while you're turning to Luke
chapter 24 again. Thirty-one years ago last week,
if I remember correctly, I was going to a Bible conference.
I was pastoring in Lookout, West Virginia, and had been pastoring
for about six years. Back in 1969, I had met a fellow
by the name of Henry Mahan. I heard him preach two sermons
in my hometown. One was out of the book of Hosea,
a blessed picture of God's saving grace in Christ. The other was
a sermon from the book of Ruth on Christ, our kinsman, Redeemer.
If you'd like to read that sermon, pick up the commentary on Ruth
that I wrote over here. And I stole almost all of it
from Brother Mahan. And then I didn't see him again.
But I heard lots about that old man in Kentucky, Henry Mahan. All the yit-yak folks make, you
know. this, he's that, he's had to know men, he doesn't believe
in this, and they practice this, and they don't practice that.
And I was 26 years old. I had the world by the tail on
a downhill pull. There wasn't anything I didn't
know. So I decided on the way to the conference in Lexington
to stop by and see if I couldn't contribute some of my great wisdom
to that man who'd been pastoring for over 30 years at the time.
And so I knocked on the door, and I was asked to come into
the office. So Mayhem was preparing a message
to preach that Monday on his television broadcast. And he
was very gracious. As rude as I was, if it had been
me, I'd have kicked me out on my ear. But he was very gracious.
And I asked him question after question after question. Discipline
and prophecy and this doctrinal issue and that doctrinal issue.
And he was gracious, just as he is, most of you may. And I
started to leave. Got time for me to go down the
road to the Bible conference. He said, now, Brother Fortin, we've
been talking about a lot of things. He said, I want to leave you
with something. And he turned his Bible around.
He said, read this right here. It's what I'm preaching tonight.
And I started to read the passage. He said, no, just this right
here. And he underlined three words. Christ is all. He said, if ever God will teach
you the significance and meaning of those three words, you might
learn something about what it is to preach the gospel. And
I kind of took that in the back of my mind and went on my way.
It sounded pretty good. I'd read such things before.
Less than a month after that, I was laying on my back in the
hospital. I'd had surgery. Doctors expected me to die within
a few months. I had cancer, latter stages.
And I kept hearing those words, Christ is all. And I came to a painfully harsh
realization. I realized that while I had dotted
all my I's correctly and crossed all my T's correctly, so far
as I know there was not one doctrine, as we call doctrines, that I
taught and believed from the time I was 18 years old to that
day that I would change today. All the doctrine was exactly
the same. But it was just that. Doctrinal theory. And I had been
spinning my wheels and playing religious games and entertaining
myself and calling it preaching. And I had never made a vow before
or since. But I made a vow. Dying was not
something that I feared. I was comfortable with God's
goodness and grace. God had been gracious to me.
Revealed Himself to me in His Son. But this was the vow. Lord God, if ever you allow these
lips to speak again in the name of Christ, nothing else will
ever come forth from these lips. That is the message of Holy Scripture. Christ is all. I'm not suggesting. Christ is
the center of Scripture. I'm not suggesting that Christ
ought to be the dominant theme of our preaching. Jesus Christ
himself, in all his glory, in all his work, in all that he
is, in all that he has done, is the only thing that is revealed
in this book that is to be communicated to man. That is the whole message
of Scripture. This is not a book about politics
or morality. It is not a book about church
dogma, or it is not a book about theology. It is not a book about
logic, reason, or church history. It's not a book about church
discipline or prophecy. It is a book about Him who loved
us and gave Himself for us. Oh, may God be pleased to teach
every one of you Christ is all in God's purpose, all in God's
revelation of Himself, all in this book, all in salvation,
and all we must have, and we must have Him. Now, my title
this morning, or this afternoon for my message, is Christ in
Psalms. But my text is a little lengthy.
It's Psalm 1, verse 1 through Psalm 150, verse 6. I don't think
we can read the whole text. So let's begin right where Brother
left off just a moment ago in reading Psalm 24. I asked Brother
Allen to read this portion in Psalm 24 because it's very pertinent
to what I want to say this afternoon. After his resurrection, the Lord
Jesus appeared to these two disciples walking along the road to Emmaus
and held their vision so they could not recognize Him. Their
vision was holden or restrained so they could not recognize Him.
