Psalm this evening, Psalm 64. Psalm 64, I'm entitling the message
from the words found in verse nine. Wisely consider his doing. You see that in verse nine? All men shall fear. and shall
declare the work of God. Those who have reverential fear
of God, what do they do? They declare the work of God.
For or because they shall wisely consider His doing. His doing. Now, when we consider
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that
we enjoy in Him, We must confess that it's His doing, right? It's His doing, not ours. Hold
your place there and find Psalm 118. Psalm 118, salvation is
His doing, not ours. Psalm 118, verse 22, begin there. Psalm 118, 22. The stone which
the builders refused is become the head of the corner Headstone
of the corner. This is the Lord's doing. This
is the Lord's doing. It's marvelous in our eyes. This
is a day which the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. It's the Lord's doing. And it's
marvelous in our eyes, is it not? All the doing of the Lord. The gospel of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ is not the gospel concerning our doing. but rather his doing, his doing
and his dying, the righteousness that he established for us. As
it says in verse 10, the righteous shall be glad. That's the righteousness
he's established for us because he's called the Lord our righteousness. Through his doing, his dying,
great is his faithfulness. Through His redeeming blood,
we have pardoned from all our sin. Think about this. Salvation is by works. His. I remember a friend of mine
years ago tried to get me one Sunday morning. Years and years
ago, he walked up to me one Sunday morning, said, you know, I've
come to the conclusion salvation is by works. I said, oh, wait,
wait, wait. No, it's by grace. He said, no,
it's by his work. And that makes it grace to us.
His work, it's his doing, isn't it? Listen to these scriptures. John 4.35, our Lord said, my
meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish, finish
his work, his work. In John 17, verse four, we read
in the Lord's priestly prayer, I've glorified thee on the earth,
I finished the work you gave me to do. The Lord had a work,
covenant mercies to complete. And then upon the cross, we all
know this one, don't we? John 19, verse 30, what did the
Lord say? It's finished, it is finished,
done. That makes everything to His
glory and that makes salvation to us by His grace. It's His faithfulness to fulfill
the law of God for us, not ours. We studied in Matthew chapter
five, he didn't come to destroy the law and the prophets, he
came to honor it. Even in Isaiah 42, the father speaks and said,
I'm well pleased for his righteousness sake, he'll magnify the law and
make it honorable. You see, it's his obedience,
not ours. It's his obedience unto death.
He became obedient. He thought it not robbery to
be with God. took upon himself the form of
a servant, made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Our salvation is based
upon his faithfulness, not ours. Based upon his obedience, not
ours. Based upon his righteousness, not ours. That's good news to
sinners. We're not going about to establish
the righteousness of our own. We're resting on Christ, who
is our righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ and his
faithfulness brought in everlasting righteousness for us, as we read
in verse 10, the righteous shall be glad. The prophecies given
in Daniel, the Lord Jesus Christ came to finish transgression,
to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness. Did he do it? You know he did. How do we know? How do we know
that he finished the work the father gave him to do? And how
do we know that God was satisfied? And how do we know his work was
accepted of God? How do we know all that? God
raised him from the dead. and he seated at the right hand
of God. When he by himself purged our
sin, he sat down on the right hand of God. Now hold your place
there and just go back a few pages. Psalm 57, you remember
this? Psalm 57 verse two, I quote this
verse quite often. I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth all things for me. all things for
me. See, salvation is based upon
his performance. I'm persuaded like Abraham. I'm
persuaded like Abraham of all that God had promised, he is
able to perform perfectly. I will cry unto God most high
that performeth all things for me. He shall send from heaven
and save me. Boy, he did, didn't he? He sent
from heaven. What did he send? the Lord Jesus
Christ from heaven, from the approach of him that will swallow
me up, God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. Mercy and
truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other at the cross, at the cross, where I first saw
the light. One of the most important things that sets the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ apart from what others call the gospel, one of
the most important things that sets the gospel of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ apart is the fact we declare plainly and
clearly what he has done for us, not what we must do for him. Now that's the distinction between
The gospel that's a true gospel and what Paul called those who
preach another gospel, another Jesus and another spirit. That
other Jesus is trying and can't unless he has your permission.
