, Answer me, when? Speedily. Do this right now. How many times have I thought that? Lord, I need help right now. I need you to make haste and do it right now. And think, who am I to tell God when he should do something, what he should do? Well, I shouldn't, but you know what? David, right here in the same place says, answer me speedily. I need help right now. He's praying, Lord, make haste and help me right now. I can't handle your silence. I can't handle not being able to detect your presence and your favor toward me in Christ. I can't handle that. Don't hide your face from me. Come down, do something for me, and answer me speedily. If the answer is yes, if you come down and you deliver me, thanks be to God. And if the answer is no, but I can still detect your presence, and I know you're for me, and I have your face shining on me, thanks be to God. But what I can't handle is your silence.

" And there's a good illustration of that in 2 Samuel 12. You remember that story. David committed that terrible sin with Bathsheba and Uriah. He had Bathsheba's husband killed, Uriah. He had a child with Bathsheba. And Nathan, the prophet, goes to him. He says, you're the man. And that child you had with Bathsheba, he's going to die. You had brought great occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme his name through all this. That child's going to pass. You know what David did? He went out and he laid himself flat down on the ground. And when you read it, it appears to be for seven days. Doesn't eat a thing. Doesn't drink. Lays flat on the ground for seven solid days. He makes supplication for the child and he weeps and he mourns. And it's so bad that his servants, they're talking amongst themselves. They said, the child's still alive at this time and he's this bad off. He's this downtrodden. He's weeping. He's mourning so poorly right now. If the child dies, he's going to kill himself. We're sure of it. And on that seventh day, the child dies and David perceives it. You know what he does? He gets up, he washes, he changes his clothes. He goes and he worships God and he eats.

A servant said, I don't understand this. When the child was alive, you wept and you mourn and you made supplication for the child. You were in such distress, but now that the child has died, now you're okay. Now you're fine with everything. And this was David's response. Second Samuel 12, 22. And he said, while the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept for I said, who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live. But now he's dead. Wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

" What's he saying there? He's saying, I asked, I made supplication, I wept and I mourned. The answer was no. The answer was no. And thanks be to God. He trusted the character of the one who made the decision and the determination. Would to God that I would have that kind of faith. Yes or no, I'm fine with it. I just have to have your presence. Just don't hide your face from me. Just don't be silent to me. Whatever you do, it's right because of who you are. Just don't hide your face from me.

Now, there's certainly an aspect of this, this overwhelmed heart that deals with us in this life, every believer and the grief we experience in this life, but it's much greater than that. That's not the first application. The first application of this, it's a heart overwhelmed in sin. And that's primarily what David's talking about here. He said this, this is Psalm 143, four. He says, therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me. Same word. My heart within me is desolate. You know what that word means? It means ruined. It means laid waste to, and that's a very interesting word, desolate, because it carries with it this idea. I did this to myself. This is all my fault. My heart, this nature that I'm born with, that every man is born with, dead in trespasses, in sins, that which cannot please God, it's ruined, it's laid waste to, and there's only one person to blame, it's me.

My sin is not all my fault. That means I'm not a candidate for mercy. My sin is not all my fault. I'm a victim of God's sovereignty, which means I'm not a candidate for mercy. If my sin is not all my fault, I call God a liar because he says it is all my fault. He says my heart is desolate. It's ruined.

What's the heart? this nature that we're born with. What is this? This is the whole man. This is every bit of them. Everything flows from the fountain of the heart, the actions, the words, the thoughts, the motivations, the will. It's all black. It's all evil before God because the heart, you see the heart is desolate. It's worthless. It's ruined. It's all our fault.

