In the 54th Psalm, we read the
words of David when he was pursued for his life by King Saul. When
he feared for his life, and when he cries out unto God for salvation,
David writes, Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by
thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God, give ear
to the words of my mouth. For strangers are risen up against
me, and oppressors seek after my soul. They have not set God
before them. Selah. Behold, God is mine helper. The Lord is with them that uphold
my soul. He shall reward evil unto mine
enemies. Cut them off in thy truth. I
will freely sacrifice unto thee. I will praise thy name, O Lord,
for it is good. For he hath delivered me out
of all trouble, and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine
enemies. Save me, O God, by thy name,
and judge me by thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God. Give ear to the words of my mouth. Hear my prayer, O God. Hear my prayer. These words of
David are very different from the words of the boastful man,
the mighty man, of whom we read of in Psalm 52. And they are
very different from the words of the fool, whom David refers
to in Psalm 53. In Psalm 52, David says, why
boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of
God endureth continually. Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs,
like a sharp razor working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good,
and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Thou lovest all
devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy
thee forever. He shall take thee away and pluck
thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land
of the living. Why boastest thou thyself in
mischief, O mighty man? There are many mighty men in
this world. There are many full of their
own belief in themselves, of their own confidence and their
own strength. There are many who plan and devise
and desire, who go a certain path, but who never call upon
God. There are many who are strong
in themselves, full of pride, full of arrogance, self-sufficient,
who think that they stand by their own strength, who think
that they can stand tall in this world above others because of
their own strength and their own might. There are many who
love evil more than good, who devise mischiefs. who love not God. And they do not pray unto God
for help. When trouble comes their way,
they face it in their own strength. When trouble comes their way,
they deal with it themselves. Because they know not God and
they care not for God, and they know not their own weakness and
their own frailty. So they never cry unto Almighty
God for help. God hasn't shown them what they
are in reality. They boast because they think
that they are great when they are but grasshoppers. upon the
earth, when they are but worms, when they are frail creations. The reality is that there is
none who is strong. There is none who is righteous. There is none who can stand before
a holy God. We're born one day and we die
the next. We're like blades of grass, we're
fleeting, we're passing. And yet most of us, all of us
by nature, think we're strong and mighty. We have a proud heart. We don't need God. We don't need
His help. And we don't pray or cry out
to Him. It's David in Psalm 54. cries
out, Save me, O God, by thy name and judge me by thy strength.
Hear my prayer, O God. Those are words that only the
child of God will say. Only the child of God will utter.
Only one who knows he needs help, who knows he is nothing by nature,
who knows his days are in God's hands, who knows that his life
comes from God and is sustained by God. Only those who know that
their very breath, their very existence is because of God. It's God that made them and God
that keeps them alive and God that can protect them and deliver
them from trouble. Only those who know this will
cry out to this God. David knew what he was. David knew he was frail and weak. David knew he was a sinner before
a holy God. David knew he was in God's hands
and when trouble came his way, he cried out to the God who could
save him. But the mighty man, who boasts
himself in mischief, never cries unto God. He never prays. He never cares. He lives as though
God isn't there. Because for him God isn't there.
He doesn't care for God. He'll stand. He'll stand in his
own strength. He says. What a fool he is. What a fool he is because in
a moment he's cut down like a blade of grass. In a moment he's brought
to nothing and stands before God. In a moment he's destroyed. God shall likewise destroy thee
forever. He shall take thee away and pluck
thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land
of the living. O you, my friend, are you a mighty
man who boasts in your own strength? Do you think that God is irrelevant? You don't need him. Do you say
there is no God? Does your heart say there is
no God? You don't need God. Well, one
day God, if you remain in that state, God will come unto you
and will destroy you forever. He will take you away. He will
pluck you out of your dwelling place and root you out of the
land of the living. And you can shut your ears to
that fact, and close your eyes to it, and pretend it's not true,
and ignore it, but it will come upon you. The righteous shall
see what comes upon you. The righteous shall see the end
of the wicked. And they shall fear God, but
shall see your destruction. It's this mighty man And you,
if you're like him, made not God his strength, but trusted
in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his
wickedness. He trusted in all that he has
here below, and all that he's got here below, and his own strength
and ability. And yet he's plucked away in
a moment. Or as David could say, but I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God. God has taken me. and he's planted
me in his house and he keeps me. I trust in the mercy of God
forever and ever. Once I was like these. Once left
to myself, I was a fool like these mighty men all around me.