And as they talked, they talked to Him about the things that
had happened in Jerusalem in recent days. They talked about
the Lord's betrayal in Gethsemane. They talked about His agony,
His suffering, His death. And they said, we believed that
he was going to redeem us. The implication is, at least
for now, what we believed was wrong. And they told the Master
about all these things, presuming he was a stranger and totally
unfamiliar with them. And in verse 24, after they gave
their report of these things, our Master said, O fools and
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken,
and this is all that the prophets have spoken. I said that deliberately. This is all that the prophets
have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning himself. When they got to Emmaus, the
Master made as though he were going to go right on down the
road, and they constrained him to abide with them. And they
went into the house where they were staying that night, I presume,
and the Lord Jesus sat and ate with them, and as he did, he
prayed. And as he prayed and broke bread
with his disciples, they recognized him. Their eyes were opened.
and he vanished out of their sight. And his disciples said,
Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us by the
way, while he opened to us the scriptures? And once the scriptures
were opened to them, once the Lord Jesus made himself known
to Whatever their business was that was so urgent that it made
them walk seven or eight miles over to Emmaus, they forgot their
business and turned right around and went back to Jerusalem. Went
back to Jerusalem to tell these disciples what they had heard
and how the Lord Jesus had made himself known and opened to them
the scriptures. And immediately, in verse 36,
the Master stood in the midst of them and said, Peace be unto
you. Now look at verse 44. And he
said unto them, These are the words which I spoke unto 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. The law, the prophets, and the
Psalms. That comprises the whole of the
Old Testament. These things must be fulfilled
which were written in all of the Old Testament concerning
me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. Our Lord Jesus plainly
expounded to them all things in all the scriptures concerning
himself." Does that mean that on this one occasion the Lord
Jesus went through every verse in the Old Testament and showed
them how each of these things pictured him? No. But what he
did show them is that everything you have been raised learning,
everything you have been taught all your lives in the synagogues
and in the temple, everything you have been taught by me these
three and a half years we've been together, all of it is speaking
about me. It's all about me, the revelation
of God and His grace and His salvation in me. Our Lord Jesus
then declared, just as the law of Moses and the prophets all
spoke of Him, so all that is written in the Psalms speak of
me. The Psalms. We had Brother Allen
give us a call to worship a little bit ago. As I was preparing this
message, working on it late last night and again this morning,
I thought, This is a call to worship. This is exactly what
the Psalms are. It is a continual call to worship. The word means praises. The book
of Psalms is the praise book of God's church. It is a book
of praise to the triune God. Now that which is essential in
praise is worship. That which is essential in praise
is worship, not emotional songs and stirring stories and all
the nonsense that goes on in religion, but worship. It is
the prostration of ourselves in the dust where we belong all
the time, all the time before the throne of God's sovereign
majesty in adoration, in absolute awe of the glory of God made
known to sinners in Jesus Christ the Lord. after describing our
Lord Jesus Christ in Psalm 1 as the perfect man. And while there
are many applications, as is true with all the psalms, many
applications to various things, the psalm cannot possibly be
interpreted as speaking of any man except Jesus Christ, the
God-man. He alone is that man who is described
here as the perfect man. Sad thing in our day. Many folks
will acknowledge that's what the psalm is all about, but they
only talk about practical application. Let's talk about Him and minimize
the application. Our problem is we spend too much
time in application and too little time seeking to know and worship
the Redeemer. Then in Psalm 2, we're told that
our Lord Jesus Christ is the King, and we're called to worship
Him as our exalted King. Look at verse 11 of Psalm 2.
Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss
the Son. Kiss the Son. and you've got a close attachment
to it, a little bit, that dog will be crawling over on his
belly and just lick your hand. That's it. That's it. Kiss the
son as one utterly unworthy of his notice. Lick the hand of
your master as nothing but a dog before him, lest he be angry,
lest he perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. That's what
it is to kiss Him. It is like that Canaanite woman
says, Lord, it would be all right for the dogs to get crumbs from
the master's table to kiss the Son. That's what it is to put
your trust in Him. Now, this book of Psalms teaches
us to worship God our Savior, to be constantly occupied with
Him. Oh, God, give me grace today. to be unceasingly occupied with
Jesus Christ. That's the way to begin and to
walk in and to conclude every day. Let your affection be fixed
on Him. You're crucified with Christ,
set your affection on Him. On things above, where Christ
sits on the right hand of God, set your affection continually
upon Him. Now in this book of Psalms, these
150 songs of praise to our God, we read the Psalms, and if you
have been around a little bit, you will notice that any time
you go to visit an older believer, man or woman, learned or unlearned,
someone who's been in the way for a while, and you want to
read with them before you leave, I'll guarantee you pick up their
Bible, And the thickest pages are right here. The thickest
pages. Where do you turn in trouble?