And this is the cry of one whose heart is overwhelmed in sin right here. Go back to your text. Look at verse two. David says, from the end of the earth, will I cry unto thee? When my heart is overwhelmed, what do you need, David? What do you want? Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

First, recognize he confesses where he's at. Where is he? He says, I'm at the ends of the earth. You know what that means? It literally means as far from God as you can possibly get. I'm as far from God as I can possibly get. I have a desolate heart, a ruined heart, a wicked heart. Far from God as I can possibly get. I can't take one step toward Him in His holiness, in His righteousness, in His perfect sense of justice. There is nothing that would come from me that would please Him. I can't make satisfaction. I'm at the ends of the earth. I'm as far off as I can possibly be.

And you know, when I hear that and I say that, I am so thankful for this scripture. Listen to this, Isaiah 45, 22, look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God. And there is none else for people with a desolate heart, with a wicked ruined heart. And it's all your fault. This is a happy day. There are good tidings for this day because this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. People with a desolate heart, people who are as far off as they can possibly be and can't take a step toward God. He's your Savior. Look unto Him. It's a very simple command, isn't it? Look. Just look, look to Him for every aspect of your salvation. How much of it? Everything. He is my sin payment. He is my righteousness. He is my holiness. He is my goodness. He is my acceptance before the Father. It's not just because of Him, it's in Him that we have acceptance, that every member of the elect has acceptance with the Father. It's in Him.

My faith, whose is it? It's His. He gave it to me. It's his, he gave it to me. My repentance, who gave it to me? He did. Every single aspect, just simply look to him. What's the problem? I can't, naturally. I just can't. Unless he gives me that gift of faith. So what does David say? He says, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. What's the constant prayer of the believer? Lord, give me faith. Lead me to the rock. Bring me to yourself, draw me. This is what Solomon said, wisest man that ever lived, Song of Solomon 1.4 says, draw me and we will come running. If you draw me, your irresistible, invincible grace, if you do a work of grace in my heart, you give me a new man, you draw me with your irresistible character, I won't have a choice. We will come running.

Lead me to the rock. I must believe. Faith is non-negotiable. I must trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody can do that for me. I must. He has to give it, and he does, to every desolate center. Here, look. And he gives the ability to look. He gives the grace to look.

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. I thought of this. John 9. Remember that man who was born blind? He's blind from birth and the Lord goes to him and he spits in the dirt and he makes clay and he puts it over that man's eyes and he says, you go wash in the pool of Shalom and come back. And he goes and he washes and he can see. He's born blind. Now he can see. And he comes back.

And I find this interesting. And if I'm not mistaken here, I believe this is the case. When you read the scriptures, you never hear of any of the disciples giving sight to a blind man. The only person who did that was the Lord Jesus Christ. He outsourced a lot of miracles to the disciples. They could raise the dead. They could cast out demons. They could heal people. But he kept this one for himself, this giving sight to the blind. Why? There is only one person, one God-man that can open the eyes of a blind man and cause him to see and cause him to look to Christ. And that's Christ himself.

But he goes and he comes back and he can see now. And the Pharisees interrogate him. They want to know what happened, why this was done on the seventh day. They're very angry about this whole thing. And finally, they kick him out of the synagogue. It was the best day of this guy's life. He can see, and now organized religion is done with him. They've kicked him out. And the Lord goes to him, he finds him, and he asks this question. He says, dost thou believe on the Son of God? This is how the man replied. Who is he, Lord, that I might believe upon him? Reveal yourself to me. Just reveal yourself unto me. Show me who you are. Show me what you've done. Show me you are the savior of sinners. Just reveal yourself to me and in me, and I will believe. I won't have a choice. That is your power. And it begs a great question. Who is he? Who is he, Lord, that I might believe upon him?

