Psalms chapter 40 and begin reading
in verse 1. I waited patiently for the Lord,
and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also
out of that horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my
feet upon a rock, and established my going He hath put a new song
in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it, and
fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man that
maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor
such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to us They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would
declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou
opened. Burnt offering and sin offering
hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. Withhold not thou
thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy lovingkindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart fails me. Be pleased,
O Lord, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded
together that seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be driven
backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate
for reward of their shame. that say unto me, Aha, Aha. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love your salvation
say continually, The Lord be magnified. But I am poor and
needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and
my deliverer. Make no tarry, O my God. When the Lord Jesus was ready
to leave His disciples and go back to heaven after His resurrection,
He quoted to them a passage that no doubt would be of great comfort
to them. This is what He told them concerning
Himself and their confusion, their lack of understanding about
Him and what He had done and what was taking place. And this
is what he said to them, These are the words which I have spoken
to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the
prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me." Everything that is written
in the Psalms is concerning me. He was instructing them, if you
want to know me better, if you want to know what I did and where
I am and what I'm doing, then read the Psalms. They're concerning
me. There are Psalms, no doubt, that
you and I read, and we can't see Christ in them. But it's
not because He's not there. We have no eyes to see Him. We
have no eyes to see Him. We need Him like He did those
two disciples on the road to Emmaus to open our eyes to see
Him. But no matter how we feel about
the other Psalms, there is no doubt as we read Psalms 40 that
this is concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And not only
is this Psalm concerning Him, but it is He who is speaking. I that speak unto you am He."
He could say this as you and I read this psalms together.
And in Hebrews chapter 10 in verse 5 through verse 7, you'll
remember that this passage here is quoted from this very psalms. The writer of the book of Hebrews
said, When He cometh unto the world, He saith, Sacrifice and
offerings thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
Me. So there is no question at all that this psalm here is speaking
of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary. And as I read this,
I noticed that 42 times personal pronouns are used to describe
Him. I and My and Me and Thine. It is all the voice of the Son
of God. Jesus Christ is speaking. And you'll notice the heading
of this psalm. Before he begins it, he writes
the heading as he often does in the psalms. This psalm is
written to the chief musician. To the chief musician. And some say this is concerning
the chief musician. It is written by the chief musician. Now, I know that The Israelites
had several skilled musicians in their lineage. All the way
back through the history of the Jews, they had great men who
were learned in music. And they were conductors, they
were organizers, they were trainers of those in music. The history
of the Jews tells us that. But this psalm is addressed to
one and concerning one who is infinitely greater and more glorious
than any earthly director or any group of directors and conductors. This is the chief musician. Not a musician, not a group of
musicians, but this psalm is concerning the chief musician. Who but the Lord Jesus Christ,
could be so worthy of such a singular title as this, the chief musician. Now there are rocks and there
are doors, there are ways, that's many, but they're mere doors
that you and I walk through. They're mere ways of getting
from one location to another. They're mere shepherds, there's
many shepherds, but Jesus Christ is the door. He is the way, not
from one location to another, but the way to the Father. He
is the life. There are many lives. I have
a life and you have a life. There are many truths, but He
is the truth. There are many shepherds, but
He is the chief shepherd. This psalm is not only written
about Him, but this psalm is written by Him. He is the chief
musician. He's the organizer, he's the
teacher, he's the tuner, and he is the director. No heart
will ever be in tune until he tunes it. No melodious voice,
no sweet sounds of grace will ever come from the heart except
when he touches it. Only those songs are acceptable
which He composes Himself. He is Himself the chief musician. He is the leader of the band. He is the conductor of the choir. He told His disciples, all things
which are written in Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms
concerning Me must be fulfilled. Brothers and sisters, this is
not about a mere man, and this is not a mere man that is speaking.
