Would you turn back to Psalm
40? David said. In verse 11, withhold
not thou thy tender mercies for me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. I need to be continually preserved. Four, here's why. Innumerable
evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I am not able to look up. Now that word taken
hold is generally translated overtaken. That's what I've entitled
this message, Overtaken. Now this, as every psalm is,
is a messianic psalm. And that means that when I read
this psalm and every other psalm, I'm first as the words of Christ
himself. I remember reading once where
there were 22 Messianic Psalms where it's obviously Christ speaking.
No, there's 150 Messianic Psalms where it is obviously Christ
speaking. And you can't argue about this
one because this is quoted in Hebrews chapter 10. Look in verse
six. Sacrifice and offering, thou
didst not desire, Mine ears hast thou opened, burnt offering and
sin offering thou hast not required. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book. It is written of me, I delight
to do thy will. Oh my God, yea, thy law is within
my heart. Now turn over to Hebrews 10. Hebrews, the 10th chapter, verse five. Wherefore, when he
cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest
not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book. It's written of me to do thy
will. Oh God. Now, when David says, for innumerable evils
have encompassed me about, mine iniquities have taken hold upon
me so that I'm not able to look up. How in the world could those
be the words of Christ? He never sinned. He had no iniquity
of his own. He didn't have these innumerable
evils. How could these be the words
of Christ? Well, they are. We already see that from earlier
in this chapter where he said, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not, but of bodies thou prepared me. These are the direct words
of Christ. And you can't say, well, these
were the words of Christ, but these weren't. Now, the only
way that you and I can understand that, because Christ never sinned,
I want to say that as strongly as I can. Christ never sinned.
When he was on the cross, he never sinned. When he was in
utter darkness, he never sinned in his person. Christ never sinned
in his person at any time. Amen. But when the sins of the elect
became his sins. When they were transferred to
him, he owned them as his own. After this transfer took place,
Christ was not dying for somebody else's sin. It became his. Now that's the only way that
this can be understood. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now let's look at this whole
psalm as a Messianic psalm. Verse one, I waited patiently for the Lord. Have you ever done that? Have
you ever waited patiently for the Lord. Now you've waited for
the Lord, but it's been with impatience. Isn't that right?
I waited impatiently for the Lord. This can only be said of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And even when he was in utter
darkness on Calvary's tree with no light at all, forsaken by
his father, He could say, I waited patiently for the Lord. Never did he have unbelief. He
believed God perfectly when he had nothing to hold on to, being
forsaken by his father. He inclined unto me and heard
my cry. He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit, out of the miry clay. Now, I don't have any doubt
that's talking about the resurrection. He was in the miry pit of being
made sin. He was in the miry pit of the
tomb and the Lord brought him up out of that horrible pit,
out of the miry clay. Now, why did he bring him up?
Because he satisfied God. I love thinking about that, the
satisfaction of Jesus Christ. What he did made God satisfied. God said, I can ask for no more.
I will not ask for any more. His justice was satisfied. His
law was satisfied. Sin was punished. Perfect satisfaction. That's what the resurrection
speaks of. That's why we love the resurrection of Christ so
much. And he has set my feet upon a
rock. and has established my goings. And he hath put a new song in
my mouth, even praise unto our God." I love thinking about this. He said, in the midst of the
church, I'll sing praise to thee. Wouldn't it be something to be
able to We enjoyed hearing you sing, Drew, very much. You know
somebody who I'm gonna hear enjoy singing much more? Hearing the
Lord sing praise to his Father. Us being allowed to listen in
as the Lord Jesus Christ does that in the midst of his church.
Many, all of the elect, all who believe, many shall see it and
fear and shall trust in the Lord. Now here are three things that
go together, always. First, you see. You see who He
is. And what comes as a result of
seeing who He is? Fear. Fear. I'm not talking about the fear
of mistrust. I'm talking about the fear of reverence. That fear
that makes you afraid to look anywhere but Christ. If you ever
see who He is, you'll be afraid to look anywhere but Christ only
as everything in your salvation. Many shall see and fear and trust. These things always go together. You see him, you'll fear him.
You fear him, you'll trust him as everything in your salvation.
Verse four, blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust
and respecteth not the proud nor such as turn aside the lies.