How pitiful is that? That's pitiful, is it not? We
read in Philippians chapter one, God who has begun a good work
in you. God who has begun a good work in you. You remember the
rest of it? He'll finish it. He'll finish
it. He'll finish it. The dominant
and prevailing fact of the gospel is what Christ has done for us.
Therefore, of necessity, that must be the prevailing theme
and preaching of our gospel. If that's the prevailing theme,
That must be the prevailing theme of our preaching, what He's done
for us. That's why Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God and the
salvation to everyone, to everyone that believed, to the Jew or
to the Gentile. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed in that gospel, how God can be just and justify
the ungodly. That's why Paul said, I'm determined
not to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Again, Paul writes to the Corinthians
in his second epistle. He said, we preach not ourselves.
You know, this statement's been on the front of our bulletin
for 31 years. Have you ever looked at that
front page on the bulletin? We preach not ourselves, but
Jesus Christ the Lord, and ourselves your servant for his sake. We
don't preach ourselves. We preach Christ. We preach Christ.
Determined to do so, aren't we? It's God who saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, not our works,
but according to his purpose and grace, given us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Now that gives us sinner
hope. Now, with that introduction,
let's take a look at verse one. Hear my voice, hear my voice. Oh God, he often, He often cries
this way, doesn't he? Hear my voice, O God, hear my
voice. Look back at Psalm 61, remember
this? We had this last week or the
week before. Psalm 61, verse 1. Hear my cry,
O God, O 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's higher than I. We cry
unto our God. Oh God, hear my prayer. And then he says back in Psalm
64, preserve, preserve my life. We are preserved. from the enemy. We are preserved from the fear
of the enemy. The enemy has no power over us.
The Lord Jesus Christ has won the victory for us. But we are
preserved, our life is preserved by the power of God. Remember
we studied in 1 Peter 1 verse 5, we're kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
day. David again returned to his favorite
weapon against the Brutality of the enemy. What's his favorite
weapon? What's the strongest weapon we
have? Prayer. Prayer. Prayer unto God. If the
battle axe and the weapon of our war, and David uses it under
every burden, whether it's inward sin or outward wrath, foreign
invasion or domestic rebellion, we cry unto God for our help. That's what prayer is. It's the
cry of the heart. Oh God, hear my voice, hear my
prayer, hear my prayer. We shall act wisely if we make
prayer, our prayer to God, if we make prayer to God, our first
and best trusted resource in every hour of need. We should pray about everything.
we should pray about everything. In everything that we read this
in scripture, pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
When Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter six, where he talks about
putting on the whole armor of God, Remember he said, praying
always with prayer and all supplication. That's part of putting on the
armor of God. The helmet of salvation, our
feet shod with the preparation of the gospel, having on the
breastplate of faith we have in Christ, but praying unto God. What a strong weapon that God
has given unto us. The privilege, the privilege
of praying unto our God. I remember reading, and we went
through the the gospel according to Isaiah. And when the king
of Israel, Hezekiah, was surrounded by the enemies of Syria and received
that threatening letter from the king, what did he do? He spread out that letter that
he received from that man named Ramshaki. And he spread out that
letter before the Lord and prayed for deliverance. And you know
what happened? God sent one angel, killed 185,000 Assyrians. I'd say prayer works pretty good,
don't you? But he said, preserve my life. The believer is preserved
by the power of God. He's able to keep us from falling
and to present us faultless before the presence of God's glory with
exceeding joy. They'd be praised to be preserved
from fear, anxiety, and worry. You don't have any problem with
that, do you? Worry, trouble, anxiety, fear. We all have that
trouble, don't we? We all have that trouble, don't
we? David prays to be preserved from fear, anxiety, and worry. Now think about this. No problem's
too big for the Lord to handle. Anything too hard for the Lord?