This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And this word, chief
musician, it means to glitter or to shine from afar, to be
imminent, to be permanent, to be prominent, to excel. Who could that be speaking of
but one person, Jesus Christ? Now, let's look at it just for
a few minutes. A most wonderful and glorious psalm when we remember
who is speaking. In verses 1-5, the Lord Jesus,
in a general way, relates to us His gracious attitude under
His sufferings, under the trials that He endured in the days of
His flesh. And in a general way, he relates
the Father's reward to him, what the Father did to him out of
his suffering, and what effects this has upon those who hear
of these things. Now here in verse 2, the Lord
describes his suffering as being in a horrible pit and in the
miry clay. And no doubt this is the climax
of his suffering. This is where He ended His life. As it were, He says, in a horrible
pit in the miry clay. That's the climax of His suffering. But the life of our Lord Jesus
was always one of sorrows. He always suffered. From His
birth to His cross, they sought His life. The Scripture says
that He is indeed the man of sorrows. and acquainted with
grief. He is despised and rejected of
men, of men of sorrow. He was called a liar. He was
called a deceiver. He was even called a devil. They
hated him without a cause. He was tempted by men, he was
tempted by Satan, and he was tempted in all points like as
you and I are. He was indeed a man of sorrow. He was betrayed by one of his
friends, he was denied by another, and he was forsaken of all. And you and I remember there
in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he was overwhelmed with
the sorrow of what was coming upon him, and the Scripture says
that his sweat became as great drops of blood falling down to
the ground. And he said, my soul within me
is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. And then in the climax
of his suffering, he hangs upon the cross, and he cries, and
he weeps, He groans and He prays and He fears and He hangs in
agony, agony and pain in His soul and in His body until finally
He yields up the ghost. And from time to time that He
had any consciousness as a child until He gave His life upon the
cross, during all His trials and all His sufferings, He endeared
it patiently. weighed in upon His Father. Never do you hear Him murmuring.
Never do you hear Him complaining against His Father. He endeared
all things graciously and lovingly and patiently. So unlike you
and unlike me. How often do we, when the least
thing touches us, we not only complain about it, but we are
apt to murmur against our Father in heaven. Never the Lord Jesus
Christ, even in our humanity, suffering from His birth to His
cross, always, He said, I waited patiently, patiently for my Father,
which is in heaven. And here the Lord Jesus tells
us in verse 2 and verse 3, in a general way, what the Father
has done for Him. Look at this. He brought me up
also out of this horrible pit. And He brought me up out of this
married clay, and He set my feet upon a rock, and He established
my goings, and put a new song in my mouth. This is what the
Father did for the Son. And what He's telling us here?
That He has so fairly delivered the Lord Jesus from His sufferings
and His afflictions that none of those things affect Him anymore. not even the memory of it, and
that God has raised him from so horrible of death, and exalted
him there on the throne in heaven, and he shall never be moved. That's what he says my Father
has done for me. He has established my goings. What does he mean by that? Well,
he means this. He's there in heaven, and he's
safe, And he's sound, and he's happy, and nothing can disturb
him. Every desire that he has, his
Father gives it to him. Every request that he asks of
the Father, he grants it. Every work that He does there
in the way of intercessions is effectual and successful. The Father, He said, brought
me up from my death, from that horrible pit in the clay, and
He sent me upon my throne in heaven, and He's established
me here. Ain't that wonderful? That's
what the Lord Jesus testifies of His Father. And here's what
He says in verse 3. And He hath put a new song, He
hath revived my singing, is what that means, in my mouth. You know heaven is a place of
singing. We only have recorded one time that the Lord Jesus
sang while He was here. I'm sure that He sang more than
that, but only the one time. But when He was raised from the
dead, He says, He has revived my singing in my heart. Listen to these passages in Revelation,
because when we see the saints there in heaven, you see them
singing. In Revelation 5, verse 9, they
sang a new song, the same that was said of the Master. And here's
what they sang. They are worthy to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood." And then in Revelation chapter
14 and verse 3, it's said again of those saints in heaven, they
sung as it were a new song before the throne, and no man could
learn that song but those who were the redeemed from the earth. Then in Revelation 15, verse
3, they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song
of the Lamb. Great and marvelous are thy works,
O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are thy ways, O
King of saints! Singing is going on in heaven. And it's the saints who sing. And no poor saint will need to
be anxious concerning their abilities to learn this song or make an
harmonious sound because the chief musician is there. The
leader of the choir is there to teach them. And when he touches
the string, they will sing not only with an harmonious sound,
but they will know who and what they're singing about. They will
sing with the Spirit, and they will sing with the understanding. I will declare your name, the
Lord Jesus said to the Father, unto my brethren, and in the
midst of the congregation will I sing praises to your name."