Now here is the blessed man. The man who makes the Lord his
trust, not his experience, not his works, all my salvation is
in him. And that person who looks only
to Christ, he didn't respect the proud. He sees it as offensive,
insolent, arrogant, this thing of pride, it's so groundless.
How can you be proud? If you know how the Lord has
saved you, you'll glory in him, you'll be proud of him, but you
won't be proud of yourself. You'll be ashamed of yourself.
Nor of such as turn aside the lies, the lies of salvation by
works. Now many, verse five, this is
still Christ speaking, And he says, many, oh Lord, my God,
are thou wonderful works, which thou has done and thy thoughts,
which are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare unto thee,
if I declare and speak of them, they're more than can be numbered.
Now, the first thing I'd like to point out about this verse
is the little word us. Do you know, if you're a believer,
you've never been separated from Jesus Christ? You're a part of that us. The
same us that when the Lord was speaking to John the Baptist,
he said, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. He wasn't only talking about
John the Baptist, he was talking about Todd Norbert. He was talking about
every single one of his elect. Everything he did, he did as
an us. And God's people have never been
separated from him. Would you ever want to be? Oh,
then I'm going to be in Christ and be found in him. Everything
he did, he did as an us. And he says, many, O Lord my
God, are thy wonderful works, which thou hast done, and thy
thoughts which are to usward. And I think of his wonderful
works of salvation. What a wonderful work it is for
him to choose me. What do you think of election?
You get tired of it. Well, there he is, beating that drum again,
election. You got a problem if that's your
attitude. I know that's people's attitude
from time to time in the election. What an amazing thing that he
would choose me. What a wonderful work that he'd
redeem me from all my sins and put them away. What a wonderful
work that he would make me to stand before him as righteous
and justified. What a wonderful work that he'd
give me life. that His grace would be invincible
and give me life, and what a wonderful work that He preserves me. Many, O Lord God, are thy wonderful
works, which are to us for death. If I would declare and speak
of them, there more than can be numbered. And then this is
what we read from Hebrews chapter 10. Sacrifice and offering thou
didst not desire, Mine ears hast thou opened. Now that's as the
Hebrew bond slave. You remember when the Hebrew
bond slave was allowed to go out, but he couldn't bring his
wife and kids with him. He said, I love my wife. I love
my kids. I love my master. I don't want
to leave. And they would take him and bore
his ear. That's what the Lord is saying.
He is. I'm not going to be separated from my people. Mine ear hast
thou digged. Mine ear hast thou opened. I'm
not going to be separated from my people. Sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire, animal sacrifice. Mine ears hast thou
opened, burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book." Now this
is not this book. This book is in that book. But
this is that book that we read of in Revelation chapter 5. The
book of God's decrees. The book of God's purposes that's
Backside, frontside, you can't add anything to it. Sealed with
seven seals that only the Lamb could open up. That's the book
he's talking about. The book of God's eternal purposes
and decrees. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book, it's written of me. I delight to do thy will,
O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart.
Now, turn back to Hebrews 10 for just a moment. Let me read
the rest of that passage. Verse seven, then said I, lo,
I come in the volume of the book. It's written of me to do thy
will, O God. Above what he said, sacrifice
and offering and burn offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest
not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, the first covenant, that he may establish the second
by the witch will, by God's will. Remember he said, I come to do
thy will. Well, here's what he did. By the witch will, we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. A completed action that never
needs to be repeated again, once for all. Now, verse nine, the
Lord describes his preaching. And if you want to know the content
of the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have it here
in these two verses. And this summarizes everything.
He says, I preached righteousness in a great congregation. Lo,
I've not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I've not hid thy
righteousness within my heart. I've declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I've not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Now, he describes
his preaching. I've preached and I've declared.
And he says, I've not refrained. I've not hid. I've not concealed. What's the kind of preaching
I want to hear? I want to hear the declaration of the truth.
I don't want to see any refraining. I don't want to see any hiding.
I don't want to see any concealing. I'm afraid would summarize most
of the stuff that goes on under the name of preaching. It's not
true preaching. But I don't want to hear anything
like that. I want to hear the way the Lord preached. And what is it
he preached? He said, I preach righteousness.
