Psalm 59 verse 1. Let's look
at the first three verses together. Deliver me from mine enemies,
O my God. Defend me from them that rise
up against me. Deliver me from the workers of
iniquity and save me from bloody men. For lo, they lie in wait
for my soul. The mighty are gathered against
me, not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord." Now, in every psalm and every passage
of Scripture, we see our Lord Jesus Christ because God has
set forth His Son in this book and really nothing else. Everything
that's in the Word of God pertains to the Lord Jesus Christ and
often in the psalms, And I'm not sure it isn't always
true. We see the actual words of Christ. This is from Christ's perspective,
spoken as if by the Son of God himself. And isn't that clear? The mighty are gathered against
me. We see that in Acts 4.26. I'd have you turn there if you
want to jot it down or if you want to turn there. Listen to
it, though. Acts 4.26, the kings of the earth
stood up. and the rulers were gathered
against the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were
gathered together." That's what we have reference to in our psalm.
The mighty are gathered against me. David pictures our Lord Jesus
Christ And so many, all through his
history, the writings of David and by David, he's picturing
the Lord Jesus in all of them. And here we see it so clearly.
These first three verses, they capture the theme of this whole
psalm and indeed the whole word of God. The mighty have gathered
against me, but not for my sin, not because of anything I did.
There's no reason, no good reason for it. Didn't he say, why have
you come out against me? For what good deed that I've
done do you come against me, try to kill me? They hated me, he said, without
a cause. That's what we're seeing here.
A man, and this is David's experience now, but he doesn't, or does
he realize that he's writing of Christ? He's writing as if
from the very perspective of Christ himself. Here's a man
hated and hounded to his death. They wanted to kill him. Persecuted,
accused, condemned by the authority of the day, the king and his
cabinet, his followers. by the rulers and yet as David
says here, I've done nothing wrong. They're not doing it because
I've done anything wrong. What a beautiful picture. Now
we could from this text and we have from similar texts talked
about all of the enemies of the believer. David is talking about
his enemies here. We as believers have enemies
and we could certainly talk about that and it wouldn't be remiss
to do so at all. But we would be remiss if we
didn't talk about Something more than that. We
do have enemies. There are many powerful spiritual
enemies. Look at Luke, turn to Luke chapter
one with me. I want to just touch on this
because we won't spend our time talking about it. But David's
physical enemies here remind us of all of our enemies as believers. And they hated him because he
was God's anointed. He was God's appointed king. And this world hates us because
of Christ. If they even know to, you know
what I mean. Some people don't even know us
well enough to hate us. But if they know really who you are,
They're not going to like you much. This world's not. Luke
1, 67, His father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and
prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he
hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up a horn
of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. That's
who we're reading. We're reading the Psalm of David.
And he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which have
been since the world began that we should be saved from our enemies."
That's the prophecy that Christ is going to come and save us
from what? Our enemies. That's what salvation is. He's saving
us from our enemies. from the hand of all that hate us to perform
the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. We say we save from our enemies. And David is talking about enemies
here. But for our time tonight, let's
realize this. Let's focus on this aspect of
it. As believers, we are delivered from all of our enemies by our
Lord Jesus Christ taking our enemies as his own enemies. Now
think with me. The Lord had enemies from his
throne. If you consider Christ from his
throne, without ever coming down here, he has enemies. But as
a man in this world, as my representative and substitute, he had enemies
in a whole other sense. They became his enemies. He took my place opposed by these, by Satan and
evil and the hatred of wicked men. He took, here, let me put
it this way and maybe this will, this is kind of hard to explain. He took on my enemies as me. Now from his throne, he can wave
his hand. He don't even have to wave his
hand. He don't even have to use that much effort. He just think
about it. And every enemy is destroyed,
annihilated. But he came down here and took
them on as me. in my place, as my representative.
That's how all my enemies are destroyed, not by me being something,
but by him becoming me and defeating them as my substitute, as my
champion. You see what I'm saying? The
difference from having enemies from his throne, as God on his
throne, that's one thing. Satan's his puppet. Everybody's
his puppet. Everybody and everything is manipulated.
But he came down here and took on my enemies in a whole other
sense. And that's my salvation right
there. I'm saved from my enemies by my enemies being his enemies.
