There is no state of our soul
which we may be brought, no trial which we may have to pass through,
no temptation which we may have to encounter, no difficulty in
which we will have to wrestle with that is not provided for
in the Word of God. This makes the Scriptures such
a wonderful book, but it's much more than a book. It's the Word
of Life from our Almighty God. And when the Blessed Spirit of
God is pleased to open up God's Word to us and for us, He shows
us how suitable and how relevant His Word is to our souls. And
He makes the Word of God to be food to our hearts. I'd like
to direct your attention this morning to Psalm 106, if you
would turn there with me, please. Psalm 106, verses 4 and 5. Verse 4 says, Remember me, O
Lord, with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people. O visit
me with Thy salvation, that I may see the good of Thy chosen, that
I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation, and that I may
glory with Thine inheritance. Now, the Word of God is clear
that God has a people. They're called a peculiar people.
They're a people separate from the world, a people whom He's
formed for Himself that they should show forth His praise.
Isaiah 43, 7 says, Even everyone that is called by My name, for
I have created him, For my glory I have formed him, yea, I have
made him." And although many religious people in multiple
denominations today hate the blessed teaching of election,
that's just such a horrible word among the masses. God's people
have no objections to the truth that God elected a people by
his own distinguishing grace before the foundation of the
world. First and foremost, election
undeniably declares the truth that salvation is of the Lord.
How so? Well, where was man and what
good had they done to merit salvation if redemption was determined
before men and women were ever created? That's just common sense,
isn't it? God chose a people before the
foundation of the world, before He spoke of Jacob and Esau and
said before either had done any good or evil that the doctrine
of election might stand. God chooses. God distinguishes. God discriminates. When God has
broken His people down to nothing, and that's what God does, He
shows them that they have nothing, they are nothing but mercy beggars,
bankrupt paupers who owe a huge, large debt that they cannot pay. And I'll tell you what, they
will rejoice in the fact that God elected His people to life
where they were dead and could do nothing for themselves. I
owed a debt I could not pay. He paid a debt He did not owe.
I needed someone to take my sin away. And a believer, a child
of God, knows that unless God has chosen them from eternity,
that they will never, ever see His face in glory. Now, in our
text, in verse 4, the psalmist says, Remember me, O Lord. But he's specific. He says, Remember
me, O LORD, with the favor, do you see that word, favor, that
thou bearest unto thy people. Now that word favor means everything
to the child of God, everything. There is a favor that God bears
or gives to His people. And what sort of favor is this? Well, first of all, it's eternal
favor. He never had anything else but
favor for and to his people. Never. He loved them from eternity. His heart, his affections were
eternally fixed upon his people before the world was ever created.
I'll tell you plainly, friends, and you think about this, the
only man or woman that will deny and hate the election of God
is the person who believes that he or she has something that
merited God's favor. That's the only People who will
absolutely refuse to believe elections, say it's unfair, that
it's unscriptural. You know why? Because it takes
salvation out of their hands, which it is, and gives all the
glory to God who did the choosing before they ever existed. Our text clearly states and teaches
that this eternal favor is the favor that God Himself bears
or gives unto His people. Is that not what it says? Look
at it with me again. Verse 4. Remember me, O Lord,
with the favor that Thou barest unto Thy people. Who bears it? Who gives it? God does. And yet men and women want to
take some kind of credit. made a decision, they chose Jesus,
they found Jesus. This favor of God is a discriminating
favor. Those who think that God loves
all universally have yet to see the truth contained in Scripture. But God so loved the world, He
loved men and women out of the world, friends. out of every
nation, tongue, and kindred. Why else would the Lord Jesus
Christ have said in John 17, I pray not for the world? How
can you love someone and not pray for them? I pray not for
the world, but I pray for those that thou hast given me. It's a discriminating favor.
Scripture plainly declares that God will have mercy on whom He'll
have mercy, and He'll have compassion on whom He'll have compassion.