And we know what he's talking about when he says, I've not
hid thy righteousness within my heart. He's talking about
his own righteousness, the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ. He
said, I've declared thy faithfulness. Every aspect of salvation is
God being faithful to do what he determined before to be done.
That's what this faithfulness is about. Everything he does,
he already determined to do, and lo, he does it. I've declared
thy faithfulness and thy salvation, the salvation that's all of grace,
that's all in Christ. I've not concealed thy lovingkindness,
and thy truth from the great congregation. Now, this is still
the Lord speaking. Verse 11. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. Here's the verse I thought of
when I read this and thought of the Lord saying this. I thirst. Oh, how he thirsted for the tender
mercies and the loving kindness of the Lord. And he didn't have
any of that on Calvary's tree, but oh, how he thirsted for it. Now he says in verse 12, for
innumerable evils have compassed me about. mine iniquities. Now understand this. I know I
can't understand it. I can't understand it. Nobody
can understand it, but God can do this. Christ said my iniquities. He didn't say the iniquities
of Todd that were imputed to me. Now they were my iniquities. But when the Lord took them upon
himself, they became his. And he became guilty of those
iniquities. And he owns them before his father. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me. And he's the only one who ever really
felt anything like this. Me and you, we don't understand
the evil of sin. and how it must have felt to
the holy son of God as he was made sin, but listen to what
he says from Calvary's tree. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I am not able to look up. They're more than
the hairs of my head, therefore my heart faileth me. Now, this is the offense. This is the scandal of the cross. Somebody was in my study talking
to me about this issue and they said, that's scandalous. And
I said, yes, it is. It's called the offense and the
scandal of the cross. And then the Lord says in verse
13, be pleased. Oh Lord, to deliver me. Oh Lord,
make haste to help me. And I couldn't help but think
about how the father, while Christ was made sin, the father never
ceased to love him. The father never ceased to see
his beauty and glory. And I don't know how to explain
this. I don't please the Lord to bruise
him, but how it must have broken his heart to bruise him. This
is his son. Then, The Lord says in verse
14, let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul
to destroy it. Let them be driven backward and
put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate for a ward
of their shame that say unto me, aha, aha, so would we have
it. This is what we thought. You're
getting exactly what you deserve. Now this is the Lord's prayer
against his enemies. Now, Don't forget, the Lord said,
I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which you have given me. Those people that he said,
Father, forgive them, they know not what they do, they were forgiven.
But he prayed against some people. Turn to Psalm 69 for just a moment. Verse 21, they gave me also gall
from my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Now is there any question about who's speaking? This is the Lord
Jesus from the cross. They gave him gall and vinegar
to drink. Now look what he says. Let the
table become a snare before them, and that which should have been
for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened
that they see not, and make their loins continually to shake. Pour
out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take
hold upon them. Let their habitation be desolate.
Let no one dwell in their tents, for they persecute him whom thou
hast smitten. And they talk to the grief of
those whom thou hast wounded. Add iniquity unto their iniquity,
and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let it be blotted
out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous.
Now this is the Lord's prayer against his enemies. The Lord
has enemies and he prays against them. Don't forget this. This
is who he is. And God has revealed this to
us for a specific purpose. He's praying against those who
do not believe. Now back to Psalm 40. Verse 16, this is his prayer
for his people. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation. Say continually, the Lord be
magnified. But, and he's still speaking
from the cross, I am poor and needy. You know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. I'm poor and needy, yet the Lord
thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer.
Make no tarrying, O my God. Whenever you read a psalm, read
it first as the words of Christ. And we see that so clearly here. But this was also David speaking.
