At the outset this morning, before
I get into this psalm, I want to say that I really and truly
believe, and I think all of us should be aware of it, that it
is the word which God blesses to the edification and to the
saving of the souls of the lost sheep. It is God's word. It is
not what we say about the word. It is not our word, but it's
God's word that is blessed to the salvation of the lost sheep
and to the building up of the souls of those that are in Christ. The Lord Jesus said, it is the
spirit that quickeneth The flesh profiteth nothing. And he said,
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life. You will find the life-giving
message in the Word of God. Now when we turn to the Word
of God and begin to study it, I think it would be very important
also for us to attempt to stick to those things that we know
by experience, things that God has taught us, and not try to
get up to speak on something that we don't know anything about.
And when I turned to this 17th psalm the other day and began
to look at this psalm, there were many things in this psalm
that I identified with immediately that spoke to me and I felt a
kinship with David as David prayed these words that I found here
in this psalm. But at the same time, there are
some things here that I don't understand. There are some things
here that are spoken of in this psalm that possibly I can't enter
into. And those things I will very
briefly touch on if I touch on them at all. But I hope to spend
some time this morning on things that I do understand, things
that I have experienced. I remember hearing a story one
time about a certain preacher who was quite able and capable. And he was at a certain place
to preach, and he had this message that was quite an intricate specimen. It was a message that was profound,
and I suppose very, very deep, and he was about ready to get
up and preach it. And so they sang this hymn, and
the chorus of the hymn went something like this, Make the message clear
and plain. make the message clear and plain
and he listened to that and listened to that and it just finally just
got to his heart and it really convicted him and so he said
I had to just put that message away and just get up and preach
the simple message of substitutionary redemption. I just had to put
away all of that philosophy and all of that deep stuff and get
up and just make the message clear and plain. And so we hope
to be able to do that this morning, to make the message plain, to
make it clear. And I do hope that God will be
pleased to use it to the up-building of our hearts. Now here in the
17th Psalm, we begin, we see David is in prayer. David is
crying out to his God. David has a God. And this God
that he worships, he prays to this God, and he says, Hear the
rite, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer
that goeth not out of faint lips. David was, I believe, a very
honest man, and he was a man that was, he was not a hypocrite.
David was not a man that was trying to fool God and pull the
wool over God's eyes and make God think that he was something
that he wasn't. He wasn't trying to impress anybody
and he certainly wasn't trying to impress God because David
knew God and he knew that God knew him. And all things are
open, you know, unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. And you can't pull the wool over
God's eyes. God knows what you are. God knows
where you came from this morning. God knows who you are. He knows
who your daddy was and your mother is. He knows all about you. And He knows your condition and
your situation. And David said, Lord, I want
you to hear my prayer. I want you to give attention
to my cry. And it goes out of lips. that
are, he says, it's not going out of faint lips. He said, let
my sentence come forth from thy presence. David is saying here,
just, Lord, whatever comes into my life, whatever you send into
my life, whatever my future holds, Lord, just let it come from you.
I don't want it to come from my enemies. I don't want it to
come from those that profess to be my friends, I want whatever
turns out for me in my life. Whatever you please, Lord, to
send, it'll be fine, but let my sentence come forth from thy
presence. Let thine eyes behold the things
that are equal. He says in verse 3, Thou hast
proved mine heart. Thou hast visited me in the night. Thou hast tried me. Now beloved,
this is not only an experience that David had, this is the experience
of God's people. God's people are a proven people. God tries their hearts. The Lord trieth the righteous,
the Bible says. And so God tried David and he
came to him and visited him in the night to try him, to see
whether or not he was genuine, whether he was real, whether
he was counterfeit, whether he really believed God or not, whether
he was really God's servant, whether he was really sold out
to God, or whether people could just manage and manipulate him
however they wanted to. Whether he really belonged to
God or not, he was tried and visited by God in the night. And he says here, "...and shall
find nothing." He said, when you visit me and you try me,
you're going to find that I'm genuine. You're going to find
that there's no hypocrisy in me. There's no guile in me. I'm
who I am. I'm what I am. And I'm not what
I'd like to be altogether, but at least what there is here,
it's here. And I'm what I am before you. And you know what I am, and you're
not going to find that I'm a hypocrite. I am purposed that my mouth shall
not transgress. I am not going to go out and
deceive people and lie to people that I'm something that I'm not.
