Psalm 70, I'm taking the title
for the message from what is said in verse 4. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad and let such a love Thy salvation, say continually,
let God be magnified. Believers do love God's salvation. Believers do love God's salvation. And they say, to God be the glory. Let God be magnified. To Him
be the glory. Believers love God's salvation. I looked up another scripture
similar to that in Psalm 74 verse 12. Don't turn, I'll just read
it to you. God is my king of old, working salvation in the
midst of the earth. He's king in salvation, isn't
he? He will have mercy on whom he will. Believers truly do so
love God's salvation because they love who God's salvation
is. The Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
is all of God's salvation. Christ is all. He's not some
of salvation. He's everything in salvation.
Remember the words of Simeon in the temple? He was waiting
for the consolation of Israel, and God said to him, you won't
die until you see the Savior, the Messiah, the Christ. And
when they brought the baby in to do for him according to the
law, he picked up that 40-day-old baby looked in his face and said,
I'm ready to die. I've seen thy salvation. Surely there is salvation in
no one else. We heartily say amen to what
Peter and John said to that Sanhedrin council. Neither is there salvation
in any other. There is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And then our
blessed Lord said to his inner circle, the 12 apostles, I am
the way. Not a way, the way. There is
a way that seems right unto men. The end of that way is death.
But the Lord said, I am the way. He's the only way. He said, I
am the truth. Everything about him is true.
I am life. Salvation's in him. Christ indeed,
as Paul says, is all and in all. Christ is everything in salvation.
This psalm, you look up just under Psalm 70, it's called the
Psalm of David. It's the Psalm of the greater
David, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring to remembrance, to bring
to remembrance, to bring to our mind, our thoughts, Often times
we, see if this is not true with you. I know it is with me. Often
times we remember things we should forget. And we forget things
we should remember. Isn't that true? That is with
me. That is with me. We studied,
you remember, in 2 Peter 3, where Peter says, stir up your pure
mind by way of remembrance, remembrance. Our Lord gave us the Lord's table,
instituted the Lord's table. He says, this do in what? Remembrance. So we need to be
reminded, don't we? All scripture was given to remind
us of all that God has promised, and all that God has performed,
he will accomplish. Everything he's promised, of
all that is promised, unlike the last words of Joshua, and
the words of Solomon, the dedication of the temple, all that God has
promised, he's able to perform. One of my favorite Psalms is
Psalm 57, where it says that he performed all things for us. Salvation is based upon his performance,
not ours. Then I'm persuaded like Abraham,
we read in Roman chapter four, I'm persuaded like Abraham of
all that God has promised, of all that he has promised. He's
promised a lot. He's able to perform. I'm persuaded,
aren't you? He's able to perform. And then
Paul writes in Romans 15, whatsoever things are written aforetime
were written for our learning, that we through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. All the promises of
God in the Lord Jesus Christ are yes. Is there salvation in
Him? Yes. Is there redemption in Him? Yes. Is there righteousness in
Him? Yes. And then he says amen to
the glory of God. because of the sinfulness and
frailties of our flesh. We need to be reminded, don't
we? We need to be reminded. We need to be reminded of who
we are, and the scriptures remind us of who we are. We are sinners
by birth, nature, and practice. That's who we are. We say with
Paul, old wretched man, not that I used to be, I am. People sometimes in religious
circles say, well, I used to be a sinner. No, I'm still a
sinner. I'm a sinner saved by the grace
of God. So we need to be reminded of
who we are. Sin is not what we do so much
as what we are. What we do is a result of what
we are. We need to be reminded of who
our God is. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. Of all the attributes of God,
they all come from that center attribute of God. God is holy. And then of course, we need to
be reminded about our Lord Jesus Christ. Who is the Lord Jesus
Christ? Well, without controversy. This
is not a controversial thing. Without controversy, greatness,
and mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh. Justified, vindicated by the
Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the world, received up the
glory, that's who he is, who the Lord Jesus Christ is. The
Lord has told us to observe his table, that to do it in remembrance
of him, Now let's look at verse one and verse five together.
