Good morning. If you would please
turn to Psalms chapter 18. Psalms chapter 18 yet again in
Psalms. I think the main reason I read
out of Psalms is it comes off as very glorious and clear. It's
just clear. But one of the Things that happens
when you write a message, I guess, in my very limited experiences. When you write a message, you
think you have it down just pat, and you come in, and I heard
several people today speak on different verses, and now I feel
like it's missing something. So you always find holes in your
own game. I'd like to start, though, and
reiterate what Dad read. Just one verse in particular.
in 1st Peter, in chapter 4, when we talk about clear, to an inheritance
incorruptible. That's the inheritance that we
are going to hopefully hear of today. One that is absolutely
incorruptible and undefiled, fully clean, and that fadeth
not away, never away. And what more is reserved in
heaven for you, an incorruptible inheritance." And I also saw
something in here that I had written down that Drew had spoke
on, and his comment was, when grace was started, it was also
finished. So let me read to you out of
Psalms chapter 18, verses 19 through 39. Verse 19, He brought
me forth also into a large place he delivered
me, because he delighted in me. The Lord rewarded me according
to my righteousness, according to the cleanliness of my hands
hath he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the
Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments
were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.
I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
Therefore, hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanliness of my hands in his eyesight.
With the merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful. With an
upright man, thou wilt show thyself upright. With the pure, thou
wilt show thyself pure. And with the fraud, thou wilt
show thyself fraud. For thou wilt save the afflicted
people, but will bring down high looks. For thou wilt light my
candle, the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by
thee I have run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over
a wall. As for God, his way is perfect.
The word of the Lord is tried and is a buckler to all those
that trust him. For who is God, save the Lord. Who is a rock,
save our God. It is God that girdeth me with
strength and make my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds
feet and setteth my set me upon my high places. He teaches my
hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken in my arms. Thou
hast also given me the shield of thy salvation, and the right
hand hath held me up, and the gentleness hath made me great.
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. I have pursued my enemies and
overtaken them, neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
I have wounded them, that they were not able to rise, and they
are fallen under my feet. For thou hast girded me with
strength unto the battle. Thou hast subdued under me those
who rose up against me." I start again and I look at these verses
and all I see is two phrases, God's reward and God's way is
perfect. And God's reward to a believer
has two separate terms. It's the same person you're talking
about, but the reward is viewed as two different ways. Your reward
is salvation, but your reward is Christ. Christ is your salvation. And so let's talk about God's
reward. 19 through 20 They use a David writes
by the way. He's on he's on his high horse.
I should say at this point time He's one of his highest points
of success However, they're coming for him and I say this because
he is aware if you read Verses 19 or I'm sorry chapters 19 20
and so forth in 20. It says a plea for God's help
is one of the headings of my Bible So David is at the height
of his powers, but he does know they're there come forward Insurrection
inside also battles around him. And so by the Lord's blessing,
he's been blessed with the awareness that who Christ is at this point
in time. So it'd be like in your life,
if it was a very negative point, low point, you still had the
wherewithal to turn to God, which sometimes we don't always have.
So verse 24, I jump ahead, there hath the Lord recompensed me.
He used this word twice. He used it also in verses 20.
Recompense, to compensate. The Lord hath recompensed me
according to my righteousness. Now the righteousness that David
talks about is not inward righteousness. This is righteousness blessed
by Christ. He does not have a natural righteousness. He has been compensated for something
that the Lord feels like it needs to be compensated, I should say.
He as a person owes everything to God. Sin, you owe everything
to God. And yet you have no debt thanks
to the compensation Christ has provided to you. According to
my righteousness, according to verse 24 again, according to
my cleanliness of my hands and his eyesight, God sees you as
pure. If you're a believer, God sees
you as pure because you have been recompensed. you have already
been paid for, bought, and saved. In full, I might add. The verse
in verse 24 expresses David's righteousness and blamelessness
before God. It underscores the idea that
God rewards those who are faithful and live according to his ways.