I am what I am before you. That's what I am. And you know,
we all need to understand that, that we are what we are before
God. That's what we really are, what
we are before Him. Many, many times people pass
judgment upon us, and they have their opinion of what we are,
of what we're all about. But really, what we are before
God is what really counts. And we're nothing in and of ourselves. And we're all sinners, and we
all have failed in many, many ways in our lives. But as we
stand before God in our Lord Jesus Christ, we are acceptable
to God, and our sins have been put away, and our sins have been
atoned for, they have been covered, and we stand before God in a
substitute, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I stand before
you today, I make no brag or no boast of what I am in the
flesh. I would not bring it up. I don't
want it ever to be looked at. I don't want it to be on the
books of God. I don't want it to be flashed in eternity upon
the screen for all to see. What I am is nothing, and the
Lord Jesus Christ has died and put away my sin and my past.
He blotted it out, and He said, it behind my back. I'm not going
to remember it anymore against you. I'll put it away." And David
stands just like that and he said, I'm not going to say anything
in my defense and I'm not going to go out and make statements
that are irreverent to my situation. You've tried me and you know
what you found when you looked upon me. Now concerning the works
of men, he says in verse 4, by the word of thy lips, I have
kept me from the paths of the destroyer." You say, well, what
on earth does that mean? Well, David speaks first, he
says, the works of men. And David had many enemies in
the world. David was a hunted man. He was hunted like a bird
out on the mountainside. He was a hunted man. He had many
enemies. And he said, concerning the works of men, he said, the
only way that I've escaped their destruction of my life is by
the word of your lips. I obeyed your word, I heard your
word, you led me by your word, it was by your word that I was
counseled, it was by your word that I was kept, and I was led
in a way whereby I missed, whereby those that would lie in wait
to destroy me, they missed me. There's another verse of scripture,
you might keep your finger here definitely in the psalm, and
then turn over to 1 John chapter 2, and look at verse 14. And
verse 14, and here John says, I have written unto you fathers,
because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have
written unto you young men, because ye are strong, and the word of
God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. The Word of God abideth in you,
and ye have overcome the wicked one. You are strong, and your
strength comes from the Word of God abiding in you, and as
the Word of God abides in us, that we're able to overcome the
wicked one. Beloved, more and more I see
this. The older I get, and the longer I'm in the way, that the
only safe place to be is in the Word. The only safe place to
be is to hide oneself in the wisdom of the Word of God and
to believe what the Bible says. I know there are so many, many
things that we may not understand. and so many things that we just
can't figure out in regards to what the Bible is saying many
times. But beloved, what the Word of God does say that we
know and what we understand of the Word, we must believe it.
Believe what the Bible says, even though you are not able
to explain it or understand it. Believe the Word of God, because
that's where your safety is. Believe what the Scriptures teach.
And David said, this is the way that I've been kept from the
path of the destroyer, is by believing the Word of God. And
then he says in verse 5, hold up my goings in thy paths. He asked that God would hold
him up. He said, hold up my goings. You know, as the people of God,
we travel here and there, and we go about in our daily walk
in this life, in our pilgrimage. The Bible describes our walk
in this world as a pilgrimage. We're on our way, don't you see,
to Canaan's fair land. And we are in this way, and David
said, you hold up my goings, that my footsteps slip not now
beloved the path is sure and the path has been there forever
but it's our footsteps that are slippery and we can slip we can
fall and many times we do and David said Now David was a child
of God, he was a believer, but he said, Lord you hold up my
steps, my goings, you hold up my goings in thy paths, you keep
me in your paths, and you hold me up, you hold me up. He said
that my footsteps slip not. You see, there's always that
danger for a child of God in this world. It's a slippery path
that we walk on, and our shoes are slick, and we're very apt
to fall. And we need to be praying like
David, hold up my goings in thy paths, in thy paths, in thy ways. We're not asking that God hold
up our goings in our own path, in our own way, in the way of
the flesh, in the way of the things of the world, but in thy
paths, Lord, hold up my goings. Then in verse 6 and this is a
blessed blessed verse of scripture here He says I have called upon
thee for thou will hear me I have Called upon thee for thou wilt
hear me O God Incline thine ear unto me and hear my speech now
there's a There's a way to break this down, and I want to do it
in this way first of all we have here two words here and our call
and here call and here David says Here in this verse. He says I have called upon thee
and and he says for thou will hear me so we have these two
words remember them call and hear and then we have two persons
in this text and one of them don't amount to much that's David
as he stands as a man and that's us as we stand as individuals
we don't amount to a whole lot but then the other is almighty
he said I called and he said you will hear me and so you have
two persons in this verse you have David and then you have
almighty God you have David doing the calling and you have God
hearing him And that's very important to see. And then you have two
tense here. The past tense, David said, I
have called. I have called. I've been praying.
I've been crying to God. I've been speaking to you, Lord.
