Psalm 36 has as its title, to
the chief musician, a psalm of David, the servant of the Lord. And as such it has that which
is common with a number of psalms, the psalm of David, one of many
that David wrote, the great psalmist of God. But as with several others
of his psalms, he addresses it to the chief musician. It's his
praise unto God, who's the head of his church. He leads forth
the praise of his people under his name. But he also refers
to himself as the servant of the Lord, the servant of the
Lord. And in this sense, he draws our
attention to the fact that this is a psalm born out of the experience
and the thoughts and the heart of God's servant. Here is the
sentiment of God's servant, not just of David, but of the servant
of the Lord of Christ. Now, of course, all the psalms
speak of Christ. But here David would have us
think particularly that these words flow as Christ's sentiment,
flow as Christ's experience of the things he's saying. And he
begins in the first few verses by looking out upon the wicked
in this world. He begins with the transgression
of the wicked sayeth within my heart that there is no fear of
God before his eyes. The transgression of the wicked
sayeth within my heart that there is no fear of God before his
eyes, for he flattereth himself in his own eyes until his iniquity
be found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity
and deceit. He hath left off to be wise and
to do good. He deviseth mischief upon his
bed. He setteth himself in a way that
is not good. He abhorreth not evil. So the
Psalms introduced with a reflection upon the wicked. And what their
attitude what their actions, what their deeds, what their
thoughts show unto the psalmist, show unto the servant of the
Lord, show unto Christ himself. Christ as God could look upon
all men and see what they were. But as the Son of God and the
Son of Man, as a man. Christ came and lived and walked
and moved amongst the wicked. He came and he walked and moved
amongst people like you and I. He had a direct experience of
what man is like, not just by looking down upon him, but by
speaking with him, by walking with him, by hearing Him, by
seeing Him, by seeing the hatred in man's heart for one another,
for God and for Him. When Christ came unto His own,
His own people, the Jews, when Christ came amongst the Jews,
He was born a Jew, He was born amongst his own people, he was
raised amongst them, and they should have received him. Yet
that people whom God had blessed, that people who though born sinners
like all others, God had had mercy upon, that people whom
God had watched over and protected and delivered from their enemies
so many times, that people when the Son of God came unto them,
rejected him. That religious people that people
with knowledge, that people who should have had understanding,
that people who could not say, as others might, that they had
not heard, that they did not know of God, that they did not
know that there was a Messiah to come, that they did not know
of His salvation, that people who could not plead, that they
knew not who this one was in their midst, that people that
should have been watching and waiting for him and receiving
him at his coming, instead, as a religious people, were moved
with hatred and rejected him and despised him and spat upon
him and called out for him to be crucified. Not only did Christ
come amongst men and see the wickedness and the hatred in
man's heart, but he saw that wickedness and that hatred turned
against him. He who loved his people, he who
watched over the Jews, He who had protected them, he who had
provided for them, he who sustained them, he came unto them and they
put him to death. They hated him without a cause,
they cast him out. And out of his heart, he says
the transgression of the wicked, sayeth within my heart that there
is no fear of God before his eyes. He flattereth himself in
his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words
of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He hath left off to be
wise and to do good. He deviseth mischief upon his
bed. He setteth himself in a way that
is not good. He abhorreth not evil. And this
includes the religious. and it includes the religious
today. And it may well include you,
no matter how religious you might profess to be, no matter how
much you might speak of Jesus Christ or the Bible. If when
the true Christ is presented unto you in the gospel, your
heart turns to hatred, then you are as wicked as any. The transgression of the wicked
sayeth within my heart that there is no fear of God before his
eyes. No fear of God. Is there a fear
of God before your eyes? Is there any fear of God in your
heart? Do you know who he is? What is like where you stand before him? Do you know what he will do with
your sins? Is there any fear of God in the
sense of a fear of judgment, which will surely come if you
have no answer for your sin? but also in a sense of reverence