Well, it says in our text, he's the rock, the rock that's higher than I. Turn over to Deuteronomy 32. Our Lord Jesus Christ goes by many names, but I think this might be my favorite, the rock. There's something so solid about that, something so immovable about that. Deuteronomy 32, look at verse one. Deuteronomy 32 one says, give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass, because I will publish the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God. Who is he? Verse four. He is the rock. He is not one rock amongst many other stones. He is the rock, singular, solid, immovable, that which can weather the storm. You ever heard of cornerstone? Christ that cornerstone that the builders disallowed. I looked at that a couple of years ago. I wanted to find out more about it. Back then when they built, they'd lay a cornerstone. They'd take a stone and it was the very first stone they laid in the building. That cornerstone had to be perfect. It had to be plumb and flush and level. No imperfections whatsoever. It had to be set just perfect because the rest of the building, it was all set in reference to the cornerstone.

If the cornerstone was flush and plumb and level and perfect, Every other stone in that building, it was flush and it was plum and it was level and it was perfect. And I can't think of a better illustration of being in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is he? He is perfectly acceptable unto his father. Perfectly. And everybody who is in him, we are perfectly acceptable unto the father in him because of who he is and what he has done. for his people.

That great cornerstone, that one of the builders disallowed, said we don't want anything to do with him. He's become the head of the corner, the head of the church. Oh, we're all received in him. And I thought of this, Matthew chapter seven, you read of two men inside there, two men, one a wise man and one a foolish man. And the wise man, what did he do? He built his house upon the rock. That house of hope, that house of trust, he built it on one place, on the rock, Christ Jesus.

What does that sound like? All my eggs are in this one basket. What's my hope of salvation? Christ and him crucified and him alone. One rock. one hope, one faith, one trust in this one God man, Jesus Christ. Not Christ and, not Christ and my best works, not Christ and my Bible reading, not Christ and everything. It's all worthless, it's all nothing. He built on the rock, Christ Jesus. And when the storm came, guess what happened? That house stood.

And the foolish man built his house on the sand. That house of hope and trust on what he had done. What he had said, what he had thought, what his best intentions were for the future. Something from him. Law is always, I must do something before God can act. That's what he built his house on, law. What I've done, what I intend to do, what happened in the past. And when the storms came, that house was washed away. That man died.

He is the rock strong and immovable. Go on reading. Look at verse four again. It says, he is the rock. It says his work. It's perfect. I love this. His father gave him work before the foundations of the world were ever built. The father had a people. people he chose in the Lord Jesus Christ and he gave them to Christ. He says, you've got work to do. I give you this responsibility. I'm not going to look to them for anything in their salvation. Not one thing. I'm going to look to you for every bit of it. You must go and you got to bury their sins in your body and die on that tree. You have to establish the righteousness, your righteousness, their righteousness, all in one. You have to redeem them back to me and bring them back to me without a scratch on them. This is your work.

His work's perfect. You know what the word perfect means? It's a great word. Complete. It's flawless. See, he did exactly what the Father sent him to do. He put away all the sins of everybody the Father gave him, and his work is complete. You know what that means? If your hope is in Christ, From the ends of the earth, I got one place to look, just in Him, you're complete. For in Him, in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwell in the God, man, Jesus Christ. And you know what the very next thing it says? And you are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power. Is your hope in Christ? Take a breath. It's over. It's flawless. It's a flawless victory. It's a flawless work. It's complete. There is nothing left to do. It's over. Simply trust him. His work is perfect.

And he makes this curious statement at the end of verse four. He says, for all his ways are judgment. And that's not judgment as wrath. What that means is he always calls it what it is. All His ways are just judgment, a God of truth and without iniquity. He'll never look at a man who has sin on him and say he's clean. He'll never look at a man who's clean and say he's unclean. He won't do that. He's a perfectly just God, a God of truth and without iniquity. Just and right is He.

Now, In this Psalm, David makes this interesting statement. It's in verse four, and he says, I will trust in the covert of thy wings. And there's a seal after that. It says, you need to ponder this. You need to think about this real hard. He's a just God. He'll never call an unclean thing clean, and he will never call a clean thing unclean. He's perfectly just. He will always call it what it is.