I've been asking you to hear me. And he said, I have called. And then you have the future
tense, where David says, He will hear me. He will hear me. God is going to hear me. I'm
going to keep calling by the grace of God and He will continue
to hear me. He'll continue to hear my prayer
and my cry as it comes to Him. And then you have here, I think,
two wonders, two amazing wonders that are set forth here in this
verse. And one is that If God hears
me, the wonder is that I don't call more. Why is it that I don't
call more on the Lord? If God hears me, why don't I
call more? Why don't I call on Him? Why are we not praying more?
You know, James in James 4 said that you have not because you
ask not. He didn't say you don't have
because you don't have connections in the world. he said you don't
have uh... not because you're not intelligent
enough to know how to figure out how to get it he said you
don't have the cause you don't ask for it you don't ask for
it you don't ask you don't pray and the wonder is if god hears
men when they cry to him hears men when they pray why is it
that we do not cry more why do we not pray more and the second
wonder is that he condescends It's an amazing thing to me that
God condescends to hear us at all. That the Lord will hear
us when we pray. Us sinners. us beggars, us that
are in such desperate, desperate need of Him. The Lord will hear
us when we pray. All right, and then we go on
to verse 7. He said, Show thy marvelous lovingkindness. There
are so many, many times when we would like to hear a word
from the Lord and we would like to see the kindness of God, His
lovingkindness manifested. Oh, there's so many, many times
when my heart longs to see the loving kindness of God, just
for God to show His kindness again to me. The Lord's been
kind to me many, many, many times, and I've forgotten a lot of them.
And that, of course, is wrong, and it's sin to forget the goodness
of God and His loving kindness toward you. but God has been
kind to me and he's shown me many times how much he loved
me and shown me his kindness and David said, you show it again
Lord, show it and he said, O thou that savest by thy right hand
them that put their trust in thee. The Lord saves those that
put their trust in him. I heard a story one time about
a fellow that had heard the gospel a number of times And he was
up in age about 67 years old, I believe, and he was in the
hospital, and he was terminally ill. He was about to die. And
he had tubes run down his throat, and he was not able to speak
a word, and he was not able to respond other than just to blink
his eyes, really. and to kind of nod or shake his
head. And he asked for a preacher to come, and this preacher was
a gospel preacher, and he went and talked to this man. And somebody
said later, as the preacher had, after he had visited with him
and talked with him, and told him the gospel, and talked to
him about how God saves by faith, and how God saves those that
put their trust in Him, Somebody asked the preacher, said, well,
how could he ever be saved? How could he ever be saved when
he couldn't speak a word? I mean, tubes were down his throat
and he was unable to respond. I mean, he wasn't able to do
anything. Well, the preacher said, well,
he was saved the same way that you got saved. And that's simply
by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Simply by trusting. The
Lord saves by His right hand all those that put their trust
in Him. And so, if you put your trust in Him, then He's going
to save you. You may not be able to explain
it, you may not even be able to talk about it, but if you
can trust Him, He will save you by His right hand. And that's
so very evident in the thief on the cross. The thief on the
cross was nailed to a cross. He wasn't able to get down and
go be baptized. He wasn't able to get down and
go get his money out of the bank and give it to the church. He
wasn't able to do anything. All he could do was say, Lord,
you remember me. He made reservations. with the
Lord in heaven. He said, Lord you remember me
when you come into your kingdom. And the Lord saved him right
there on the cross because he put his trust in the Lord. The
Lord saves by his right hand. And you that are here this morning,
I just tell you this. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Trust the Lord Jesus Christ. And Depend upon His saving efficacy,
His ability to save you, not your ability to make some contribution
to Him. He's not looking for your contribution. The Lord Jesus saves by His own
mighty right arm and His right hand those who put their trust
in Him. Okay, and then we pass on here
to verse 8. In verse 8 he said, keep me as
the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. Now then, keep me, keep me. Now this prayer here, and we
want to spend just a little time on this verse because this is
one of those verses that has meant so much to me. as a believer
having traveled and journeyed in this world for forty some
odd years as a child of God trying to obey the Lord, trying to do
that which is right in the eyes of the Lord. And I want you to
listen to some of the things that I want to say about this
verse here this morning. This prayer I think is full of
meaning and it's the outflow of a very well taught and instructed
mind and soul. David was a man of experience
and he was well taught. It is a living desire from I
think a grace taught and a very thoughtful heart. This man knows
something. This man knows something when
he says, keep me. Keep me as the apple of the eye,
hide me under the shadow of thy wings. He knows something of
himself. or he would have never said,
keep me. He knows something of himself
and he sincerely here is offering this petition to God, keep me
as the apple of the eye. Is there not a deep and sorrowful
confession here in this verse implied in this very prayer that
David needs to be kept? that there is something about
Him that He's not able in and of Himself in this world of sin
and woe, in this world where there's all kinds of pitfalls,
all kinds of opportunities for one to lose his way and to fall
by the wayside? Is this not a confession when
you pray, Lord, keep me? Keep me? It is as if you were
saying, Lord, preserve me from my own harm. For my heart is
deceitful and desperately wicked, and who can know it? Lord, keep
me from the uprising of my own natural corruption, from the
carnal mind, which is enmity against God, and is not subject
to the law of God, and neither indeed can be. Lord, keep me. Keep me from that evil man, myself,
which lurks right here in my breast. Could we turn that furnace
down a little bit? I'm up a little higher this morning.