I trusted in self, but God showed me I was nothing. And God took
me and planted me in his vineyard. He planted me in the house of
God. He caused me to grow up like
a green olive tree. And He showed me His mercy in
which I will trust forever and ever. I will praise Thee forever,
David says, because Thou hast done it. God's done it. God came
unto me in his gospel, he came unto me in grace and he showed
me things that are true, he opened my eyes to the truth. Once I
thought the world was like this and then he showed me it's like
that. Once I thought I was like this and he showed me the reality
of my sin. Once I thought I could stand
in my own strength and he showed me that I have no strength. Once
I thought I was righteous and he showed me that I'm utterly
unrighteous. And I'm under condemnation. And
left to myself I will be cast out. But he showed me mercy. In the gospel he led me by grace
to the foot of the cross and he said, there's the answer. When I cried out and said, save
me oh God. deliver me, hear my prayer. He led me in the gospel and pointed
me to his son. And he said, there are your sins
and there's the judgment of your sins, not on you and not in you,
but I've laid your sins upon my son. I found a sacrifice for
your sins. And I've judged them, but I've
judged them not in you, but in my own son. I found a sacrifice
equal to the judgment that your sins deserve. I found one who
can take the punishment away. And in the gospel, God comes
unto his children. He came unto David and he pointed
him in type and figure through time unto Christ at the cross
and said, there's your salvation. Here's your deliverance, here's
your hope. Here is mercy. And David, hearing this gospel,
seeing this gospel, believing this gospel, says, I trust in
the mercy of God forever and ever. I will praise thee forever
because thou hast done it. God has come in Christ in this
world. God has found a sacrifice, his
own son. God has offered up the sacrifice
and God has smelt the sweet smelling saviour of that sacrifice and
said it is good and satisfied his wrath and satisfied his justice
and said thou art forgiven David. The blood of my own son, the
blood of my sacrifice has washed you clean. I've blotted your
sins out. David sees and says God has done
it and I will wait on his name for it is good before the saints. Oh yes, David can cry out unto
his God, save me, hear my prayer, because he knows his God. He's
been brought to see his God. He's been brought to see his
salvation. He knows he has a God who hears
his prayers. He knows he has a God who delivers
him from sin. He knows he has a God who delivers
him from judgment and wrath. He cries out. He's been shown
his need. Unlike the mighty man of the
world. And unlike the fool of Psalm
53. David says of him in Psalm 53,
the fool have said in his heart, there is no God. All who say in their heart, not
with their lips perhaps, but in their heart, all who live,
as it were, as though there is no God, as though they commit
no sin, as if there's no God that we are answerable to, as
if there is no judgment. All who live as though this life
is all there is and when we die we just go to sleep and it's
just peace evermore. All who live as though there
is no God say in their heart, there is no God. And God says of them that they
are fools. Because there is a God. He made
us, He sustains us, He's there every day, whether we see Him,
whether we hear Him, or whether we cry out to Him or not, He's
there, and we wouldn't be here if He wasn't there. And the whole
world and creation around us is crying out to us regarding
His existence every day. Every day the sun rises up is
a picture of the rising of God's Son Jesus Christ from the tomb.
Every day the light shines forth is a picture of the light of
the Gospel shining forth from heaven's glory. Every day God
speaks to this world. Every day that The night passes
and the light comes up as the day rises up. God is saying the
darkness has gone and the light has shone in the Gospel. Hear,
O world! Hear, O Isles! Look unto me and
be saved. And every day the darkness of
this world and the fools of this world guttle away back into the
darkness and hide from the gaze of the light of God in the gospel. They shut their eyes to it. They
run back into the darkness and bury their heads in the sand
and say in their hearts, there is no God. Paul speaks of this
in Romans where he quotes this psalm. When he speaks of the
depravity of man, he's quoting this psalm. corrupt are they
and have done abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good. God looketh down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand,
that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back. They're all together become filthy.
