Would you turn to this 61st Psalm? I was in Kingsport this weekend
and got to see their building for the first time and it was
a. The meeting was a blessing and their building was just beautiful,
but. Psalm 61 now. This song when I read it. I've always found verse 2 to
be maybe my favorite verse in the Psalms. Psalm 61. Hear my cry, oh God. Attend unto my prayer. From the
end of the Earth will I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou has been a shelter
for me and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy
tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of
thy wings. Selah. For thou, O God, hast
heard my vows. Thou hast given me the heritage
of those that fear thy name. Thou will prolong the king's
life and his years as many generations. shall abide before God forever. Oh, prepare mercy and truth which
may preserve him. So will I sing praise unto thy
name forever that I may daily perform my vows. Let's pray. Lord, we come in the name of
thy son and we come with thanksgiving for who you are. And Lord, we
ask that by your spirit, by your grace, you will lead each one
of us to the rock that is higher than we. Unite our hearts together
to fear thy name. Speak in power for the Lord's
sake. Lord, we pray for our country. We pray for the world that you
would give leaders wisdom and guidance. Lord, we're thankful
that you're in control of everybody and everything. And the king's
heart is in your hand. And as the rivers of water, you
turn it with or so ever you will. For that, we give thanks. We
pray that we might be enabled to live a quiet and a peaceable
life and all godliness and honesty. Lord, we confess our sins. We
pray that you would enable us to see enough of our sinfulness
to make us to look to your son only. Forgive us and cleanse
us for the Lord's sake. Lord, be with all your people
wherever they meet together. We would especially remember
Aaron that you would be with him in preaching. We pray for
your Healing upon our friends that are sick. We pray for your
blessing upon them. I meet with us for Christ's sake
in his name. We pray. Amen. Briefly. If you read this song
as the word of Christ. You will see it very clearly. I think of him being overwhelmed
in Gethsemane's garden, and saying, my soul is exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death. Oh, how his heart was overwhelmed. And you see this as the very
words of Christ. Look down in verse six. Thou would prolong the king's
life and his years as many generations." I really believe he's talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, he's talking about himself,
but primarily he's talking about the Christ. Thou will prolong
the king's life and his years as many generations. He shall
abide before God forever, eternally. That's the Lord Jesus. Oh, prepare
mercy and truth, which may preserve him. So will I pray. So will
I sing praise unto thy name forever that I may daily perform my vows
who perform their vows like the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see
these as the words of Christ, but the way I want to look at
them. and they are this, they're the words of David. And I wanna
read this song in that light. Verse one, hear my cry. And that's a loud cry, that's
what that means. Hear my loud cry. Oh God, attend unto my prayer,
hear me. Hear me, if you don't hear me,
it's over for me. Hear me, hear my prayer. I hope that's our attitude every
time we pray. Not just going through the motions,
but truly hear my prayer. Attend unto my cry, oh God. He says in verse two, from the
end of the earth will I cry unto thee. Now that means the extremity,
the farthest place away. Now David, when he was writing
this psalm, felt alone. He felt isolated. He felt separated. He felt far away. the end of the earth, a place
of desperation, trouble, and great need, and he knew that
the only hope he had was for the Lord to hear him. And then he makes this statement,
and like I said, this is always, to me, been a very special verse,
maybe my favorite verse in the Psalms. When my heart is overwhelmed, utterly defeated, utterly banished. Overwhelmed is a feeling of weakness,
helplessness, ignorance, darkness, sinfulness, inability, confusion,
defeat when my heart is overwhelmed. Now, I realize that first of
all, that's the Lord praying from Gethsemane's garden. And
I don't ever want to forget that when he said, my soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death. But these are David's words to
turn with me for a moment to Psalm 143. Psalm 143 verse one. Hear my prayer. Oh Lord, give
ear to my supplications in thy faithfulness. Answer me and in
thy righteousness. Now that's only understood in
light of the gospel, isn't it? You know the reason he answers me?
It's because he's faithful to do what he said he would do.