than what I normally have been with this platform and it really
is getting warm up here. So if you could turn that down,
Larry, I'd appreciate it. Keep me from that evil man myself. Have you ever thought about how
you need to be kept from yourself? My friend, if you haven't, you're
not a well-taught or a well-instructed person. One of your greatest
enemies is right in here. Right in here in your breasts.
That's one of your greatest enemies. And we need to learn that. Keep
me, then David said, from this evil man, myself, knowing that
there are snares all around him. He pleads that God should at
all times encompass him in his path. He sees his danger and
he feels his weakness and he seeks to the strong for help. He looks to God for help that
he may be kept. Listen to this poem. Love and
keep us, blessed Jesus. Keep us from denying thee. Keep
our wayward feet from straying into paths of vanity. Love and
keep us, blessed Jesus. Keep us from denying Thee. Now any eye that has looked on
the weakness and the wickedness of this little world in the heart
cannot help but to utter this supplication before God. Keep
me. Keep me, Lord. But there's something
else here I think also. Any man who prays like this must
have some knowledge of the God that he prays to. He must also
not only know himself and know the wickedness and weakness of
his own heart, but he also must know something of the God that
he prays to. He has without doubt learned
the vanity of all other reliances and has left forever the arm
of flesh. He's not looking to men, he's
not looking that somebody would help keep him and guard him,
but he's praying unto God. This prayer is addressed To the
Most High God, for the one who prays this prayer is well aware
that no one else can respond to his call or interpose to give
him aid. He knows that only God can touch
him, and only God can intervene for him, and only God can keep
him. Lord, you see my danger. You foresee all the attacks of
my enemies. You're acquainted with all my
ways, my down settings, my uprisings are all known to you. And you
know, Lord, you're better than a hundred eyes to me, David would
say. Lord, keep me. Lord, you're able
to see from whatever direction. Trouble is coming to my life. You know it, Lord, when trouble
is coming. You know it when it's near. You
know when danger is near. Keep me, Lord, as the apple of
the eye. And He knows these two things.
uh... about him he knows himself and
he knows god and the man who knows this is a wise man because
it's going to end up that man praying to god just like david
did lord keep me and so to know ourselves and our weakness and
danger and to know our god in his glory strength and willingness
to protect us i think is to be blessed indeed is to be blessed
indeed, keep me as the apple of the eye. Now the keeping that
David desires here, and I think also the keeping that any and
all earnest believers desire, is that kind which men would
give to the very pupil of their eye. He says, Lord you keep me
as the apple of the pupil of the eye is kept. Now you know
that nature itself has shown us that God has made provision
for the keeping of the pupil of the eye. God has guarded it
with the eyelashes and the eyelids. God has shown us that he has
built into nature, as it were, protection for our eye. Now then, the true believer wants
this protection from God. He wants God to protect him like
men would protect their eyesight. Many will, you know, on certain
jobs they wear special glasses, safety glasses, in order to preserve
their eyes. If a man is smart, he won't use
an emery wheel, he won't use a grinder, he won't weld without
proper protection for his eyes. And Conrad, there's at least
two of us here that know something about getting involved with steel
in your eye. And I happened to come out, I
was a little bit more fortunate than Conrad was, but I had a
piece of steel went clear through my eye and went clear back into
the Bertie Humer or whatever they call it of the eye and had
to have it operated on and Conrad had about the same experience
but didn't get the attention as quick as he needed to And
it ended up losing his eye over it. And so we know that protection. And David is saying, Lord, you
protect me just like a man ought to protect the pupil of his eye,
like men will. You know, when a man is in danger
of something hitting his eye, he'll automatically throw his
hand up. He'll do everything he can to keep his eyes from
getting hit. and uh... keeping something out
of his eye go to great lengths to try to preserve uh... the
pupil of his eye and so david wants god to keep him just that
way like you would protect your eye god wants uh... david wants
god to keep him keep us lord the poet said oh keep us ever
vain our hope if left by thee we are thine oh leave us never
till thy face in heaven we see there to praise thee through
a bright eternity. Lord, we're blind and halt and
lame, the poet said. We have no stronghold but thy
name. Great is our fear to bring it
shame. Let us not fall. Let us not fall. Keep me as the apple of the eye. And then David goes on to talk
some about his enemies and we're not going to spend much time
on these enemies. But here in verse 9, From the
wicked that oppress me from my deadly enemies who compass me
about You know the believer has enemies in the world. I told
