Let's look again at Psalm 28.
Verse 8 again. The Lord is their strength, and
he is the saving strength of his anointing. Verse 8 is the
reason for the prayer, the foundation of why David asked what he does
in verse 9. The truth of verse 8 is the cause
of verse 9. Verse 8 is the cause and verse
9 is the effect, if you will. Concerning the church of the
living God, verse 8 tells us that the church's very existence
is dependent upon God. The answer is the same as that
in Psalm 115 where David said, not unto us. That you could apply
that to faith, to the new birth, to resurrection, regeneration,
every aspect of salvation you can name or think of, and you
can apply these words to it. Not unto us, O Lord. Not our
faith, not our repentance, nor our will to come to Christ. Not
unto us, O Lord, it didn't originate with us. Not unto us, O Lord,
but unto thy name's sake, give glory for thy mercy and for thy
truth's sake. The captain of our salvation,
and there's only one, The captain of our salvation is the one who
keeps his church. If they're kept, he'll have to
keep them. He is that God who's given responsibility, or rather
that one to whom God has given responsibility to protect his
church. They've been committed into the
hands of Jesus Christ. Read John chapter 17, and hear
our great high priest as he intercedes on the behalf of his people.
He said very plainly, Very plainly, more than once, he said, I pray
not for the world. I pray not for the world. Who
does he pray for? Those he's about to lay down
his life for. The high priest interceded for
the same ones that he offered to sacrifice for. And our great
high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, does the same thing. I pray for
them. I pray for them, those people
that you gave me out of the world. Those are who I pray for. Chapter
or rather verse 2 of John 17, as thou was given him, that is
Christ, power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to who? The world, no, to as many as
thou has given him. Not one more, not one less, as
many as thou has given him. And with the Lord being the strength
of his people, as we read in verse 8, David prays that the
same Lord, the mighty God, would do four things. And these four
things we want to talk about in verse 9. Because none of these
things they can do for themselves, and if they're done, if they're
done, the great shepherd must do them. And thank God he does,
and he has, and he will. Look at verse 9 again here in
Psalm 28. David prays this. This is a prayer
for God's church. Save thy people. bless thine
inheritance, feed them also, and lift them up forever." The
first thing David asked of his God is this, save thy people. Save thy people. God said, let,
yes, God chose the people, but they must be saved. God saved
thy people. They must be regenerated. Only
God can do that. Remember what he asked the prophet
Ezekiel. When he took him to that valley of dead, dry bones,
there were very many and they were very dry. Can these bones
live? That's the very first need. That's
what our Lord told Nicodemus when Nicodemus came unto him.
Our Lord said, the very first thing he said to him, you must
be born again. Unless you're born again, you
can't see, you can't understand, you can't perceive the things
of God. You must be born again. The first
thing necessary to those dead in sins is that they must be
given life. They must be given life and faith
and only Jesus Christ can do that. Only he who is the resurrection
and the life can give dead sinners life in himself. Nobody else
can. Nobody else can. Who can give
life but Him? Who can raise dead sinners to
life and faith but the Lord Jesus Christ? God again I repeat. There's
no question about it and we rejoice in it that God had from the beginning
chosen the people to salvation. But election is not salvation. Yes, they're elected. Yes, they
were ordained to eternal life. But they must be called. They
must be given life. A man can never know that he's
elected before he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
impossible. His faith, his coming to Christ, his believing on Christ,
his embracing Christ is the evidence that he's one of God's elect.
You've heard me tell the story. You perhaps heard Brother Henry
say it himself. He said he was in conversation
with a lady many years ago and asked her if she was a Christian.
And this lady's answer to Henry, Brother Henry, I've been a Christian
all my life. All my life. You remember what
Henry said to her? Lady, that's too long. That's
too long. There's no such thing as being
born a Christian. If there was, we need not be
born again. And this salvation, this great
salvation that the psalmist prays for, that God will perform for
his people, it's not easy. It's such a sad thing in our
day that this other gospel that preaches another Jesus represents
this great work of salvation as it's a simple, simple thing.
Oh no, it's complex. It's great. It's such a great
salvation that only a great God and Savior can accomplish it.
It's not easy because it requires a miracle. It demands the power
of God Almighty to perform it. Nobody else can. It's not as
easy as ABC. No, no, no. Salvation is not
as easy as ABC. It's not as simple as just walking
up an aisle and reciting a prayer, making a decision. That's not
salvation. No, it requires a miracle. The
hymn writer said, it took a miracle to put the stars in place. It
wasn't easy. It took a miracle to hang the
world in space. But when God saved my soul, cleansed
and made me whole, it took a miracle. It took a mighty work of God.
