Turn to Psalm 54. While you're
turning there, Dwayne Iams' brother unexpectedly passed away yesterday. He was here just a couple of
months ago. Danny. Danny, yeah. And also, Kelly Harry's dad passed
away yesterday. So everybody remember those families. Psalm 54. Save me, O God, by thy name. And judge me by thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God. Give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers are risen up against
me. and oppressors seek after my
soul. They've not set God before them.
Behold, God is mine helper. The Lord is with them that uphold
my soul. He shall reward evil unto mine
enemies. Cut them off in thy truth. I
will freely sacrifice unto thee. I will praise thy name, O Lord,
for it is good. For he hath delivered me out
of all trouble, and mine eye has seen his desire upon mine
enemies." Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we come into your presence in the name of thy son. And Lord,
we, by your grace, are aware that we come only in his name
and through him. And Lord, our great desire is
that we might be found in him. We pray that you would preach
your gospel to us. by your spirit, through your
word, and give us hearing ears. Lord, enable us to worship your
son, exalt him in our midst, be our teacher. Lord, we pray
for those grieving over loss. We pray that you'd be with those
families. Give them grace to look to you and find their all
in you. And Lord, we're asking that for ourselves. Enable us
to find our all in my dear son. We confess our sins, we pray
for forgiveness and cleansing. We are so thankful for the precious
blood of your son that makes us to be without guilt before
you. Now, bless our time together. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. I want to remind you that every
psalm, without exception, is first the words of Christ. Anytime I read a psalm, I want
to read them as the very words of Christ. I've heard before
there's 22 Messianic Psalms. No, there are 150 Messianic Psalms. And every word said, first of
all, is the word of Christ. So when we read Psalms 54, it's
the words of Christ literally speaking. Let me show you an
example of that. Turn to Psalm 69. There are so many examples. But
Psalm 69. Verse 21. They gave me also gall for my
meat. And in my thirst, they gave me
vinegar to drink. Is there any doubt who's speaking
there? Clear enough, the Lord said these words from the cross.
Now look at the way verse one begins, and these are the words
of Christ. He says, save me. Oh God, for the waters are come
into my soul. I sink in deep mire where there's
no standing. I am coming to deep waters where
the floods overflow me. Now he's talking about what he
experienced on the cross. And one of the glorious things
about the psalm is we're given the very feelings of Christ while
he was being forsaken by his father. When he's talking about
the floods coming into his soul, he's talking about what he experienced
as the sinner's substitute. Verse three, he says, I'm weary
of my crying, My throat is dried, mine eyes fail while I wait for
my God. They that hate me without cause
are more than the hairs of mine head. They that would destroy
me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away." Only Christ can say that. Oh God,
and look at this amazing verse. Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness
and my sins. are not hid from thee. Now we
know he didn't sin in and of himself, but when my sin became
his sin, he confessed it as his sin. My foolishness is not hid
from thee, my sins. Isn't that? Back to Psalm 54. Now while we
know these are first, the words of Christ, as every psalm is,
they're also the words of David. And that is how I'm going to
look at this psalm, and I pray that we'll all be able to enter
in to what David is saying. Like I said, I know first these
are the words of Christ, and you can see that, but look how
David begins this psalm, save me. You know, I counted 23 times
in the Psalms where David says, save me. What I need more than
anything else is to be saved. I can't save myself and I need
to be saved. Lord, save me. I can't save myself. Lord, save
me. Now look what he says. Save me,
oh God, by thy name. Now his name is who he is. It's the person behind the name.
His name represents his attributes, his characteristics. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, when David says, save me
by your name, he says, save me as an act of your sovereign will.
Will my salvation. Save me as an act of your power. By your power, save me. By your
justice, save me. By your holiness, save me. By your grace and your love and
your mercy, save me. Now, when I'm calling on the
name of the Lord, when I'm saying save me by your name, I'm calling
upon all of his attributes. Lord, save me by who you are. I need to be saved. Lord, save me. Save me by your
name. And look what he says next. And
judge me by thy strength. Now those things seem almost
incongruent, don't they? Save me and judge me? Turn with
me to Isaiah chapter 45 for just a moment. Isaiah 45. Verse 20. Assemble yourselves and come.
Draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They
have no knowledge that set up the wood of their grave in image
and pray unto a God that cannot save. A God that cannot save
unless you let him save you? There's no point in praying to
him. They have no knowledge that pray unto a false God that cannot
save. Now look what he says next. Tell
ye, and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that
time? Have not I the Lord, and there's
no God beside me, a just God and a Savior? Don't miss that. He's first a just God and he
is a savior. Now, when he says, judge me,
I'm calling upon the Lord because of what Christ did. Judge me. That's what justification is.
Being judged by God, judge me by thy strength. Now, the thing
of the gospel is it's a thing of absolute justice. When Christ
died on Calvary's tree, it was the justice of God who killed
him, because my sins became his sins, and he became guilty of
the commission of those sins. And I'm saying, judge me by thy
strength, by thy power. Who's the power of God? Christ
is the power of God, isn't he? You see the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ as the reason why God can judge you, and you can
be justified. Yes, I want to be saved by his
name, by his gospel, but listen to this. The justice of God,
because of the cross of Christ, the justice of God demands the
salvation of everybody that Jesus Christ died for. Isn't that glorious? Judge me by thy strength. I was talking to a Muslim a few
weeks ago. And the Lord opened up an opportunity
to talk to him, and we talked about the gospel, talked about
the character of God, and I made this statement to him. I said,
the difference between my God and your God is my God is holy
and just, and your God is not. And he kind of taken back from
that. My God is the holy God. I said, wait a minute, I want
you to think with me. Does your God forgive you when
you commit grievous sins? And he said, yes, if I repent
of those sins and if I'm sincere in my repentance. God looks in
the heart and he knows whether or not you're sincere. Well,
right off the bat, that makes your forgiveness dependent upon
your sincerity. How well will you fare with that? But then I asked him again. I
said, now what if you commit the same sin again? Will your
God forgive you then if you commit that same sin again and again
and again and again? And he said, well, yes, he will
if I sincerely repent. Each time I have to be sincere.
What difference is that between most of what is called Christianity.
No difference. I mean, one of the things that
I could see clearly, there's no difference between the Muslim
belief and the freewill Armenian belief, you know, your sincere
repentance. But then I gave him this example. I said, let's say
a serial killer murders people. Maybe even your children or your
grandchildren. He had grandchildren. I even
used that example. I said, let's say a serial killer murders people.
And then he says before the judge, I sincerely repent of what I've
done. I'm sincere. I regret it. I wish I hadn't have done it.
And the judge says, okay, you're set free. What do we have on
our hands? The miscarriage of justice. We
would get rid of a judge like that. He is no good. To put that person back out in
society, and what if he did it again? And then came before the
judge again and said, I'm sorry. I repent. Now, I want you to understand
this. Repentance is not being sorry. How sorry? When are you sorry enough? Repentance
is not saying, well, I'll never commit that sin again. Repentance
is a change of mind toward God, toward yourself. You see that
you're nothing but sin. You agree with what God says
about you. It's not how sorry and how sincere. But the gospel of Jesus Christ
is a thing of justice. God is absolutely just. Sin must
be punished. It is punished. He will only
reward the righteous. In Christ, I'm righteous. I really
am righteous. This is not pie in the sky. This
is not make-believe. When the Lord said regarding
that publican, I say unto you, that man went down to his house
justified rather than the other. You know why? That man was without
guilt before God. That is every believer's hope. So this is our prayer. Save me. And this is not a one-time prayer.
I'm praying it right now. Lord, save me. I need saved. I need saved from God. He's the one I've sinned against.
I need saved from God. I need saved from myself. I'm
my biggest enemy. I'm my biggest problem. I need
to be saved from my sins. Don't you love that verse of
scripture in Matthew 121, thou shall call his name Jesus for
he shall save his people from their sins. That's exactly what
I need. I need saved from my sins. I can't save myself from my sins.