And when the Lord Jesus is the leader, we will all follow in
and sing clearly with Him. He is truly the chief musician. And he says, when the Father
raised me from the dead, He established my goings upon the throne and
put a new song in my heart. And what's He doing there, brothers
and sisters, but leading the choir Himself in praises and
honor and glory to God in heaven. And then in verse 3, we have
something else. We have the effects of all of
this. Look what he said in verse 3. He's put a new song in my
heart, in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see
it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Many shall see it. What will they see? They will
see how the Lord Jesus has suffered in the days of His flesh. They
will see how patiently He bore all of His trials and the evil
that had come upon Him. They see how patiently and lovingly
and graciously He gave up His life upon the cross. And they'll
see how the Father has exalted Him there in heaven and enthroned
Him. They will see this and then they
will fear and put their trust in the Lord. If you and I want
men to believe Christ, then we should preach Christ. If we want
men to trust Christ, we must preach Christ. If we want men
to follow Christ, then we must preach Christ. When they hear
of Him, there is when they trust Him. And look what he says concerning
these in verse 4. Blessed is that man, happy is
that man, that maketh the Lord his trust. And look at this. He respecteth not the proud,
nor turn aside. to lies. What does those do who
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, they refuse to listen to
those self-righteous legalists who tell them Christ is not enough. They refuse to listen to that
lie that said faith in Christ is not enough to justify you.
They will follow those who said grace alone cannot save you. They won't listen to those liberal
preachers who tell us that the Word of God is not a sufficient
and infallible rule of faith and practice. They haven't heard
about Him who is truth. They haven't heard about the
Son of God and God exalting Him. And the Lord Jesus said, you're
not going to hear other voices. You're going to turn from those
self-righteous legalists, and you're not going to go after
their lies. That's the effects. Here Christ
is. He suffered. He patiently endures
it. The Lord Jesus is exalted. Men
hear of this and they trust in Him. And they turn from their
lies and their evil ways. And here in verse 5, look at
this. The Lord Jesus, He begins to look around over His church,
His people. And on their behalf, He praises
the Father. Look at this. And you notice
something here in verse 5, the union Christ has with His church. He refuses to count Himself a
private person. He always identifies with His
people. And when He praises the Father
in heaven, He does it on the behalf of His people. Now you
notice that in verse 5. Here's the Lord Jesus speaking.
This whole psalm is about Him. Many, O Lord my God, are Thy
wonderful works which Thou hast done. He praises the Father.
What a mystery this is. He says, Father, great is Your
works in creation. Great is your works in providence.
Great is your works in salvation. See what he does? He praises
the Father. He did it while he was here,
and that's what he's doing there in heaven after his resurrection.
And look what else he says. Not only wonderful are thy works,
but wonderful are thy thoughts which are to us worth them. See that? He doesn't say, wonderful
are thy thoughts which are to me. How true that is! But no,
He identifies with His people. He says, I'm one with my people,
so what God says to me, He says to my people. What God says to
me and thinks of me, He says and thinks of my people. Does
God love me? And the Lord Jesus said, He loves
you as He loves me. Is God my Father? Then He is
your Father, for I am one with you, and you are one with Me. He refuses to isolate Himself
from His people, but He professes to be one with them. And He says,
My Father, I know the thoughts that you think towards us, Me
and My people. Now that pretty well lines up
good with 2 Peter 3.9, doesn't it? God is long-suffering to
who? Usward. Who is that? That's Christ's
people. That's the people that He redeemed,
His elect, His sheep. Us. Us. We're one with each other,
and we're one with the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what the Master
says, "...behold I and the children which God hath given Me." Now,
when is He saying that? As He is in heaven right now.