you David had enemies, but believers have enemies The world and the
flesh and the devil is the enemies of a child of God I say the world
and when I say the world I'm talking about the outside and
when I'm saying the flesh I'm talking about the inside and
when I'm talking about the devil I'm talking about the mysterious
the mysterious you know out here in this world we have those that
excuse me create a great deal of difficulty for the people
of God and David certainly experienced that and he mentions those here
In verse 10, they're enclosed in their own fat. He speaks of
his enemies. And with their mouth, they speak
very proudly. They're not humble men. They're
very proud, self-confident men. And they feel that they will
eventually get me. They don't know that God's keeping
me under the shadow of His wing. They don't know that God is keeping
me as the apple of His eye. And they think they're going
to get me. They speak proudly. And they've compassed us in our
steps They're all around us and they've set their eyes bowing
down to the earth like as a lion that is greedy of his prey and
as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. Arise, O Lord,
he says in verse 13, and disappoint him and cast him down. Deliver
my soul from the wicked. Deliver my soul from the wicked.
Now beloved, listen. When you find out that this world
is no friend of grace to help you on to God, you're going to
be praying against the world. You're going to be praying that
God will keep you from the malicious, the hateful, the vengeful people
of this world, that God will preserve you. And I'll tell you,
as long as you keep your mouth shut, as long as men don't know
really where you stand, as long as you don't censor them, as
long as you don't say anything to them about how they live and
where they live and Their condition, as they stand before God, their
awful lost condition, they're going to pretty well leave you
alone. But once you begin to deal with people, they're either
going to love you or they're going to hate you for it. And
you're going to find out something about persecution, men speaking
slanderously of you, finding all kinds of fault with you,
and holding you up as something that's to be laughed at and ridiculed. if you're a true believer. And
then the inside. I think we have as many enemies
on the inside. I don't know whether you agree
with this or not, but I think I have as many enemies on the
inside as I do on the outside. When I think about my old corrupt
heart, my flesh heart, and the flesh nature, then I know that
I've got an enemy inside. And then the devil, the mysterious,
we must not let the devil get an advantage of us. The devil
is going about as a roaring lion, and you know it just seemed to
me when David talked in here about the lion, he said, like
as a lion that is greedy of his prey, as it were a young lion
lurking in secret places. you know the scripture says that
the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whomever he might
devour and Satan is out here in this world and we dare not
Paul said we're not ignorant of his devices and we dare not
give him an advantage don't get on his turf and don't give him
an advantage because if the devil gets a foothold he'll just take
over and Satan you know he's had over 6,000 years experience
in dealing with your kind and with my kind, with us, with men
and women. He knows how to deal with mankind
and Satan will take an advantage and we dare not give him an advantage
now then in verses 13 and 14 I want you to notice this he
said deliver my soul from the wicked which is thy sword which
is thy sword from men which are thy hand from men which are thy
hand What in the world is David showing us here? That he says
that men are his sword, the wicked are God's sword? You know, beloved,
that if there's ever judgment, and judgment will come upon America,
it will not come just fall out of the skies. Some people may
be looking for just to fall out of the skies, judgment to come.
But it'll come from the wicked. Do you know that at this very
time the fastest growing religion in the world is the Muslim religion? And do you know that they have
already prophesied and said, and it's coming to a head in
France and some other places in the world right now today,
Do you know that they are predicting and prophesying, the radical
Muslims, that there's going to be the next great war will be
between the Muslims, religious fanatics, radicals, and the people
of the West? And I'll tell you that judgment's
going to come. Now that does not mean that God
favors and that God is the author of the Muslim religion. It does
not mean that at all. But I will tell you this, that
God uses men as His sword. He uses the wicked as his sword
to bring judgment, even upon those nations that would profess
to know him. God will use the wicked. And
not only that, but he said, from men which are thy hand. The Lord
uses men. Now, it is very difficult, but
I want to say this because I think it's so important that we see
it. Now David down in verse 15, and I'm going to kind of blend
these last three things together here. He says, as for me, as
for me. David said, I want to tell you
something about me. I want to talk a little bit about
me. Me the sinner and me the son. David was both. He was both a
sinner and he was a son of God. He was both a sinner and a saint.