Save me by your name, by your attributes, by who you are. Judge
me by thy strength. He says in verse two, Hear my prayer, O God. You know, I don't want to be
like that Pharisee. The scripture says he stood and
prayed thus with himself. He thought he's praying to God,
but he wasn't. He prayed thus with himself.
His prayer got no further than the ceiling. I don't want to
be that. Hear me, O God, and give ear. to the words of my
mouth. Hear what I'm saying. Verse three. For strangers. Are risen up against
me. And. You can certainly see the
Lord crying that from the cross when he was made seeing the one
who knew no sin. Strange to him, they've risen
up against him. But I think that this word, I
think this will be helpful in understanding this. Stranger
means more than foreigner, but an enemy. And one of the definitions
of this word is loathsome in breath. That's what a believer's sins
are to him. loathsome in breath. You know, you're around somebody,
their breath is bad. That's your old nature. That's
your sinful nature. You hate it. It's offensive to
you. Strangers, this is the same word
that's used to describe the strange woman, the prostitute. Strangers
are risen up against me. And the thing that is to a believer,
his sin, He owns his sin, it's his sin, it's his fault, but
it's a stranger that's risen up against him. I think of what
Paul said in Romans 7, 14. He said, we know, or I know,
that the law is, we know, speaking of every believer, we know that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. And Paul didn't say that until
the Lord saved him. An unbeliever would never understand
that. What's wrong with you then? But a believer understands because
he sees sin like an unbeliever doesn't see sin. Two totally
different views. And he said, I am carnal, sold
under sin. And that's what the writer is
saying. That's what David is saying.
For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after
my soul. Now, yes, David's talking about
men. If you read the title of the Psalm, you see that this
was a particular circumstance he was going through, but yet
he's saying oppressors, strangers have risen up against me. He's
talking about his sins, oppressors, terrible ones. Seek after my
soul. They've not set God before them.
They have no fear of God. Look at Psalm 36 for just a moment. Verse 1, the transgression of
the wicked saith within whose heart? Whose heart? My heart. There is no fear of God before
his eyes. Now what he is talking about when he says this, he says
this in my heart, he's talking about his old man. His old nature. It says in my heart. And you
know, you you see that you're the only way you can see that
is if you have a new nature. And if you have a new nature,
you see that clearly. And that's what David is speaking
of. Now, look what he says in. Verse four, behold. God is mine. Helper. If God before us. Who can be
against us? God is my helper. I think of what the writer to
the Hebrews said, let your conversation be without covetousness and be
content, be satisfied with such things as you have. What do you
have? Well, everything in Christ. For he has said, I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee so that we may boldly say the Lord
is my helper. I'll not fear what man. can do
unto me. Now, when I say he's my helper,
I love to think about this. He helped me when he stood as
my surety before time began and took complete responsibility
for my salvation. The Father gave me him. And he took me and said, I'll
be his savior. And he knew then what he would
experience. He knew he would be forsaken
by God. He knew he would become my sin bearer. He knew everything. He's a lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, but how he helped me when he took complete responsibility
for my salvation. How he helped me when he came
to this earth and was made flesh. You see, I'm flesh. He was made
flesh. How he helped me when he kept
God's holy law perfectly for me. Oh, how he helped me. How he helped me when he went
to the cross voluntarily and paid for my sins and was forsaken
by God. How he helped me. How he helped
me when he died and satisfied all of God's claims against me. Perfectly satisfied God, so that
God satisfied with me. How he helped me. How he helped
me when he was raised from the dead as my justification. How
he helped me when he went back to heaven. You see, when he went
back to heaven, you know who else went back to heaven? Everybody
he represented. Scripture says we are seated
together with him in the heavenlies. Well, you don't look like you're
seated with him. To me, you're standing here in front of me.
