Would you turn back to Psalm
138? I want to read the first line of verse eight. The Lord. Will perfect that which
concerns. Me. What confidence? What assurance. What joy in that statement, he
said, the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Now, without
doubt, this is true with respect to all of God's elect. The Lord
will perfect that which concerns them. But my question is. Can I say? The Lord will perfect
that which concerneth me, without this being an act or a statement
of presumption. Now, you and I can leave here
tonight, everybody in this room, no exceptions. You and I can
leave here tonight knowing if we can make this glorious statement,
this statement of such joy and confidence. The Lord will perfect
that which concerns me. I am assuming that you're like
me. And if you are, you have feared
from time to time that your faith may be proved to be counterfeit. Have you ever feared that? There's
not a day that goes by in my own experience That at some point
I say, could I be saved and be this way? Could I really even
know the Lord? Well. You can know your state tonight. And let's pick up in verse six.
Though the Lord be high. And indeed, he is. His Highness
speaks of his knowledge, his omniscience. He knows all. He sees all. He sees everything
that's going on through my heart right now and your heart. He
is high. His Highness speaks of his holiness
and his immensity. Thus saith the high and lofty
one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. His Highness speaks of his sovereign
control. He is over all. Everything is under him. His Highness speaks of his security. How secure is his throne? Can
anybody get to it? Can anybody pull it down? No,
he is utterly secure. And His Highness tells me that
I can't reach him. I can't climb up to where he
is. I can't get to him. He is high. Though the Lord be high, yet
hath he respect unto the lowly. Respect is a strong word, isn't
it? Yet hath he respect to the lowly. Respect is high esteem. Respect is high regard. Think
of somebody that you respect greatly. They're people that
you hold in high esteem and that you respect greatly. Why do you
respect them? There's something in them and
about them that you esteem and that you value. As a matter of
fact, I believe respect is probably the greatest attribute in a relationship. When respect is gone, the relationship
is not going to be very good. What a blessing it is to have
respect in a relationship. Now, with regard to this thing
called respect, don't think respect is an entitlement. Somebody earned
respect, don't they? It's not an entitlement. And
don't be disrespectful to the one who deserves respect. That's
unseemly. But the Lord himself, this high
and holy one who inhabits eternity, is said to respect. That's strong
language, isn't it? If you're a believer, the God
of glory respects you. Now, how in the world can that
be? Turn with me to Isaiah 57, verse
15. I want to emphasize this in Scripture. He has respect to the lowly. Verse 15, for thus saith the
high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy,
I dwell in the high and holy place. With him also, that is
of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the hearts of the contrite ones. Now, who are these
lowly people that he respects? Though the Lord be high, yet
hath he respect, hath he regard, hath he high esteem to the lowly? Who are these lowly people? Well,
these lowly people are described in the Beatitudes, aren't they?
Blessed are the poor in spirit. They have nothing before God. They really believe that about
themselves. They're poor. Blessed are they
that mourn. These people before God mourn
over their sin. They mourn over their sin. My sin is ever before me. These people are meek, blessed
are the meek. They believe that anything God
sends their way is right because He is the God of glory. Whatever
He does is right, whether I understand it or not. And I bow to Him because
if He did it, it's right. That's meekness. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Now, this is the lowly he's speaking
of. They hunger and thirst. If you're hungry, that means
you don't have food in your stomach and you need food. You feel like
you don't have it. These people who hunger and thirst after righteousness
feel like they don't have righteousness in and of themselves. It's going
to have to come to them from without. Now, these blessed people,
the lowly, I know this. They all have this in common. They believe the Lord is high.
And they believe they are low. They believe that. And they believe the only way
they can be saved is by grace. Now turn with me to Genesis chapter
four for a moment. How can God respect the lowly? How can God respect me? Genesis
chapter four. And Adam knew Eve, his wife,
and she conceived and bare Cain and said, I've gotten a man from
the Lord. I think she believed she had
the promised Messiah, the seed of woman. And she again bare
his brother Abel. Abel's name means vanity. And
Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the
ground. And in process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought
of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. Now,
I don't have any doubt that he knew he was only supposed to
bring a blood sacrifice. Abel knew it. You think Adam
would have taught Abel that and not taught Cain that? I have
no doubt that this was an act of disobedience at all. That's
all it was. It may seem religious. You know, this isn't the best
I've got. Here it is. But it was evil. He was bringing
that which God didn't command. And I never want to bring that
which God doesn't command. Verse four, and Abel, he also
brought of the firstlings of the flock and of the fat thereof.