We talked in the back and Nathan's verse was so poignant to some
thoughts I've had He spoke of how sacrifices were made in the
Old Testament, and yet immediately after a sacrifice was made, sin
was still prevalent. And so how does that work? How
do you constantly sacrifice? And we couldn't keep up with
it. You know, it was spoken on what size of herd would you have
to have in your village, if you will, to consistently and perfectly
sacrifice. We can't. And so when David talks
about this, that he underscores the idea that God rewards those
who are faithful who live according to his ways. We live according
to his ways by his blessing, and that's still not enough.
And yet there is a sacrifice that is wholeheartedly, 100%
unequivocally paid for every bit of sin that we have bestowed.
We have been recompensed, forgiven of all grief, became of our own
plight as a believer, because of our own plight as a believer.
That's the only reason that we are saved. And a government unit
that I'm currently teaching There is a statement I use quite a
bit, and the eyes kind of open up to several of our students
in class. How do you become a citizen of
the United States? There's two ways. You can apply
and pass a test and join, or literally you're born here. You're
born here. And if you are born here, you
get all the benefits of living in the United States. So how
do you become a believer? You are born by Him. You are
born into grace. And so what do you do to earn
grace? Nothing. You revere Christ. That's what you do. And so you
have done nothing to be the most special, I guess you could say,
prestigious of the people on earth. Now, I've always thought
that That's amazing to us that we are born in this way, born
in this notion, born in this condition. And at a certain point
in time, this condition turns into being saved and fully under
Christ's salvation. And yet, we should not be haughty. That's one thing I always worry
about. When we find ourselves in such a manner that is far
more, and really the word I think could be used, elite in reality
of condition, we also know where we came from because we as a
believer are fully aware of our true condition and because of
our true condition I think most believers come most humble because
we know what we are in reality and who he is in reality. We
are forever clean of all sin forever in the Lord's eyes. This is no trick pulled over
the Lord's eyes. This is a truth. The Lord has
forgiven all sin even in the future and remembers them no
more. So I was thinking about this
in reality. I have a long memory and it was
funny because my wife and I were actually going through a yearbook
this morning trying to remember somebody's maiden name. So we
had to go pull one out and go through that and so forth. And
it's funny because I went through all the levels. I was going through
everything emotionally levels like I remember that person or
that person. And there was a couple of them that we were like, that
was not a really good person. Like, you remember that. You
remember things that are 20 years ago, and I'm sure that person
doesn't even remember it. Not only that, they moved on. They
don't care. And we probably shouldn't either,
and that was how petty I found myself as I returned the yearbook
down back in the basement. The Lord does not remember sins
of that nature. They are fully forgiven, fully. And that's a tough one, I think,
to wrap our own brains and our own hearts around, that all sins
are literally not only forgiven, but forgotten. The Lord loves
his believers. The Lord will truly save his
believers. The Lord will truly bless his
believers. And he will forever keep them
in his defense. Spurgeon wrote this one sentence
in this huge book, is so blessed. He wrote, if you ever get a chance
to read this one, it's the Treasury of David by Charles Spurgeon. And he writes in Psalms 18 verse
24, the prize is awarded to the flower at the show, but the gardener
reared it. Let me read that again. You're the flower, by the way,
the gardener's Christ. The prize is awarded to the flower
at the show. but the gardener reared it. Christ
grew the flower. Christ made us something likable,
made us something lovable, and yet he gets all the credit by
us, and we get the reward though. We get the reward of salvation.
Verse 25, with the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, and
an upright man, thou wilt show thyself upright." Verse 25, David speaks that God
deals with people in a way that reflects just their behavior. Man, I hope not. I hope not. David acknowledges that people
are dealt with by their thoughts only. Behavior or actions? No. God deals with people by
the expressions of the heart. God is just and responds to individuals
based on their spiritual aspects. God responds to you through your
heart. With the merciful, thou wilt
show thyself merciful. Who's the merciful? That's Christ. With the merciful, thou wilt
show thyself merciful. With an upright man, thou wilt
show thyself upright. Within Christ are we yet forgiven. We sin and are yet forgiven.