And he's absolutely righteous because of the righteousness
of Jesus Christ being my righteousness before God, and he in righteousness
answers me. Statements like that can only
be understood in light of the gospel of Christ. But look what
he says in verse two. And enter not into judgment with
thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. For the enemy hath persecuted
my soul, he hath smitten my life down to the ground. He hath made
me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long dead. Therefore
my spirit is, there's the word, overwhelmed. Overwhelmed within
me, my heart within me is desolate. Aren't you thankful for the Psalms? Back to Psalm 61. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the
rock that is higher than I. I want to come to Christ, and
I can't do it unless he leads me, unless he causes me to. And I cry out, lead me to the
rock that is higher than I. I can't get on him. Lead me to
him, bring me to him, place me upon him. Now, it is absolutely
necessary that I personally come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody
can do it for me. I must come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I cannot come to him unless
he first comes to me and causes me to do this. And so I'm saying,
Lord, lead me to the rock. that is higher than I. Turn with
me to Deuteronomy chapter 32. Let's look at this description
of this rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse one. Give ear, O ye heavens,
and I will speak. And hear, O earth, the words
of my mouth, My doctrine shall drop as the rain. My speech shall distill as the
dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb and as the showers
upon the grass, because I will publish the name of the Lord,
ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the rock. This is the rock that's higher
than I. He is the rock. His work is perfect. Complete. All his ways are judgment. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of thy throne. Now listen to me, don't just
think of judgment by way of wrath. But if I'm saved, it's because
he judged Christ and he judged my sin and I have his righteousness. All his ways are judgment. All
his ways. He is the rock, His work is perfect,
complete, for all His ways are judgment, a God of truth, and
without iniquity, just and right is He. What a rock. Lead me to
the rock that is higher than I. Verse three, four. He describes this rock For thou
has been a shelter for me. The Lord's our rock, in him we
hide, a shelter in the time of storm. Thou has been a shelter
for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I love Proverbs chapter
18, verse 10. The name of the Lord is a strong
tower. The righteous run into it and
are safe. Now the name of the Lord is who
he is. All of his attributes, the person behind the name, the
name of the Lord, his sovereignty, his justice, his mercy, his grace,
his immutability, his independence. Think of this thing of God's
independence. He has no needs. I want to preach a message Lord
willing on TV tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to saying this.
God doesn't need you. He doesn't need your money. He
doesn't need your gifts. He doesn't need your talents.
He doesn't need anything that comes from you. What you have,
He gave you in the first place. You know, for some reason, I
just find that appealing to say that. God doesn't need you. You need Him. Oh, His independence,
His utter and complete independence with no needs. His eternity,
His immenseness. The name of the Lord. is a strong,
high, mighty tower. The righteous run into it like
they're running into that shelter for safety. And they're safe. They're secure. Verse four, David says, I will
abide in my tabernacle forever. Hold your finger there and turn
to Psalm 27. Verse three, though host should
encamp against me, my heart shall not fear, the war should rise
against me, and this will I be confident, one thing have I desired
of the Lord. One thing. And if I know the
Lord, I better have this one thing as well. This is the one
thing every believer desires. This is what you desire more
than anything else. If you could have what you want, this is what
you want more than anything else. One thing, not two, not three,
one. One thing have I desired of the
Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple." Now that's the same thing David
says when he says, I will abide in thy tabernacle forever. Now I can remember as a boy reading
verses like that and thinking, would I want to dwell in the
house of the Lord all the time and never go outside the temple?
That'd be boring. You know what I mean? Aren't there other things
to do? And that's just from a lack of understanding what Paul or
what David meant is I simply want to be found in Christ at
all times. I want to dwell in him. I want
to abide in him. There's never a time. And this
is my great desire. This is what I desire more than
anything else, that I may be found in Christ. and dwell there
all the time and never be seen anywhere else. So that at all
times, all God sees when he sees me is his blessed son. That's what the Lord meant when
he said, abide in me. This is a conscious desire to
only be found in Christ. That's my desire to be and to
dwell in his tabernacle forever. So that at all times, all God
sees is Christ and me in him. That's my desire. That's my greatest
desire. David says in verse four, I will
abide in my tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert. of thy wings. I will trust in the hiding place
of thy wings. Now you think about this thing
of being in Christ. If I'm in Christ, you know what that means?
Of him, are you in Christ Jesus, who God has made unto us? Wisdom,
righteousness, holiness, redemption. That's my hiding place. I will trust in the covert, the
hiding place of your wings. We don't sing it as a congregational
hymn. Maybe we should, but I love it
when people sing this song as a special. It's one of my favorite
songs. Hail sovereign love that first began the scheme to rescue
fallen man. Hail matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place, a covert, a shelter from
the storm. Against the God who ruled the
skies, I fought with hand uplifted high, despised the mention of
His grace. secure without a hiding place. Enwrapped in thick Egyptian night
and fond of darkness more than light, madly I ran the sinful
race, secure without a hiding place. But thus the eternal counsel
ran, almighty love, arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress
and found that I had no hiding place. Indignant justice stood in view,
to Sinai's fiery mount I flew, the law, and justice cried with
frowning face, this mountain is no hiding place. Ere long, a heavenly voice I
heard and mercy's angel form appeared and led me on with gentle
pace to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. On him Eternal vengeance fell
that must have sunk a world to hell. He bore it for a chosen
race and thus became their hiding place. A few more rolling storms
at most shall land me safe on Canaan's coast. There I shall
sing the song of grace to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. What a hiding place. What a shelter
in the time of storm. I will abide, David says, in
thy tabernacle forever. I will trust. I will trust. I will trust. What's that mean?