Now, I have no doubt that David understood when he was speaking
that these are primarily the words of Christ. Let me show
you this. We're going to turn to Acts 2. Acts chapter 2. This is Peter
speaking on the day of Pentecost. And he says in verse 25, for
David speaketh concerning him. I foresaw the Lord always before
my face." This is the 16th Psalm. For he's on my right hand that
I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice
and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh shall
rest in hope because thou will not leave my soul in hell. Neither
would thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. He knew he
would never go through the process of decay. Thou hast made me to
know the ways of life, and thou shalt make me full of joy with
thy countenance. Now, men and brethren, let me
freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, the one who
wrote this, that he's both dead and buried, and a sepulcher is
with us unto this day, therefore being a prophet, and knowing
that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his
loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit
on his throne, he seeing this before. spake of the resurrection
of Christ. David knew exactly what he was
saying. And I have no doubt that David knew exactly what he was
saying in this 40th Psalm. But this is also David's experience. Verse 11. Now these are the only words
I can really see is David's words. I can't see David speaking in
these first verses. This seems to be just speaking
of Christ, but I can see David speaking here. Verse 11, withhold
not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness
and thy truth continually preserve me. Now he's asking the Lord
to not withhold his mercies. You know why he asked that? Because
he felt the Lord justly could withhold his mercies. He felt
like that's what he deserved. He's talking about how he felt.
In another place, in Psalm 51, he said, take not thy Holy Spirit
from me. Cast me not away from my presence,
O Lord. David, don't you believe in the
eternal security of God's people? Of course he did. But he's talking
about how he felt. And he felt like the Lord could
justly withhold his mercies. And he's saying, Lord, please
don't do it for Christ's sake. I need your truth and your loving
kindness to continually preserve me. If you do not preserve me,
I will most assuredly fall away. He says in verse 12, four, innumerable evils have compassed
me about. And he's talking about his own
evils. He's not just talking about bad people. He's talking
about his own evils. They're innumerable, and I'm
completely surrounded by them, drowning in them. And this word
taken hold, like I said, is the word generally translated overtaken. I have been overtaken by my iniquities. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me. They've overtaken me so that
I'm not able to look up. They're more than the hairs of
my head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. Now, I could show you so many
words just like this throughout the Psalms, but read Psalm 38,
read Psalm 39 as you get opportunity. But David felt as though he had
been overtaken. defeated. He couldn't even look
up. He couldn't see past this. Now, when he's saying this, he's
talking about his feelings. And he says, I feel like I have
been cut off. I feel like I couldn't be saved.
I can't even look up. And when you look to yourself,
that's the way you will feel. I'll assure you of that. That's the
way David felt. He said, I can't even look up. Now, remember when Paul said,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, and that word fault is generally
translated trespass. If a man be overtaken in a trespass,
do you know anything about that? Being overtaken, defeated. You know, Paul said in Romans
chapter seven, verse 14, We know that the law is spiritual, but
I am carnal. That's his confession about himself.
I am carnal. Sold under sin. And that means literally sold
as a slave to sin. Now, before Paul was saved, he
said, touching the righteousness, which is in the law, I'm blameless.
But when God saved him, he had a completely different view of
his connection with sin. My iniquities, David said, have
overtaken me so that I can't look up, I can't see, I can't
even see how I could possibly be saved. That's what he's saying. And when you're looking to yourself,
you're gonna be saying the same thing. How many times, there's
not a day that goes by when at some point, I mean this, there's
not a day that goes by when at some point I don't think, how
could I be saved? How could I be saved? Now that's
where David's at at this time. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They're more than
the hairs of mine head. One translation says, my sins
have piled up so high, I can't see my way out. Therefore, my
heart fails me. It's no good. That's my big problem,
my heart. Now, whenever a man is brought
to that place, he doesn't have anywhere to go but here. Be pleased,
oh Lord, to deliver me. I don't have anywhere else to
go. I can't make any promises. I can't do anything. Be pleased
as an act of your sovereign will. Be pleased to deliver me. That's the same thing the leper
said. Lord, if you will, You can make me clean. Be pleased, oh Lord, to deliver
me. I think of what David said in
that last verse of Psalm 119. He said, I've gone astray like
a lost sheep. Seek thy servant. I can't get
back. I can't find my way back. Seek
thy servant. Deliver me. You know, I think
of this prayer, save me, same thing. Deliver me. I need to
be delivered from God himself because he's the one I sinned
against. I need to be delivered from myself. I am the problem.
