Psalm 30 Psalm 30 this evening
notice verse 1 verse 1 I will extol thee O Lord for thou hast
lifted me up and has not made my foes to conquer me to rejoice
over me I've entitled the message this evening for us, In the Lord's
Favor is Life. Found down in verse 5. In the Lord's favor, in His favor
is life. In the Lord's favor, in the Lord's
grace, sovereign grace, is life, salvation, the forgiveness of
sin, according to the riches of His grace. We see here in
verse 1, the believer's desire. I will. I will. God's people
are made willing in the day of His power. Here is the believer's
desire. Isn't it the desire of our heart
as His people to exalt the Lord, to worship Him, to honor Him
in all aspects of our life, our very being? I will extol Thee
He is my Lord, worthy of all honor and glory, for or because
thou hast lifted me up from the pit of ruin. Here is the believer's
desire. Our Lord is the Most High God.
Besides Him there is no other. He says that in Isaiah repeatedly. I am the Lord. Beside me there
is no other. Beside him there is no other
Savior. Beside him there is no other
God. True faith, true repentance, true saving knowledge of our
great God and Savior does have high and exalted thoughts of
Him. You can't think too highly of
Him, can you? Not at all. Holy and reverend
is His holy name. We think by His grace and when
we think high thoughts of Him, God in all His holy character,
His eternality, His sovereignty, His power, when we think high
thoughts of Him and how high He is and who He is, We have
low thoughts of self. It's our desire to exalt Him. Together, turn over here to Psalm
34 and notice this. In verse 1, I will bless the
Lord at all time. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me and
let us, let us, Let us exalt His name together. Isn't that
our desire when we preach the gospel? To exalt His name? To declare who He is? To declare
what He has done? And David mentions here, Thou
hast lifted me up. Because the Most High God has
lifted us up, therefore we will exalt Him who is our God and
Savior. Grace has lifted us from the
pit of sin, lifted us up from the curse of the law, He has
lifted the beggar from the dunghill of ruin to make us sons of God. He has lifted us up and made
us one with Christ Jesus. How long has He lifted us up?
Look just across the page, Psalm 28 verse 9. Save thy people,
bless thine inheritance, feed them also, and lift them up,
not temporarily, look what it says there, lift them up forever. He has lifted us up and made
us one with Christ Jesus. How high has grace exalted us? Well, to be one with the Lord
Jesus Christ is pretty high, isn't it? To be one with Him,
to be exalted with Him, to be seated with Christ Jesus in the
heavenlies, as it says in Ephesians 2, that's pretty high. You see
what's through the head is through the body. He has lifted us up. Lifted up so high. Lifted up
so high in Christ Jesus that our spiritual enemies cannot
rejoice over us. Our spiritual enemies cannot
conquer us. For Paul said in Romans 8, we
are more than conquerors. We are more than conquerors.
Through Him that loved us. And again Paul wrote to the Corinthians.
Talking about the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has
given us the victory. The victory over sin, death,
hell, and the grave. The victory over all of our spiritual
enemies. Thanks be to God who has given
us the victory through, through what? Through whom? Through our
Lord Jesus Christ. We are made more than conquerors.
He has spoiled principalities and powers. He made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in Himself. We have the victory in Christ. He has. He said He's lifted me
up, and He has lifted us up in Christ Jesus, made us new creatures
in Christ, and has not made my foes. to rejoice, or to have
the victory, or to conquer me. We are more than conquerors to
him that loved us. Now look at verse 2, Psalm 30
verse 2. Oh Lord, I like this phrase here. Oh Lord, my God. Oh Lord, my
God. I like what Thomas said when
the resurrected Lord appeared to them that day. You remember
Thomas wasn't there in the first appearing of our Lord. But when
the Lord came back, Thomas was there. You remember he said,
I will not believe until I see with myself and put my hands
upon him. But when the Lord appeared unto
Thomas, you remember what he said? My Lord and my God. He is my Lord and he is my God
he is God my Savior Now notice this and here's our cry I cry
unto thee I cry unto thee And thou hast healed me. This is
our cry. We cry to the Lord. The gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel of Christ is a revelation
of what God has done for sinners in Christ Jesus. Thou hast lifted
me up. Thou hast healed me. Now by nature we're full of what?