There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Every one of us
is like this fool. Every one of us by nature in
our hearts have said there is no God. Every one of us has gone
astray from God. There's none that have sought
Him. There's none that know Him by nature. There's none that
love Him by nature. There's none that have done good
by nature. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Have the workers of iniquity
no knowledge? Who eat up my people as they
eat bread? They have not called upon God. There were they in great fear,
where no fear was, for God hath scattered the bones of him that
encampeth against thee. Thou hast put them to shame,
because God hath despised them. They came and they ate up his
people. The fools of this world rage
against God and rage against His people. They treat them as
nothing, as they treat God as nothing. They eat them as it
were like bread. Oh that the salvation of Israel
would come out of Zion. When God bringeth back the captivity
of His people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad. What a description of mankind
this is. from David's tongue. Man by nature is proud and mighty. He knows not God. He's also a
fool who says in his heart there is no God. He's gone astray. None of us have sought God. None
of us have done good. We're all fools that have gone
astray and we seek to silence the people of God and to silence
the gospel and to silence those who would declare the gospel
and to shut our ears to the gospel and to go off in the world to
seek our own way, our own pleasure and our own riches. Mighty men
who boast in their own things. whom God destroys forever. Fools who say there is no God,
whom God will crush and destroy forever. There is only hope in
the gospel. And David can write of the mighty
man, because once by nature he was one of them. And David can
write of the fools because once by nature he was one of them. He's not pointing the finger
at others and standing above them. He's saying, you're like
me. I trod where you tread. I stood
where you stand. I was a fool like you're a fool. Listen to a fool who's been delivered
from his folly. Listen to a proud, strong man
like you who was shown that he's nothing. Don't listen to me as
though I haven't been where you are. I'm not condemning you. I'm as foolish as you are. I
was a fool like you were. I lived like you do as though
there's no God. I boasted in my strength like
you do, but God showed me my folly. And God showed me my utter
lack of strength. And God showed me my end and
brought me to an end of myself. And God showed me my great need. And because of my need, I call
out unto the only one that can help me. Hear my prayer, O God. What a place to be brought. He
prays because He knows from whence His salvation comes. He prays
because He can go to none other for help. Man can't help Him. He can't help Himself and no
one else can help Him. There's no help to be found in
this world or the wisdom of this world or the riches of this world
or the empires of this world. There's no help but in God and
His Gospel. There's no help but in Christ.
and David was shown that and David when in trouble cries out
under God and his cries are heard save me oh God by thy name and
judge me by thy strength he was hurt and he was delivered but
he's hurt and he's delivered because of the one who delivers
him because of the one whom God led him to in the gospel. In
answering David's cries, God in the gospel led David and pointed
him to the sacrifice, pointed him to the Messiah to come, pointed
him to his son, and he said, here's your hope, David. Here's
your hope of salvation. I've found a sacrifice. I've
found a saviour, my son. He will deliver thee. And David's cry unto God for
deliverance is the cry of Christ unto his father for deliverance
when Christ himself was at the point of greatest need. God can
answer David's cry for help because God the father answered his son's
cry. When God delivered His people,
He delivered them by offering up His Son as a sacrifice for
sin. And when Christ was offered,
when Christ was crucified, He hung upon the cross in the darkness
alone, with everyone having rejected Him, the whole world, having
risen up against Him. All mankind despised and rejected
Him. All the world stood against Him. And Christ, in the worst place,
in the place of torment, the place of judgment, the place
of sacrifice, the place of death, cries out unto His God, Hear
my prayer, O God. David's prayer is heard because
Christ's prayer was heard. David here mirrors the words
of his Saviour. He utters them in prophecy. Every psalm like this psalm in
which David cries out under God for salvation are the words of
his Saviour. and David is heard because his
Saviour was heard. Then consider the words of Christ
at the cross. Save me, O God, by thy name,
and judge me by thy strength. Save me, O God, by thy name,