It took a miracle of God's love and God's grace. Nothing else
could do the job. Oh, how sad again I say. How
sad to see people, multitudes deceived into thinking that salvation
is all up to them. I heard that all my life. God's
done all he can do. And now it's up to you. Until
God got me lost, I found out that was a lie. I've been lied
to. It wasn't easy. I wanted to believe.
Oh, I prayed to believe. I tried to make myself believe
and I couldn't do it. I wanted to believe on the Son
of God. I wanted to lay down at night and to know my sins
was forgiven. I wanted to know Jesus Christ.
I couldn't do it. And to God Almighty, by His grace,
give me a new heart. Give me a new heart. Gave me
life and faith by which I could behold the Son of God. Oh, real
sinners need a real Savior, don't they? Nothing else will satisfy
them. A Savior mighty to save. One
that's able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. Look again, if you will, to Ephesians
chapter 2. You know it by heart, probably.
But here's the condition, and God's elect are included in this.
That's who Paul is writing to, those believers at the church
in Ephesus. And he says in verse 1, And you,
hath he quickened? He quickened. You didn't do it
yourself. Quickly, that means giving life. Because you were
dead in trespasses and sins. If you're given life, God must
give it to you. Wherefore, in times past, you
proved that you were dead in sins, because you walked just
like everybody else. You lived like everybody else
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation,
our manner of life. in times past, in the lust of
the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Who
maketh thee that differ from another? Paul asked the church
at Corinth. What do you have that you didn't
receive? If you have received it, why
do you boast? Why do you brag as if you did not receive it?
Verse four. Verse four. But God. But God. Ah, so it would be so easy to
pitch tent there. I was lost, but God. I was undone,
but God. I was unbelieving, but God. I
couldn't help myself, but God. But God, who was rich in mercy. Here's the explanation of salvation. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love were with he had loved us. Even when we
were dead in sins, we took the first step. When we were dead
in sins, we opened our heart. No, we're dead in sin. We're
as dead spiritually as Lazarus was physically. He couldn't take
the first step. If he could, he could take all
the rest. He didn't need Christ to do a thing for him if he could
take the first step. Oh, not so. Even when we were
dead in sins, in that dreadful state, have he quickened, have
quickened us together with Christ by grace are you saved? Salvation
is such a great work that it requires one mighty to save.
Again, I ask you the question, who else could that be but the
Lord Jesus Christ? Who else is mighty to save? Who
is able to save sinners? She shall bring forth her son,
Joseph, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, or he shall save. He shall try to save. Brother
Clay Curtis, there's an article in your bulletin, God Doesn't
Try. No, he doesn't. You'll never find a hint of that
in the Word of God. God doesn't try, God does. He
shall save His people, all of His people, every one of His
people. All that the Father gave Him
shall come to Him in time and in eternity. He shall save His
people from their sins, from all their sins. Oh, that salvation,
as great as it is, As mighty work that it is, the Lord Jesus
Christ shall perform it. He'll save all of his people
from all that they're sinning, and he'll keep us saved. He'll
keep us saved. It's true to say that Christ
has saved me. That's scriptural. It's also
true to say that Christ is saving me. It's also true to say that
Christ will yet save me. All three are so. Look, if you
will, in 2 Corinthians 1. 2 Corinthians 1. Verses 9 and 10. Paul writing here, in verse 9
of 2 Corinthians 1, he said, but we had the sentence of death
in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in
God which raised us to death, who delivered us from so great
a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet
deliver us. He has delivered us. He is delivering
and He will yet deliver. He has saved us, He is saving
us, and He will yet save us. And bring us all the way to glory
with an everlasting salvation. God's glory is wrapped up in
the salvation of His people. If Christ Jesus doesn't bring
all those the Father committed into His hands the glory, If
he doesn't present them all, every one of that multitude that
no man can number, back to the Father who put them in his hands
and he became surety for, if he doesn't bring them all back
to the Father's house, he'll lose his honor. He'll be a failure. And that can never happen. He'll
save them from sin and Satan, from death, from hell and the
grave. God will save his people for
Christ's sake. He'll save them from their distresses,
their heartaches, and their troubles, and their tears. He'll save them
from Satan's temptations. He'll save them from all their
troubles. He'll save them every time they fall. And he'll save
them from themselves. He'll save them to the very uttermost. Salvation is a mighty work, and
that salvation is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love
that picture of it, that type of it. It was a... reality but
it was a picture of something even greater than the miracle
itself and that was when the children of Israel crossed the
Red Sea. What did they do? What part did
they play in their deliverance? Nothing. Nothing. They were ready to stone Moses.