So then it's not of Him that willeth, it's not of Him that
runneth, worketh, but of God that showeth mercy. And men refuse to believe it. It's in their Bible, but they
read right over it. Plainly stated according to the
scriptures, God's eternal favor is fixed upon some and not upon
others. Now what causes a sinner to long
that God should remember him with His favor? What is it that
causes a sinner to long for that? Well, they've been made low.
They've been made to know by God that they're a wretch. that
they're depraved, without, and forever damned unless He'd given
them His favor. The man that is brought to beg
for God's favor has found God's law to be exceedingly broad when
God showed me that I had to keep the law and I had to keep it
perfectly and I had to keep all of it. I couldn't offend in one
point or I was guilty of all. I said, oh my, who's sufficient
for this? It's exceedingly broad. The child
of God has been brought in guilty, so if there be any hope, he must
be stripped of every rag of his self-righteousness. He has to
confess before God, all your law is too exceedingly broad
for me. I can't keep it. A child of God
has had all his strength, all his wisdom, all his power taken
from him completely. And he stood shivering before
God, a naked wretch without a single covering to shield him from the
piercing eye of Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire. All men
are naked and open before God Almighty, but the child of God
admits to it, confesses it, and begs for the Lord to remember
him with his favor. He wants to be remembered. He
wants to taste the eternal favor of God. And he begs of God, my
remembering, that he should not pass him by. Pass me not, O gentle
Savior. Hear my humble cry. Why won't
others thou call? Oh, please don't pass me by. Remember me with your favor. Oh, to be overlooked in mercy
and grace, which is God's favor, is ultimate condemnation. God, don't pass me by. Don't
look over me. Remember me tell me that it's
not so dear believer. You desire to be remembered With
the favor that God bears to his people now I can assure you from
the teaching of Scripture that God listens to this cry wherever
he's implanted this desire He bows down his ear and he grants
it. You know, it's so it's throughout
all Scripture those that came to him with a need bowing at
his feet begging for mercy found mercy He delights in showing
mercy. He said, My mercy endures forever. Exodus 22, 27 says, And it shall
come to pass when he crieth unto me that I will hear. For I am
gracious. Sooner or later, favor comes.
Sooner or later, favor is revealed. And it melts the chosen sinner's
heart in humility, gratitude, love, and praise. Dear believer,
tell me that it's not so. Now, it's very important to notice
the wording here in this passage. Notice next that it says, oh,
visit me with thy salvation. You see how fond the psalmist
was of the word thy, that little three-letter word? Your, T-H-Y,
thy. Remember me with the favor that
thou bearest unto thy people. Oh, visit me with thy salvation. He wants the word thy, for that
is something that belongs to and is connected with God. True saving favor is something
that only comes from God. And that's what every child of
God is panting after. That's what every child of God
wants and desperately needs. Something from God. something from God. He desires
something manifested and shed abroad in the heart from God
Himself. I don't want what a preacher
can give me. He can't give me anything. I don't want what the
priest can give me, the Pope can give me. I want what God
can give me. Remember me with the favor that
you bear to your people. Visit me with your salvation. What is God's salvation? Well,
in a nutshell, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, it is salvation, deliverance
from death and hell. Yes, it is salvation from doubts
and fears. But most importantly, it is salvation
from sin. guilt and condemnation, a salvation
from wrath without and wrath within, which is what we deserve. Oh, don't give me what I deserve.
This is the cry of a chosen sinner. It's eternal salvation. Salvation
in Christ cannot be lost. It cannot be taken away. And
any man or woman that is thought to have lost their salvation
never truly had it to begin with. But how is a man brought and
taught to want to be visited with God's salvation? Well, I'm
convinced that he must know something first
of condemnation. God shows a man or a woman something
first of their sin, their inability, their need. Was it not so with you and your
child of God? Only the lost truly desire it. Those that are well have no need
of a physician, but those that are sick The Son of Man came
to seek and to save that which was lost. And therefore, salvation
only suits the lost. A man must be lost now, utterly
lost, before he can fully appreciate and adore God's salvation. That's
just so. You've heard me and many other
men say, oh, Scott Richardson, Beloved preacher was faithful,
pastored over 50 years there in West Virginia. He said, I
haven't heard any bad news since I heard the good news. But let
me tell you what, the first news he heard was bad news. And the
first news you and I hear is bad news. Because God requires
perfection and you and I cannot provide it. God requires perfect
righteousness and you and I have no clue what it is. Oh, that's
bad news. Because without it, we shall
perish. But then I heard the good news.