and judge me by thy strength. He cries for salvation, but he
cries that his God would save him by his name. What a thing
to say! When we cry for salvation, naturally
speaking, we wouldn't say, save me by thy name. We'd say, save
me by thy strength, save me by thine outstretched arm, come
and deliver me. But David here and Christ here
cries out unto God, save me by thy name. And in verse 6 he says,
I will freely sacrifice unto thee, I will praise thy name,
O Lord, for it is good. Then it's the name of God in
which he trusts. God delivers him, he can deliver
him, is able to deliver him and did deliver him because of who
God is. Which is declared by the name
of God. Now God has many names. And in those names, we see the
character of God. He is righteous. He is holy,
He is Jehovah, Jehovah Sikhenu. He is the Lord, our righteousness. He is the everlasting God, the
eternal God, the God without beginning and without end, the
only God. He is the creator and sustainer
of all things. And simply through His speech,
simply through His being, He is all-powerful, He is all-present,
He is all-knowing. Jesus Himself is named Jesus,
Joshua, the Saviour. His name declares who He is and
what He came to do. God sent His own Son, He sent
the Saviour. the saviour of sinners, the saviour
of the world, Joshua, into this world to deliver his people.
And his name describes what he does. Save me, O God, by thy
name. His name describes his character.
God's name describes his eternal nature and his holiness. And it describes his righteousness.
And we cannot be saved by a righteous God except that God deals with
us righteously. The barrier to David's salvation,
the barrier to sinners' salvation is their sin. How can we be saved
by a righteous God when we are sinners? How can we come into
the presence of a righteous God when we're full of sin? How can
a righteous God hear our prayers and answer our prayers when there's
a great gulf set between us because of our iniquity? When every day
we think evil things and we say evil things and we do evil things
and we increase our debt and the distance between God and
us every day by everything we think, do and say. How can we
ever come close to such a God? How can He ever hear us? Only if He deals with us in righteousness. Only if He deals with our sin
in righteousness. only if he judges our sin and
takes away our sin and delivers us from our sin. Then when David
and Christ here cries for deliverance, it must include and mean and
encompass deliverance from sin. Save me, O God, by thy name. Save me in righteousness. Judge
me by thy strength. Judge my sin. take it away make
me clean cleanse me inside and out in psalm 51 David wrote,
have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness. According
unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me freely from my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. David's great need and his great
desire was to be cleansed and washed from his iniquity, from
his sin. Then how can a God who is love,
and a God who is righteousness. How can a God whose name displays
his character as a loving God, a holy God, an everlasting God,
and a righteous God, an unchanging God, how can this God deliver
him from his sin? God can't change and turn a blind
eye to it. God can't change His mind about
it. God can't show His mercy and
love at the expense of His righteousness and holiness. Then God must judge
that sin. God must take it away. God must
blot it out. God must pour out His fiery indignation
and fury upon it. And God must do that in a sacrifice
which is equal to it. which is why God sent His only
begotten Son into this world to take that sin, to be made
sin, to bear the sins of His people in His own body on the
tree, which is why God sent His Son, God, as man, born of the
Virgin, born a man, fully God and fully man, which is why God
sent his Son in the place of men, in the place of sinners,
to bear their sin and to bear their sin as a perfect sacrifice,
as one who was innocent in himself of any crime, but who took their
sin and took their guilt and suffered as though he had committed
it, suffered as though he was the sinner. Here the innocent
Lamb of God comes and stands in the place of sinners and God's
justice is met in Christ the Saviour. God's justice and righteousness
is poured out upon His own Son. God's justice meets the sinner
in His Son upon the cross and God's justice delivers the sinner
from his sin. God's mercy and love meets His
judgment and righteousness upon the cross. They kiss each other. They meet. He can show love and
mercy unto the sinner because He takes the sinner's sin away
in His own Son. David's cries are met in Christ. And Christ at that point, Christ
at that time, when Christ the sacrifice himself stood in the
sinner's place and hung upon the cross in the darkness, in