We'll read these two verses together. Psalm 70, verse one, make haste. Right now, oh Lord, make haste. Oh God to deliver me. Make haste
to deliver me. Make haste to help me. Help me,
oh Lord. And notice that's all capital
L-O-R-D. Jehovah, the eternal one. And
then verse five. Here's why we need help. I'm
poor and needy. I'm poor and I'm needy. I'm spiritually
bankrupt. Have nothing, know nothing. I'm
bankrupt, spiritually, and needy. I'm a needy sinner. Make haste
unto me, O God. O God, make haste. Thou art my
help. Thou art my deliverer. O Lord,
don't tarry. Don't tarry. I'm so needy. I
need your help right now. Today is the day of salvation. We don't have tomorrow. Oh God,
oh Lord, make haste. That means to hurry, to deliver. That is to escape without fail,
to pluck, preserve, recover, rescue, save me. That's what
he's crying for, Lord. Save me. Deliver me. Preserve me, recover me, rescue
me. Who else is able? Who else is
able? He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him. Who else is willing? Aren't you
glad He's a willing Savior? He says, all that the Father
giveth to me, they will come to me, and those that come to
me, I'll never cast them out. Who else is pleased to do so?
Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that's what he does, and heaven
and earth sees, and all deep places. Deliver me. I was thinking about this verse. Deliver me. Make haste to deliver
me. He cried that twice. Oh my God,
deliver me. I thought about this verse, came
to my mind. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1,
we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should
not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises up the dead, who
delivered for us, and he doth deliver, who delivered us, he
doth deliver, and whom we trust he will yet deliver us. So he
does deliver us, and whom we trust he will deliver us, He will deliver us from all our
sin, and he has. None but our kinsmen redeemer.
You remember the story in the book of Ruth, how Boaz was a
kinsmen redeemer, who was required to be a kinsmen redeemer, had
to be near kin, and that certainly is true of Christ, bone of our
bone, flesh of our flesh. He had to be one who had the
right to redeem, And certainly that is true of the Lord Jesus
Christ. One who was able and one who
was willing to redeem. And we know the rest of the story.
How Boaz did redeem Ruth. Christ is our Boaz. Christ is
our Redeemer. Christ is our Deliverer. In whom
we have redemption. Through his blood, the deliverance
from our sin. Deliverance from our sin. Let
me read this one to you. You can turn if you want to.
Psalm 59. Psalm 59 at verse 1. Deliver me from my enemies, O
God. Defend me from them that rise
up against me. Deliver me from the workers of
iniquity and save me from bloody men. He cries constantly, Lord,
deliver me. Deliver me. I'm poor and needy. I'm poor and needy. Now, we also
see the reason why we need salvation, as it says there in verse five,
for I'm poor and needy. We've seen that before. Turn
over to Psalm 40. That's mentioned several times
in the Psalms. I think three or four different
times. Look at Psalm 40. Let's begin at verse 15, Psalm
40, verse 15. Let them be desolate for reward
of their shame that say, here's that same thing, aha, aha. 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 am poor and
needy, yet The Lord thinketh upon me, thou art my help, my
deliverer, make no tearing, oh my God. Isn't that our constant
prayer? Lord, deliver me, deliver me,
I'm poor and needy. We are poor, we are spiritually
bankrupt, we have nothing, know nothing, and are nothing before
God, not in ourselves. Every man at his best state is
altogether, altogether vanity, right? Vanity. We are needy and sinful creatures.
What do we need? Chiefly and mainly, what do we
need? I don't need good health. I don't need a good paying job.
I don't need a new vehicle or new house. What I do need is Christ. He's
everything. I do need the Lord Jesus Christ. We are needy, sinful creatures.
We do need him. Christ is everything to God's
people. Everything God has for sinners,
guess what? It's in Christ. It's in Christ.
