David writes in the 25th Psalm
as follows, Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God,
I trust in thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not
mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee
be ashamed. Let them be ashamed which transgress
without cause. Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach
me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and teach
me, for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait
all the day. Remember, O Lord, thy tender
mercies and thy loving kindnesses, for they have been ever of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. According
to thy mercy, remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.
Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore will he teach sinners
in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment,
and the meek will he teach his way. All the paths of the Lord
are mercy and truth, and to such as keep his covenant and his
testimonies. For thy namesake, O Lord, pardon
mine iniquity, for it is great. What man is he that feareth the
Lord? Him shall he teach in the way
that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease,
and his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord
is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant. Mine eyes are ever toward the
Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. Turn thee unto
me and have mercy upon me, for I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are
enlarged. O bring thou me out of my distresses,
Look upon mine affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins. Consider mine enemies, for they
are many, and they hate me with cruel hatred. O keep my soul
and deliver me, let me not be ashamed, for I put trust in thee. Let integrity and uprightness
preserve me, for I wait on thee. Redeem Israel, O God, out of
all his troubles. verse 14, the secret of the Lord
is with them that fear him and he will show them his covenant
the secret of the Lord what do you know of the secret of the
Lord? what is the secret? has it been
revealed unto you? or does it remain a secret? Well
those that fear God know this secret. For he has shown them
his covenant. The secret of the Lord. We know
a lot about secrets as sinners. Men and women in the darkness
of this world. There are many secrets. in this
world and many who have secrets sometimes they are shared sometimes
they are known and sometimes men and women go to great lengths
to keep things secret that they know would bring them shame how
much is done in the darkness which people like to keep in
the darkness hidden from others hidden from the light of day,
hidden from the light of truth, hidden from the light of righteousness,
hidden from God. How much is done in secret, the
secret sins, the evil, the devices, the motives, the plotting, the
desire, the lust, all the things done and said in secret. that
men, women and children hope remain secret. Yet there is a
God who knows everything which is done, said and thought in
this world. And what you and I may keep secret
from others, He sees. We may say one thing to people
whilst our heart thinks another thing. We may do one thing when
our motive is very different from how we would have it appear.
We have secrets and we fool others, but God sees the heart within. He sees the secrets of man. He
discovers them. There is nothing done in secret
in this world that shall not be made known. There is no secret
known to men or women in this world that one day shall not
be revealed, shall not be laid bare, shall not be made known.
We will have to answer for all that we do, say and think. in our lifetimes in this world. We will stand before Almighty
God one day and give an answer for everything. All the secrets
of our hearts will be laid bare. And yet despite this, men and
women in this world live lives full of secrets. The secrets of men. This underpins
quite a bit of what David is writing about in this psalm.
He knows his sin. He knows what he has done in
his lifetime. He knows what he's done as a
youth. And he knows that if everybody in this world knew of what he'd
done, knew of what he thought, knew of what he said, that he'd
be ashamed. And he knows that God sees all
And he prays to his God for mercy. Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift
up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee. Let
me not be ashamed. Let not mine enemies triumph
over me. How they ridiculed me. They knew
all that I was and all that I've done. Yea, let none that wait
on thee be ashamed. Let them be ashamed which transgress
without cause. Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach
me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and teach
me, for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait
all the day. Remember, O Lord, thy tender
mercies and thy loving kindnesses, for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth. nor my transgressions according
to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness sake O Lord
so he prays to his God that his God would have mercy upon him
for all those things he's done in secret all the sin all the
sins he's done in public before others but all of that which
he knows is in his heart which he can hide from men, but he
cannot hide from God. He knows that he stands before
his God naked and exposed. God knows and sees all. And he
knows that in himself he will be ashamed before God, just as
you will be and I will be. We all stand before God. If God
knows everything we've fought, done and said, then we are ashamed
because we are full of sin and full of guilt. Yet he prays that
God would remember not these things. He prays that his God
would forgive these things, that he'd cover them, that he'd take
them out of sight and that he'd remember his mercy towards David. Oh Lord, forget these things.
Block them out. Take them away. Have mercy upon
me. Because he knows that what he's
done in secret would bring condemnation. And what you and I have done
in secret would rightly bring God's condemnation against us,
would it not? Oh, you can make a show of an
appearance of righteousness. You can make a show of religion.