Both a sinner and a believer in the Lord. He was a very complex
being. David was. And do you know that
it is a very difficult thing to say which we owe the most
to in this walk of faith in this world. Whether it's to our friends
or to our enemies. Now, I just wish that you would
just listen to me a moment. Just follow with me. To which
do we owe the most in this world? To which did David owe the most
in the world? Was it to his friends or to his
enemies? Is it to our joys or is it to
our sorrows that we owe the most in this world? Do I owe the most
to my success or do I owe the most to my failures in this life? What is it? Which is it? I mean,
the scripture says that the wicked are the sword of the Lord and
men are his hands. Is God doing something through
the wicked and God doing something through the hands of men that
we don't know anything about? And that we think that everything
that happens in the world and that all of our failures and
all of our sorrows and all of our enemies, that they have no
meaning whatsoever in our lives? What is it that we're attempting
to do here? Do I owe then, what do I owe
to? Do I owe more to my victories
or to my falls in this life? To which do I owe the most? Have
I learned more from my falls than I have from my victories?
Have I made more progress when I fell down and had to cry to
God and He lifted me up and I got up and was able to go on? Have
I made more progress when I got tripped up or did I make more
progress when I just had an out and out victory? and never felt
the pain of the fall and pain of slipping and the pain of having
to repent and get back up on my feet again. I mean, to which
do I owe the most? Do I owe more to the time of
rejoicing or to the time that I've spent in heavy, heavy trials
in my life? To which do I owe the most? I
mean, which has really profited me the most. You know that, I
think it was Martin Luther that said that Affliction was the
best book he had in his library. The best book he had in his library. So you see, when we read verses
like this and statements like this, which is, which is thy
sword from the wicked, which is thy sword, and from men, which
is your hand, we should not immediately say, well, we're just out here,
we're just vulnerable and people just do what they want to to
us. And it's not under any control, there's nothing, no meaning to
it. Things are going to happen and
it's not going to be controlled by the Lord. That's not true.
That's not true. God is ruling over all things. And we need to believe this.
Well, we know that persecution, listen to me, we know that persecution
drove the early church out. to preach the gospel. And beloved,
listen, they would not have gone if persecution had not driven
them out to preach the gospel. You can read it in the book of
Acts. Well, was the persecution, did they get more from their
persecution than they did from their solitaire, from just sitting
there without being persecuted? Well, God said, He sent the persecution
to drive them out. so the gospel would be spread.
The enemies of the gospel gave birth to the Reformation. Is
that true or is that false? I'm telling you it was the enemies
of Martin Luther that pushed him back against the wall until
he came out fighting. He put the gloves on and came
out fighting and preached justification by faith and that was what gave
rise to the Reformation. It was when the enemies of the
gospel, the enemies of the gospel of free grace that caused the
Reformation. And so what are you going to
say? Well, the enemies played a great part. The enemies of
the gospel. And now they don't get the credit,
but they're God's hand. They're God's hand. Now then,
which experience made Peter the great preacher he was at Pentecost? his confession of Christ or his
denial of Christ. Which do you think? You know,
he knew Christ, he made this confession long before the death
of Christ. He said, Thou art for Christ
the Son of the living God. And Jesus told him, said, Peter,
flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you. My Father which
is in heaven revealed it to you. And then you know, right before
our Lord was crucified, why, Peter cursed and denied Him thrice. Denied the Lord. And you know
then, on the day of Pentecost, old Peter got up and preached,
and God mightily blessed the sermon, and 3,000 souls added
to the kingdom of God. Well, what was it, do you suppose,
that made him the preacher that he was at Pentecost? Was it the
earlier confession and the walking with Christ? Or was it his denial
of Christ? What do you suppose it was? I'm
not trying to give you the answer. I'm just throwing it out to you.
I'm just letting you look at it. I'm just wanting you to examine
it. I want you to see that God has a purpose in what he allows
in this world. God has a purpose in it. Now
Jonah had to be confined to a whale's belly before
he could cry, salvation is of the Lord. Isn't that right? Old
Jonah had to be swallowed by a whale before he could say,
salvation is of the Lord. And what does God have to do
in the lives of men today before they can with zeal, enthusiasm,
and clarity preach that salvation is of the Lord? What does God
have to lead them through? What does God have to do in their
life before they can get that message clear and preach it? But Jonah had to go to the whale's
bay. Now Philemon, you know Philemon? He was that slave that ran away
from home and stole his master's goods and ran away from home.