order to display God's love unto his people, in order to show
God's mercy unto David, he hung in the darkness, bearing David's
sin. Made sin in the darkness. Alone. Forsaken. Displaying God's love. But feeling the wrath and indignation
of God's fiery justice upon himself. What a place to be. What a place
to be. What he went into in order to
deliver his people from their sins. No wonder then that Christ,
in such a place, cries out, Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge
me by thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God. Give ears to the words of my
mouth. Deliver me. Deliver me. For strangers are risen up against
me, and oppressors seek after my soul. They've not set God
before them. The whole world rose up against
Christ. The whole world rejected Him. You and I included. Strangers
rose up against Him. Oppressors sought after His soul. They cried out, crucify Him. Crucify Him. And you and I in
our hearts, in our hearts we've said, there is no God. We've
put Him to death and we've put His Son to death. We've destroyed Him. We've shut
Him out. We've treated Him as dead. We've crucified Him. We've pierced
the Son of Glory through and through. We've pierced the Prince
of Glory. We've put Him to death. You did
and I did. As fools we said there is no
God. As fools we went astray seeking
our own things. And as fills when Christ came,
in the truth of the Scriptures, in the Word of God, in the Gospel,
we said away with this man. I will not have this man to rule
over me. And we put him to death. His cries unto his God are from
that place of absolute solitude in the darkness. forsaken of
man, forsaken by you, forsaken by me, and forsaken by God. Save me, O God, by thy name. Judge me by thy strength. Hear
my prayer, O God. Give ears to the words of my
mouth. But from verse four, The words change. In the darkness
Christ hung. At the end of three hours in
the darkness he cried out with a loud voice, it is finished. And he hung his head and gave
up the ghost. And all the sins of all his people
for at all time had been blotted out. Salvation was wrought. Judgment was passed. The wrath
of God and the law of God was silenced and answered. And righteousness
of God had been brought in for God's people in Jesus Christ,
the blood. was then shed when the soldier
with the spear came and pierced his side and blood came out.
Out with flowed their blood and water. And the blood washes away
every sin for every sinner for whom Christ died. It is finished,
Christ cried. He delivered his people, and
as a consequence he cries out, Behold, God is mine helper. The Lord is with them that uphold
my soul. He shall reward evil unto mine
enemies. Cut them off in thy truth. I will freely sacrifice unto
thee, I will praise thy name, O Lord, for it is good, for he
hath delivered me out of all trouble, and mine eye hath seen
his desire upon mine enemies. When it was finished, it was
finished. Christ was taken down and laid
in the grave, and on the third day he rose again, and all his
people rose with him victorious, and their enemies were cast aside. At that point in time upon the
cross, when Christ hung, and when he cries out, it is finished,
it was finished, the end of this world came to pass. The judgment of this world had
been wrought. And God, as it were, divided
this world in two. All for whom Christ died were
saved. Their sins were blotted out. And everyone else was sealed unto damnation. He shall reward evil unto mine
enemies, cut them off in thy truth. It's the truth, the truth
of the gospel, the truth of what happened at the cross, the truth
of God's electing grace in laying upon Christ the sins of his people,
the sheep. and casting out the goats. It's
the truth of the gospel which divides this world in two and
divides God's enemies from God's people. You are either in the side of
Christ in the darkness as he suffered for your sins as one
of his own and you will be brought to hear the gospel and be brought
to hear the truth and be brought by faith to believe the truth
or the truth when it comes unto you will cut you off either you
will hear it and receive it or you will reject it and reject
it and never receive it unto your condemnation This message, this gospel and
what happened in the darkness upon the cross to Christ is the
only thing you need to hear and know. And your eternal salvation
depends upon it. Did Christ take your sins and
block them out? Did he hear your prayer? Did
he put a prayer in your heart to cry? Or are you still? boasting in your own deeds, your
own will, your own mischief, O mighty man. Are you still saying,
O fool, in your heart that there is no God? Do you still live
and think and walk and talk as though there is no God, as though
you're God? As though you're the only one
that matters. As though you're the only one
who's strong and who stands. As though your will is the only
