Psalm 41. Psalm 41, blessed is
he that considereth the poor. The Lord will deliver him in
time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and
keep him alive. And he shall be blessed upon
the earth. And thou will not deliver him
unto the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him
upon the bed of languishing. Thou will make all his bed in
his sickness. I said, Lord, be merciful unto
me. Heal my soul, for I have sinned
against thee. Mine enemies speak evil of me. When shall he die and his name
perish? And if he come to see me, he
speaketh vanity. His heart gathereth iniquity
to itself. When he goeth abroad, he telleth
it. All that hate me whisper together against me. Against
me do they devise my hurt. An evil disease, say they, cleaveth
fast unto him. And now that he lieth, he shall
rise up no more. Yea, mine own familiar friend,
in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted
up his heel against me. But thou, O Lord, Be merciful
unto me and raise me up that I may requite them. By this I
know that thou favors me because mine enemy doth not triumph over
me. And as for me, thou upholdest
me in mine integrity and settest me before thy face forever. Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting and to everlasting. Amen and amen. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
with thanksgiving. We ask that you would hear and
receive this prayer through the mediation of thy dear son in
his intercession. We confess our sins, we confess
our sins against thee, and we pray for forgiveness and cleansing.
We pray that we might be enabled to hear your gospel in the power
of your spirit, that you would speak Oh, Lord, let us hear your
voice. Lord, we ask that. We might be enabled to sit at
the feet of your son. We ask that you would give us
the grace truly to rest. Oh, Lord, enable us to rest in
him. We. Pray for a greater love to you. A greater love to one another. and that we might be found in
your son. We pray that you would heal those according to your
will that are going through physical trials, emotional trials. We
pray that you would cause us to always take the lowest seat
in the house. Bless us for Christ's sake. Be
with all your people wherever they meet together. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen. Now we're going to read this
psalm first as the words of David and then as the words of Christ. Now let's look at this psalm
first as the words of David. Blessed is he that considereth
the poor. Now here is someone who's blessed
of God. someone who considers the poor. And that could be speaking of
poor in purse. You think of all the problems
that are created by poverty. Should I be indifferent about
that? Of course not. You know, the Lord considered
the poor. He gave to the poor. And every believer who is blessed
by God is to consider the poor. Blessed is he that considers
the poor, the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. Now,
this is very important. The Lord doesn't deliver that
man because he considers the poor. The Lord delivers that
man because he's been blessed. And the fact that he considers
the poor in the first place is because of the blessing of God
upon him. Now you consider the poor, yes,
the poor in purse, but you consider the poor in spirit. You are moved
to compassion by that one who is poor in spirit. Isn't that
the first beatitude? Blessed are the poor in spirit. Those who have nothing. They are blessed of God. Now,
he says in verse two, the Lord will preserve him and keep him
alive. That's the blessing of his grace.
And he shall be blessed upon the earth. Thou will not deliver
him under the will of his enemies. Now, this is the blessing of
being blessed by God. Lord's going to preserve you.
What a blessing to be preserved. The Lord's going to preserve
you. He's going to keep you. He's going to not let you be
delivered to the will of your enemies. And more than anything
else with a believer, he's not going to let you be delivered
to the will of your sin. What kind of blessing is that?
You know how you would be defeated by sin apart from his grace.
but he is not going to allow that to take place. Verse three,
the Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing.
Now this is talking about sickness. The Lord will strengthen him
upon the bed of languishing, thou will make or thou will turn
his bed in his sickness. He's going to be a nurse to you. The God of glory in his infinite
glory We'll be a nurse to you. He'll turn you over in your bed,
your bed of sickness. Verse four, I said, and oh, how
every believer can say this. I said, Lord, be merciful unto
me. Heal my soul for I've sinned against thee. Would to God that
this is the way we would always consider our sin. This is the
only way it can be seen. It's proper light. It's against
him. That's why it's so bad. It's against him. And with a
believer, when he speaks of his sin, there's an element of it's
a sickness to him. Heal me. Heal me, I'm sick. Heal me. I've sinned against
thee. Be merciful unto me. This is
David's prayer. He says in verse five, mine enemies
speak evil of me. When shall he die? And his name
perish. David had plenty of enemies.
And if he come to see me, verse six, he speaketh vanity. What he says to me has no substance. His heart gathers iniquity to
itself. He gathers iniquity really against
me. When he goeth abroad, he telleth it. He's seeking to malign
me. He's seeking to discredit me. David felt that. And who of us have not felt that
happen to us? David is speaking out of the
grief of his heart. He says in verse seven, all that
hate me whisper together against me, against me do they devise
my hurt. An evil disease say they cleave
it fast unto him. They seem sick and they think,
well, what do you think he did to get that? He has that coming.