I'm no match for him. And you're not either. None of
them. Now, how does this idea of the
kings, the authority of the world, Let's think about this we are
talking about Christ in our place being attacked and hated and
opposed by all, everything that opposes, everybody that opposes
Him and all that is good. But how does this idea of the
kings, the authority, the rulers of the world hating and murdering
God's Son, how do they represent any enemy of mine? Well, we talked
about this before. Let's consider King Saul, for
example. That's who David's talking about
in this psalm. He's talking about King Saul
and all of the rulers that came with him to destroy David. And King Saul, he hated David
because David was God's anointed king. And he hated him enough
to go to great lengths to eliminate him. What enemy of mine is that? How does that relate to an enemy
of mine? Well, I tell you who that enemy
is, it's me. It's me. I am my own worst enemy. And as I said, we've talked about
this before, like Saul, we consider ourselves to be the kings of
the universe. That's what Satan whispered in
our ear from the beginning. Ye shall be as God's determining
good and evil. You'll be your own authority. You don't have to hear from God
what's right and wrong. You'll decide what's good and
what's evil for yourself. We are the authorities of the
world that hate Christ. And because of that, because
of what we are in hating him, we're our own worst enemy. We've
forsaken our own mercy. We say, I have a free will. I
don't say that now, but that's by God's grace. By nature now,
man's, ah, he boasts of his free will. I can do as I please. I can do whatever I want to do.
That's what a free will is. I can do what I please. We say,
even as Pilate did in our study recently on Sunday morning, that
we have power to accept or reject Christ whatever we plead. Pilate said, I can do what I
want to do with you. That's what they're preaching
down here. What do you want to do with Jesus? You can do whatever
you want to. You can accept him or reject him. When in reality,
it's the other way around. He's going to do what he wants
to do with us. As we're born into this world, we hate everybody
who crosses us. who would challenge our authority.
Even as little children we're like that. We want to do as we
please and if somebody restrains us we're going to bow up and
turn red in the face and scream. We're still doing that as adults.
We just hide it better now. Sometimes. That was Saul's problem
with David. Authority. Who's going to be
king? God I said that David was king. Saul said, we already got
a king and it's me. That's us by nature. With me, it's this, I say I'm
king. God says his son is king and
I'm a grasshopper. And I don't much like that by
nature. It's my rebellious heart, my rebellion against God's authority. It's the kings and the rulers
standing up opposing Christ. Me, my own evil pride and wicked,
rebellious, haughty nature that's gonna drag me to hell quicker
than anything or anybody else. But Christ made that enemy his
enemy. He came to destroy that pride.
He came to put the so-called rulers of this earth in their
place. And he did it. He destroyed that
enemy. And you know what's gracious?
What's beautiful? He destroyed that enemy without
destroying me. You think, well, he's destroyed
that? Well, he's destroying you then. Well, yeah, in a sense.
Yeah, got to kill me. Got to. But he destroyed the enemy without
destroying me. He destroyed the old me, the
original me. And He did so with His precious
blood, by shedding His precious blood for my sin. When Christ did away with my
sin, what was He really doing away with? Me. Sin ain't floating in the air.
Sin is me. But He washed that me away with
His precious blood. There's one enemy down. And of course, Satan was defeated
by that blood as well. The oldest prophecy we have in
the book, isn't it, Charlie? The seed of woman is going to
crush the serpent's head. He did it at Calvary. He crushed
him, destroyed him. Satan, I don't even know if he
knows if he's destroyed yet or not, but he's destroyed. All of Satan's fallen angels
are the enemies of God's people. They were God's enemy before
he ever became flesh. Now, let me remind you, from
his throne, they were his enemy. But again, he took them on as
me. He came down bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh and as a man, he took on Satan
and his army of angels. He became me yet without sin
and defeated all of my enemies. He answered this prayer of David's
and mine. David said, oh Lord, defend me,
destroy my enemies. Don't let them triumph over me.
He answered that prayer and he answered it when I prayed it.
He answered it before I ever prayed it. And he said, yes,
I will. And when he was made flesh and
then made sin for me, he accomplished it. My champion is victorious. And that's why we get so offended. The petty things that offend
this world don't bother me a bit. But when somebody talks about
my Lord Jesus Christ trying something and not being able to get it
done without you, that bothers me. Not more than bothers me. And remember this, I just quoted
from 2 Corinthians 5.21, he was made sin, but listen to it, the
wording there is this, 2 Corinthians 5, for he hath made him to be
sin for us who knew no sin. That's the rest of our text.
Those first three verses, what David say, they're trying to
kill me, they're handing me, they hate me, they oppose me,
but not for my sin, not for my sin. He hath made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, not for his sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. who knew no sin. That's our text
now. David said, I'm hated, I'm hounded,
not for my sin. And that's interesting wording
there. Interesting wording David used there. He could have said,
they hounded me for no good reason. He could have said, they hounded
me and they're trying to kill me though I've done nothing wrong.