But he had to become a runaway slave and a thief before he could
come back as a beloved brother. He had to do that. I mean that
was the way of God. That was the way of the Lord.
This fella, he stole his master's goods and run off to another
city and lo and behold there was old Paul over there in prison
preaching and he went down into that prison dungeon and listen
to old Paul, he got converted and he come back home to his
master's house as a true brethren in the faith of the gospel. It
had to happen that way. So you see Now listen to this,
the prodigal son had to leave his father's house as a rebel
before he could come back submissive. He had to leave as a rebel. He said just give me my inheritance
right now and I'm going off and I'm going to live like I please
and he went off and spent his inheritance in righteous living
and then he came back after he came to himself in the home one
day he came to himself he said i got to go back to my father's
house he went back to his father's house in submission to god in
submission to his father he came back so that's very important
for us to see these lessons and i will give you another word
about old peter you know peter when he was used by satan to
deny the lord jesus christ And you know the Lord Jesus did not
just put him out and say, well Peter, that's the end of it.
That's the end of it. I'll never have anything more
to do with you. You denied me. You cursed and
denied me. And the Lord Jesus didn't say,
just put him out and leave him there. But you know when the
Lord Jesus arose from the tomb, you know what he said? He said,
you go tell my disciples and Peter. I'm waiting on them. I'm waiting for them. You go
tell them. My disciples and Peter. Now beloved, listen to me. We're
all in this world and we're all subject to a lot of things in
this world. When somebody, this little church here, When somebody
leaves this little church, they feel they have to leave this
little group. They gotta go. They just can't any longer go,
well, we are never to build a wall so high that they can't get back. We're not to do that. We just ought to leave the fence
down. Leave it down. Because listen
to me. God has let me back. How many times has God let you
back? Like old Peter, he denied the Lord and the Lord led him
back. The Lord led him right back. He said, go tell my disciples
and Peter, go tell him. I'm waiting on him. Let him just
come on back. And so in our church affiliation,
whatever happens, don't build a fence and say, well, you can't
ever come back this way. We won't have you. No, no, no,
no. Don't ever do that. Leave the
fence down. Let him come back. Because that's
the way God's dealt with you. That's the way God's dealt with
me. He always let me come back. He always has let me come back.
A lot of times he shouldn't have. He shouldn't have. He ought to
run me off forever. He ought to run me off forever.
Because you see, we don't know what we'll do. We don't know.
A lot of times we've done things We never even believed that we'd
ever do. Conrad and I were talking yesterday morning and I told
Conrad, I said, the only thing that I know for sure that I'm
not going to do is what the Lord won't let me do. That's the only
thing I know for sure I'm not going to do. And you may have
more confidence in that. You may say, well, I'll never
do this. Well, I'll never do that. Well, I'll never be on
their side with the enemies against the gospel. I'll never put a
knife in a preacher. I'll never do this. I'll never
do that. Don't tell me what you wouldn't do. I know what you
won't do. The only thing you won't do is
what God don't let you do. That goes back to what we've
been talking about all morning about our need to be kept. You
see what I'm saying? You see what I'm trying to say
to you this morning? That's why we need to be kept. I'm talking
about the inside. That old wicked man that's inside. That's the only thing you ain't
gonna do. Now I know that's hard to take and I don't want anybody
to get upset with me over it. But that's hard to take. But
that's the truth. The gospel truth. That's why
you need to pray, Lord keep me. Lord keep me. Don't let the devil
get an advantage of me. Lord keep me. Keep me. Keep me. Alright. Here is David. We're getting
ready to close here. Here is David, the shepherd boy
and the king. He's the hunted and he's the
hunter. He's the man of joy and the man
of tears. He said, as for me, as for me,
the man of joy and the man of tears. Here is David, the tender-hearted. Here is David here, the tender-hearted
benefactor of Mephibosheth. and the cold, calculating, destroyer
of your identity. Here he is, as for me. I told
you he was a complex person. He's a complex person. As for
me. Here I am, he would say. As I
am. Who I am. Here I am. As for me. As for me. Here's what I have to say. I've
come down to the conclusion of this thing. Here I am. He says,
I will. I will. Look at it. He says,
I will behold thy face in righteousness. This life's coming to a close.