and regard and respect. Is there any fear of God, any
regard for God in your heart, any reverence for God, any thought
of God? When you wake up in the morning
and you've been brought through another night to another day
and the sun shines above, do you thank God for the life he's
given you? Do you consider Him when you
make your plans for that day, that week, that month, that year? Do you seek His will or His glory? Does He enter into your thoughts? Is there any fear of God in your
heart? Any fear of God before your eyes? Well, the servant of the Lord
looks on you and I and says the transgression of the wicked sayeth
within my heart that there is no fear of God before his eyes. How could they do such things? How could we do such things if
we truly knew God? How can men murder one another? How can they fight one another? How can they hate one another? How can they seek their own ends
and build their own empires and further their own devices? How
can they be disobedient and rebellious? How can children rise up against
parents and people rise up against authority and brother fight against
brother and sister against sister. How can this world descend into
its evil which is all around and in everyone? How can the
wicked do such things? How can we do such things? How can you do such things if
we truly know God, if there is any fear of God before our eyes? If there was any fear of God
in our eyes, we sin because we are blind, we are dead, ignorant,
foolish and rebellious. We may speak of God. We may speak of the Son of God. We may profess to follow Jesus
Christ. We may know many things and be
able to say many things. We may say we follow God. We may say we love God. But how could we do such wicked
things on a daily basis if there were any fear of God before our
eyes? We draw near unto God with our
lips when our hearts are far from him. We make a show and
a pretense before others when our hearts are full of hatred.
There is no fear of God. There's no fear of what might
happen. There's no fear of what he might
think of us. There's no fear of how he might
judge us for our sin. There's no reverence, there's
no regard, there's no respect, there's no love. How could we
do such things? if there was any fear of God
before our eyes. Profession is worthless if the
heart does not follow. Do you draw near unto God with
your lips? Do you go to the meeting? Do
you pick up a Bible? Do you talk to others about Jesus
when really your heart is a mile away? when all your desire, all
your love, all your affection, all your care is for other things. It's for your things and not
the things of Jesus Christ. Is God in your thoughts when
you wake up in the morning? Is he in your thoughts when you
go to bed at night? Do you live before him? Do you walk before him. When the servant of God looked
out upon the transgression of the wicked, when he saw and experienced
what they did, and what they did to him, and the rejection
and the hatred, what men did to the Prince of Life, what men
did to the Son of God, that wicked men could take the Son of God,
as the apostles declare, and put Him to death, that wicked
men could pierce Him, that wicked men could hand Him over to the
Romans and have Him crucified. When Christ looked upon what
wicked men did, His heart said, There's no fear of God before
their eyes. They flatter themselves. They
say, I'm holy. They say, I'm righteous. They
say, I'm serving God. When they put his son to death,
the Jews thought they served God. They thought they were protected
God's holiness and God's name. When they took the man that they
saw as an imposter, as a blasphemer and took him and crucified him. They claimed they were serving
God, when in reality, they were blind to the one that God had
sent unto them. I mean, God sends his gospel
to you and speaks to you through his gospel and sends a faithful
preacher to you with his gospel and you reject the message. and say that's not the Jesus
I know, that's not the Jesus I want to know, that's not the
gospel we want to know, that's not the gospel we have in our
meeting. When you reject it and cast it
aside and are turned to hatred against it, then all your religion
is of nothing worth if what has been said to you is the truth. And when Christ came under his
people, the one that they put to death was the truth. They took the truth. They took
the wisdom of God. They took the very truth of God
in their hands and they spat upon him and they beat him and
they bruised him and they slew him. Now have you taken the truth
of God? Have you taken the gospel of
God and taken it up in your hands and said that's not the message
for me? Have you taken the gospel and
looked upon it with hatred and disdain? Have you heard of the
electing grace of God? Have you heard of the free Grace
of God. Have you heard of the sovereignty
of God? Have you heard of the person
and the work of Jesus Christ? And said, that's not the Christ
for me. That's not the gospel for me.