You can go to the meetings and dress up smart. You can behave
yourself in public. You can avoid any great transgression. You can avoid any trouble with
the law. You can avoid any trouble before
men and appear moral and upright. But you know when push comes
to shove, you know that in your heart, There is iniquity. You know you have secrets, which
you'd be shamed of if others knew. If others could look into
your mind, into your thoughts, into your heart, and know everything
you thought, done, and said from the day you were born, and know
what you really are within, how shamed you'd be. Stripped bare. And yet that's what God sees,
the secrets of man. David writes in Psalm 19, who
can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Not only do we have sins and
secrets within that we know of, but we're so wicked. We can't
even see everything that's wrong with ourselves. We can't even
understand ourselves. We know we're full of iniquity.
We know we're full of hidden faults, hidden even from us. And we know, if God opened our
eyes to the reality as David knew, that God will see and God
will judge. David's son Solomon wrote, for
God shall bring every work into judgment. with every secret thing,
whether it be good or whether it be evil. God shall bring every
work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good
or whether it be evil. And Paul, in declaring the gospel
in Romans, In the early chapters where he proves both Jews and
Gentiles to be under sin has this to say, For when the Gentiles
which have not the law do by nature the things contained in
the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves,
which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their
conscience also bearing witness, and their thought the meanwhile
accusing or else excusing one another. In the day when God
shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to
my gospel. Whether you are religious or
irreligious, whether you know God's word or not, whether you've
read the Bible or not. As with the Gentiles who knew
not the Scriptures, they weren't Jews, they weren't religious,
they didn't have the history that the Jewish people had. And
yet as created beings, as creatures made by the Creator, they had
a conscience within and they knew right from wrong. And they
knew the secret sins within. And they knew that one day they
would be judged. And Paul reminds us that there
is a day coming when God will judge the secrets of man by Jesus
Christ according to his gospel. What you may hide and what may
remain hidden one day will be made bare when the gospel comes
and roots you up. and shines a light into the darkness
of your heart in the darkness things are hid when the light
shines they're made known they are revealed by the gospel oh
men have secrets because their hearts have secrets the secrets
of men and the secrets of the heart we keep them hid deep within
deep within but as psalm 44 asks shall not god search this out
for he knoweth the secrets of the heart shall he not search
them out don't play games You can keep things secret from me,
you can keep things secret from others, but God knows. Do not God search this out, for
he knoweth the secrets of the heart. He looks within. See these secrets we have, these
hidden sins are hidden deep within, that's where we can keep them
secret, deep within our being, in the heart. And it's in the
heart which God must see in order to bring them to the surface.
It's the heart which must be reached. And if you're ever to
know God and to know His salvation and to know the forgiveness of
your secret sins as David knew and as David pleaded and prayed
for, then God must reach into your heart. O God, I trust in
thee, let me not be ashamed. Remember not the sins of my youth,
nor my transgressions. If that prayer is to be answered
for David, and if that prayer is to be answered for you, then
God must reach into your heart. and deal with what's in your
heart and cover what's in your heart and blot out the secrets
you held within. Then if there's a day coming
when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according
to the gospel, then that gospel must reach into the heart. It must penetrate, it must enter
the darkness, the deepest recesses of your being. You may cover
the exterior with all sorts of covering. You may hide what you
really are from your fellow men and you may attempt to hide what
you are from God as it were like Adam and Eve when they fell,
when they transgressed, when they turned against God they
tried to cover themselves, they tried to get fig leaves and sew
them and cover themselves so that God couldn't see their nakedness. which was a figure of their sin
they tried to hide the sin they tried to hide the heart they
tried to hide the secrets and religious men have been doing
that ever since the Pharisees with their good works and their
much attention to God's law in the letter tried to appear as
though they were those who sought God when deep within they knew
the secrets in their hearts and they knew the lies they were
living that before the people they praised God and they worshipped
and they did this, that and the other when in their hearts they
were far away God says elsewhere that these people come near unto
me with their lips and their hearts are far from me. Then
if ever you're to know salvation, if ever you're to be forgiven,
if ever you're to escape the judgment of God, the revelation
of the secrets of your heart by Jesus Christ through his gospel,
if you're ever to escape his wrath when he discovers what
you really are, then his gospel must penetrate your dark, hidden,
secretive heart. God knows what is in the heart
and his gospel can enter the darkest of hearts and shine a
light within and bring in peace. Secrets of the heart. Must be
exposed by a gospel, which to men in the darkness, until God
comes and speaks by his spirit, remains a gospel, good news,
glad tidings, a wonderful message of salvation remains a gospel,
an evangel, which is secret. To men the gospel is secret,
it's hidden. It's hidden. Paul says at the
end of Romans, now to him that is of power to establish you
according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according
to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the
world began. Men have had the scriptures.