In him was all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in him
we are complete. Of his fullness have we all received
grace for grace. The law came by Moses, but truth
and grace. Grace and truth came by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Of his fullness have we all received
grace for grace. What has the Lord Jesus Christ
delivered us from? It says in Hebrews 9, you remember
this verse, Hebrews 9, 26, he appeared once in the end of the
age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The Lord Jesus Christ
had delivered us from the penalty of sin, death, and guilt. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. He has delivered us from
the power of sin, For we're not under the law but under grace.
He has delivered us from the power of sin to condemn, and
one day soon we'll be delivered from his presence, the presence
of sin. We read Sunday in our Bible study
from 2 Peter 3, God's gonna make a new heaven and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness. Oh, make haste, oh God, deliver
me, make haste, I'm poor and needy. Thou art my God, thou
art my help. From whence cometh my help? You
remember Psalm 121? David asked, from whence cometh
my help? My help cometh from the Lord, he made heaven and
earth. Now verse two and three of Psalm 70, let them be ashamed,
let them be confounded that seek after my soul. Let them be turned
backward and put to confusion that desire my hurt. Let them
be turned backward, back for reward of their shame that saved. that mock the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Who are these people? All those
who are enemies of the gospel of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. All those opposed to the way
of sovereign grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. Powerful,
weighty judgments are given here against the enemies of Christ.
Let them be ashamed, Isaiah says, that are makers of idols. Let
them be confounded and confused. In a day of judgment, how ashamed,
confounded, and confused were those people who say to the Lord,
Lord, we preached in your name. We've done many wonderful works
in your name. We've cast out devils in your
name. And he said to them, depart from me. I don't know you. I
never knew you. I never loved you. And then he
said, you're workers of iniquity. Wait a minute. Nothing you do. will impress
him. Everything we do is full of sin,
isn't it? Let them be turned backward for
reward of their shame. You remember what happened in
the garden when Judas led those soldiers and when he portrayed
the Lord with a kiss? And when they came to arrest
the Lord Jesus Christ, he stood forth and said, whom do you seek?
And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, you remember what
he said? I am. Remember what happened? They
felt backward, didn't they? They fell to the ground. They
fell to the ground. No one can stand before him.
Now, I don't want to be numbered or found among those that say,
ah-ha. We said it again, 2 Peter 3,
in the last day, scoffers shall come walking after their own
lust. They say, ah-ha, ah-ha, I got
you. I don't want to be numbered and
found among that crowd, do you? That make fun and ridicule and
scorn the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as the power of
God into salvation. Remember what that crowd said
when Pilate brought forth the Lord Jesus Christ and said, behold,
the man? And then he said, behold, your
king? What'd they say? We don't have any king but Caesar.
Well, what a confession. What a confession. We have no
king but Caesar. Away with him. Crucify him. We
don't want anything to do with him. Now verse four, in closing,
now here's the crowd that I desire to be found among. Here's where
believers want to be found. And this is only by his grace.
By nature, we're with let them, let them, By nature, we don't
seek the truth, do we? It's only by His grace. It says
there in Psalm 27, when thou saidst, seek ye my face, my heart
said, Lord, thy face will I seek. When God says seek Him, that's
what we do. Now here's a crowd I desire to
be identified with, those seeking the Lord. That's why we're here
this evening, aren't we? We're seeking the Lord. We're
seeking to know more about the Lord Jesus Christ, more of his
saving love, more of his redeeming blood. Those seeking the Lord
and those rejoicing in the Lord, those that love God's salvation,
they say, look what they say. They say, let God be magnified. You see that in verse four? Let
God be magnified. The bottom line, in salvation,
and the grand design of God's redemption and salvation is the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The grand design, let not the
wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth in this, that he understandeth
and he knows me, that I am the Lord, which exercise lovingkindness
and judgment and righteousness in the earth. In these things,
I delight. I delight in those things. Who
are these people? They are poor, needy sinners
saved by the mighty grace of God. Believers are seekers. Did you know that? Believers
are seekers. They seek to know more, and that's
what made me think of that song, that we seek to know more of
this person. More about His redeeming work.