But he said, not for my sin. which implies somebody's sin
is involved here. And this is because, the reason
it's worded that way is because our Lord Jesus Christ, who is
the message of this Psalm and all of this book, was persecuted
and hated and hounded and ultimately slain, not for his sin, but for
sin, my sin. He was wounded for our transgressions,
Isaiah said in 53. He was wounded for our transgressions. And this is confusing to some
people because preachers have confused them, I believe, and
me being one of them. There's a sense in which it became
his sin because he personally became responsible as my surety
and yours, if you're his, and yes, more than that. It's more
than a legal obligation for my sin, which shouldn't be shrugged
off, that there. If God says that Christ is my
surety, is legally responsible for my sin, I wouldn't shrug
that off. That's real, That alone demands that he be
punished. But there is more to it than
that. He took my sins upon himself, it says in the Scripture. My
sin were laid upon him, it says in the word. He laid on him the
iniquity of us all. He bared our sins in his own
body on the tree. That's more than just a legal
transaction. I understand that. What I don't
understand is somebody saying, well, he died for his own sin.
No, I don't get that. That's wrong. You're not going
to find that in this book. And that's not right. What I
don't understand is anybody even implying that Christ became a
sinner. He did not. He was wounded for my transgressions. He was wounded for them. It doesn't
say he was wounded for what used to be my transgressions, but
now they're his. No, he was wounded for my transgressions. And if you don't understand how
that can happen, well, guess what? God is not somebody you
can figure out. And a lot of the things he does,
you're not gonna figure them out. But I know this, I know
because he bore my sin, I never will. I never will. Because he took my sin upon himself
and suffered. I could try to describe his sufferings
to you and I would make a fool of myself. He was made sin, the scripture
says that. He took my sin and his own body on the tree. But I'll tell you this, he wasn't
wounded for his sins. And that's what our text is talking
about here. He was not wounded for his sins. He was wounded
for my sins. He was hounded and hated and
killed for my sins. That's the language of scripture.
Substitute. God the Father, in perfect and
uncompromising justice, God who cannot justify the guilty nor
condemn the righteous, destroyed His Son for my sin." How is that possible? How can
that be? Well, that's going to be one of those things that we're
just not going to understand until we're with him and we see
him as he is. We'll know even as we're known
then. I don't understand a lot of things,
do you? I don't understand how in the world God could love a
nasty worm like me. Now, we're talking about God
now. I'll tell you this though, a
lot of people want to ask how, you know, how this and how that,
beyond what the scripture revealed. There are two ways to ask how
with regard to this, with regard to him being hated and despised
and rejected and ultimately crucified, but not for his sin. There are
two ways to ask how. You can ask how that works. How
does that work with regard to justice and all? How is it not a violation of
God's justice for one to be condemned for another's sin? I can't answer
that. But I'll tell you what's a whole
lot greater and more wonderful mystery to me than that. This
is a great mystery. But I know this, I know that
God being who he is, the first how is a great mystery. I don't
understand that. But I know, here's what I know
from the word of God, without speculation. This is what I know
from God's word. God being who he is, holy and
inflexibly just and righteous, it's right for him to do what
he did at Calvary, I know that. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? You better believe he will. And
whatever he, what he accomplished at Calvary, it was right. I can't
explain it, but I know that Christ took my sin in such a way that
it was right for God to punish him for it. I know that. I know that he is just in justifying
me because of what Christ did. That's clear from scripture.
He set forth his son to be a propitiation for our sins that God might be
just and justifier of the ungodly. But here is the how of all hows. How can it be that God would
love me that much? How? How does that happen? How does God's son go through
what he went through and me go free when I'm the guilty one? How could God love me so? God
loved so that he gave his only begotten son for me. Now that's
worth thinking about. How? And to know the answer to
that question is to know God in a way that
I can't know him now, but I will. I will soon. I'll know him even
as I am known. And I'll tell you this, even
when we know the answer to it, it's never gonna get old. We're
gonna be singing about it throughout all eternity. Worthy is the lamb
that was slain because he redeemed us. He died for us and redeemed
us with his precious blood. We may understand it someday,
but we're not ever getting over it. And the rest of this Psalm is
David denouncing his enemies, calling upon God for deliverance. The rest of this Psalm is kind
of like the rest of my life. Once I know, once I understand
those first three verses, this is my life. Lord, deliver me
every day. My heart is still against me. My old nature, I still am at
war with it. Help me in that battle. That's
what David's saying. Help me. Fight my enemies. Defeat my enemies today. They're
defeated eternally. Defeat them in my experience.