Well, Paul put it this way, in 2 Timothy 1.12, he said, I know
whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed to him. Paul, what have you committed
to him? The entirety of the salvation
of my soul. If he doesn't do it all, I won't
be saved. I don't have any other hope. I don't have anywhere else
to look. I have committed, I have, if
he doesn't do it all, I won't be saved. I have committed the
entire salvation of my soul and my eternal good to who he is
and what he did, doing it for me. Verse five, for thou, O God,
hast heard my vows. Now, when I read that, I think of vows maybe I have made
to the Lord. If you forgive me, I'll never
commit that sin again. You know what? I never kept it. Not once. Neither of you. When David is speaking of these
vows, number one, there's one who kept his vows. The Lord Jesus
Christ. He vowed to be my surety. to bear all the responsibility
for my sin. He vowed to keep the law for
me. He vowed to put away my sin. He vowed to be raised again for
my justification. Everything he vowed, he did. And I'm trusting his vows. And I'm saying this, by your
grace, I vow to look to your son only for everything. Can you say that? By your grace,
by your grace. I'm not talking about any, you
know, the Lord said. you know, to vow not at all in
the sense of making promises to God. You look to His promise. But I do vow this by His grace.
And I'm only vowing by His grace. As He enables me to do this,
I vow to look to Christ only. There's nowhere else to look. And that's the vow He's speaking
of. For thou, O God, hast heard my
vows, thou hast given me. The heritage of those that fear
thy name. Now, who are those who fear thy
name? They're the ones who fear God. And to fear his name is
to believe the gospel. Same thing. The fear of God is
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you fear God, you won't look
anywhere but Christ. And if you look anywhere other
than Christ, it's because in reality, you don't have the fear
of God in your heart. If you have the fear of God in
your heart, the beginning of wisdom, you will look to Christ
only. Now, he says, thou has given
me the heritage. What is the heritage of all those
that fear his name? Heaven, likeness to Christ, eternity
in glory, being in joint air with Christ, all that Christ
has, I have, being in him. That's the heritage of those
that fear thy name. Now, verse six. Thou will prolong the king's
life in his years as many generations. Now is David talking about himself?
Perhaps, but I know that's not the main purpose of this. Thou
shalt prolong eternally after the resurrection, the king's
life eternally. Now unto the king eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God. He eternally lives as my intercessor,
as my high priest, as my king, and that is forever. Thou will
eternally preserve the king's life, Thou wilt put along the king's
life in his years as many generations. He shall abide before God forever. Now you know why I'll abide before
God forever? Because he does. You see, he
ever liveth to make intercession for us. I love that verse of
scripture in 1 John 2, 1 and 2. I love the way John introduces
this. These things have I written unto
you that you sin not. What's he mean by that? Exactly
what he says. These things have I written unto
you that you sin not in thought, in word, in deed, in motive. These things write I unto you
that you sin not The gospel in no way condones or excuses sin
in any form. Amen. It's just true. When you sin, if any man sin,
that word can just as easily be translated when any man sin. We have an advocate before the
father, this advocate we had before the sin. We have this
advocate during the sin as evil as that is our sin. And we have this advocate after
the sin we have. an advocate with the father.
Oh, I love to think of our advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our advocate
is the son of the judge. Isn't that great? He's the judge's son. He's got
pool with the judge. Nobody else has. And he makes
all of his clients plead guilty as charged. That's all they ever
plead. They never plead not guilty.
Guilty as charged in every respect. And all of his clients are declared
to be not guilty. Justified by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he abides eternally. He ever liveth. Scripture says
he ever liveth to make intercession for us. He shall abide before God forever. Oh, prepare. That word prepares
ordain, ordain mercy, loving kindness, and truth, which may
preserve him. Turn to Psalm 85. Mercy and truth. Verse 10. Mercy, loving kindness,
and absolute truth are met together. Righteousness, God's strict righteousness
and yet peace have kissed each other. It's the cross. Their
righteousness, God's absolute righteousness and the peace of
God, peace with God, meet together and kiss. Truth shall spring out of the
earth. righteousness shall look down
from heaven. That truth shall spring out of the earth in the
resurrection of Christ and righteousness shall look down from heaven."
Back to our text, Psalm 61. Verse 7, which may preserve him,
perseverance, The cross causing me to persevere. And let me remind
you what perseverance is. Perseverance is not remaining
religious. Perseverance is continuing all
the way to the end to look to Christ Jesus the Lord only as
everything in my salvation. That's perseverance. So verse
eight, so will I sing praise unto thy name. His attributes
forever. that I may daily perform my vows,
because he daily performs his vows, we daily perform our vows
into, oh Lord, enable me to look only to Christ. That's my vow,
I look nowhere else. I know I won't do it unless you
enable me to, but I ask you to enable me to daily perform my
vows. Wonderful psalm, isn't it?