Christ came into the world to save sinners. Oh, if you're a
sinner, that's good news. Yeah, a man must be lost, utterly
lost. Now, I know men are born lost,
born ruined, condemned and dead, but a man becomes consciously
lost. You remember when you became
consciously lost? When you truly saw you were lost?
And you see His need of salvation. It's when we lose all our religion,
all our self-righteousness, all our strength, confidence, and
hopes. All that is of the flesh we lose. We say it's bedung. It's of no
profit. And only the sovereign hand of
God can take it and strip it from us. That's the only way
we can get rid of it. Oh, visit me with thy salvation. He wants a visit from God. The
child of God does. He desires that God would visit
him, come and dwell with him, take up eternal residence in
his heart. Now God's people want to see
this good. The psalmist says in verse 5,
look at it with me, that I may see the good of thy chosen. They want to see it with their
own eyes. They want to hear it with their
own ears. They want to enjoy it in their own hearts, that
I may see the good of Thy chosen. They desire to be captivated
with it, delighted with it, comforted with it, blessed by it, so as
to see their unworthy name in the book of life. This is the
desire of all God's enlightened people. They must have Christ.
Nothing else will suffice, and only God can reveal that to a
sinner. Now listen, when the psalmist
wrote these words, Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that Thou
barest unto Thy people. Oh, visit me with Thy salvation,
that I may see the good of Thy chosen, that I may rejoice in
the gladness of Thy nation, that I may glory with Thine inheritance."
When he wrote these words, let me tell you, a work of grace
had already been done in his heart. Only a man whom God has
revealed Himself to, only a man whom God has by His Spirit enlightened
will ask for these things. No one but a sinner that God
has done a work of grace in would desire the things that the psalmist
desired. Has God done a work of grace
in your heart? If he has, and this is what you'll
desire, you'll see that God is satisfied with you only in Christ. And I can promise you that if
you're in Christ, you will be satisfied, knowing that your
sins are forgiven. And you now have the perfect
righteousness of Christ. You'll see the good of God's
chosen. The psalmist said in chapter
34, verse 8, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed
is the man that trusteth in Him. Taste. and see that the Lord
is good. And blessed is every sinner that
puts their trust in Him. To see the good of God's chosen
is to know that God is good, gracious, and kind. It's to know
that He's on your side, that He will not allow any to harm
you, and that no weapon formed against you will prosper. Truly
see Christ who is the good of His people is to know that all
perfections are now yours. Now, this is the beauty of the
Gospel. That's what it is to see the
good. It's to see that all that belongs
to Him is now mine. It's to know that His strength,
His wisdom, His power, His faithfulness, His love is set upon you. To see the good that belongs
only to God's chosen is to feel and to know that all things All
things are for us and work together for our good so that nothing
can be against us. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Who can defeat God? Who can overrule
His purpose? None can be against us if God
is for us. And as our Lord said to His people,
He said, The world seeth me no more, but ye see me. Because
I live, you shall live also. And what the child of God desires
above all things is to see Christ for themselves. To feel Him in
themselves. To know Him in themselves and
enjoy Him in themselves. That's my greatest desire. And
friends, sometimes I'm on the mountaintop and I can feel the
presence of God. And I know beyond a shallow of
a doubt that Christ died for me. And then I begin, like Peter
when he walked on the water, begin to look at the storms and
the winds and the deep water around me. And I take my eyes
off Him and I begin to see. God help it not to be so. Nothing but seeing Him in sovereign
saving grace can satisfy God's people. All God's people see
that there is a good, a good in God's chosen family, peculiar
to them, and that they sigh and long for it above all things. Verse 5, that I may see the good
of thy children. God help me to see the good of
thy chosen. Do you long for only that which
Christ can give you? Now you ask yourself that question.