And how can it be that sinful people like you and me can be saved by a just and holy God that must punish sin. Because on that cross, two things met that have never met before in human history, justice and mercy. On that cross, two things that were contrary to one another before, justice, and mercy. God's perfectly just. He can't be merciful to a man if he has sin on him. He must just punish him. That's it. He can't punish someone who is clean. He's perfectly just. Those two things, justice and mercy on that cross, they looked each other eye in eye. They shook hands and they embraced and they did something that humans could never do before. Did justice and mercy in one man.

And a good illustration of that, it's a beautiful illustration, is actually the Ark of the Covenant, the two cherubims that sat on top of it. Now turn over to Exodus 37. Look at that. Exodus 37, you look at verse seven. And he made two cherubims of gold. Notice this very next word. Beaten out of one piece, made he them on two ends of the mercy seat. On top of that mercy seat, there sat two cherubims facing each other, their wings interlocked. How were they made? These two were beaten out of one. One piece beaten, making two. What happened on the cross? One was beaten. Christ was beaten. The wrath of God fell down on the Lord Jesus Christ, bearing the sins of his people. And out of that beating, out of that torture, out of that wrath, out of that death, two sprung up. Two, justice and mercy sprung up. justice and mercy done in one man.

Now look at verse eight. One cherub on the end on this side and another cherub on the other end on that side, out of the mercy seat made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubim spread out their wings on high and covered. That word covered doesn't just mean a covering. What that means is their wings intertwined. This cherub over here, this cherub over here, those two wings, they intertwined and they touched. They grasped hands as brethren. covered with their wings over the mercy seat with their faces one to another, even to the mercy seat where the faces of the cherubims, they faced each other face to face, now friends. Wings intertwined, justice and mercy done in one man. And they made a covering, a covering. That's Christ our covering. And this is a very special covering. This is not a covering that just covers my sin, covers my filth, covers my shame. It's a covering that takes it away. So much so now, for every member of the elect, for every believer, this is the case. Our sin's been taken away as far as the East is from the West. And now it is just and it is right for the Father to rain down mercy and grace and acceptance upon us in Christ because that's what justice demands.

And I wouldn't be comfortable saying that if that wasn't the teaching of this book. Justice, this just God can't call an unclean thing clean. Can't call a clean thing unclean. In Christ, we're clean. We are made whole. And now it's just for the Father to say, I receive you. You're my son. Come into my presence. You have full acceptance in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We can't do that. We can't do justice and mercy. Every time we do justice, if we do any mercy whatsoever, we haven't done justice. Every time we do mercy, we rob justice. We can't do both. But on that cross, that's exactly what took place. Justice and mercy joined hands. And now our salvation, it's a just salvation. Isn't that beautiful? How can God be just and justify the ungodly? That should be the question that we come to hear be answered every single time.

All right, go back to your text and look at verse four. David says, I will abide in thy tabernacle forever. This is what David wants, and this is what every believer wants. Everyone who's experienced His grace, everyone who's been enlightened, Everyone who sees they have this desolate heart. They're as far from God as they can possibly be. He says this, I just want to abide in your tabernacle. He said this in another place. So in 27, four, he says, one thing, if I desired of the Lord, just one that will I seek after. And you say, David, didn't you want temporal blessings in this life? Good things for your family. Yeah. He wanted all those things, but he says, they all pale in comparison. This is one thing. I just need one thing. If I have this one thing, everything else is fine. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

What does he mean? What does every believer want? I just want to be found in Christ. What do you want? It's a good question. It really is. It bears contemplating. What do you want? Well, I can tell you this. Those Israelites on the night of the Passover, I know what they wanted. Lord said, I'm going to pass through Egypt. All the firstborn in all the houses are going to die, but I've got a people. You Hebrews, here's what you're going to do. You take a lamb, cut its throat. You take the blood. You put that blood over the doorposts and on the side posts and you get in the house. And he promised them when I see the blood, I will pass over you.