will that matters. Do you trample God underfoot? Do you trample the gospel underfoot? Do you trample the blood of Christ
underfoot? Do you trample the truth underfoot? Or has God broken you? and broken
down the defence of your heart broken down the wall you build
around your heart so that the light will shine in and that
you will be exposed for what you are and brought down to nothing
but brought to cry out unto God for deliverance because if you're
brought to that awful place of being broken and cast down and
struck down and brought to an end of yourself if you've been
brought to that place of weakness that's the greatest place you
can be brought to because the next place you'll be brought
is to cry out to God and He will hear you because He's put the
cry and the prayer in your heart to cry and His purpose to save
you just like He placed His Son upon the cross, just like Christ
was led to that place of utter destruction, that place of judgment,
that place of death, just like He was brought from the highest
height to the lowest point in this world, taken as it were
to the lowest depth of hell, just as He came and suffered. So you may be brought by God's
grace and mercy to suffer and to be broken and to know that
you're nothing. But if you are, you'll be brought
to cry and to call out and He'll hear you and He'll lift you up
and He'll deliver you and He'll put your feet upon a rock. and
He'll cause you to stand with Christ Jesus and His people and
worship Him and live with Him forevermore. He'll deliver you
out of all your trouble. He'll deliver you from your iniquity. He'll deliver you from your transgressions. He'll deliver you from condemnation. He'll deliver you from judgment.
He'll deliver you from sickness. He'll deliver you from the poverty
of this world. He'll bring you into a land flowing
with milk and honey. The will like Joshua following
Moses lead you into that promised land. He'll bring you with his
people over Jordan into Cain and into that land flowing with
milk and honey. He'll bring you into a new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. He'll bring you
to live and reign with Christ and worship Christ the Lamb of
God. He'll deliver you from all your
enemies and all that oppresses you and all that troubles you. He'll give you a new heart. He'll give you righteousness. He'll give you everlasting life. He'll give you all the riches
of God in Christ Jesus. Oh, what God gives unto His people
who are brought to the lowest point but lifted up in Christ
to the greatest of heights. And it's the truth that does
it. And their cry is, I will freely
sacrifice unto Thee, I will praise Thy name, O Lord, for it is good. it delivered me for God for he
have delivered me out of all my trouble and mine eye have
seen his desire upon mine enemies Christ's prayer was heard David's
prayer was heard But through Christ's prayer, not only was
he delivered from the torment in which he was plunged, but
his people were delivered too. When Christ prayed and was answered,
David was brought to pray and David was answered. And because
Christ was answered, if you're brought where David was brought,
you'll be answered. Here, my prayer. Oh God. Have you ever prayed? Have you
ever been brought to such a point as to cry out, save me oh God,
hear my prayer? Do you know God? Do you walk
before God? Is he the one to whom you turn? Or are you still turning to yourself? Or still turning to people in
this world who can do you no good? Are you still resting in
your knowledge or your wisdom or your riches? Or are you resting in God? In Christ
alone? Who gives all the riches of God. Riches which are never taken
away. Riches which don't fall from
your fingers when you pass from this world into the next. Riches
which don't grow old and rust and canker. Riches which aren't
stolen. Riches which don't rust away
and fade away. But riches which are everlasting
and eternal. True riches. Everlasting life. Righteousness. Glory. Oh what a hope there is for God's
people. But it's a hope. which they receive
because they've been brought to an end of all their hope in
this world. They've been brought to stop
hoping in self, to stop hoping in their own righteousness, to
stop hoping in this world, to stop hoping in all that they
can do, to stop trusting in their own will, but to trust in God
alone for salvation, to trust in Christ alone for salvation.
Have you been brought here? Have you been brought to pray?
Have you ever prayed under God? Have you ever called out under
Him? If you're ever brought, if you're
ever brought to truly cry out under God, if you're ever brought
to know your need, then he will hear. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Save me, O God, by
thy name. Judge me by thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God. Give ear
to the words of my mouth. Hear my prayer.