We'd have been better off back in Egypt. God opened up the Red
Sea in Exodus chapter 14. Here's the conclusion of it.
Thus the Lord saved Israel that day, it was thus. They didn't
take the first step, no, no. Thus the Lord saved Israel that
day, verse 30 of Exodus 14, out of the hand of the Egyptians.
And Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. And Israel
saw that great work which the Lord did. Salvation is a great
work, a mighty work. They saw that great work which
the Lord did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord.
They stood in holy wonder of Him, thought, my, so what kind
of God is this? And believed the Lord and His
servant Moses. Here's the second thing in our
text, here in Psalm 28 and 9. The second thing David prays
for, that God would do for his church, save thy people, bless
thine inheritance. Bless thine inheritance. The
Lord's people are His inheritance. Isn't that a comforting thought?
We're His inheritance. Oh, I know He's our inheritance,
but we're His inheritance. We're His own peculiar treasure. Turn, if you will, here in the
Psalms to Psalm 95. Psalm 95. Turn there, if you
will. Psalm 95 and verse 1. Let us sing unto the Lord. Let
us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us
come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful
noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places
of the earth. The strength of the hills is
his also. The sea is his, and he made it. In his hands formed
the dry land. Let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his
hand. We're his inheritance. God's
inheritance are those who are the heirs of salvation. In Christ
Jesus we have an eternal inheritance. Peter said we have an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved. Reserved where? In heaven. Well,
I think it's safe. I think it's safe. Reserved in
heaven for you. And Jesus Christ will see to
it that we'll inherit. The Lord's people are his own
peculiar treasure. They were given to him by God
the Father. They were chosen in him. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. all that we'll ever need in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without
blame before him in love. Thou art my first elect, God
said, concerning his son, and then chose us in Christ our head. Not only were God's people chosen
in Christ, but they had been brought to Christ, been brought,
bought by Christ, with his own precious blood. That's what we'll
do today. We'll remember the success of
our Redeemer. We'll rejoice in remembering
not what he attempted to do, but what he did. He told his
disciples shortly on their way up to Jerusalem, as a matter
of fact, he said, behold, we go up to Jerusalem and everything
that's written in the Psalms and in the Prophets and in Moses
concerning the Son of Man shall what? Be accomplished. It'll be done. And he cried not
long after that, that it was accomplished. He said, it's finished.
It's finished. And he, by his own blood, entered
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. We belong to him. We're his property,
his inheritance, and he will bless his inheritance with all
spiritual blessings. He will give them grace sufficient
while they live. Will he not? Are we not all proof
of that? Every child of God is proof that
his grace must be sufficient. One time when the multitude had
followed him, looking at it outwardly, just with the natural eye, it
looked like a good thing. Multitudes were following Christ
because they got their belly full. That's the only reason.
When they crossed the sea, now the Lord told them, you've not
really come to me. Ooh, they got mad. People that
trot up owls and make decisions and say the sinner's prayer,
if they hear those words, you haven't really come to Christ,
they get mad too. They do get mad. Christ said, you really
haven't come to me because no man can really come to me. No
man can truly come to me in a saving way unless my father draws him
to me. Everyone that learns of God,
learns of God, they'll come to me. Boy, then he spoke about
his sovereignty. spoke about coming down here
for his people. And that crowd that followed
him across the sea turned on their heels and walked away.
I mean, the whole multitude turned. They said, now we don't have
to listen to this. This is a hard saying. We can't bear it. We
can't bear it. And we don't have to. We don't
have to listen to you. And they turned and walked away from the
Son of God. And there was a few there that didn't. Why do you
reckon they didn't? Because Christ asked him. He
looked at him as that multitude turned and walked away. Do you
want to join them? Do you want to join the crowd?