With the Lord, all things are possible. Look to Him. Cry out unto Him. Now, I think this statement is
true concerning me. You'll have to figure out this
statement for yourself. But 98% of the things that we
worry about never come to pass. And the 2% that does, the Lord
has promised us his mighty grace to see us through. Most of the
things we fret and worry about never happen. And those things that trials
that do come our way, they're called precious trial. They come
from the hand of our loving father and therefore are good. But he's
promised his grace is sufficient for us. Over here in Isaiah 43,
turn over there. Isaiah 43, this thing about fearing,
fearing the Lord or fear, fear. We have no reason to fear other
than to fear him. Isaiah 43, but now thus saith
the Lord, verse one, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I've called thee, I've redeemed thee, I've called
thee by thy name, you're mine. When you pass through the waters,
I'll be with you. Through the rivers, they shall
not overflow thee. When you walk through the fire, thou shalt
not be burned. The flame shall not kindle upon
thee, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt, or thy ransom,
Ethiopia, and Sheba, since that was precious in my sight. Thou
has been honorable, I have loved thee, therefore I will give men
for thee and people for thy life. We're gonna read, I'm working
on a message. Turn back to Isaiah 41. I'm working
on a message for Sunday from Exodus chapter 14, when they were pushed up against
the Red Sea, had nowhere to go, Moses said, fear not, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. And then he says in the
next verse, the Lord shall fight for you. And he did. Pharaoh
and his army were destroyed. Isaiah 41, 10, fear thou not,
I am with thee, be not dismayed, I am thy God, I'll strengthen
thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I'll hold thee with the
right hand of my righteousness. That's Christ. No need to fear,
God's in charge, God over all things. When you think about the very
root core of fear is unbelief. We talk a good game. I'm talking
about myself now. We talk a good game, but we still
have fear and anxiety because we're poor, sinful, wretched
creatures. We're strong in the Lord, but
in His flesh, how weak, how weak. Turn back a few pages to Psalm
37, Psalm 37. Look at this. David writes this
in Psalm 37. fret not thyself because of evildoers. Verse one, neither be envious
of the workers of iniquity for they shall soon be cut down like
the grass and wither like the green herb. Herb, herb. Trust in the Lord. And do good,
so shalt thou dwell in the land. Verily, thou shalt be fed. Delight
thyself also in the Lord. He shall give thee desires of
your heart. Commit thy way unto him. Trust also in him, and he'll
bring it to pass. Fret not. Let not your heart
be troubled, neither let it be afraid. He said in John 14, you
believe in God, believe also in me. my father's house and
many mansions. I go away to prepare a place
for you. If I go well, come again and receive you unto myself.
Now look at verse two, Psalm 64. Hide me, he prays to be preserved
from the enemy and the Lord will and has defeated all of our enemies. And then he says, hide me from
the secret counsel of the wicked. from those of insurrection, those
rebels, troublemakers. David had a lot of, you think
about David here, what he's praying is David's the anointed king.
He's the anointed king on the throne. And he doesn't look to
his armies. He doesn't look to his soldiers.
He looks unto God for help and strength. Hide me from the secret
counsel of the wicked, insurrection, the troublemakers, and rebellion.
Workers of iniquity are they. David prays for the Lord to hide him. David
prays to be hidden from the secret counsel of the wicked, from the
workers of iniquity. You remember our Lord said about
those workers of iniquity in Matthew 7, those who said, Lord,
we preached in your name. Lord, we've done many wonderful
works in your name. And he said, depart from me,
you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. From the workers
of iniquity who would use their words as weapons to destroy the
believer's hope, who wet their tongue like a sword and bend
their bow to shoot their arrows even bitter words that they may shoot in secret
at the perfect and suddenly do they shoot at him and they have
no fear of God. No fear of God. They did that
against the Lord Jesus Christ, didn't they? Didn't they wet
their tongue like a sword and bend their bows with bitter words
and shoot at the one who was perfect. They did against the
Lord. Do you remember they called him
a winebibber? They called him a gluttonous man. They called
him a friend of publicans and sinners. They called him the
prince of devils. They sharpened their tongue.
They used wicked words against the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a vivid description of
the hatred against God and against those who stand for the gospel
of God in verse four. They shoot at the perfect because
there's no fear of God before their eyes. You see that in verse
four? They shoot at the perfect. Now, who would you say is that
they shoot at, the perfect? It's the perfect one. It's the
Holy One. It's the just God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. They shoot at the perfect because
there's no fear of God before their eyes. The carnal mind is
enmity against God. David's perfection and ours is
the same. David was a perfect man. Did
you know that? In the Lord Jesus Christ. David's
perfection and ours is the same. Christ alone is all our perfection. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and we stand complete, perfect in Christ Jesus. Holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in His sight. For by the one offering hath
He perfected forever them that are sanctified. In Christ we
stand complete, in Christ our covenant head. He presents us
holy, unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight. No condemnation
to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies us. It's Christ who has died to put
away our sin and has risen again. And he ever lived to intercede
for us. Verse 5 in our text, they encourage themselves in
an evil manner or an evil speech. They get all worked up with words
and speech and language and bitter words. They commune of lying
snares, laying snares. They say, ah, who shall see all
these traps? We're going to set some traps.