Do you long for what only Christ can give you? God's people will
say with David, Whom have I in heaven but thee? There's none
upon earth that I desire besides thee. Now, what is the gladness
of God's nation there mentioned in verse 5? Well, I can answer
that very easily. I can make that very simple for
you. It is to be saved without money and without price. It's
to be saved by grace, free, rich, sovereign, distinguishing, without
one atom of work, without one speck of creature merit. It's to be saved without anything
of the flesh. This is the gladness of God's
nation, to rejoice in God's free grace, superabounding over the
aboundings of sin. And the psalmist wrote, not the
psalmist, the apostle Paul in Romans 5.20 said, where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. Have you seen this, dear sinner? Have you seen that Christ is
your all in all? It's grace that gladdens a man's
heart. Verse 5 says that I may rejoice
in the gladness of thy nation. Oh, sweet, blessed grace when
it meets our case and reaches our souls. Oh, what a help, what
a strength, what a risk for a poor, toiling, striving, laboring,
desperate soul to find that grace has done all the work All of
it. What must I do to be saved? Nothing
but trust in Christ. Oh, sweet grace, blessed grace. To find that nothing is required,
nothing is wanted, nothing is to be done. Don't I have to work? Don't I have to do something?
You can't. You're incapable. It's a full and perfect, complete
and finished work. And I ask you, dear sinner, have
you ever heard such good news as that? That's why it's called
the gospel. Nothing to do, Christ having
done it all. Nothing to pay, Christ having
paid it all. Jesus paid it all, and all to
Him, I hope. Sin had left a crimson stain,
but He washed it white as stone. No work to be done. Christ having
finished the work and brought in everlasting righteousness
to clothe and shield the naked, guilty soul. Is there anything
else that you desire to hear or know? Honestly, I ask you,
is there anything else you desire to hear? Not a shout of God.
Tell me again and again and again how Christ died for a wretch
like me. Now the last part of verse 5,
and I'm finished. "...that I may glory with thine
inheritance." Now the church is Christ's inheritance. God's
people is Christ's inheritance. He purchased it by His own blood. He went into captivity for it. And He's redeemed it by pouring
out His precious blood for it. This inheritance glories. "...that
I may glory with thine inheritance." The psalmist says, "...that I
may glory with thy people." Your church. And in whom does it glory? Well, we know the answer to that.
It glories in its covenant head, the Lord Jesus Christ. It does
not glory in its highest self. It doesn't glory in its righteous
self. The Scriptures say, Let not the
wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him the glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth Me. And the Apostle Paul wrote in
1 Corinthians and also in 2 Corinthians, He that glorieth, Let him glory
in the Lord. That's the only place the center
of glory. For a man to glory in Christ,
he must first be covered with shame. He must be humbled in
his feelings. He must be found in the dust
and loathe himself in dust and ashes before God. And that's
where God brings every chosen sinner. He must see and feel
himself to be the chief of sinners and less than the least of all
saints. And that's the way every single
child of God feels about themselves. I am the chief of sinners. I'm
the least of all saints. And they'll be made to know and
feel that they are wretched, deserving nothing but wrath and
eternal condemnation. And then, and only then, a sight
of the dear Redeemer's glory catches the sinner's eye and
inflames his heart and he glories in Christ And in Him alone, in
all the inheritance of God's glory is found in Him. He can't glory in anything else.
Nothing else to glory in. And His highest attainment is
to place all the glory of salvation from the very first to the last
simply upon Christ to whom that glory belongs. Now these are
the feelings of a born-again living soul. Are they yours?
The chosen sinner says, read with me one more time, verse
4, Remember me, O Lord. with the favor that Thou bearest
unto Thy people. Give me what Your other people
have. Visit me with Thy salvation.
Cause me to see the good of Thy chosen, that I may rejoice in
the gladness of Thy nation, that I may glory with Thine inheritance."
Now let me ask you, is your heart's desire to be one of God's people? If so, then look to Christ and
Christ alone. Friends, I say this every service. He alone, Christ alone is God's
salvation. Salvation is found only, only,
only, only in Him. What do you think of Him? What
do you think? Is he nothing to you? Or is he
everything?