When the Lord passed through that night, did they want to be seen? I dare say they avoided the doors and the windows of those houses. What was the one thing they wanted the Lord to see when he passed through? Just see the house, just see the blood. I want to be hidden. I don't want you to see me at all. I want you to see the house, and I want you to see the blood. That's my hope."

Folks, that's our hope, that He doesn't see me. I don't want to be seen. I can't stand before the Father alone, not and live. No, I want to be in one place in Christ. See Him. He's acceptable. He's perfect. He's holy. May I be in Him, because in Him, I'm perfect, and I'm acceptable, and I'm holy. What's the alternative to that?

I want to be seen. I want you to see what I've done. I've been reading my Bible a lot. I want you to see what I gave. I've been pretty generous to my church. I want you to see all the witnessing I've been doing. I'm a pretty nice guy. I'm pretty generous. I do all these things. I want you to see that. God see that. Come on, reward me for what I've done.

I'll get you killed. What does every believer want? I just want to dwell in Christ. That's it.

Now look at verse five. From my standpoint, David's tone tends to change in this psalm at verse five. And what I think is interesting about that is his circumstances don't change. He still has a desolate heart, ruined in sin. He still needs the Lord to be his rock and be his covert and be his tower. His need hasn't changed, his heart hasn't changed, his circumstances haven't changed.

But I love how the Lord, in just a moment, Just in a second, he can change a man from being sorrowful and depressed and lowly and give him this great sense of gratefulness and bring him to remembrance of Lord's mercy to sinners. And it appears that's exactly what he did for David in this very moment.

Look at verse five. He says, for thou, O God has heard my vows. Thou has given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. What's he saying? He's saying, you put me in the number. I'm one of your people. I'm one for whom Christ died.

How do you know that, David? He said, well, you caused me to fear your name. What does it mean to fear the name of God? I think the simplest explanation of it is this. You're afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone. Just afraid to look anywhere but to him and him alone. That's it. That's faith. Faith, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

I can't see that I'm holy, and I'm perfect, and I'm conformed to the image of Christ, and as he is, so are we in this world, because we still have this old flesh. But that's the truth. If your hope's in Christ, you're in the number. You're one he has saved. When he went to that cross, it was bearing you on his heart, bearing your sins in his body. It's you he lived for. It's you who he represents even this very day.

He says, you put me in the number. What a glorious day. faith, the evidence of all that, but notice what he attributed it to. It's really interesting. Look at verse five again. It says, for thou, O God has heard my vows. Thou has given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. What does he mean?

Is he saying, well, I made my vows. I promised to do this. I promised to do that. And I did it. I kept my vows. And so the Lord put me in the number. He rewarded me for keeping my vows. Is that what he's saying? God forbid, salvation by works.

And what's he saying then? You've heard my vows. We won't turn to it because it's a lengthy story, but back in Numbers chapter 30, there's an Old Testament law there. You could call it the law of the foolish vow, if you want. Essentially, here's how it goes. If you're a married woman and you make a vow unto the Lord, so Lord, I'm going to do this. And your husband hears that, he's got two options. First, he can hold his peace. If he holds his peace, his wife is now on the hook to do exactly what she said she was going to do. Lord, I vow I'm going to do this. And if she doesn't do it, if she doesn't come up with the goods, the cost is condemnation. She will suffer condemnation. That's what it says in the law.

Here's the other option for the husband. If he hears his wife make that vow unto the Lord, and he says, that's a foolish vow. She can't come up with the goods. She can't do that which she has vowed to do. He can stand up and say, I disallow it. I disannul that vow. And you know what happened? She'd be forgiven. She is off the hook, scot-free. She is free of that vow.

Here's the catch. Her husband, the one who disallowed that vow, he is now on the hook to do exactly what she vowed to do. Furthermore, because she didn't have the goods to come up with in the first place when she made the vow, he has to suffer the condemnation.