And look at the language. And the Lord had respect under
Abel and to his offering. Now, this respect that he had
for Abel was through the offering, which represents the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But this offering actually made
Abel somebody that God respected. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
makes every believer such that God looks at you with high esteem
and regard. Isn't that amazing? That's what
the blood of Christ does. That's what union with Christ
does. That's what the work of the gospel does. But notice,
to Cain and his offering, he had no respect. Now, This is what the sacrifice
of Christ does. It makes us deserving of God's
respect. Holy. Unblameable and unreprovable
in the very sight of God. Isn't that humbling? If you're
a believer. The God of glory, the high God,
the holy God. Respects, regards, esteems you,
desires friendship and fellowship with you. Now, does the Lord,
the Father, God the Father, does he respect the Son? How much
does he respect the Son? Well, 1 John 4, 17 says, as he
is deserving of the complete respect of the Father. As He
is, so are we in this world. Isn't that glorious? Though the
Lord be high, and indeed He is, yet hath He respect unto the
lowly. Back to our text, Psalm 138,
verse 6. But the proud, He knoweth. He knows them. He knows exactly
what they're like. He knows I'm far off. He has
no respect for the proud. Oh, how ugly is pride before
God? Self-righteousness. He has no
respect whatsoever to the proud. You know, Cain was a proud man.
He brought his best, thought God could accept it. How low
he viewed God when he thought God could accept what he brought.
How high he thought of himself when he thought God could accept
what he brought. And God had no respect. He treated his offering
with utter contempt. Now, though the Lord be high,
yet hath he respect to the lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar
off. Look in verse seven. Though, look at the confidence
he speaks. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble. Now, he didn't deny trouble.
The reality of trouble, anguish, affliction, sickness, feeling
forsaken, adversity, distress, troubles that come from within,
troubles that come from our own wicked heart, troubles that come
from without. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, and indeed we do, don't we? Though I walk in the midst
of trouble, man that is born of woman is born to trouble,
as the sparks fly upward. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, thou wilt revive me. I may seem dead. I may appear
to be dead, but he always revives me and keeps me alive. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine
hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall
save me. And I have enemies. And I know the first enemies
I think of. My sins. My sins. My evil nature. It's an enemy to me. I hate it. I have enemies of people who
have no love for the gospel, who hate the gospel I preach. Satan is my enemy. He's my adversary. He's the accuser of the brethren.
I have enemies and my enemies are too strong for me. I can't
stand before one of them, not even one. But look at the assurance
of this statement. He says, Thou shalt stretch forth
thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and from your
height you'll reach down and thy right hand, the Lord Jesus
Christ, shall save me. And then he makes this statement
of such confidence and think if you if you can say this, believing
in how happy it will make you. The Lord will. Perfect that which
concerneth me. Now, I've entitled this message.
Is this promise for me? Believe me, this wasn't just
the introduction, I forgot to give the title of the message,
so don't worry. Can I take this promise? And
believe it's for me, the Lord will perfect that which concerneth
me. Well, I have three questions
to ask you. So you can know whether you can
say the Lord will perfect that which concern me. I got three
questions that will enable you to be able to answer, can I say
this without it being an act of presumption on my part? Can
I say this truly knowing that the Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me? And here's the first question
I want to ask you. Are you concerned regarding the things of God? Are you concerned regarding the
things of God? And I'm not asking if you know
for sure you're saved right now, but I'm asking you, are you concerned
concerning God perfecting you? Is that your concern? Is that
what is really more important to you than anything else? Having the Lord perfect that
which concerns you. Here's the second question. Let's read on in verse eight.
The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord,
endureth forever. Is your salvation caused only
by the mercy of God? Your personal salvation? Do you
see that the only reason you're saved is by the sheer free mercy
of God? Now, you can answer that question.
Are you concerned about the Lord perfecting that which concerns
you? Is that your great concern? Is your salvation caused by the
great, sheer, free mercy of God? Now, let's go on reading what
he says in verse eight. He says, forsake not the works
of thine own hands. Is your salvation, if you're
saved, is your salvation the work of God's hand or your own?
Is it what God has done? Or do you give yourself some
of the credit? Do you give your free will some of the credit?
Do you give your work some of the credit? Or is your salvation?
Do you know that if you're saved, it's God's work and God's work
alone. He did it all. And to him goes
all the glory. Now, if you can say yes to those
three things, you can say with assurance, the Lord will perfect
that which concerneth me. Now, let's take this statement
one word at a time. The Lord. Jehovah. What if it said, what if David
said this? Todd Nybert will perfect that which concerns me. Might
be ridiculous, wouldn't it? I can't perfect David. I can't
perfect myself. I can't do anything. But it doesn't say Todd Nybert
will perfect that which concerns me. No, that wouldn't do anybody
any good. But he says the Lord. Him who is all powerful, Him
who is all wise, Him who has the ability to do it, the Lord,
the one who will do it in justice and mercy and in grace, the Lord
will perfect that which concerneth me. Salvation is of the Lord. Now, the Lord does this. It's
not me. I certainly cannot perfect myself.