And someday when He brings all His children and presents them
to the Father, this is what He will say, not just, Father, behold
Me, but, Father, behold Me and the children. Behold Us, Word. Us. Behold Us. How highly does
the Father regard His only begotten Son? How precious are His thoughts
towards Him? He says, if I could reckon them
up in order, they are more than I can speak of. Oh, how the Father
loves the Son. His soul is wrapped up in Him. Listen to Psalms 139.17. How precious are Your thoughts
unto Me, O God, how great is the sum of them. And then Jeremiah
29, 11, I know the thoughts that I think towards you, the Father
said to His Son. Thoughts of peace and not of
evil to give you an unexpected end. And this is the Father's
words to His Son. But Christ never receives those
for Himself. He never receives these precious
thoughts for Himself alone. But He acknowledges and receives
them on behalf of He and His people. A sword. A sword. You know what? The more I read
the Bible concerning the union of Christ and His people, the
more I see how real it is. He refuses always to be a private
person. No, He always identifies with
His people. And brothers and sisters, this
means so much in regard to our sharons. Do you know if one of
His little children finally perished and went to hell, it would be
Christ there Himself? If one of the Lord's children
lifted up their cry in hell and torment, it would be the very
cry of Christ Himself there. Union with Christ and His people
is real. He is one with them. I in them and thou in me that
they may be one in us. So the Father raises Him and
He praises Him. The Lord Jesus adores Him and
magnifies Him and says, I know the thoughts that you think to
us were. Now in verses 6-8, the Lord Jesus
begins now to speak in a more specific way. He had been telling
us up there in the first three verses His sufferings in general. But now He gets more specific
here in verse 6 and in verse 8. Sacrifice an offering thou
didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened, Burn offering and
sin offering hast thou not required? Then said I, Lo, I come in the
volume of the book which is written of me. I delight to do your will,
O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart."
Now you hold that and turn over to Hebrews chapter 11 right quickly. Hebrews chapter 11. He begins
up there in verse 1 and 2 and 3. to tell of his sufferings
in a general way, and now he gets more particular in telling
us what these sufferings are all about. Why was he a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief? Why did he wind up in this horrible
pit and the miry clay? Well, he's going to tell us now
in a more specific way. Look here in Hebrews chapter
10. This is quoted directly from
Psalms chapter 40, where you and I have taken our text. I
want you to see some things from this passage. Verse 4. First of all, look at this. Hebrews
chapter 10 and verse 4. It is not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats should take away sins. God gave the ordinances
to the children of Israel to offer the blood of animals, knowing
all along that the blood of those beasts could never take away
sin. And the reason they cannot is they cannot atone for sin
before God. They cannot put away sin from
the face of God. They're mere pictures. They're
types in their shadows, just like water baptism is. That's
why water baptism can't wash any sins away. No more than the
blood of bulls and goats. They're mere ordinances of God. Now read on in verse 5. This
was the reason Christ had to come into this world. Wherefore,
when He cometh into the world, He said, here it is, Sacrifice
and offerings thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
me. And burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, in the volume
of the book it is written of me, I come to do thy will, O
God. Above, when he saith, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offering, and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not. Neither did you have pleasure therein, which are offered by
the law. And then Jesus said, Lo, I come to do thy will. He
taketh away the first, He took away all those ordinances. He
took away the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a
heifer. He took away all that ceremonial
law and He established the second by the which will we are sanctified. We are set apart and made holy
and acceptable to God through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. That's what His suffering was
about. He was made an offering for sin. He suffered for sin. Lo, I come,
My Father, and this is Your will, that I should come and live and
die and atone for sin. And what did He do when He hung
upon that cross? The Scripture says He put sin
away. But what did it cost Him? Well,
he said, I was in a horrible pit. I was in a moray clay. It took my death to put it away. But that's what he did. But that's
what his suffering was about. That's why he was a man of sorrow
and acquainted with grief. Read on. Every high priest, in
verse 11, he stands daily ministering and offering oft times the same
sacrifices. but they can never take away
sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down on the right hand
of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. He did what the blood of those
bulls and goats And that entire law put together could not do.