Oh, His redeeming work. More about His person. You remember
we studied in Matthew 6 where the Lord said, Seek ye first,
first things first. Seek ye first the Kingdom of
God and His righteousness and all these other things. Find your place. David said,
as the heart panteth after the waterbrook, so panteth my soul
after thee, O God, the living God. Psalm 42. Believers do,
as it says there, we do seek the Lord. We do rejoice in the
Lord. We rejoice in Him. We are, as
Paul said to the Philippians, Chapter 3, we are the true Israel
which worship God in the Spirit, that rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and we have no confidence in the flesh. Believers are seekers
of the Lord. Believers do rejoice in Him,
rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Believers
do love God's salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. We
love God's salvation because We love him because he first
loved us. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's salvation. Now in closing,
let me give you five things. Let me give you five things. Five reasons why believers love
this salvation that's found in Christ. Number one, believers
love God's salvation because we have experienced that in our
heart. Salvation is a hard work. It's
a revelation of the glory of God that shines in the face of
Jesus Christ. You remember this scripture from
Matthew 11? He's hid these things for the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto babe even so father
for so it seemed good in your sight. Our Lord said to Peter,
you're a blessed man because flesh and blood didn't reveal
these things unto you but my father which is in heaven. Christ
in you is a hope of glory. Believers love God's salvation
because he's given us a new heart. He's made us new creatures in
Christ Jesus. Secondly, believers love God's
salvation because of the method of it, the method of it, the
means of it, the power of it. What's the power of the gospel?
I like what Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
The power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe it,
to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from birth to life, faith to
faith. We love the power of it, don't
we? How much power does it take to
raise a dead sinner? Almighty power. How much power
did it take to raise a dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ? They
took him down from the cross and they put him in Joseph's
new tomb. That body laid there for three days. How'd that body
walk out of there? By the power of God. Read Ephesians
chapter one. And it makes this analogy, we
believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he
wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. You happy
quicken who are dead. That's what kind of power we're
talking about. And the method of it, it's a faith that it might
be by grace, it's a promise might be sure to all the seed. The
method of it, for by grace are you saved through faith. And
that's not of yourself, it's the gift of God, it's not of
works, lest any man should boast. The method and means of his salvation
were devised, purposed by God in eternity, and accomplished
in time when the Lord Jesus Christ came to fulfill what God purposed. In the fullness of the time,
God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to do what? To redeem us. He redeemed us
from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. God made
him to be sin for us. This is the method of substitution
and satisfaction. Substitution and satisfaction.
You remember those algebra classes? Substitution and satisfaction
equals salvation. Salvation. I had algebra one
and algebra two. I didn't learn much, but I learned
a little bit about the equation and how to factor things out.
Believers thirdly love God's salvation because of the sureness
of it. The sureness of it. Salvation
is not something that's, you know, maybe it'll work, maybe
it won't work. That's not the salvation of the
Lord. The salvation of the Lord is certain and sure. Orders in
all things and it's sure. That's what David said on his
deathbed. God has made with me an everlasting covenant. Orders
in all things and it is sure. This is all my hope. This is
all my salvation. The covenant of grace we know
is an eternal covenant. Eternal covenant. We run no risk.
trusting the Lord Jesus Christ for all salvation. It's not risky
business trusting the Lord. You remember Psalm 62, trust
him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him.
God is a refuge for us. It's not a risky business. Now,
the stock market's risky. It goes up and down. It's not
risky trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. You can bank it. Bank
on it. Take it to the bank. Take it
to the bank. We run no risk trusting the Lord
Jesus Christ for all salvation. His covenant is sure. The Lord
Jesus Christ is called the surety of the everlasting covenant. He's the guarantee of it. His
covenant is sure. How about his word? Well, his
word is sure. Remember, we studied his second
Peter 1 verse 9 where Peter said, we have a more sure word of prophecy. The holy men of old spake as
they were moved by God the Holy Spirit. And then we know his
covenant is sure, his word is sure, his work is sure too, isn't it? I love that scripture over
there in Isaiah 42. Where God said, Behold, My servant,
My elect, in whom My soul delighteth, verse 1. Isaiah 42, verse 1. And then He says in verse 4,
And he shall not fail. He can't fail. He's God. God cannot fail. His
work is sure. Everything He does is certain
and sure. Steadfast. Immovable. Fourthly, believers
love God's salvation because of the completeness of it, because
of the perfection of it. He doesn't save us part way.