Most people do. Do you want to join the religious crowd? Do
you want to go away too? Glory to God. Peter was wrong
a lot of times. He stuck his foot in his mouth
a lot of times, didn't he? I can identify with that. But
he spoke up on this occasion. He was exactly right. He said,
Lord, we've got nowhere else to go. We've got nowhere else
to go. Where can we go? You're the only
one that has the words of eternal life, and we believe that you,
nobody else, is the Son, the Messiah, the Son of the living
God. Oh yes, we are His inheritance,
and He won't lose His inheritance. He'll give us grace sufficient
while we live, and then when this life is over, He'll bring
us the glory to be with Him forever. Listen to Him pray for His inheritance. I love this verse. John 17 and
24. He had prayed for so much, had
asked so much, but he said, Father, I will that they also, in addition
to everything else, whom thou hast given me, be with me where
I am. Be with me where I am. That's what happens when a believer
dies. They go to be with Christ where
he is. They're in heaven with the Lord.
They're absent from the body, and they're present with the
Lord. The moment they close their eyes in this light, to this light,
they open them in glory, and they're beholding the king and
his beauty. Father, I will that they be with me, all those that
you've given me, every one of them, be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory. My soul, what will that be? Which
thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation
of the world. In Romans 8, Paul wrote, verses
15 through 17, for you have not received the spirit of bondage
again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby
you cry, I have a father. The spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. Not taking the
preacher's word for that, or the soul winner's word for that,
oh no, or mom or dad. The spirit himself bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs of God. And joint heirs with Jesus Christ. And if so be that we suffer with
him, that we may also be glorified together. That song, I am his
and he is mine, it says this, he is forever, only his, who
the Lord and me shall part, or with what a rest of bliss Christ
can fill the longing heart. Heaven and earth may fade and
flee, firstborn light and gloom decline, but while God and I
shall be, I am his and he is mine. As long as God and I shall
be, I am his and he is mine. Here's the third thing in our
text. Feed them also. Feed them also. The Lord is my
shepherd. That's what the word feed means.
David said, Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. As the shepherd does for his
flock, leads them beside the still waters and the green pastures,
Jesus Christ is that bread of life that came down from heaven
by which his church feeds upon and lives. All that eat of this
bread, Christ said, shall live forever. This word again, feed,
has the idea of shepherding, guiding, protecting, and providing. That's the responsibility of
the shepherd. Christ's relation to his people
is often represented by the figure, the type of his shepherd. Is
it not John 10, 14? I am the good shepherd. Know
my sheep, and have known of mine. Verse Peter 2 and 25. For ye
were a sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd.
and the bishop of your soul. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Hebrews 13, now the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great
shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will,
working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, Through
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and forever. Amen. Revelation chapter 7, verse 16. They, that is that multitude
before the throne, God's redeemed, they shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them nor any
heat. For the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them, shall shepherd them, and shall lead them into the
living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes." John Gill said this concerning feeding his sheep,
as a shepherd of his flock, the lamb is a shepherd, and this
great multitude are his flock, whom he will feed in this state,
not by his ministers only in the word, but now in his person,
in glory. And with the rich discoveries
of himself and of his love, signified by a feast, by new wine in his
father's kingdom, and for his own, and by eating and drinking
at his table, in the kingdom appointed by him to his followers. And hence it is that they shall
never hunger again. Here's the last thing in our
text. And left them up forever. Left them up forever. The word
used here for left up means to bear them up. To bear them up. As the good shepherd carries
his lambs in his bosom, and the good shepherd carries the feeble
and the young in his mighty arms, so Christ will pick up his sheep
and carry every one of them through this world in the arms of his
omnipotence, who shall snatch them out. He will carry them
in his arms on earth and then lift them up into his bosom in
heaven, Lord, lift him up, David says, from the dungeon of sin. Lift him up from the curse of
the law. Lift him up from the dunghill of works. Lift him up
and make him one with Christ. Lift him up to glory with Christ
forever. Lift him up by your grace. Lift
him up with your mercy. Lift him up in resurrection glory
forever. Lift him up at the last. Lift
him up by taking him home. Lift them up forever by building
them to dwell in your presence where there is fullness of joy.
Lift them out of the sickbed. Lift them out of their graves.
Lift them at the last blast of the trumpet. For we believe that
Jesus died and rose again. Even so, them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you
by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
at the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and
the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up, lifted up, to gather with them
in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever
be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another
with these words. This will be the outcome, the
accomplishment, of the covenant of grace and of the sufferings
and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the prayer. This is the
prayer to him for his church and he will answer it. Save thy
people. Bless thine inheritance. Feed
them also and lift them up forever, forever. Amen, amen. God bless
you. Thank you for your attention.