What a picture and type of the Lord Jesus Christ unto his church. In Adam, what did we do? We broke our vow. One vow, one law, don't eat the fruit. All of humanity stored up in one man. Collectively, we broke our vow. Yeah, we won't eat the fruit. We ate the fruit. We disobeyed God. And now, all we do now, because of this desolate heart, we break our vows and we break our vows. We break God's holy law.

But the Lord Jesus Christ, for his people, stood up and said, bad vow. They can't come up with the goods. They can't honor the vow. It's on me. And he kept the vow. He kept God's holy law and put it away through that perfect keeping, and he suffered the condemnation of our sin.

And now, with that understanding of what that vow really means, now read verse five again. For thou, O God, has heard my vows. You heard it, and you disannulled them. You knew I couldn't come up with the goods, and you kept it. Thou, O Lord, has heard my vows, and that's why you've given me the heritage of those that fear thy name, because you kept the vows and you suffered the condemnation for me. That's what that verse means. It's beautiful, isn't it?

Let's finish it up. Look at verse six. This is assurance for every believer. It says, thou will prolong the King's life and his years, as many generations, he shall abide before God forever. Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him.

Now, David says, he goes, you'll prolong the King's life. Is he talking about himself? He's King David, right? In a sense, yes, he's talking about every believer, but first and foremost, who is he talking about? He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, you're going to prolong the King's life and the King's going to abide with the father forever. What does that mean? Where's the assurance for every believer in all that?

He went into that tomb and in three days, the father raised him from the dead. Why? Because that work he gave him to do, his work is perfect, complete, He did it. It worked. The father accepted the sacrifice. And now the King's life has been prolonged forever. He was raised from the dead to ascend back to the father. And now he abides with the father forever. And what is he doing there right now? He has taken on that role of our great high priest, making intercession for all his people.

And here's what he's armed with. Every priest, he must bring an offering. Every priest must be armed with something. And here's what he's armed with right here. Mercy and truth. Father, forgive them. Why? Because here's the truth. They're perfect. They're complete. They lack absolutely nothing. I did what you gave me to do. And the father says, yes, mercy. That's absolutely right. That's an eternal state that can never change. And he's talking about himself and every believer too. He shall prolong the King's life. We have eternal life in Christ right now. and forevermore. We're there right now, I don't understand that, but when we die, forevermore be with him. We're going to abide with him forever, guarded by mercy and truth. The truth will always be, we are justified in Christ and that cannot change.

Now here's the final verse, we'll finish it up. David says, so will I sing praise unto thy name forever, that I may daily perform my vows. That's a strange statement, isn't it? Because we just talked about vows and it's a bad thing. Don't make a vow, right? You don't have the power to keep it, right? Don't make a vow unto the Lord. But he says daily, we're going to perform our vows. And is he talking about the singing of praise? Yeah, he is. In the context there, he's talking about this is what's left to do, folks. Just be grateful. You're a sinner, desolate heart, far from God as you can possibly be, look to Christ. Just look to him. His work is perfect. It's complete. It's over. The stress is off. It's done. Be grateful. Sing praises.

There's another vow that David talks about, and we keep this one. We absolutely do. I'll read this to you. This is Psalm 50, 14 and 15. He says, offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most high. Then he describes what that means. And call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

Where does David start this whole thing? He's in a mess of trouble, right? Trouble in his life, trouble in his soul, trouble in his heart. He's in a mess of trouble. And here's the vow every believer keeps by his grace. We call upon him in that day of trouble. Every day is the day of trouble. We're sinful people. Lord, save me. Do it all by yourself. Save me for your righteousness sake. Save me for your blood sake. Save me for your oath sake. Save me for your vows sake. Lord, save me. That's our constant prayer. And we have this assurance. I love this. I will deliver thee. Never once a sinner that came to Christ begging mercy that he turned away. It's never once happened.

All right. I've enjoyed this morning. Hope you guys did too. It's good to see you.