Men have lived in this world as created beings, aware in their
conscience that there is a God before whom they stand. Men know
many things which are made known in the creation around them,
in the scriptures which God has preserved from the beginning,
in the testimony of many of those preachers that God sends forth
with his gospel. Men may know many things outwardly,
and yet the whole thing, the whole truth of God, the gospel,
remains a mystery to them. It's hidden. They are, as it
were, in darkness. And even when the light is there,
they're blind and they see nothing. But God in grace has a gospel,
a secret gospel, which he reveals unto his people. The secret of
the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show them his
covenant. There is a secret which he reveals. He makes known. He comes unto
this people and makes known his secret. In Daniel chapter 2 There
was a dream that the king dreamt and its interpretation was hidden
from all. A little like Joseph in Egypt. God bless Daniel in such a way
that he was able to interpret this vision of the kings. We
read in chapter 2. And in the second year of the
reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams. Wherewith his
spirit was troubled, and his sleep break from him. Then the
king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the
sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams.
So they came and stood before the king. And the king said unto
them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to
know the dream. Then spake the Chaldeans to the
king in Syriac, O king, live forever, tell thy servants the
dream, and we will show the interpretation. The king answered and said to
the Chaldeans, the thing is gone from me. If you will not make
known unto me the dream with the interpretation thereof, you
shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
But if you show the dream and the interpretation thereof, you
shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore
show me the dream and the interpretation thereof. They answered again
and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will
show the interpretation of it. The king answered and said, I
know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see
the thing is gone from me. But if ye will not make known
unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you. For ye have
prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the
time be changed. Therefore tell me the dream,
and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof. The Chaldeans answered before
the king and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can
show the king's matter. Therefore there is no king, lord,
nor ruler that are such things as any magician or astrologer
or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the
king requireth, and there is none other that can show it before
the king, except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh. For
this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded
to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. And the decree went
forth that the wise men should be slain, and they sought Daniel
and his fellows to be slain. Then Daniel answered with counsel
and wisdom to Ariok, the captain of the king's guard, which was
gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon. He answered and said
to Ariok, the king's captain, why is the decree so hasty from
the king? Then Ariok made the thing known
to Daniel. Then Daniel went in and desired
of the king that he would give him time and that he would show
the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house
and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, his companions,
that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning
this secret, that Daniel and his fellows should not perish
with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret
revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the
God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed
be the name of God for ever and ever. For wisdom and might are
his, and he changes the times and the seasons. He removeth
kings and setteth up kings. He giveth wisdom unto the wise
and knowledge to them that know understanding. He revealeth the
deep and secret things. He knoweth what is in the darkness,
and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee and praise thee,
O thou God of my fathers, who have given me wisdom and might,
and has made known unto me now what we desired of thee. For
thou hast now made known unto us the King's matter. Therefore
Daniel went in unto Ariok, whom the king had ordained to destroy
the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus unto him,
Destroy not the wise men of Babylon, bring me in before the king,
and I will show unto the king the interpretation. Danariot
brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus unto
him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah that will make
known unto the king the interpretation. The king answered and said to
Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Daniel answered in the presence
of the king and said, But there is a God in heaven
that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar
what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream and the visions of
thy head upon thy bed are these. As for thee, O king, thy thoughts
came into thy mind upon thy bed. What should come to pass hereafter? And he that revealeth secrets
maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. for as for me this
secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more
than any living but for their sakes that shall make known the
interpretation to the king and that thou mightest know the thoughts
of my heart and Daniel goes on to make known unto the king the
vision and the interpretation but it was God who revealed it
to him. He showed unto Daniel that which
was hidden from all the wise men in Babylon, all the kingdom. He revealed it. And that's a
picture of what he does with all his people. Here's this Jew
in this dark nation of Babylon, this evil nation. And God makes
known the hidden secret. and with his people he takes
his gospel which is hid from the wise and the prudent and
he reveals it unto them as unto babes he takes his gospel his
covenant his secret and he says unto them by the spirit this
is the interpretation here is Christ Here is my Son. Here is a Saviour I have sent
for thee, O child of God. Here is a Saviour, O sinner. My Son, the Son of God, who has
come in thy place. who has taken thy secret sins,
who has taken thy transgressions, and has gone to a place of judgment,
and has stood before me in your place, and has said, Judge not
that one. but bring the sword of justice
upon me. Here is my son who when you knew
not him, when you knew nothing, when you were in darkness, when
you were committing those secret vile things that you hid in your
heart, when you were dead in sins, he came in your place and
he took those sins and I slew him. I judged him for you. I took your sins away and laid
them upon my son and I slew my son as I would slay you if you
knew not me. He paid your price. He died your
death. He saved your soul. He set you free. It's over. Your sins are no more. Look under
him. and thy faith will make thee
whole. For I have opened your eyes,
put in faith in your heart to see a Saviour crucified for you. The secret of the Lord is with
them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. Has He shown unto you His covenant? Have you seen it? This is faith. would cease. It's faith unto
which these secrets are revealed. Daniel was a man of faith. David was a man of faith. He says in the next verse, mine
eyes are ever toward the Lord. not his outward eyes, the eyes
of his heart, the eyes of faith. He looks up by faith unto his
God who's made known his secret and made known his covenant unto
him who set forth Christ the Saviour as his Saviour. It's he in whom he hopes. It's he before whom he comes
in a secret place. As David walked through this
world of darkness, with the eyes of his faith set upon his God,
believing that gospel which is kept secret from the wise and
prudent but had been revealed unto him. As he walks through
this world of darkness, he communes with his God by going into a
place which no one else knows of. Not a physical place. Not a building made with stone.
Not a place you visit. Not a Mecca you pay a pilgrimage
to. But a secret place. A hidden
place. A place you enter into by faith. A place in which your heart enters
in. A place in which the Lord God
dwells. Psalm 91, we read, he that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. Now in all these things, and
in all these things that David writes, ultimately, it is Christ
who is the man who walks by faith before his God. It is Christ
who is the man that dwells in the secret place of the Most
High. But all his children, all his people by faith dwell where
he dwells. They enter where He enters. Christ,
the Great High Priest, who offered Himself up as a sacrifice for
His people, took His own blood and entered into the holiest
of holies. He entered into the holy place.
He entered before the mercy seat of Almighty God. He went into
that secret place before God the Father, the place that no
one could enter but the High Priests. and the High Priest
has entered and by faith all his people like David, like Daniel,
like you and I if we know him enter in into that secret place
of the Most High where we abide under the shadow of the Almighty
Psalm 27, 5. We read, In the time of trouble
he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of his tabernacle
shall he hide me. He shall set me upon a rock.
There's a place, a hidden place, a pavilion, a tabernacle, a safe
rock under which we can shelter. the place which faith leads us
into the presence of Almighty God. Wherever we are, whatever
circumstance, whatever the trial and the trouble, when all men
around us are like ravening wolves, are like bulls of Bashan, when
all are trying to put us to death, when all ridicule and mock, when
everything seems to be falling apart and crumbling down and
you don't know how to stand, when every difficulty comes your
way, there is a place that faith can go. into the pavilion of
God, into his tabernacle, into the secret place of the Most
High. Prayer shuts the eyes to the
world and enters in by faith, where the eyes of faith are opened
and ever set toward the Lord. And we look and behold and know
that he's our God, and know that he's taken away our sin, and
know that all is well. And we call upon his name and
he hears us. We call upon his name and he
hears us. What name is this? It's a secret
name. It's a name which is hid from
the world and hid from the world's religion. In Judges 13, 18, the
angel answers and says, Why askest thou thus after my
name, seeing it is secret? The angel of the Lord said unto
him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?