If my religion is the product of my flesh, it'll end in hell. But he says, the Lord, the Lord
will perfect that which concerns me. Now, here's the second word.
The Lord will perfect that which concerns me. Let's dwell on this
word will. The Lord will. Now, first of
all, notice this has something to do with the future. You're
already perfected, I realize that, in Christ Jesus, completely,
before time began you were. But he says, the Lord will perfect
that which concerneth me. Something that's happening in
the future. Now, I haven't stood before God of
judgment yet. Now, in Christ I have already, as the Lamb slain
before the foundational world, I realize that. But there's something
called the Great White Throne of Judgment. We read about it
in Revelation Chapter 20, where everybody will be judged according
to their works. Now, here's my hope that I'm
going to stand before God and he's going to look me over and
over with the searchlight of his holiness. He's going to compare
me to his son. He's going to compare me to his
law. And I'm going to stand before God without sin. Now, what makes you think that? What's the evidence that that's
so? Can you look within yourself and say, yeah, that's it? No
faith. is the evidence of things hoped
for. The ground of things not yet
seen. The Lord will perfect that which
concerns me. Now, I haven't, I believe this,
but I haven't experienced it. But I will. And the evidence
that I will is the fact that I believe the gospel. That's
the evidence. The Lord will perfect that which
concerns me. My perfection is utterly and
entirely dependent upon his will. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. I realize that my salvation,
my perfection, is wholly dependent upon the will of God. Now, I was thinking about this,
and I was thinking about this notion of free will. And you
know, the older I get, or I hope the more I grow and raise, the
more ridiculous I see how the very notion of free will is.
It's so dishonest. If you had a free will, you could
freely decide to not sin anymore. That's what you could do if you
had a free will. You could never sin again. You could reach perfection.
I'm going to decide to be perfect. I'm going to never sin again.
Try it. Why it's so dishonest at the very core. Somebody who
claims to have a free will is just dishonest. That's all you
can call it. Nothing, nothing true to that. Our salvation is
completely dependent upon the will of God. If you will, that's
what the leper said. If you will, you can make me
clean. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10 for
a moment. My being perfected is wholly
dependent upon the will of God. Hebrews 10, verse 6. 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 is written of me to do thy
will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not. Neither hath 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, that
he may establish the second. By the witch will, by God's will,
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. By God's will, God says regarding
every one of his people, they're holy. Completely, this is a work
that's never to be repeated or added to sanctified through the
will of God, the Lord will perfect that which concerns me. Now,
here's the third word. The Lord will perfect. The Lord
will perfect, the Lord will bring to completion that which concerneth
me. Paul said in Philippians 1.6,
He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it, will
complete it, will perfect it. The Lord will perfect that which
concerns me. Now, what concerns me? I got
a lot of concerns. I got a lot of concerns. I've
got a concern for my sins to be forgiven. I got to begin there.
I've got a concern for my sins to be blotted out. I've got a
concern about being justified. I want to stand just before God.
I want to be perfectly righteous before God. I want to stand before
his law without sin. I have a concern about being
sanctified. I want to be holy. I want to be just like the Lord
Jesus Christ. I want to be holy as he is holy.
I have a concern about being actually sanctified. I have a
concern about being redeemed. I have a concern about persevering
all the way to the end. I have a concern about being
faithful. I can't be faithful unless he enables me to and completes
that in me. I have a concern about believing.
I have a concern about repenting. I have a concern about being
accepted. I have a concern about belief. I've got a lot of concerns. And here is the believer's confidence. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Well, he'll be faithful to me
if I'm faithful to him. Well, that's true. But I don't
feel real comfortable with that because that places the burden
on me. Here's what I like better. He'll be faithful to me because
he promised he would before time began. And he'll cause me to
be faithful to him. And I'll be faithful because he causes
me to. I like that a lot better, don't you? The Lord will perfect
that which concerneth me. Now, I don't know how long I've
been a believer. I don't know when it was I was
first converted. I got some general idea, but
I can't really tell you. I remember one time hearing a
fellow say, you know, if you don't know the exact date, if
you don't know the exact moment you were saved, you probably
aren't saved. If you break your leg, you know exactly what happened.
That's stupid. I shouldn't use language like
that. I'm sorry. That's just wrong. That's just wrong. Yeah,
you know, you break your leg when it happens. I realize that. I didn't know when I was born. I don't remember being born.
No matter how hard I try, I can't remember the time I was born.