He's done something that God is punishing him for. An evil
disease is cleaving. unto him fast, and now he lieth,
he shall rise no more up. Yea, now we know that this is
spoken of by the Lord in John chapter 13 about Judas Iscariot,
but David is talking about his own experience here. He said, yea, mine own familiar
friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, has lifted
up his heel against me. I've been betrayed. This person
I trusted has betrayed me. Now, who has not felt the horror
of being betrayed? And David is talking about that,
and I have no doubt he's talking about Ahithophel. Ahithophel
ends up being the grandfather of Bathsheba. And I have no doubt
that after that thing happened with Bathsheba, Ahithophel was
against David and he was gonna do anything he could to hurt
him. They had been friends, but he turns against him. And David
feels the pain of that. He says in verse 10, but thou,
O Lord, be merciful unto me and raise me up. I feel dead in my
sins. Raise me up that I may requite
them. Now, I know that that can only be said of the Lord in the
sense that he was raised up and requites his enemies. And the
Lord tells us to love our enemies. But here David says, raise me
up that I might requite them. By this I know that thou favors
me because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. Now, the only
way I really understand that is like this. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? My enemies are not going to triumph
over me. Who can condemn me? Christ died for me. That's the
answer to all my enemies. The gospel by this, I know that
thou favors me because mine enemy does not triumph over me. As
for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity. in my completeness. Now, I have no doubt that what
David's talking about is who he is in Christ. I'm complete
in Christ. I'm perfectly righteous in Christ,
and you uphold me in this, and set as me before thy face forever. That's before his face of favor,
his presence. I love when David said in Psalm
17, 15, ask for me, I'll behold thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness." And David ends this, blessed be the Lord of
Israel from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and amen. Now, while those
are words of David, I believe this psalm, like I believe every
psalm to be preeminently the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is he, this is, who is
the one who really considered the poor? The Lord Jesus Christ is that
one who considered the poor. Poor sinners like me and you.
People who have absolutely nothing to bring that could recommend
them to God. They're poor, they have nothing.
That's me. Aren't you thankful the Lord
considered the poor? In mercy, in grace, You know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet
for your sakes, he became poor. How he considered the poor when
he left heaven to save poor sinners. Oh, blessed is he. How supremely
blessed is he that considereth the poor, the Lord will deliver
him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him. and keep him alive. And you know,
I, I think of the Lord Jesus being kept alive for 33 years
by the power of God in this sin curse world as the one who considered
the poor. And he was raised from the dead,
having accomplished the salvation of the poor, and he's kept alive
forever, isn't he? I love the way the angels said to the women
of the tomb, why seek ye him that lives among the dead? he ever liveth. The Lord will preserve him and
keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon the earth. Thou
wilt not deliver him under the will of his enemies. You see,
when the Lord was raised from the dead, he was completely saved
from all of his enemies, wasn't he? Verse three, the Lord will
strengthen him upon the bed of languishing, thou will make all
his bed in his sickness." Now this was seen in Gethsemane's
garden when the Lord sent angels to minister to the Lord when
he was sweating great drops of blood. I can't imagine what all
that means, but I think it's interesting how the time of the Lord's suffering,
taking in his body, the scripture says, our sicknesses. Now that
lets us know something about what took place when Christ was
on the cross. You know, you can't have sicknesses
imputed to you, can you? Well, I'm going to impute sickness
to him. No, you become sick. Now the Lord never sinned, we
know that. He never sinned, but he experienced all the sickness
and the wickedness and the perversion of sin. He never sinned, but
he felt as, you feel sickness. You don't have sickness imputed
to you, do you? I mean, when you're sick, you're sick. You
feel it in your body. The Lord felt all the pain and
the sickness of sin. I repeat, I don't understand
this, But I believe it. All of the sins of all of God's
people became his sins. And he felt the shame, the guilt
of all of those sins. But the Lord helped him in Gethsemane,
but on the cross, he didn't help him. But when he raised him from
the dead, oh, how he helped him. I said, Lord, verse four, this
is the Lord Jesus speaking. I said, Lord, be merciful unto
me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. Psalm 40, verse 12, we considered
this last week. This is the Lord speaking because
we, he's quoted in Hebrews 10, look in verse six, sacrifice
and offering, thou didst not desire of thine ears hast thou
opened. Burnt offering and sin offering is thou not required.
And then said, I low. I come in the volume of the book.
It's written to me. I delight to do thy will. Oh
my God. Oh my God. Yea thy laws within my heart.
That's Christ speaking. And look what he says in verse
12. This is still Christ speaking for a name. Enumerable evils
have compassed me about mine iniquities. have taken hold upon
me so that I'm not able to look up. That's Christ speaking as
the sin bearer. And it's the same thing in verse
four of Psalm 41. I said, Lord, be merciful unto
me, heal my soul for I've sinned against thee. Now the Lord felt
that so infinitely much more than you and I feel. I mean,
it ought to break our heart that we can't even hold our head up
that we would sin against him. But it doesn't do us that way.
We can be so hard hearted, but oh, how the Lord felt this when
he said, I have sinned against thee. That's how truly my sin
became his sin. Mine enemies speak evil of me. This speaks of the depravity
of our race, our nature. When shall he die and his name
perish? That's what people think of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not
the false Christ that men feel comfortable with. You know, most
people, their Christ started in a manger, baby Jesus. And
they don't think of the eternal, powerful, infinite Christ who
is God. They've got a baby that they're
okay with. But men hate the one in whose
hands they are. And they can do, they can't,
they got no control of him. That's the Christ men hate, the
Christ they cannot control. The one who is absolute Lord
of Lords. Mine enemies speak evil of me.