Right here. Where do you turn in confusion?
Right here. Where do you turn when you have
such burden, such crushing load on your soul, such heartache
that you can't put it into words? You turn to the Psalms. Why is
that? Why is that? Well, we're able to go in the
Psalms with David and Solomon Moses and Asaph into their prayer
closet and listen as they speak honestly to God in words we want
to say but won't dare say. More than that, we go in with
the Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator, the God-man who was tempted in
all points of life as we are, yet without sin. And we hear
him cry, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, when we
want to cry such? Is your mercy a clean goal forever? Will you cast off forever? And we hear him, who is our representative
our mediator, our substitute in all things, pleading as one
who bears the same sorrows, the same burdens, the same afflictions,
the same trials with which we are constantly perplexed. And
now, here is one expressing what I want to say to God. Let's hear
how God answers him. You see, the book of the Psalms
is all about Jesus Christ. We sometimes hear folks speak
of Messianic Psalms. That's a mistake. That's a serious
mistake. Because it implies that some
are Messianic and others are not. The fact is, what you have
open on your lap is 150 Messianic Psalms. When I was a young man,
I started preaching through the book of Psalms, and I read everything
that I had available to me at the time on the Psalms. Every
commentary I could get hold of. At that time, the only one I
had, the only one I had that in every psalm, in every psalm,
gave a messianic interpretation, pointing me to Christ Jesus the
Lord, was John Gill. Oh, I'm so thankful for the way
he pointed me continually to our Redeemer. Now, I want you
this afternoon to see clearly. I don't want you to just hear
me say it. I don't want you to just be convinced of it because
I and your pastors say it repeatedly. I want you to see and see clearly
that Jesus Christ is the message in the Psalms. You say, well,
when we read the Psalms, is that David speaking, or is that Christ
speaking? The answer is yes. Yes. Does
that mean that you don't recognize the historic validity? Oh, no. No, no. David is truly expressing
himself. Moses is truly expressing himself. Solomon is truly expressing himself
whenever they speak in the Psalms. But they are writing by the pen
of inspiration, and a careful reading will make you understand.
Either I've got to figure out some way to explain away what
appears to be said here about perfection and righteousness
and obedience by which I deserve God's favor, or else it's got
to be talking about somebody else. It's got to be talking
about somebody more significant, more important, more glorious
than David or Solomon or Moses. The one spoken of here and the
one speaking here is Jesus Christ the Lord. Yes, we have personal
experiences and personal expressions here, but the Psalms speak about
Christ our Redeemer. They tell us of His incarnation.
As the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, so the
testimony of Christ is the spirit of the Psalms. Speak of His deity,
of His suretyship, of His sonship, His offices, of all His accomplishments
as our crucified Redeemer, His resurrection, His glory, and
His coming again to judge the world. The Psalms tell us of
holiness, holiness of heart and life. Either I'm an absolute
liar, totally deceived, or I want to walk before God in absolute
holiness. But I can't. And you can't. And for you or I to try to pretend
that we do is nothing but self-righteousness resulting in judgment of one
another. And the Psalms speak of absolute
holiness and righteousness. It's not talking about you and
me. It's talking about Christ who alone is absolutely holy
and absolutely righteous. The reality is, there's no such
thing as holiness that's not absolute. There's just no such
thing. Holiness, with reference to a
man, is never used in a relative sense. Well, he, oh, Brother
Allen Shullett's such a holy man. Either he is or he's not.
It's just that simple. The only time the word is used
in a relative sense with regard to a man is, stand by thyself,
come not nigh me, I am holier than thou. It's the only time
it's used. Absolute holiness, absolute godliness
is talking about Christ our Redeemer. The Psalms tell us much of the
blessedness of righteousness and Christ the only righteous
man who ever lived. They tell us often of enemies,
the enemies of righteousness, and of Christ who was ever encompassed
with enemies and who was hated by men without cause. They tell
us of the punishment of the wicked and of Christ the judge of all.