Our actions, our thoughts, our heart is never pure while on
this earth, and yet we remain escaped. One of my favorite verses,
if you would, if you're willing to turn there, Ezra chapter 9
in verse 8. The whole chapter is very, very
blessed. But Ezra chapter 9 and verse
8. The wording is just so beautiful. And now, for a little space,
grace hath been showed from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant
to escape. little bit remnant is a little
bit to escape and to give us a nail in his holy place that
our God may lighten our eyes and give us a little reviving
in our bondage. If you're a believer, you're
saved. There's a remnant, which means something has survived.
You've been escaped and there is a nail that you will be hung
on permanently in salvation. I forgot this one too, verses
13 in Ezra 9. And after all that has come upon
us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass, seeing that
thou, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve
and has given us such deliverance as this. The grace of God allows us to
escape. We escape all sin. There's not
one right at the end that gets to tag on to you. It's all sin. You're blessed with all grace
as well. Quite the scale balance in reality,
it's one-sided. With our own situation in salvation,
we see Christ as truly merciful. The grace of God is evident. Through an upright man, a believer,
God shows who is the real evident upright man. It is Christ. who is the upright man, and who
is this merciful. By comparison, even though a
believer will reap all that has been blessed to us, we can see
by the grace of God who Christ is, our Savior. Note that even the merciful need
mercy. No amount of generosity to the poor or forgiveness to
enemies can set us beyond the need of mercy. Lord have mercy
upon me, a sinner. That was Spurgeon again. The Lord is mercy. And that word,
I hope, has a weight for you, has a feel to it, I should say. We always talk about how aptly
named our church is, Sovereign Grace. Sovereign Grace. Those words mean something to
a believer. It's not just passing by and you say, Second whatever
Baptist Church or it's the I wrote rent past one the other day called
the lighthouse number two And things of that nature Sovereign
grace Church of Jackson really does mean something if you know
the true words of sovereign grace ultimately all-encompassing grace
mercy And mercy is a word too that I think has a pull on it
as well because if you're truly merciful, that means somebody
owes you something and you grant them instead. You grant them
a leave. So mercy is granting grace upon
someone who doesn't deserve it. They don't deserve it. That's
the true, forgiveness is something different than mercy. Mercy,
someone has wronged you and yet you still grant them the grace.
That's what Christ has bestowed upon his believers, something
that has been wronged completely, sin by the littlest margins. Sin by the littlest margins have
been fully forgiven, but one of the sins that are on the littlest
margin is unforgivable unless mercy is bestowed. Verse 26, with the pure thou
wilt shew thyself pure, and with the froward thou wilt show thyself
forward. For thou wilt save the afflicted
people, but will bring down the high looks, the unbelievers.
For thou wilt light my candle. The Lord my God will enlighten
my darkness. For by thee I have run through
a troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall." David, during this
time, was going through war-torn efforts and finding much success,
which means when you find much success in battle, whoever you
have beaten are going to come for you. And that's kind of what
he was talking about and you can read again in chapter 21
on that where the bad guys in his eyes are coming for him.
David speaks also about how God saves the humble and brings down
the haughty. That's the true comparison that he has acknowledged
in 28 and 29. Light my candle means that he has successfully
kept his people. But on top of that, for by thee
I have run, verse 29, through a troop, and my God, I've leaped
over the wall. The Lord God shows favor towards the humble and
the lowly. We know our conditions, and we were the lowliest of lowly.
And so therefore, he has kept us. Okay. My favorite part of this entire
passage is verses 30 through 32. So I may end there as well. Verse 30, ask for God. You know,
if you back up here a little bit, David is outlining his own
condition, he's outlining his own people and so forth, but
I love in the Bible when you see the words, but, however,
and so, and then this one, ask for God. Verse 30, ask for God. His way is perfect. The word
of the Lord is tried. It's been tested. It's proven.