Have you been moved to hatred? Is there no fear of God in your
eyes? When Christ came unto his people,
And that's what they did to him. The truth in human flesh, the
word made flesh, stood upon the ground that you stand upon today. And he breathed the air that
you breathe today. And he looked up to the same
sun that you have above you today. And he felt the same wind upon
his face that you feel. and he ate the same food that
you eat, and he heard the same voices that you hear. He walked
among men, he walked among women, and they hated him. And yet, despite all that man
did under him, despite the fact that there was no fear of God
before their eyes, Despite the hatred, he came into this world. He walked upon the ground. He breathed the air. He felt
the hands hit him and bruise him. He felt the hatred. He heard the words. He saw the
angry faces. He suffered the wounds. He was
lifted up upon the cross. He died because he loved his
people and he loved them to the end. And he would suffer everything
at their hands that he might deliver them from their sins. You may have hated him without
a cause. You may have taken him and his
truth and ripped it up and ripped him up and trodden him underfoot. You may have jeered and sneered
and mocked and scoffed. You may have hated, but if you're
his, he looked upon you and loved and loved to the end and went
to the cross and suffered. He suffered for sinners. He suffered
for the wicked. He suffered for those who have
no fear of God in their eyes by nature. Despite all that they
did to Him, He came into this world to show them mercy. He came into this world to show
them the love of God. He came into this world to bring
them salvation. He came into this world to redeem
them. And so, from verse five through
to verse eight, we read of the great mercy, the righteousness,
the faithfulness, the love of God, which Christ brought unto
his people. We read of mercy, faithfulness,
righteousness, judgment, preservation, loving kindness and the manifold
innumerable blessings that God has set upon his people. A sevenfold
account of the glorious blessings which are to be found in the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ came into this world to
save sinners. He came unto the wicked. He came
unto those who have no fear of God in their hearts to make known
the mercy, the faithfulness, the righteousness, the judgments,
the preservation, the loving kindness, and the blessings of
God for his people. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the
heavens. and thy faithfulness reachest
unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the
great mountains. Thy judgments are a great deep. O Lord, thou preservest man and
beast. How excellent is thy lovingkindness,
O God! Therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. they shall be abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make
them drink of the river of thy pleasures. Oh, what a contrast
between what God is and what God does, and what man is and
what man does. What an awful introduction there
is to this psalm. an awful description of the wickedness
of man's heart, how there's no fear of God in his heart, and
how he pretends to be something that he isn't. He flattereth
himself in his own eyes. He thinks he does God's service. He thinks he's righteous. He
thinks everything he does is right, when everything he does
is utterly evil. What an awful description this
psalm begins with, but what a wonderful description it moves on to of
God and the character of God and the character of God's son
and the blessings of God and the love of God for his people.
What an absolute contrast there is between what man is and what
God is here. The words of the wicked's mouth
are iniquity and deceit. He have left off to be wise and
to do good. He divides if mischief upon his
bed. He goes to bed and is thinking
what he might do the following day. He makes his plans. He makes
his plans of how he's going to further his own ends at the expense
of others. How he could get away with doing
this or that and how he could present it. How he could justify
it. How he could pretend that what
he does is so right. He makes these plans, he weaves
these webs. He setteth himself in a way that
is not good, he abhoreth not evil. Not only are you and I
evil, not only are you and I wicked, but we are wicked whilst pretending
to be good. How rarely man owns up to his
own character and his own ways. How he's got an answer for everything. Every time he's found out, every
time he's accused, every time his sin is brought before others,
he's got an answer. You've got an answer. I did no
wrong. I was doing the right thing.