In a word, the psalms set before us our Lord Jesus Christ as our
covenant God, the true covenant God and Savior of all His Israel. The Gospels tell us about the
kingdom of God, the Psalms tell us about the king. God the Father
appointed his son king in Zion, and he shall rule the nations
with a rod of iron. David, with his throne on Zion,
is chosen as a type of Christ who rules from heaven, as David
ruled upon the earth. For the kingdom is the Lord's,
and he is the governor among nations. Yea, all kings shall
fall down before him, all nations shall serve him, for he shall
deliver the needy when he crieth, and the poor also, and him that
hath no helper." Now, let's look at some of these psalms together.
We'll just pick up a few. You might ask, as you're turning
to Psalm 1 again, what about the penitential psalms? How can
those be talking about Christ our Savior? Surely you don't
need to ask that. Surely you don't need to ask
that. Can those psalms be talking about Christ? The penitential
psalms are properly understood when we read them as the words
of our great sin bearer and substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, when He was made sin for us, that we might be by Him,
made the righteousness of God in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ
like Nehemiah, like Daniel, like Ezra of old confessed, as those
men confessed the sins of Israel as their own sins. Our Lord Jesus
took our sins as His own and was made sin before God Almighty,
the Triune God, and all His holy being made sin for us. And when He was made sin for
us, He cried out to God just as we read in these penitential
psalms. He who bore our sins in his own
body on the tree alone is the sacrifice that God accepts, finds
pleasure in, and upon which he builds his church. Before we
look at Psalm 1, let's look at one penitential psalm. Psalm
51. Psalm 51. Now, I can do no more today than
just pick up some highlights, and that's all I'm going to do,
but I want you to follow me through the highlights. If you have trouble
keeping up, just jot down some references, but listen carefully.
Here in Psalm 51, verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure
and desire, and build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt
thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt
offerings, with whole burnt offerings. Then shall they offer bullocks
upon thine altar." We come today offering our sacrifices of worship
and praise. Our sacrifices of confessing
our sin to Him. Our sacrifices to God Himself
on the basis of the fact that Jesus Christ has offered one
great sacrifice for us when He was made sin and made to endure
all the wrath of God to the full satisfaction of justice for our
sin. Now, back here in Psalm 1, let's
pick up some highlights. Here Christ is set before us
as the perfect man, the holy, blessed man who delights always
in God and His will, who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. I don't think you qualify there. I don't think you can quite measure
up. He alone is the man of whom it can be said, whatsoever he
doeth shall prosper. and the pleasure of the Lord
always prospers into his hands. In Psalm 2, Christ is described
in verse 7, particularly, the Son of God is depicted here as
the appointed ruler, the King of kings. I will declare the
decree the Lord has sent unto me, thou art my son, this day
have I begotten thee. Psalm 8, here we see the Son
of God assuming our nature in order that he might suffer and
die in our stead, and we be made the sons of God. Look at verse
4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of
man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little
lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Man? Man? Is he talking about
you and me? Well, yes, but not in ourselves. He's talking about another man.
Turn to Hebrews 2. I'm not guessing about this.
The Scriptures teach it plainly. Hebrews 2, verse 6. One in a
certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful
of him? I believe that's what we just read. Or the Son of Man,
that thou visitest him. Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels, and crownest him with glory and honor, and
didst set him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all
things in subjection under his feet. For him that he put all
things in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put
under him. But now we see not yet all things
put under him." How does that make any sense? God Almighty
has put all things in subjection under my feet? Yes, sir, He has. Yes, sir, He has. Well, it doesn't
look to me like anything is in subjection under your feet. No,
sir, it doesn't. But it doesn't end there. Look
at the next slide. But we see Jesus. I can't see
anything subject to me or him, but I do see him who was made
a little lower than the angels, that he for the suffering of
death, made a little lower than angels for the suffering of death,
crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should
taste death for every man. Now, don't let that bother you.
It's not talking about every man in the world. It's talking
about every man in the text. He's talking about the many sons he'll bring
to glory, those who are sanctified by him and one with him, his
brethren. Those who are described in this following chapter as
those called the seed of Abraham. Our Lord Jesus came here and
took hold on the seed of Abraham so that he might redeem and save
the seed of Abraham. Look at verse 13 of Hebrews 2.