They're so foolish as to think that the true and living God
does not see their hatred against Him. Remember, the Word of God
is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to dividing asunder soul and spirit. Neither is there
any creature that's not manifest in His sight, but all things
are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
You can't hide from God. Turn over here to Psalm 139. You remember this one? Psalm
139. You can't hide your deeds and
your deeds. You can't hide your deeds. You
can't even hide your thoughts or your motives from the Lord.
The Lord does know. Psalm 139, verse one. Oh Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me. Thou knowest my down cities,
my uprising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. Thou accomplish my path and my
lying down and acquaint with all my ways for there is not
a word in my tongue but lo, oh Lord, thou knowest it all together. God knows it's true and true.
The enemies, they think that God doesn't see their deeds.
Vile rebels against God are encouraged by their deeds of iniquity. They
often encourage one another in their rebellion because they
think that there's no God to judge them. There's no God to
judge them. Turn back to Psalm 53. It's amazing how lawless people
are in our day. I mean, they don't even think
twice about taking a gun and shooting a police officer. Or I think about those immigration
enforcement federal officers picking up big rocks and dashing
them against the windshield of those vehicles. Why do they do
that? No fear of God before their eyes. The powers and authority
that are, are ordained of God. They're throwing the rock right
at God's face. That's right. The fool has said
in his heart, there is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done
abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good.
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there are any that understand that seek God. Every one of them
has gone back. They're all together filthy.
There's none that doeth good. No, not one. Why do wicked men
do the wicked things that they do? Because they're wicked people
and we are no different. We are no different. It's God
who makes us to differ. God makes the difference. Fool
has sin in his heart. See, there's no fear of God.
There's no fear of authority. No fear of judgment. Judgment's
coming. The courts of our land may parole
them and give them a bail and set a bond and set them free.
That ain't gonna work with God. Judgment's coming. The day of
reckoning's coming. Look at verse six, they search
out iniquities. They accomplish a diligent search.
They just think all kinds of evil ways. Both their inward
thoughts and every one of them, and the heart is deep, deep,
deeply depraved. Jeremiah described the heart
as deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Desperately
wicked. Wicked, wicked through and through.
They diligently consider, invent, devise, and seek wicked plans
to wreak havoc, wreak and inflict their malice against the people
of God, their hearts, their thoughts, are nothing but sinful. Sinful through and through. Let's turn back. I've got a reference
here, Psalm 56, 5. Let's see if we can turn there. 56, 5. I hope I'm right here.
Yeah, here it is. Psalm 56. Every day they rest my words,
all their thoughts against me for evil. They gather themselves
together, they hide themselves, and they mark my steps. when they wait for my soul. They plot and plan against God,
against his gospel, against his people. God saw the imaginations and
thoughts of their heart with only evil continually. Believers, they search and seek
out the Lord. Those who are left to themselves
search and seek out different devices of wickedness, how they
can accomplish their wicked plans and wicked desires. Verse seven,
but God. Now there's those two words again.
But God shall shoot at them with an arrow. Now they may wet their
tongue and they may shoot some bitter words, We used to say
when we were kids, sticks and stones may break my bones, but
names will never hurt me. I don't know if that's true or
not. Names sometimes hurt, don't they? The Lord shall shoot at them
with an arrow of His holy justice, and they shall not escape. Suddenly
shall they be wounded, grievously wounded, with the holy justice
and wrath of God. It's appointed once and a man
to die after that judgment. Remember this verse back in Psalm
45, turn there, Psalm 45. Verse three, Psalm 45, gird thy
sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, the mighty God. with thy glory, majesty, and
in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness
and righteousness, and thy right hand shall teach terrible or
tremendous things. Thine arrows are sharp in the
heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under
thee. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. Judgment's coming, a righteous
judgment. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? God shall shoot them down. But
God, we see that all through the scripture, but God, but God
who is rich in mercy for His great love, wherewith He loved
us. Look over here to Psalm 73. I've
got this written down. Psalm 73, verse 26. Psalm 73, verse 26, My flesh
and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart.