He took our sins and put them away and perfected us. Perfected us. You don't feel
like you're perfected, do you? In God's eyes, you are. In our
eyes, we're still here struggling with sin and often confessing
it. But in God's eyes, we're in Christ. And you know what, brother? Our
sins are perfectly put away. They're perfectly put away. Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. They're
gone! You feel them, you see them,
but God doesn't. A perfect atonement has been
made for you, and you know something? You're perfectly accepted. You'll
never be more accepted with the Heavenly Father than you are
this morning. In Christ, that's what He's done
for you. He has perfected for you everything
God required of you, Jesus Christ provided for you on your behalf. It took His blood. It took His
death. But that's exactly what He says
that He did. Now turn back over to our text
again. Turn back over to Psalms chapter 40 again. And here in chapter 40 in verse
9, In verse 10, look at the effects of this.
In verse 9 and 10, I came to do Your will, and what was Your
will, My Father? It was to give My life for ransom. It was to perfect those that
You had given to Me. It was to put away sin. And now
in verse 9 and verse 10, Notice this. Here now is what can take
place. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not reframed my lips,
O Lord, Thou knowest. I have not hid Thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared Thy faithfulness
and Thy salvation. I have not concealed Thy love
and kindness and Thy truth. What is the Lord Jesus? We find
there in those first few verses, he's a sufferer. And then we
find out there in those next few verses, he's the high priest.
And now, he's the great preacher. I have preached. Don't ever underestimate preaching,
brothers and sisters. God must put a lot of stock in
it if He sent His Son to preach. Brother Larry read it to us this
morning. He came preaching. He was preaching. God hath sent
me to preach the gospel. And out of His death there upon
that cross, when God raised Him from the dead, He really began
to preach then. You say, Bruce, He's not here
now. Oh, yes, He is. He's here by His Spirit. And
Peter says, we preach the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down
from heaven. He does the preaching. He may use our lips, but He does
the preaching. If you just hear these lips speaking,
you'll leave here empty as you can be and unhelped. But if you
hear His voice speaking through these lips, you'll be helped.
He's the preacher. And what does He preach? Well,
here in verse 9 He says, I have preached righteousness. Whose righteousness does He preach?
Does He preach yours? No, yours is filthy rags, just
like mine is. Who does he preach? Look in verse
10. I have not hid thy righteousness
in my heart. I have preached righteousness,
but whose righteousness does he preach? You know what he told
the Pharisees? He said, if your righteousness,
he told those that were listening to him, he said, if your righteousness
don't exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
You can't enter the kingdom of heaven. My goodness, how can
you have a righteousness higher than those? Paul said concerning
the law, I was blameless. And yet he said my righteousness
was as filthy rags, dung. Christ preached the righteousness
of God. How can you preach the righteousness
of God? Well, it's preached all through
the Old and New Testament. Listen to what these scriptures
say. I'm not talking about God's essential righteousness. I know
He has a righteousness that He can't give to anybody. But He
has a righteousness He can give to you that will justify you
and clothe the shame of your nakedness. Listen to these scriptures. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. Of God are you
in Christ who is made unto us righteousness. Listen to 2 Corinthians
5.21. God hath made Christ to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Abraham believed God, and it
was counted to him for righteousness. And listen to Romans 3. By the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, For
by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith on
Jesus Christ." And the Lord Jesus said, that's the righteousness
I preach. He preached it Himself in the days of His flesh, and
He preaches it through His preachers. The righteousness of God has
come to us, and it comes to us through God's faithfulness, through
His love and kindness, through His truth, and it's worked out
and brought to us and given to us through and by the Lord Jesus
Christ. You need a righteousness, dear
soul. Listen to me. You say, Bruce, I don't understand
the Gospel. Well, here's what the Gospel says in a nutshell.