It's about over. And he said, I will. I will. I will. That's the confidence
of a believer. A man who knows that because
of the promise of God that he's going to see the Lord face to
face. I will. I will. That's confidence. Behold His face. David had seen
God's power in judgment. He had seen the wisdom of God
in the providence of God over and over in his life. And he
had seen the love of God in the prophetic message of the Messiah
and the cross of the Lord Jesus. And he had saw the glory that
God was going to bring upon that Messiah, upon His King, His very
King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, and someday, someday
I'm going to see His face. And I'm going to look on His
face. I can't do that now. Because if you look on the Lord's
face, you'd just die. You couldn't do it. Even to think
about looking on the Lord's face now, we have to fall on our face
and hide our face. But David said, I'm going to
see His face, and I'm going to see it in righteousness. I'm
going to see it in righteousness. Now listen to me. When David
sees his face in righteousness, David is saying, I'm going to
be so righteous. through the obedience of my substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who was made to be sin for us, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him, I'm going to be
so righteous through the vicarious obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and so pure through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that I can look God in the eye and not blink my eye. That's
what I'm going to do. As for me, as for me, I'm going
to behold his face in righteousness. I'm going to see God. I'm going
to look right in his face and I'm not going to blink my eye. Well David, that sounds mighty
confident to me. You sound mighty confident. Well
beloved, listen to me. A God who can save without righteousness
could damn without a reason. A God who can save without righteousness
could damn without a reason. The God of the Bible is saving
men and women and making them fit for heaven by sending His
Son into the world to live a perfect life and then taking His perfect
life and giving it to them. God cannot save without righteousness. And the only way, your little
profession ain't gonna get you in. You say, well I was baptized
as a baby. I was this, I was that. That'll
not get you out of the graveyard. It'll not get you in. You gotta
be righteous as God is righteous. As righteous as Jesus himself. And you can't get in without
the wedding garment. And the wedding garment is the
imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you got
that on? David said, I'm going to see
his face, and I'm going to see it in righteousness. I'm going
to be as righteous as God is, and I won't have to blink my
eye when I look in God's face. I'm going to be that righteous.
That's how righteous I'm going to be. Now make no difference
what anybody ever tells you, you poor souls. If anybody ever
tells you anything different than that, you don't believe
it. You believe that when you stand before God, you better
be dressed in garments not your own. You better be dressed in
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not your own, but
the righteousness of another. The righteousness of your substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you got on His righteousness,
don't make any difference what anybody says about you. Don't
make any difference what you've done in your life. It won't matter
at all if you're dressed up in His righteousness. And the way
you get dressed up in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is to
believe on Him, to trust Him, and to with faith embrace Him
as your Savior, as your Lord. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's how God will dress you up, and He'll make you righteous.
He'll make you righteous. Well, this morning, I say to
you, you must have a righteousness not your own, not your own, not
your own, but His righteousness. Well, David, he said, I'm going
to be satisfied with our way. You know it'd be wonderful to
be satisfied all the time here. The Bible talks about contentment. It'd be wonderful if somebody
like myself, somebody that's getting down to the sunset of
life, if a fella could say, I'm dissatisfied, dissatisfied, not
envious, don't have any desire to have anything, the providence
of God don't just give me. It'd be wonderful to be able
to say that a man is satisfied right here. in this world. I can't say that this morning.
I'd be a liar if I was to tell you I'm satisfied right now.
I'm just not. And I don't think there's anybody
here who could say truthfully, honestly, with judgment day honesty,
I'm completely satisfied this morning. But David said when
I see him when I'm dressed up and the righteousness of my substitute
and I look on him and I see him and I know all these things behind
me and I know that just eternal glory is before me. He said I'm
going to be satisfied. It's going to be all over. I'm
going to be satisfied when I wake up when I'm like him. When I wake up in his likeness.
He said I'm going to be satisfied. And I'm looking forward to that.
See I fought some battles in this world. And I mean I bled
and suffered some battles in this world trying because I know
that godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing
into this world, it's certain you can take nothing out. And
I fought a lot of battles over this ground in my life. And it's going to be wonderful
to wake up some day just satisfied. Perfectly satisfied. You know
the scripture says hell and destruction are never full. And the eyes
of man are never satisfied. People just ain't satisfied.
They said you could use ain't if you know better, so I used
it. But anyway, people are not satisfied
by nature. But we get an inkling of it every
once in a while when we see Jesus, the best of all sights, and when
we learn more and more about his sufficiency to save us sinners. and to keep a sinner. Well this
is, I don't know what you call this sermon this morning. It's
been a scattergun sermon. But there it is. There it is. And you take out
what you can and take it with you. May the Lord bless you.
May the Lord encourage you. May the Lord use it in all of
our hearts and our lives. Father in the name of Jesus,
on your word, save some poor sinner here that wants desperately
to look you in the face and be righteous when they do it. Save
them. Give them the wedding garment.
May they put it on by simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
this morning. I pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.