You see that Psalm? 73, verse 26, My flesh and my
heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion
forever. But God committed His love toward
us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Thank God
for those two words, but God. He'll shoot at them with his
arrow of strict holy justice and suddenly shall they be grievously
wounded. Wounded to all eternity. So they
shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves. All that
see them shall flee away. No friends then when judgment
falls. Their slander shall recoil. Their
curses shall come home to roost. Their tongue shall cut their
throat. It was both sword and bow and
arrow. It shall be turned against them and come home to final judgment. All their friends shall flee
away when judgment falls. Who cares to be the friend with
Herod, King Herod, when the worms of God's judgment are eating
him up. Where's your friends now, Herod?
Who wants to be in the same chariot with Pharaoh when he arrives
down in the Red Sea when the waves roll over his head? Where are your friends now, Pharaoh?
Woe to the liars against God, who shall have their torment
in the lake of fire, who will desire and seek fellowship with
those boiling in the lake of fire. All the friends of the
wicked will gladly desert the enemies of God in that day. No friends, all deserted, alone
with God in judgment. Verse nine, all men shall fear
And we can look at this a couple ways. All men will bow and confess
Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father. All sorts
of men will be made to have a reverential fear and faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. All men shall fear, all sorts
of men shall fear. But we look at this, I want to
look at this and consider it this way. God's people have a
reverential fear of God Almighty. Turn to one other Psalm. Am I
giving you too many places to turn? Look at Psalm 111. It'll keep you busy here, keep
you awake and alert. Psalm 111. He sent, verse 9,
redemption unto His people. He commanded His covenant forever.
Holy and reverent is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do His commandment.
His praise endureth forever. Holy and reverent is His name. And we do reference His name.
We do reference His name. In the day of eternal judgment,
all the enemies of God will be made to bow and confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. All
believers shall fear and reverence His name now. All believers shall
declare the work of God now. One page, turn over to Psalm
66, verse 16. They shall declare the work of
God. They shall widely consider His doing. Psalm 66, verse 16. Come and hear all ye that fear
God. I will declare what He hath done for my soul. I'm going to
declare what God has done for my soul. Look at Psalm 73, 28. Psalm 73, 28, I believe it is. Psalm 73, 28. It's good for me
to draw near to God. I put my trust in the Lord God
that I may declare all thy works. So that's what we do when we
preach the gospel. We declare what he's done for
us. how He loved us, washed us from our sin in His own blood.
He made us kings and priests unto our God. They shall wisely
consider. That's a wise man who's been
given wisdom to consider the doings of the Lord Jesus Christ,
how He accomplished salvation for us. This is the Lord's doing,
and it's marvelous in our eyes when we repeat what we said before.
Look at verse 10. We widely consider his doing,
his person, who he is, what he's done for us. We widely consider
his office, prophet, priest, and king. We widely consider
the work he had done for us. He separated our sin from us
as far as the East is from the West, and his salvation, salvation
of the Lord. Verse 10, in closing, the righteous
shall be glad. They're made glad. The righteous
shall be glad. That's believers who are in Christ.
That's why Paul said, I count everything else lost, dung, ruined,
that I may win Christ and be found in him who is my righteousness. My righteousness. He's the Lord
our righteousness. But of him are you in Christ,
who God has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. The righteous shall be glad.
How are they glad? In the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord
always, and again I say rejoice, and they shall trust Him. That's what faith is. F-A-I-T-H. Forsaking all, I trust Him. I trust Him. The righteous shall
be glad in the Lord and shall trust Him. That's what saving
faith does. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down on the
right hand of the throne of God, and all the upright in heart.
You see that last part in verse 10? All the upright in heart
shall glory. We shall glory. God forbid we
should glory, save in the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember our
study from Ephesians chapter one, where it talks about the
Father choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the
world, all to what? The praise and the glory of His
grace. Then we talked about the Son in whom we have redemption
through His blood, who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will, to the praise and the glory of His grace. And
we talked about the last, verse 13 and 14 of Ephesians 1, how
we are called out of darkness into God's marvelous light, how
we are sealed unto the day of redemption with the Holy Spirit,
all to the praise and the glory of His grace. You see, the bottom
line of all God's doing, all of His salvation, is the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His glory. His glory. That's
why Paul said, God forbid, I see glory saved in the cross of Christ.