It's strong. He is a buckler. The word buckler
means shield to all those that trust in Him. For who is God
save the Lord. Who is a rock save our God. It
is God that girdeth me with strength and make my way perfect. I don't
know many verses that are as clear as that one. The Word of
God is tried. And I'm going to turn to you,
if you want to turn there you can, 2 Samuel 22 verses 17. I've always felt like 2 Samuel
22 and Psalms 18 are almost parallel passages to one another. They speak very clearly on the
mercy of God and the condition of God as well. 2 Samuel chapter
22 and verse 17. He sent from above. There's a
lot of he's in here. He sent from above. He took me.
He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong
enemy and from them that hated me for they were too strong for
me. They prevented me in this day
of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. As for God, his way is perfect.
His way is perfect. There's only one type of forgiveness.
That is the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. He is the only one to
truly forgive. If we take note of our own abilities
to forgive, we cannot even forgive our own transgressions, let alone
others. I hold on to grudges. And I'm
looking back at this for no reason. I do. I hold on the grudges I've
found. It's a simplistic mentality and
reality that I would hold on to old things like that. Can
we save ourselves if we can't even let go of little simplistic
things like that? And Christ can do that. The Lord
has forgiven. Verse 31, for who is God saved
the Lord. Do you believe that? Those words,
God and save the Lord. Who is God but the Lord? What
does the Lord mean? That's the ultimate, ultimate
power. It's God. It is God that girdeth me with
strength, verse 32, and maketh my way perfect. Verse 30, as
for God, His way is perfect. Ours isn't. Verse 31, God maketh
my way perfect. A comment made, a look, a tone,
body language enough to make us mad enough to hold a grudge
to others. We are temptuous to make a reason why someone has
wronged us and yet we are talking about being among believers.
Those whom we understand will be saved and rejoicing in heaven. Our abilities to forgive are
faulty at best. Faulty at best Our best is limited
to not even closely good enough. However, our Lord is something
better and actually great. The Lord actually forgives. We
do not forgive because of sin. He forgives because of full grace
and forgives in full. He makes your hind feet. Verse
33, he makes my feet like hinds feet, sets me up upon high places. His way is perfect. For who is God beside the Lord? Verse 35, Thou hast also given
me a shield of salvation, and my right hand hath holden me
up and thy gentleness had made me great. I have found nothing
in here that dictates that we have any stay in our own salvation. It is one and one only, and that
way is perfect. It is the Lord's way. You have
given me a shield, you have been a buckler, and we have been the
ones to trust in you. Why? Because you put the trust
in us in the first place. Let our hearts bestow that we
know our Lord. Let us go from here in confidence
that the Lord's way is perfect. We will go from here and we will
change our hearts immediately as soon as we walk out. I would
very much like to have some elastic waisted pants on and some tennis
shoes and a hoodie. And I love football. with a passion
and I would love to go sit on the couch and be left alone for
a really long time to watch a game. It says his way is perfect. There
is nothing that I described that was perfect that does not bestow
anything of a godly nature of what I just said. Now, I'm also
not going to go door to door and profess my faith amongst
all my neighbors either. That is not what we're learning
here in this passage. The reward is salvation. And
the way that we live, as he talked about early in verses 19 and
also in verses 20, the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanliness of my hands he recompensed me
for I have kept the ways of the Lord. Well, how do you keep the
ways of the Lord? You revere him, you pray, you pray for forgiveness,
you read the word, you get yourself amongst like-hearted believers.
You don't always go out and just profess at Hardee's while you're
drinking coffee in the morning. Sorry, that's a Jackson reference.
But that's one of those things that we have to be careful with,
is that we do have to walk a balance, for sure. Because we will very
much easily slip away from what is said here. Hopefully, everybody
feels good. You can read the book, and you
can feel really good about yourself. And then tonight, before you
go to bed, You open a Bible or open a reference book and you
feel really good about yourself. You know, you read the Bible.
I hope that's not really your actions, but your actions are
in fact praying towards God and also living in His ways as well. So, as for God, His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried.
He is a buckler for all those who trust in Him. Do you trust
in Him? I hope these words have blessed
you. Daddy, I'm praying.