I need to be delivered from my sin and my sins. I need to be
delivered from the mess my sins have made. Be pleased, oh Lord,
to deliver me. Make haste to help me. If you
want deliverance, you're in a hurry. It'd be okay a few days, no,
make haste to help me. Look in verse 14. Let them be
ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy
it. Let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me
evil. Let them be desolate for a word
of their shame that say unto me, aha, aha. You know, we're
always gonna have folks like that. Grief is sin. Job's comforters,
buddy, they had him exposed. Aha, this is your fault. You brought this on yourself,
you've been caught, you've been found out, so would we have it. Aha, aha. Lord's gonna deal with
these people and it ain't gonna be good. And I don't want to be one of
those people. Let me quote this to you from Matthew chapter seven.
I hope the Lord brings this to the heart of every one of us.
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge,
you shall be judged. And with what measure you meet,
it shall be needed to you again. And why beholdest thou the moat
that's in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam
that is in thine own eye? It's a good question, isn't it? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
let me pull out the moat out of thy eye, and behold, a beam
is in thine own eye, a log. Thou hypocrite. That's the Lord's words. Thou
hypocrite. First cast the beam out of thine
own eye. Then shalt thou see clearly to
cast the mote out of thy brother's eye. You and I get out of that. Somebody says, I've got all the
beams out of my eye. Have you? You've got such a big beam in
your eye that you can't even see it. Verse 16, let all those that seek Thee, let all those that seek Thee,
you know, that's what a believer is. He's somebody who seeks the
Lord. He seeks the Lord. And I know why he seeks the Lord.
David said, when thou saidst, seek ye my face, my heart said,
thy face, O Lord, will I seek. And that would describe a believer
who seeks the Lord. He seeks the Lord. Let all those
that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. That's where his salvation is.
It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not in you. It's in him. I love it when the disciples
said, now, We hear you speaking plainly. Now we know, he said,
do you now know? Do you? The hour's coming whenever
one of you are gonna deny you know me, you're gonna leave me. But these things have I spoken
unto you that in me you might have peace. In the world, you'll
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome. Let such as love thy salvation
say continually, the Lord be magnified. Now, his salvation
is in Christ. It's all of grace and it's not
of works. Do you love his salvation? Well, if you do, you know what
you're gonna say? Let the Lord be magnified. Now, what that
means is, You ascribe all the glory of salvation to Him. Now
there's two reasons to do that. Number one, because all glory
goes to Him. Don't you know that with regard to you more than
anybody else? Don't you know that with regard to you? He did
it all. But here's another reason. If all the glory doesn't go to
Him, that means something's expected out of me. And that's why I wish
I had a pure motive in wanting him to get all the glory just
because I love him so much that I want him to be honored. But
here's what I find with myself. I'm scared of him not getting
all the glory because if he doesn't get all the glory, that means
something's expected out of me. And that's something that I can't
handle. He's got to do it all or there's no hope for me. Let
all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such
as love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. But I,
this is David speaking. Yes, it was the Lord speaking
first, but this is David speaking too. I'm poor and I'm needy. He said that 10 times with regard
to himself, this man who is the man after God's own heart. This
is how he describes himself. I'm poor. Now he was a wealthy
man as far as material things go. But he said, I'm poor. I
don't have anything. I don't have anything to bring
to the table. And I have great needs. I'm poor and I am needy. I need the Lord to choose me. I need Christ to die for me and
pay for my sins. I need God's grace to be invincible
and irresistible toward me and overcome me. I need to be preserved
by his spirit. I'm poor and I'm needy, yet the
Lord thinketh upon me. You know, the great high priest,
had the names of the children of Israel on his shoulders, bearing
them up by his strength, and on his breast in his heart. And there has never been a time,
child of God, when the Lord was not thinking of you." There have
been plenty of times you weren't thinking of him, but there's
never been a time when he was not thinking you. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tarrying, O my God."
The words of Christ, yes. The words of David, yes. And
the words of every believer. Yes, every believer can identify
with what David is saying. Now we're going to take the Lord's
table now and we're gonna find out in considering this why somebody
like David or me or you are saved. It's because of the perfect righteousness
the broken body, the shed blood, and the resurrection of Christ.
We're truly doing this in remembrance of Him as our salvation. Now, I've said before, I remember
as a young believer, I would want to skip services whenever
they had Lord's Day, because I thought about that scripture
where it says, if anybody eats or drinks unworthily, he eats
or drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
And I was scared to death about eating the table unmercifully. Well, those thoughts were so
stupid. My worthiness is in the broken
body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Come pass out the
elements.