He saves us completely. The salvation that is of the
Lord is finished. It's a finished work. People
oftentimes, and this is not a good way to say this, but oftentimes
people say, well, I'm trusting the finished work of Christ.
That's really not a good statement. because we're trusting Christ
to finish the work. There's a difference. There's
a difference. The salvation of the Lord is
finished. It's a finished work. We trust
him who finished the work. Nothing needs to be added. Nothing
remains unfinished. You need to add anything? There's
that picture of Mona Lisa, that artist, whoever he was, I can't
remember. What an insult it would be if
you go into that museum and you bring your own paints and you're
going to say, well, I just think I'm going to add some finishing
touches. Well, they throw you out of there. That puts you in
jail. How about the work the Lord Jesus Christ did? You're
going to bring your puny, sinful works and add to what he has
done to his perfect work? No. Nothing needs to be added. Nothing remains unfinished. He
prayed in John 17, Father, I've glorified thee on the earth,
I've finished the work you gave me to do. We're gonna see in
those seven sayings from the cross, Lord willing, Sunday morning,
in John 19, verse 30, he said, remember what he said? It is
finished. He's not saying, well, I'm finished.
No, he's saying the work of salvation's finished. We're trusting Christ,
you've finished the work. The blessed Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, did not die to make salvation a possibility.
He died to secure and finish salvation for his elect. He's
a guarantee of our salvation. Our salvation guaranteed upon
the fact he was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. His resurrection guarantees our
salvation. Redemption is finished. Redemption is accomplished when
he had by himself purged our sin. He sat down on the right
hand of the throne of God. Why did he sit down? His work
was done. And then it says in Hebrews 12,
excuse me, Hebrews 9 verse 12, that he obtained eternal redemption
for us. Who obtained it? He obtained
it with his own blood, not with the blood of bulls and goats,
but with his own blood, he entered in once in the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us with his blood. Redemption
is accomplished. How about righteousness? Righteousness
has been established. That's why Paul said, I count
everything else lost, dung, and ruined, that I may win Christ
and be found in him. He's my righteousness. He's made
unto us righteousness, didn't he? Our redemption is accomplished. Our righteousness established.
Blessed is the man whom the Lord imputed righteousness without
works. Our reconciliation is done. God was in Christ reconciling
us unto himself. God's reconciled. Now he says
to us, now be you reconciled. What does that mean? Lay down
your shotgun. lay down your rebellion, bow,
submit to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then regeneration is final. I feel sorry for those people,
I really do, that think that their salvation is a conditional
salvation based upon what they do. I feel sorry for them. Regeneration is final. We don't
have a conditional salvation. We have a salvation that's completed
and finished and done. Regeneration is final. He said,
I give my sheep eternal life and as long as they hold out,
they'll never perish. That's not right, is it? I give them eternal life and
they shall never perish. No man can pluck them out of
my hand. My Father which gave to me is
greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of his hand.
I think it was Donny Bell in that Bible conference, he said
that believers have a two-fisted eternal security in the Father's,
in Christ's hand, in the Father's hand. Two-fisted. That's pretty
sure, isn't it? I give them eternal life and
they shall never perish. The best of all, we love God's
salvation because of the Redeemer, the Savior himself. He is altogether
lovely. To you who believe, he is precious. He is precious. Salvation is just not a profession. Salvation
is not in a profession. Salvation is not in a pool. Salvation
is not in a place. Salvation is not in a position. Guess what? It's in a person. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath the Son hath, this
is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God,
Jesus Christ, whom God has sent. Now, having said all that, the
last part of verse four, let such as love thy salvation say,
continually, what are we saying? Let God be magnified. As Paul
said, God forbid I take glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He's made unto us wisdom, but
of him are you in Christ Jesus, who God has made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.