that God requires perfection of us, and we can't render it. But God has provided what He
requires. What is that? Perfect righteousness.
And that righteousness is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
the righteousness you must have. God will accept you, but in His
righteousness. And how do you obtain that righteousness?
By believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for it. It ain't what
you do, it ain't what you think, it's who you believe. Believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this righteousness comes to you.
It becomes yours, and it clothes the shame of your nakedness.
It justifies you from everything, and God will accept you in that
righteousness. That's the robe that the old
prophet called the robe of salvation, the garment of righteousness. Now, I've got to hurry. In verses
11 through 17, the Lord Jesus here gets even more specific
concerning His sufferings. See what He does. He begins there
in the first of this chapter, and He tells us about His sufferings
in general. And then He gets more specific.
Why did He suffer? Well, He was a priest to put
away sin. But now He gets even more specific
concerning He has atonement for sin. In verses 12 and verse 14,
He speaks in a specific way of how He atoned for our sin. How
did He put our sins away? And here's what He tells us,
that He was the substitute. He speaks of substitution. He
speaks of the transference of sin. I don't know of another
passage in all the Psalms That's more mysterious than this is.
Look what he says in verse 12. In your mobile evils have can
pass me about. Look at this. Here's Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, speaking. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me. I am not able to look up. And he goes on. Mine iniquities! Mine iniquities! Now, some have
said, if we refer these words to the Lord Jesus, then we're
blaspheming. Because Jesus Christ had no sin. And He was never born in sin,
neither could He sin. All of that is true. And you
and I hold to that. He was a holy thing. A holy one. No God was found in His mouth,
but the Scripture teaches everywhere that our sins were put upon Him. The Bible everywhere teaches
that. Under the ceremonial law, they would bring that animal
that was going to die for sins, Aaron the high priest, would
take his hand and lay upon the head of that innocent lamb or
goat, and confess all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and
those sins were transferred from them to that animal, in time,
in shadow. But listen to what the Scripture
says, All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all. By his knowledge he shall
justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities." And 1 Peter
2, verse 24, "...who his own self bear our sins in his own
body on the tree." Now that's what we call substitution. We
call it substitution because He stood in our place. He suffered
what belonged to His people. But before He could be a real
substitute, He first had to take their sins. So God takes the
sins of all His elect, of all ages, and He puts those sins
upon the body, in the body of His dear and blessed Son. And
brothers and sisters, listen to me. This transaction was so
real that now Jesus Christ stands, or He hangs upon that cross,
and He says, Mine iniquities. They are no more His people's
iniquities. Oh, they committed them, not
Him. But now He says, They're Mine. Now I'm responsible for
those iniquities. Ain't that a wonderful thing?
But without that taking place, there is no salvation. Because
God is a holy God and He must punish sin in us or in our substitute. And before He can punish sin
in Christ and be just in doing it, He must look at Christ as
being what? A sinner. Bruce, you are calling
Him a sinner by imputation only. God hath made Him to be sin. But it was our sin, not His own. And here he stands, and he owns
that as his. And notice what he says about
these sins. Notice this. He says, "...Enumerable
evils have compassed me about. They are more than the hairs
of my head." Look at the number alone is staggering that was
laid upon him. If you could remember your sins,
just your sins, dear elect child of God, just your sins alone
that you've committed in the days of your flesh, the sins
against God that you've committed, the sins against the Son of God,
the Spirit of God, the Word of God, the sins of motive, the
deeds, the words, the attitudes, If you could just remember all
of your sins, that alone would be so many that you couldn't
count it. But you gather up all the sins of God's elect people
from all ages, and they were put upon the Lord Jesus Christ,
all of them. And He said, they are innumerable.