How we make black to be white and white to be black. How we
stand before almighty God with our puny little squeaky voices,
pretending that we've done him service when all our lives we've
served our own ends. And we know we have. And yet
despite this, we still stand before him pretending we've done
it for him. And we stand before others with
this pretense, pretending we've done it for them. This is the
great evil of man. Not only is he evil, not only
does he seek his own ends, not only does he care not for God,
but he covers it all up with fig leaves. Like Adam and Eve
at the beginning. He covers it all up in a pretense
of doing right. What a contrast there is with
the character of God. There's no pretense with God. When God declares his mercy,
there is mercy. When God declares his righteousness,
all you can see is righteousness. When God makes known his judgments,
they stand sure and certain. When God preserveth man and beast,
He preserves them, though they deserve to be destroyed. When God makes known His lovingkindness,
there's no question in it. When God sends forth His blessings
in the Gospel, they're inexhaustible and undeserved. There's no deceit. There's no pretense. There's
no making known one thing whilst doing another. There's no exaggeration
with God. There's no exaggeration. And
when the psalmist and the prophets and the writers in the scriptures
make known the character of God, there's no exaggeration in their
words. The opposite. Their words can't
begin to scrape the surface of how wonderful God is. He writes, thy mercy, O Lord,
is in the heavens, and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. He makes known the extent of
it. He says to all men everywhere,
wherever you are on the earth, you can look up. And you can
see above you the vastness of the heavens above you, the vastness
of the skies, the vastness of the skies at night when you look
up and see the stars and the moon and the sun and the planets,
the absolute enormity. And he says, God's mercy is in
the heavens. It's like this, it's all around. It's inexhaustible. And his faithfulness
reacheth unto the clouds. Oh, the extent! And yet men look
down. They walk through the world.
They walk through life. They walk through time with their
heads down at the ground. Never looking up. Never stopping. Busying themselves with their
mischief. looking down. David writes, Thy
righteousness is like the great mountains. Thy judgments are
a great deep, O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast. His righteousness
is like the great mountains, it towers above. And his judgments
are like the great deep, as far down to the depths of the sea
as the mountains go up. to the skies. You can't get past
them. You can't get past them. You
can't get past the righteousness of God. You can't climb over
His righteousness. It towers above you. And you
can't get beneath His judgments. They're there before you. They're
all around you. They're impenetrable. One day God's righteousness will make a demand of you and
I. You may walk through life with your head buried in the
sand, or your head gazing down at your feet, ignoring God's
righteousness, ignoring his character, hiding your sin. But one day
you will come to the foot of the mountain and you will not
get past. And God's righteousness will
ask you a question. Where is your righteousness?
Where is your righteousness? You can't get past this. But
his character is so righteous and his justice is so sure. that
it's inexhaustible. How excellent is thy lovingkindness,
O God! Therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. How excellent is thy lovingkindness,
O God! Therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. Despite all that
man is, all that you are, all that I am. God is love. The very essence and character
of God is love. Yes, he is righteous and yes,
he is just, but his hatred of sin, his hatred of the wicked
is because of his love of righteousness. He hates the wicked because he
hates their sin, because he loves righteousness. And yet at the
same time, he loves. He loves, he loves righteousness. He loves those who are righteous.
He loves those who love his ways. He loves those who walk before
him. He loves those who love him.
But do you love him? Do I love him? Are there any
who love Him? Are there any who have sought
Him? Are there any who have done good? Are there any who have
walked righteously? None of themselves. None of themselves. But in Christ,
through the Son of God, who first loved His own and gave Himself
for His own, there is a countless multitude who he has delivered
from their sin. A countless multitude upon whom
he has set his love. A countless multitude upon whom
he has sprinkled his blood. A countless multitude for whom
he has suffered and died. A countless multitude whose sins
he bore and whose judgement he took that he might bring in for
them the righteousness of God. A countless multitude who deserved
to die because of their own sins and iniquity, for whom the Son
of God, Jesus Christ, died and suffered under the wrath and
the judgment and the righteousness of God. There is a countless
multitude upon whom he has set his mercy and set his loving
kindness and said, don't judge them, judge me. Don't slay them,
slay me. Don't destroy them, destroy me. a countless multitude whom he
loves and blesses because of the blood that he shed upon the
crops when they put him to death. How excellent is thy lovingkindness,
O God! Therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. Where have you
put your trust? Where is your hope? Where is
your refuge? There's no hope to be found amongst
the wicked. There's no hope to be found amongst
the people who put Christ to death. But there is every hope
to be found under the shadow of his wings. They shall be abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make
them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures, abundantly satisfied. Oh, what blessings there are
in the gospel, how we shut our ears to it, but how wonderful
is the truth of Jesus Christ, how he loved those who hated
him, how he loves those that hate him, how he blesses them,
and satisfies them with the fatness of his house. He welcomes them
into his own house. Having taken away their sin,
he says, come in, my faithful servant. Come in, come into the
banqueting feast. Come in to the wedding feast
of the lamb. Come in, come and sit at my table. Come in, you are washed, you
are clean. He takes a robe and He dresses
them who were once beggars. He takes a robe and He dresses
them in fine linen who were once the worst and the filthiest and
the vilest. He says unto their souls, thou
art forgiven. He says, come in and sit down. And He spreads before them a
great feast. And they come and they dwell.