When shall he die? And his name perish. The Lord said, they hated me
without a cause. And if he come to see me, he
speaks vanity in his heart. He gathers iniquity to itself.
When he goeth abroad, he Telleth it. Once again, it's all they
want to do is find evil against me that they can malign me. Verse
seven. And this is not somebody paranoid
speaking. This is someone who is truly
experiencing this. Now, a lot of times, you know,
people are whispered against me. It could be you're paranoid.
It could be the things you're thinking they're saying against
you. They're not even thinking about you. But here, our Lord
says this without any paranoia. He says, all that hate me whisper
together against me. Against me do they devise my
hurt. They want to put the Lord Jesus
Christ completely out of business. That's their motive. That's their
desire. An evil disease, say they, cleaveth
fast unto him. And now that he lieth, he shall
rise up no more. They think he dies because of
his sinfulness. He's not a true servant of God. And now that he's dead, he's
not going to rise up anymore. They were wrong, weren't they?
He shall rise from the dead in complete victory. An evil disease
say they cleaveth fast unto him, and now that he lieth, he shall
rise up no more. Now the Lord speaks of Judas. And we know that from John 13
verse 18, where he actually quotes this passage of scripture as
referring to Judas. Yea, mine own familiar friend
in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread. hath lifted
up his heel against me. Now I have often thought about
the Lord Jesus and his relationship with Judas. He always knew he
was gonna betray him, didn't he? Why did he trust him in the
first place if he knew exactly what he was gonna do? How could
he call him a friend when he knew he was the son of perdition? You know how I'm going to answer
that? I don't know. I don't know. I also don't understand how the
Lord could say, no man knows the time of my return except
my father, which is in heaven. He said that, didn't he? As a
man, he didn't know when he was going
to return. Only his father knew. And I have
no doubt with regard to Judas, he felt all the pain of a betrayal
of a trusted friend. How difficult to be betrayed
by a trusted friend. It hurt. It hurt him. He said, yea, mine own familiar
friend. I think of when the Lord looked
at Judas. Judas comes up and he kisses
him on the cheek. Judas, betrayest thou the son
of man with a kiss? I can't get away from this. I don't recall anybody kissing
him on the cheek that we have a record of except for Judas.
And we have a lot of people kissing him on the feet in worship, but
kissing him on the cheek, Judas felt like he was able to do that. And how much pain that brought
our Lord. He lifted up his heel against
me, but thou, Lord, be merciful unto me. and raise me up. And you know, God did raise him
up, didn't he? He was risen from the dead. And when he was risen
from the dead, yes, it was for the justification of his people.
And yes, he will requite his enemies. The Lord counts those
His enemies that do not believe Him, that do not love Him, and
He will requite them. And He will requite His friends,
too. That's in justification. When
the Lord saves me, it'll be because I deserve it. His righteousness
is mine. And His enemies that He requites,
they will deserve His wrath. He's absolutely just. Yes, he's
merciful, he's absolutely just. But thou, O Lord, be merciful
unto me and raise me up that I may requite them by this, verse
11. By this I know that thou favors
me because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. Now, how could I describe the
favor that the Lord Jesus Christ has with the Father. Oh, how he favors him. How he
favors him. You know, how do you feel about that? How
do you feel about God's favor all being toward Christ? Does
that make you happy? Can you rejoice in that? Or do
you think, well, why does he show such favoritism? Well, a
believer loves the favor that God has toward his son. Because
that same favor that God has toward his son, he has toward
everyone in his son. And that's where we find our
peace, God's favor toward Christ. Oh, the father loveth the son,
and hath given all things into his hand. And none of his enemies
will the Lord spare in that sense. By this I know that thou favourest
me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. And as for me,
now who can say this? Now we can say this in the sense
that we're complete in Christ and his righteousness is ours.
It really is. And we can say this, but we can't
say it like him. As for me, well, I shouldn't
say that yet. We can say it like him. Yeah, we can say it like
him, because as he is, so are we in the world. Yeah, we can
say it like him. But think of these as the words of the Lord
Jesus, because that's what they are. As for me, thou upholdest
me in mine integrity and set as me before thy face forever. Now, the Lord was upheld in his
integrity, his perfection, his perfect obedience. And he trusted
his father to uphold him in this. How he trusted his father at
all times. Thou upholdest me in my integrity
and settest me before thy face forever. And this is talking
about the face of his favor. Oh, the favor God has toward
his son. He raised him from the dead.
He sets him before his face forever. And that is why, and this is
the only reason why, you and I can say with David, ask for
me. I will. Behold thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness. And you know, I'm not gonna be
satisfied until then. Now I'm satisfied with Christ. I'm infinitely
satisfied with Christ. I'm not looking anywhere else,
but I'm not gonna be satisfied until I'm not a sinner anymore.
And I actually behold his face in righteousness. But oh, aren't
you thankful for him that considered the poor, that considered me
and you, and left glory to save his people. Okay.