They are more than the hairs of My head. And He mentions something
else about them here. Look here in verse 12 also, he
mentions the nature of those sins. Look what he said. Enumerable
evils. What's the nature of sin? The
Lord Jesus exposes it here for what it is. He doesn't hide it. He doesn't lessen the nature
of it to relieve Himself of the guilt. He exposes it for what
it is. He says it's evil. If you want
to know the true nature of sin, don't look in your heart. Don't
even look to the torments of hell. If you and I want to know
the true nature of sin, then look at Jesus hanging on that
cross outside the city of Jerusalem. That tells us the true nature
of sin. What is the true nature of a
foolish thought? What is the true nature of a
lie? What is the true nature of deceiving somebody? What is
the true nature of not obeying God in all things? What is the
true nature of unbelief? Oh, you and I look at sin sometimes,
and we have little sins. There is no such thing, folks.
Sin is evil in the eyes of God. The Master felt it. He experienced
it, and he said, this is evil. He tells us something else concerning
these sins. He tells us the power of them.
Look what he says there in verse 12 also. My iniquities have taken
hold upon me. Our sins bound him, captured
him, would not let him go. They are heavy things. Look here
what he said also in verse 12. I am not able to look up. They
were so heavy upon him. And he says also in verse 12,
these are crushing things, therefore my heart felleth me. They are soul-destroying things. Look what he says in verse 14.
Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek to destroy
my soul. What is it that sought to destroy
his soul? Well, you say devils. Yes, devils.
You say, men? Yes, men. But brothers, there
is a greater enemy than the devil. And there is a greater enemy
than men. And the Lord Jesus Christ, His soul stood to be
punished by a greater enemy than just devils or men. I tell you
what sought to destroy His soul. The curse of God's law. The wrath
of God sought to destroy Him. God was highly displeased. So
displeased, He turned His face away from His Son and delivered
Him up. Delivered Him up to what? Wrath. Wrath. God was angry and God
punished sin. Sins are a soul-destroying thing. They bring the curse of God's
law They bring the wrath of God upon the soul. And where sin
goes unatoned for and unforgiven, in the end, sin brings hell. If these sins so dealt with the
Lord Jesus Christ and so jolted His very soul, how can you and
I stand if we stand in our sins? We cannot. We cannot. They'll surely bind us with their
unbreakable cords. They'll wade our souls down to
hell itself and crush our hearts and destroy our souls for all
eternity. Oh, thank God there's a substitute.
Thank God there's one who bore our sins and the judgment of
our sins, and one who was so full of merit that He atoned
and satisfied for those sins. And one who was strong enough
to put those sins away forever. Forever. And it goes on here
in verse 16, and look at the effects of all of this. Let all
those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee. Let such
as love Thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified. Oh, I
am poor and needy. See what he suffered. He underwent
the awful wrath of God for our sins, but now he turns to his
Father and he prays, Oh, let those that seek you rejoice.
He was made heavy, but now we rejoice. He was made poor, but
we're made rich. He was made needy to supply our
needs. He was made sin, but now we are
made righteousness. He suffered shame and heaviness,
but now we rejoice and are made glad. Redeemed how I love to proclaim
it. Redeemed through the blood of
the Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite
mercy. His child and forever I am. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus. My language no rapture can tell. I know that the light of His
presence with me doth continually dwell. I know I shall see in
His beauty the King in whose law I delight, who lovingly guardeth
my footsteps and gives me songs in the night." Oh, he is indeed
the chief musician. He is the composer of all the
songs that he gives. And when He touches the heart
string, there's melody. And that melody arises to Him,
and it's about Him, our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.