with him in his house forevermore. They who thought they were lost,
they who thought they had no hope, they who thought that their
deeds would find them out, they spent their life shutting their
ears to him, they spent their energies putting him to death. They spent their energy taking
his gospel, taking his truth and pushing it away from them.
And yet he kept coming unto them. They kept trying to flee from
him and he kept coming after them. They kept trying to trample
him underfoot and he kept standing up and following after them.
They kept hating him and he kept loving them. And there came a
day when all their hatred ran out and they were broken before
him and they had no more strength, no more strength to further their
own ends, no more strength to further their own glory, no more
strength to stand before him and no more strength to push
away his gospel, no more strength to cover their ears. no more
strength to put their hands before their eyes, no more strength
to run away. And he comes with his gospel,
by his spirit, and says unto those who are without strength,
who are now broken, who are now weak, who are now needy, who
are now hungry, who are now thirsty, and says unto them, Thou art
mine. You hated me. You put me to death. Your sins slew me, but I have
taken them away. I have blotted them out. I have shed my blood. I have
ransomed you. I have redeemed you. I have saved
you and delivered you. Come into my house and dwell
with me.' And they stand up and they follow they follow him who
is their shepherd and they who once lost sheep follow their
shepherd in with the flock and sit at his banqueting feast. Has he come unto you? Has he
led you into that place? Has he blessed you who once hated
him? The psalmist goes on to speak
of his glory. For with thee is the fountain
of life. In thy light shall we see light. Oh, continue thy loving kindness
unto them that know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright
in heart. Let not the foot of pride come
against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me. There
are the workers of iniquity fallen. They are cast down and shall
not be able to rise. With thee is the fountain of
life, in thy light shall we see light. Where does all the blessing
of the gospel flow from? How can those who are so wicked,
so deceitful, so proud, How can those who hated God and His Son
with such a venom ever know such blessing, such righteousness,
such loving kindness, such abundance as they find in Him? How can they ever find this? What does their salvation depend
upon? It depends upon the fountain
of life. With thee is the fountain of
life. In thy light shall we see light. In our hearts, by nature, there
is that which flows forth. Our hearts are fallen hearts.