I had no consciousness of 9-9-59. None at all. Does that mean I
wasn't born? No. I don't know when I was born. I don't know when I was born
again. But I do know this. When I was born again, I knew
that the only way God could have anything to do with me is for
Christ's sake. I knew that. Didn't have any
question about that. I knew the only way I could be
saved is by the grace of God. I knew the only way I could persevere
is if He preserved me. I knew if He doesn't keep me,
if He didn't keep me, and if He doesn't keep me, I'll fall
away just like that. I knew that when I was first
brought to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
you know what? At least 30 years later, it hadn't
changed a bit. As a matter of fact, I feel more
strongly that way than I ever have. Complete and utter dependence
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't have a shed of hope of
anything apart from Him. Now, Paul put it this way in
2 Timothy 1, 12. He said, I know whom I have believed. And I'm
persuaded. I'm convinced that he is able
to keep that which I've committed to him. What have you committed
to him? Well, it's true I've committed the salvation of my
soul, but I've committed everything to him. I'm looking to him to
give me faith. I'm not coming to him with my
faith. I'm coming to him for faith. I'm not coming to him
with my repentance. I'm coming to him for repentance.
I'm coming to him. I've committed. If I'm going
to be preserved, it's going to be because he preserves me. If
I'm going to be continuing the faith, it's going to be because
he causes me to. If I'm going to grow in grace,
it's because he causes me to grow. I mean, every aspect of
salvation, doesn't matter what it is, I've committed it to him.
I know whom I believe. And I'm persuaded he's able to
keep that which I've committed to him against that day. I've committed to him all my
soul's concerns. And all my hope is right here.
By one offering, Hebrews 10, 14, by one offering, he hath
perfected forever dead that are sanctified. That's my hope. I've committed all my soul salvation
to him. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Me, Todd Nibbert. I want everybody
in here, everybody in this room to be able to, by the grace of
God, leave here dancing in their heart saying the Lord will perfect
that which concerneth me. Now, this old buttress that Confidence. Look what he says next. Thy mercy,
O Lord, endureth forever. Now, here's why the Lord will
perfect that which concerns me, because his mercy endures forever. Now, if it didn't, it'd be over
for me. But because his mercy endures
forever, the Lord will perfect that which concerns me. Now,
this is the ground and reason of my salvation, not my merit.
But his mercy that endures forever. And I thought, well, how can
you how can you describe God's mercy from the scripture? Well,
there's a lot of ways that you can describe God's mercy of what
you really believe about the mercy of God. But this is what
came to my mind. What you believe about mercy,
what you really believe about mercy. is seen in what you believe
about God's sovereign election of his people in Christ. And
turn with me for a moment to Romans chapter 9. Hold your finger
there. Familiar passage of scripture. But what's your response to this? For the children, talking about
Jacob and Esau, being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election,
might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say
then? How are we going to respond to
this? Is there unrighteousness with God? Is God unfair? God
forbid, for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. And now have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Amen. Amen. The reason he's going to perfect
that which concerns me is because his mercy endures forever. And
finally, he says in Psalm 138, verse eight. Oh, Oh, Lord, this is his prayer,
and this is my prayer right now. Oh, Lord, forsake not the works
of your hands. And my salvation. My personal
salvation is his work. It's God that worketh in you
both to will and to do his good pleasure. My salvation, every
aspect of it, if I have faith, that's the work of his hands.
If I love you, that's the work of his hands. If I love him,
that's the work of his hands. That's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. If you really believe that, salvation
is the work of his hands. You don't give yourself the credit
in any way. Salvation is the work of his
hands. We're the potter. We're the clay. He's the potter. Turn to Isaiah
64. I hate saying things wrong like
that. Sorry. Doing something like that
always scares me. Isaiah 64. Isaiah says, And this will give you some appreciation
of what he says about being the clay. He says we're, verse six,
we are as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. And we do fade as a leaf and
our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. I can hear
somebody saying, well, he's a fatalist. I mean, he ought to do something
about that. And there's none that calleth upon thy name, that
stirreth up himself to take hold of thee, for thou hast hid thy
face from us and has consumed us because of our iniquities.
But now, O Lord, thou art our Father, we are the clay, and
thou our potter, and we are all the work of thy hands." Now that's
the believer's confidence. Now, I remember Scott Richardson
used to say, You can't take a promise in the scripture unless you fit
the character of the one the promise was made to. Well, do
you fit this character? Are you concerned about being
perfected by the Lord himself? Is that your great concern, him
bringing your salvation to completion? Is your salvation only by the
sheer mercy of God? And is your salvation the work
of His hands? Well, if it is, you can say this
with full assurance and with full confidence. The Lord will
perfect that which concerneth me. Let's pray.