And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I
and the children which God hath given me. Oh, now I see. Now I see. God, from old eternity,
ordain that everything in creation be made subject to and serve
His people, and ultimately bring happiness and delight to His
people, and it most surely shall, though we cannot see it yet,
we see Him under whose feet God Almighty has put everything,
and we shall rule with Him in the perfection of His glory."
When I was laying in bed after going through about a year of
treatments Cobalt chemotherapy, sick as a dog. I couldn't get
up more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time. I'd get up and go
preach and come back and go to bed. And I got a card from a
fellow. I hadn't seen him in years. He
didn't have a thing on the card. Not his address. Nothing. Except
when I opened up on the inside, or on the outside, I saw a return
address, but not even his name there. Opened up on the inside.
Just a blank piece of paper that had Romans 16.20 on it. You know,
I don't think I'd ever read Romans 16, 20. I'd read it, but I'd
never read it. I don't think I'll ever forget
it now. The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your heels
shortly. And soon he shall bruise Satan
under my heels. How do you know? Because he bruised
him under my Savior's heels. He bruised him under the heels
of my surety and my redeemer. Back here in Psalms again, Psalm
16. Christ's deliverance from death is prophesied here in verses
10 and 11. Their fulfillment is found in the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus. Peter quoted these very words
on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, and tells us that
David was a prophet concerning these things. And then in Psalms
22, 23, and 24, I'll come back to those in a minute, speaks
of the marvelous, marvelous work of our blessed Savior for us
as our great shepherd. The 40th Psalm, Hebrews 10, tells
us that this psalm is talking about Christ, speaking about
Him. In the volume of the book that is written of me, I delight
to do thy will, O my God. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not, a body hast thou prepared for me. And then in verse 12,
he makes an astounding statement, an iniquitous. God, I can't be
healed. The Holy Spirit tells us in Hebrews
10, the one speaking here is our Redeemer. Mine iniquities? How can he call these mine iniquities? He was made sin for us. Now you can explain that every
way you want to explain it, until you plum explain it away, or
you can bow in the dust and adore Him. How real is it that He's
made sin? Just as really as you're made
righteous in Him. Just that real. Just that real.
If one's a fake, the other's a fake. Well, I want to know
how to fit this thing into my brain. When you get God fitted
into your brain, you've got a mighty little God. I don't know how
on earth God could become a man and never cease to be God, but
He did. I don't know how God who cannot die died, but He did.
And I don't know how God's dear Son as my substitute could be
made sin, but He did. And He assumed total responsibility
for the sins of His people and justice exacted from Him. Everything
demanded from our sins that we might stand before God and Him
in absolute, perfect righteousness forever. Psalm 45 speaks of Christ
the King, who is fairer than the children of men, into whose
lips grace has been poured, whom God has blessed forever. the
Most Mighty One, whose girded on His sword, riding with glory
and majesty, prospering because of His truth and meekness and
righteousness. And it is said of Him," look
at verse 6, "'Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter
of Thy kingdom is a right scepter, Thou lovest righteousness, and
hatest iniquity. Therefore God thy God hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments
shall emerge, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces,
whereby they have made thee glad. And king's daughters were among
thy honorable women, and upon thy right hand did stand the
queen in gold of oprah. Hearken, O daughter, and consider,
and incline thine ear, forget also thine own people and thy
father's house. So shall the king greatly desire
thy beauty." Alright, move on over to Psalm 68. Psalm 68, verse
17. Here our Savior is described
as that one who is risen to scatter his enemies. To scatter his enemies
by the saving of his people. by the preaching of the gospel
of His free grace. Now let's see if I can make good
on that. Psalm 68, 17. The chariots of
God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels. The Lord
is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast descended
on high. Thou hast led captivity captive.
Thou hast received gifts for men. Yea, for the rebellious
also. I'm so glad he put that part
in. that the Lord God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord,
who daily loatheth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.
He that is our God is the God of salvation, and unto God the
Lord belong the issues from death." Now just listen. You're familiar
with the passage, Ephesians chapter 4. The Holy Spirit tells us exactly
how our Savior is being described here. Wherefore he saith, when
he ascended on high, he made captivity captive, and gave gifts
unto men. Now he that ascended, what is
it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of
the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended
up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And
he gave some apostles and some prophets. and some evangelist,
and some pastor, teachers. What gifts? Received gifts from
men. Yea, for the rebellious also,
that the Lord God might dwell among them. And Jesus has been
talking. One of the gifts. One of the
gifts. One of the gifts. Gifts. Gospel
preachers. Men to carry the message of His
grace to eternity bound sinners. for the gathering of his elect
from the four corners of the earth by which Jesus Christ scatters
his enemies and triumphs over hell, building his kingdom. Psalm
69 is another psalm describing the great humiliation of our
Lord Jesus Christ. The words here used find their
fulfillment only in him. Look at verse 4. They that hate
me without a cause are more than the hairs in my head. They that
would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restored that which I
took not away. O God, thou knowest my foolishness. My sins are not hid from thee.