We sin because we're sinners. We sin because there is that
within our hearts that flows forth. There is, as it were,
blood that's pumped out of our hearts, out of a sewer or of
an iniquitous heart. Our hearts are deceitful above
all things. There is sin within, and what
we do flows forth from it. What we do is sin continually. But in Christ, there is no such
heart. He is a fountain of life. He is a fountain of life. What
flows from Him constantly is life and light. He is the light of God. He is
love. When we behold Christ, we see
life flowing from Him. We see light flowing from Him. We see love flowing from him. We see the glory of the gospel
flowing forth from the heart of Jesus Christ. And that is
what delivers sinners like you and I. Sinners whose hearts bring
forth sin every day. Our hearts flow forth sin. Our blood is corrupted by sin. His blood is righteous. His blood can cover every sin. His life brings life. His life is everlasting. It's without beginning and without
end. It's a different character and
quality of life altogether. We have a beginning. We're born
of our mother or father. Our consciousness begins one
day and we're born having inherited sin from our father, whose sin
flows forth from our great, great, great grandfather in the beginning,
Adam. Sin passes through in the seed
that passes from Adam unto all generations. We're born in sin,
but there is one who was born without sin. There is one who
was born a virgin of Mary, And the seed within him that took
him to life with Mary's seed, with Mary's flesh, the seed within
him was that of the Holy Ghost. He had no father but God the
Father. He was without sin. He never
sinned. His blood was perfect blood. And his blood and only his blood
could take away sin. His life and only His life could
deliver sinners from death. He is a fountain of life. Where did the blessings of the
gospel come from? From the person of Jesus Christ,
from the fountain of blood which flows from Him, and from that
fountain which flowed when He was crucified. upon the cross. That heart of Christ, which knew
no sin, was pierced upon the cross. That man was pierced. That blood flowed. He bore the sins of his people. He was made sin. He suffered
in their stead, and his blood was shed. He died that they who
were once dead should live. With thee is the fountain of
life. In thy light shall we see light. What can you see? O sinner, what can you see? Is there no fear of God before
your eyes? If there's no fear of God before
your eyes, it's because you're blind, you cannot see. There's
no light, you're in the darkness. You can't see what you are, you
can't see what God is. You can't see. You say you understand,
but you don't. You can't see. There's no fear
of God. But when his light comes unto
you, Then you will see light. When his light comes unto you,
then he will open your eyes and you will see, and you will see
God. You will see the Son of God and
you will see the truth in the light of God. And you will see
and feel and know the fountain of life. You will drink the water
that flows from him. and never first again. You will
eat the bread that was broken and never hunger. You will have
that life which is eternal without beginning and without the end. Your eyes will be opened and
you will see. In thy light shall we see light.
Only God's light can make you see. Only his truth can make
you see. Only the gospel can deliver you
from your sins. Without the Gospel, without His
light, without His life, you will remain in darkness. Then
how vital is the Gospel? How vital is the power of God
unto your soul? How vital the declaration of
the righteousness of God? How you need to hear His voice
in the Gospel. How you need to hear the servant
of the Lord speaking unto your soul. how you need to be bathed
in that fountain of life, how you need to be washed in the
blood which flowed forth from the one who died, from the one
who was buried, and from the one who early on the third day
rose victorious from the grave. He is risen. He was slain by the sins of his
people. He was slain by the wicked that
hated him. He was slain because you and
I hated him. But on the third day, he rose. He rose victorious. He rose a
conquering hero. He rose a great savior. He delivered
his people from their sins. And he rises forth and goes forth
with them, declaring his gospel. and He stands in glory today. He's in glory. He's on the right
hand of the Father and He preaches. He sends forth His light into
the darkness of this world. He sends it forth into the darkest
corners of this world. Wherever you may be found hiding,
He can find you. whatever cave you might have
flown to, whatever dark corner of this world you might be cowering,
however far from God you might have run, He can send forth His
gospel, He can shine forth His light, and He can find you, and
the fountain of life can come pouring in, because He will preach, and He
preaches, and He will continue to preach His gospel, the power
of God unto salvation. that sinners like you and sinners
like I, that the wicked like you, that the wicked like I,
who had no fear of God before our eyes, might hear and might
see and might know that in His light we see light, that in Him
is the fountain of life. that in Christ there are blessings
abundant. Men put their trust under the
shadow of his wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied
with the fatness of his house, and he shall make them drink
of the river of his pleasures. Have you heard him? Have you
seen him? Have you drunk from this fountain?
Have you been washed by this blood? Have you seen the light
of his gospel? Have you been led into his house
to sit at his table and eat from his table and drink of the rivers
of his pleasure? The transgression of the wicked
saith within my heart that there is no fear of God before his
eyes, but with thee is the fountain of life. Do you know the fountain
of life?