Well, the Bible still says I'm seated together in the heavenlies
in Christ. I believe the word of God. That's how much he helped
me. I mean, he helps me now as he
intercedes for me. I love the passage of scripture
in 1 John 2, 1 and 2. John says, These things have
I written unto you, that you sin not. Now do you hear that? These things are written that
you sin not. In thought, in word, in deed,
in motive, in imagination, there's never an excuse for sin. and
you and I ought to make it our resolve to never sin again. Amen? When you do, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. When you do, And you do. And you do all the time. There's no excuse for it. There's
no justification in it. You can't comfort yourself in,
well, you know, I can't help it. No, it's evil. When you do,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. I have one representing me before
the Father, my righteous Savior. And oh, how he's going to help
me when he comes again. And I see him as he is. He makes
himself known to me. Don't you love that thought,
the Lord's my helper? God is my helper. He helps me.
He helps me right now. He helps me. He represents me. Behold, God is my helper. The
Lord is with them that uphold my soul. Now, a couple of things
about that. With regard to every believer,
we uphold each other, don't we? We love each other. We got each
other's back. We do, if we're believers. We
uphold one another. That being said, everything that
takes place, the Lord is with them that uphold my soul, and
we uphold with it. But this is with regard to everything,
and we know that all things work together for good. Everything's
upholding my soul. The bad things, the difficult
things, everything, all things. work together for good, to them
that love God, to them who are thee called according to his
purpose, all things. Now he says in verse five, he
shall reward evil unto mine enemies, cut them off in thy truth. Well, who are my enemies? My
sins. My sins. Those are my biggest
enemies. Now, I have people that wish me ill. There's no doubt
about that. You have people that wish you ill. That's life. And I know this also. If somebody
truly is my enemy, they're the Lord's enemy, too, because I'm
one with him. And in as much as they did it to the least of
these, my brethren, you did it to me in as much as you did it
not to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it not
to me. But my chief enemies are my sins. And what's he gonna do? He shall
reward evil unto mine enemies. He put them away on the cross,
he punished them. Cut them off in thy truth. Don't you want your enemies to
be cut off? I want them cut off. Now I'm not talking about my
physical enemies. You know, I don't wish anybody
to go to hell. I don't. I wish, I know not everybody's
going to be saved, but I don't desire hell for anybody. But
I tell you what, I want my enemies cut off. And that's what he's
talking about. Cut off my enemies. And look
what he says in thy truth, the truth of thy gospel. Verse six,
I will freely sacrifice unto thee. And that word freely is the same
word David used in Psalm 113 when he said, thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. Now I am willing, this
is what I want, this is free. I want the only way, I present
nothing but the sacrifice of Christ. That's what that means. This is what I want to do. I
want to simply be found in Him. The only thing I'll plead before
God is the sacrifice of Christ. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is that flow. That makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. I will freely. You know, here's
what I want. I want to simply be found in
Christ. I want to be covered in the blood
of Christ so that all God sees is Jesus Christ. I freely offer
up that sacrifice. I come only in the name of His
Son. I will freely sacrifice unto
thee. I will praise thy name, O Lord, for it's good." The Lord's
good. His name is good. Everything
he does is good. The Lord is good all the time.
It is so bad when we find fault with anything he does, because
everything he does is good, and it's good because he does it.
No other reason is needed. I thank thee, O Father, these
are the words of our Lord. I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because you've hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes, even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. Let me ask you this question. If it's good in his sight, is
it good in your sight? Yeah. Verse seven, for he hath delivered
me out of how much trouble? All trouble. He hath delivered
me out of all trouble and mine eye hath seen his desire upon
mine enemies. Now once again, does that mean
somebody that is an enemy to you and you see something bad
happen to them and you secretly feel good about it and think
they had it coming? Now, me and you have thought
that before, and it's evil, right? That it's wrong, that it's evil
to see something bad happen to somebody that has done you wrong,
they had it coming. But I'll tell you what, mine
eye has seen his desire upon mine enemies, my sins. They've
been put away, they've been crushed, and I'm gonna stand before God
without sin. Save me. Oh God, by thy name,
and judge me by thy strength.