And as he confesses my sin to my God as my substitute, his
heart still fixed on me. Look at this. Let not them that
wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. Let not
those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, God of Israel, because
for thy sake I have borne reproach. Shame hath covered my face. I
have become a stranger to my brother, and an alien to my mother's
children. For the zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproach thee are
fallen upon me." Look at verse 21, "...they gave me also gall
for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."
Do you mean This psalm is the plaintive cry of my Redeemer's
agony before God when He was made sin for me. It's exactly
what this psalm is. Our Savior felt in His soul more
keenly than you or I can ever imagine feeling in our souls
what it is to be sinned before God and the reproach of this
sinner that fell on Him. broke his heart. Psalm 110. Here he is in another position.
Christ, our omnipotent Savior, King, and everlasting priest
who makes his people willing in the day the power is set before
us here. Verse 1. The Lord has said unto
my Lord, Set thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. The Lord shall send forth the
rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power." Psalm 118 is part of a special passage
that the children of Israel used to use when they kept the Passover. Very possibly this is the psalm
that was sung by our Lord when He established the Lord's Supper
in Matthew 26. In verse 22, the stone which
the builders refused has become the head of the quarter. Christ
our Savior. In Psalm 120-134, you have a
series of songs called the Beginning Songs of Degrees. These are songs
that are fairly well received, and I think probably rightfully
received. They were used by the children of Israel as they would
go on the Sabbath day or go up to Jerusalem to keep feasts unto
the Lord, as they would walk their way up on those annual
feasts. They began singing these psalms
and chanting one to another these psalms of degrees as they made
their way up to the house of God to worship Him. Songs of
praise to our great Savior. Speaking of His help, Him being
our strength, our keeper, our deliverer. And then back here
in the 22nd, 3rd and 4th psalms. Let me wrap this up pointing
you to these. These speak specifically of the
Lord Jesus Christ as our shepherd. Psalm 22 brings us to that place
called Calvary. In its light, we stand at the
foot of the cross. Here in Psalm 22 and in Isaiah
53, the crucifixion of our Redeemer, that which He suffered as our
substitute, is dealt with more fully and more clearly than in
any other Old Testament scriptures. Isaiah 53 primarily deals with
the sin-atoning aspect of Christ's death. Psalm 22 speaks of his
sufferings. Let us never minimize either. We tend to, in our churches,
we tend to emphasize the doctrinal truths concerning effectual atonement,
efficacious atonement, limited atonement, the effectual redemption
of God's elect by the sacrifice of Christ, the satisfaction of
justice, And those things are vital. Make nothing light of
those things. But we also tend not to deal
much with the sufferings of our Savior. I don't mean to measure
His sufferings. I mean to enter into His suffering. I don't mean to just tantalize
people with emotional stories. But the Scripture clearly tells
us something about the horrible shame, agony, sorrow, and grief
of our Savior when He was made sin for us. He cried, My God,
my God, has thou forsaken me? And He answers, Because your
pure eyes been to behold iniquity. You read this psalm, And there
is hardly a complete sentence in it, but rather short ejaculations,
just short cries of one whose soul was utterly overwhelmed. And our blessed Savior was utterly
overwhelmed with the agony and grief of his soul as one forsaken
of God, that we might never be forsaken as one upon whom God
Almighty expended His fury so thoroughly, so completely that
He cries now to every believing sinner, fury is not in me. It's impossible for God Almighty
to be angry with you. Did you hear me? It's impossible
if Christ died for you. if Christ suffered the wrath
of God for you. If you believe on the Son of
God, it is impossible for God to be angry with you. It won't
happen. Oh, but Brother Dodd, doesn't he appear angry? Often. Often. Because he's not. Often. I was talking to Brother Steve
today. I just have one daughter, so
I don't qualify for giving advice about parenting. We just had
one child, and thank God he was a girl that wasn't like me. And
so I don't qualify for giving any counsel on parenting. But
that one little girl, when she was growing up, sometimes I caused
her great pain on purpose. I bent her over my knee and busted
her bottom with great regularity and great firmness, with intent. I intended to hurt her. I intended
for her to feel the pain. I intended for her to think at
the moment I might be angry. But never once, never once did
I correct that child, tattle that child in anger or because
I was angry with him. Mama can verify. I went till
the anger was over. Well, why would you do that?