You see Jesus, though we know the name outwardly in the scriptures,
as the angel of the Lord has a name with a meaning and the
meaning of the name is hid from the wise and the prudent and
it's hid from this world and it's hid from the world religion
for his name the Lord Jesus Christ the anointed saviour Jehovah
Joshua God's saviour speaks of a saviour whom God has set forth
to save his people from their sins. It speaks of a sovereign
God who comes unto a people who are dead in trespasses and sins,
who dwell in darkness, who seek not after God, and comes and
delivers them while they are yet in their sins. It speaks
of the electing grace of God It declares unto men that they
will not save themselves, they cannot save themselves, they
don't choose to save themselves. It declares unto us that unless
God saves, we will remain dead. But when His name is revealed
unto us, we come to know a God who has come for our salvation,
though we sought Him not. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And he saved
them when they sought him not. He didn't respond to them. He
didn't respond to their decision. He didn't respond to their good
works when they were dead. when they hated, when they chose
otherwise, when they despised him he came into the darkness
and delivered them. Why askest thou thus after my
name seeing it is secret we don't know his name and religion doesn't
know his name and most of what calls itself christianity doesn't
know it's name his name because they preach another jesus a jesus
who presents himself as this weak ineffectual savior whom
you must choose whom you must make a decision to accept as
your savior that's not the name of God's Son. That Jesus has
another name. That Jesus is an idol of man's
making. His name is secret. The true
Jesus' name is secret. They have a Jesus whose name
they make known, but their Jesus is of a character completely
different from God's. For thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. His name
is secret. Do you know his name? Have you
called upon his name? Has God come unto you and opened
your heart and shone the light of God into the darkness of your
secrets in your heart and made known the name of the Son of
God and called you to call upon him? If he has, then you with
him will know the secret of the Lord. Seventhly, the secret of
the Lord. The secret of the Lord is with
them that fear him. Do you fear God? Do you stand
before God knowing that if your iniquity was not cleansed, that
if your sin was not taken away that if your secrets were left
undealt with that his wrath would burn against you forever has
he brought you to that point of knowing that and accepting
that and saying that he's just in so doing have you been brought
to fear him firstly in that fear which fears his wrath and judgement
and then secondly in that fear, that regard, that reverence that
being brought to know his covenant being brought to know the secret
name of his son being brought by faith to look upon him and
knowing the secret of the gospel that having discovered that he
has already paid the price for your sin and that all is well. Has he put that fear of God in
your heart, that you revere him, that you love him, that you worship
him? This God who had your life in
his hands, this God who could send you to hell, this God who
justly would send you to hell, and yet in Christ he has delivered
his people from their sins. Do you know this secret? Job
asked, has thou heard the secret of God? And dost thou restrain
wisdom to thyself? Has thou heard the secret of
God? If you have, you'll make it known. If you have, you'll
preach this gospel to others. If you have, you'll pray that
God would reveal this unto others. Has thou heard his secret? In
Proverbs 3 we read, for the froward is abomination to the Lord. the
proud, the unrighteous those who have their secrets in their
heart who pretend to be good when they are full of evil they're
an abomination and if you're like them you're an abomination
to the Lord but he says his secret is with the righteous have you
his secret? oh you may say well how can I
I'm not righteous I have all this sin within but if he reveals
his gospel unto you if he makes known the secret name of his
son unto you if he in that gospel leads you to the cross and points
you to the blood of Jesus Christ then you will know that you are
righteous in him and only in him for he will have shown you
his covenant his covenant in which he said before the foundation
of the world, I will send my son as a priest and a sacrifice,
as a king, as a savior. I will send him for my people. That people whom He loves, that
people whose names I have engraven upon His heart, I will send Him,
and He will come, and He will stand in their place, and He
will suffer for them, and He will take their sin, and it will
be judged according to my righteousness. And when it's judged, my righteousness
will be theirs. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of God, of Christ, Paul says. for it is the power of God unto
salvation for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith as Christ revealed the righteousness of
God unto you out of his faith which he had in which he looked
under his guard upon the cross and said, save my people. As
he revealed that righteousness unto you. David at the end of
Psalm 25 says, redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. And he has, and he does. because he has a covenant, ordered
in all things and sure, because Christ has fulfilled that covenant,
because he has wrought every condition, because he has fulfilled
all its terms, because he's paid the price, he's laid down his
life, he's brought in righteousness, he's shed his blood, he's delivered
his people from their sins, and he's preached his gospel by his
Spirit, and he preaches his gospel by his Spirit, he's sent forth
that gospel, that secret gospel unto them throughout all time,
unto the end of the world, he makes known that secret, that
they with David, might know the secret of the Lord, that they
with David might fear the Lord, that they with David might be
shown his covenant. Has he come unto you? You with
your secrets, hiding in a secret place, in the darkness, trying
to escape, trying to keep your shame away from others. Has he
come unto you with his secret gospel? revealing His secrets,
leading you to a secret place, leading you to the One with the
secret name, and making known unto you the secret of the Lord. The secret of the Lord is with
them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.