Give me victory every day. That's what he's talking about
the rest of this, most of this psalm. Kinda like my life, now that
I know him, how that he, not for his sin, was slain for me. I want you to just notice how
David refers to God in verses 9 and 10, and we'll just look
at that for a minute instead of trying to go word for word
here. Because of his strength, Well, I wait upon thee for God
is my defense. I know who wins because of his
strength. When you see him in his strength,
when you see the almighty Christ, when you have renounced by God's
grace and revelation, the pathetic Jesus of this religious world,
and you see the victorious almighty savior, you're gonna do what
David did. You're gonna wait on him. I see
who wins now, and I see why, because of who he is. And he's
my champion. I'm waiting on him. I'm looking
to him. I'm depending upon him. I'm trusting
him. That's what David said. And then
look at verse 10. The God of my mercy, the God of my mercy shall prevent me God shall let me see my desire
upon my enemies. God doesn't just defend me. Notice the language here. He
doesn't just defend me. He is my defense. There's a difference. He, in the person of His glorious,
almighty Son, is my defense. And He is the God of my mercy. In verses 16 and 17, look at
that, after speaking, of God's enemies and David's enemies being
consumed in verse 13. He said, consume them in wrath,
consume them that they may not be and let them know that God
ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. And then after
saying that, he said, but I will sing of thy power. After speaking of all of the
enemies of God and his son, which are my enemies, he made them
his as a man. As me, he made them his enemies,
and that's why they destroyed, and that's why I'm saved. David
says here, now what I'm gonna do about that. Well, it's gonna
be my response to that. Of his enemies being consumed
and this ought to be our resolve as well. This is what david This is what david Says his resolve
will be now. I will sing of thy power. Yay
I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning For thou has been
my defense and refuge in the day of trouble unto thee. Oh
my strength Will I sing? For god is my defense And the
God of my mercy. Do you know why God save sinners?
There's more than one reason. But if you could say there was
one paramount reason. Of course, he saves us because
he loves us. Got to have us. But surely the
paramount reason is this. He does it for his glory. It is a display of the riches
of the glory of his grace, Paul said, that he has mercy on the
vessels of mercy. And so David said, he's destroyed
all my enemy. What are you going to do about
that, David? I'm going to glorify him. That's what I'm going to
do. I'm going to sing his praises. I'm going to start now and I'm
not ever going to stop. You realize that when we sing
together, We don't sing near as good as we're going to, but
we're doing now what we're always going to do. We're going to sing
the praises of the Lamb from now on. Glory be to Him both
now and forever. Let's start glorifying it right
now, and let's just keep doing it until we can do it a whole
lot better than we can do it now. That's why God saves sinners.
He does it for His glory so that they will sing of His power and
His mercy and just keep on singing of it. In glory we're going to
be singing it. Down here we're going to be singing
it. We're going to tell everybody who will listen that God, what
did He talk about there in those last verses? His power and His
mercy. Now you think about that. Power
and mercy. We sing that song now and I love
it. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning our song
shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy. You remember
the next three words? Merciful and mighty. That's what
David's singing. His power and his mercy. Merciful and mighty. God in three
persons. Blessed Trinity. Merciful and
mighty. That's what David said he was
gonna sing about. That's what we sing in two. The
power and mercy of God. Christ is the power of God. Paul
said, to the Jews he's a stumbling block, to the Greeks he's foolishness,
but to them which are called Christ, the power of God. and
the wisdom of God. Almighty to save. That's the
gospel we preach. That's the difference between
the gospel and everything else pathetic that passes for a gospel
in this world. Christ is almighty to save. He
saves who He came to save. He came, He redeemed everyone
He shed His blood to redeem. He obtained eternal redemption
for us with His precious blood. It's every teaching of this book,
it's clear. This is the gospel we tell. We
don't talk about Jesus who did his best and left it up to men,
but the Christ of God who has power on earth to forgive sins,
not to offer it, to blot them out. His precious blood saves all
for whom he shed it. His hand is not shortened that
it cannot save. He saves whom he pleases, but
his power alone is not good news. He must, in His divine power,
punish my sin. If I only know the Almighty God,
and that's all I know about Him, that won't comfort me. But David
said, I'm going to sing of His power, but I'm going to sing
of something else too. I'm going to sing of His mercy. Vicki and I sing that song sometimes,
filled with pity, joined with power. Now that's salvation. Mercy joined with power. Power alone is not salvation,
although he's almighty to save. But power without mercy is terrifying. And I'll tell you this, mercy
without power is nothing more than wishing me the best while
I drop into hell. Mercy without power is what everybody
else is talking about. That won't help me either. But like David, I'm gonna sing
of him who is merciful and mighty. He's not only willing to save,
he's able to save. He has and shall save all that
he purposed to save and came to save and finished his glorious
sin atoning work in order to save. And he said, whosoever
believeth on me shall be saved. And by his grace. I do. I believe on him. I believe on
the one who is merciful and mighty. And like David, I kind of like
singing about it. And I'm gonna like it a whole
lot better when I can sing perfectly and I can see him as he is. I don't even know what mercy
is now, really, or power. But someday I will. and I'm gonna have a better voice
to sing about it. But I'll still be singing to the same one that
we sing about now. Merciful and mighty. Almighty to save and plenteous
in mercy. He delights to show mercy. Let's pray.