Oh, if you could meet her now. I did it hoping She might be
just exactly what she is. Why? Because I love her. Because I love her. And yes,
God often appears to be angry. He often shows a frowning face. He often smites His children,
not with anger, but with the love of a father, because He
can never be angry with one on whom His mercy shines. It can't
happen. In Psalm 22 and 69, I suggest
that you read them carefully together, and you'll see a picture,
a tremendous, instructive picture of our Redeemer's sufferings.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John repeatedly call our attention
to these things. He said, I am a worm and no man.
Oh, they just see me, laugh at me, they shoot out the lip. Luke
tells us the rulers derided him. The soldiers mocked him. They
shaked their head. He trusted on the Lord that he
would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he
delighted him. They that passed by reviled him,
wagging their heads. Likewise, also the chief priests,
mocking him with the scribes and elders, said, He trusted
in God. Let him deliver him now, if he
will have him. Strong bulls of Bashan, our Savior
said, have beset me round. They've gaped upon me with their
mouths. And we're told in Matthew's account,
sitting down, they watched him there. The thieves also, which
were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Our Lord said in Psalm 22, 14,
I'm poured out like water, my heart like wax is melted. 69, 60 says, reproach hath broken
mine heart. The immediate cause of our Savior's
death is that reproach, the shame, the dishonor that broke his heart. I mentioned before in Psalm 51,
we're not really hearing the cry of a penitent sinner, but
a prophecy of the cry of the sacrifice of God, the sacrifices
of a broken and contrite heart that God will not despise. And
the great sacrifice of God is the broken heart of his darling
son, crushed into death until at last he cried, it is finished,
and bowed his head and gave up the ghost. Psalm 23, in the light
of all this, since Christ, the Good Shepherd, has laid down
His life for me, since He has died in my room and in my stead,
now I lift my heart to heaven. I say, the Lord is my Shepherd.
I shall not want. Sunday school girl was called
on to quote that psalm, and she quoted it right. She said, the
Lord is my Shepherd. He's all I want. He's all I want. What more could I want? In the
light of this, surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. I'll soon be 57 years old. 57 years old. For 57 years, I have had two
pesky hounds nibbling at my heels all my life long. Sometimes I
kick at them, just aggravating me. But I've learned their names,
goodness and mercy. And they've been chasing me home
for 57 years. And they will continue to chase
me home. And I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. How can you be so sure? Because
the Lord, my good, great Shepherd, He's the King of glory. shall
at last bring me home." Someone's coming. Who is it? Christ, the
King of glory. He's coming to bring His chosen,
His ransomed people into His kingdom and His glory. Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart, and hath not lifted
up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, He shall receive
the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of
his salvation. Did that psalm say the only person
who will ever enter into glory has clean hands and a pure heart,
has never lifted up his soul to that end, has never deceived
anyone at all? Is that what it said? Read it
for yourself. It's right there in Psalm 24.
Is that what it says? Who shall enter in? Well, brother
Don, that shuts me out. Me too. But not me. Because you see, Christ is my
surety. And I am one with Him. And He
who was made sin for me has so thoroughly put away my sin that
God reckons me righteous and holy as he. And if God reckons
it that way, I reckon that's right. God declares these hands
clean. God declares this heart pure. God declares this man not as
if he had never sinned. God declares he never did. He
never did. They're described in Revelation
chapter 7, every one of us. You know how he speaks of us?
He says, all virgins. Everyone of them. Chaste, pure,
clean, holy, righteous virgins! So that God Himself looks on
us in His Son and says, oh, I'm so happy with them. I'm well
pleased, well pleased with us in His Son. He entered into glory
for us, and we entered into glory with
Him, and soon we shall enter into His glory. And the glory
which He had with the Father before the world was that glory
the Father gave Him publicly when He said it in His own right
hand. In glory, the God-man, our mediator, that glory He has
given to every sinner who trusts Him. God helped him to trust
Him. Amen.