Wounds and bruises and we're like that leper. full of open,
ugly, sinful, wicked, infected sores before God. But in the
gospel, there is healing in the gospel. Lord if you will, you
can make me whole. The Lord said, I will to that
leper. Be thou clean. Christ alone is
the great physician who can heal the dreaded disease of sin. You
remember what the Lord said to those who complained that day
that he went home to be with sinners? He's a friend of sinners. Our Lord said, they that be whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick. Go ye and learn
what that means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice,
for I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners. to repentance. He has healed his people. I cried to the Lord. Why does
one cry unto the Lord? out of his need. I tell you what,
if God ever shows you by his grace what you are in his sight
and give you life in your heart you'll cry unto him to the only
one who has the remedy to heal sinners. I cried unto thee and
thou hast healed me. What a blessed, blessed thought. We read in Luke chapter 4 When
the Lord said there, quoting from Isaiah, the Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, remember, to preach the gospel to the poor,
to heal the broken hearted, to heal the broken hearted, to set
the prisoners free. He came to heal broken heart. He's neither of a broken heart,
save it such as be of a contrite spirit. In Isaiah 53, we read
about his healing with his stripes. with Christ crucified. We are
healed with his stripes. We are healed. Now this is not
talking about physical healing. This old body is weak and sickly
and headed for the dust. He's talking here about spiritual
healing, spiritual diseases. With His sacrifice, He has made
us whole. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete. Now,
I want you to find Psalm 103. Turn over there, Psalm 103. Look at Psalm 103, verse 1. You know his name in scripture
is called in Ezekiel or rather Exodus 15. His name is Jehovah Rapha. One of his sevenfold names Jehovah
Rapha which means the Lord. The Lord that healeth thee. Look
at Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the
Lord, O my soul. Forget not all of his benefits,
who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. We're complete in Christ Jesus. The disease of sin, the power
of sin to condemn has been satisfied and put away by the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 3 in Psalm
30. So thou hast lifted me up Thou hast given me the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. I cried to the Lord. I cried
out of my need as a guilty sinner. And He heard and He healed. He healed me. And then it says
in verse 3, O Lord, Thou hast brought my soul up from the grave. Thou hast kept me alive that
I should not go down to the pit of eternal destruction. Thou
has brought up my soul from the grave. What's he talking here
about talking about? spiritual regeneration He's talking
about as it says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 you hath he
quickened who were dead We were dead in sin, and he's given us
life in Christ Jesus when he says live He saw us polluted
in our blood like that cast out infant in Ezekiel 16. He saw
us polluted in our blood and cast out to the loathing of our
person. But when he passed by in that
time of love, he said to his own, live! And we lived by the
power of God. It says in John 5, 21, The Father
raises up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quicken
whom He will. He has power. Aren't you glad
that He has power to raise us from the grave of sin? Being
spiritually dead in sin, having died in Adam, having that dead
nature, dead to God, He's given us life in Christ Jesus. Thou
hast brought me up from the grave, as he did with Lazarus. Remember
the story, Lazarus had died? been dead four days and the body
was already corrupting and the Lord Jesus Christ stood in front
of that tomb and said Lazarus come forth and that's a picture
of what he does to us in spiritual regeneration for he finds us
dead graveyard dead and dead and stinking rotten dead and
he says to us in his power and in his grace sinner live What's
going to happen when he says live? Life's going to come by
his power. You see where the word of God
and where the word of God is, there's power. The king speaks
to his people in power. Thou hast brought up my soul
from the grave. You remember what we read in
Colossians chapter 1 verse 13? or it says that He has brought
us, translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into the
kingdom of God's dear Son. He did that. You see, salvation
is a declaration not what we must do for God. Salvation is
a declaration of what God has done for sinners in Christ Jesus
for His covenant people. Thou hast kept me alive. Thou
hast brought me up from the grave And you've kept me alive. We
are kept by the power of God. Isn't that so? Kept by the power
of God. He's able to keep us from falling.
We're kept by the power of God. Kept alive that I should not
go down to the pit. It reminds me of the scripture
found in Job 33. You remember the declaration
there is deliver him from going down to the pit. Why? Why? I found a ransom. The ransom
is Christ. And the ransom price has been
paid. And when the ransom price is
paid, what happens to the prisoner? the prisoners set free when the
ransom is paid and the Lord Jesus Christ has ransomed us paid the
full price of what God's law and justice demanded and has
set us free you shall know the truth our Lord said in the truth
shall set you free now can we do anything but what it says
in verse 4 Saint That's right. We cannot but sing
unto the Lord, for He's lifted us, He's healed us, He's brought
us out of the grave, He has done all these things. Now what are
we going to do? Sing. Oh, sing unto the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song,
for He hath done wonderful things. You remember that over here in
Psalm 98? Turn over there. Sing unto the
Lord. Oh, it's a song of gladness.
It's a song of redemption. Sing unto the Lord. Psalm 98
verse 1. You should have this marked in
your Bible. I've referred to this before. Oh, sing unto the
Lord a new song. For he hath done marvelous things
for his right hand, his right hand, and His holy arm have gotten
Him the victory. Now sing unto the Lord. Oh, God
has been so merciful unto us, so gracious unto us. Sing unto the Lord. Look what
it says there, O ye His saints. His saints. Who is a saint? Every believer in Christ Jesus
is a saint. Sanctified and set apart in Christ
Jesus. Sanctified by the redeeming work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And sanctified by God the Holy
Spirit in regeneration. Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints
of His. We're His. We are His, as it
says in Ephesians chapter 1, it says that we are His purchased
possession. Sing unto the Lord, O ye His
saints, His saints, chosen in Christ Jesus before the foundation
of the world. And give thanks. Give thanks. Look what it says. Give thanks
at the remembrance. It says here, give thanks at
the remembrance of His holiness. Now, that seems kind of a little
Strange to me. Because we would naturally think,
oh, give thanks unto the Lord for His loving kindness. Give
thanks to the Lord for His mercy. Give thanks to the Lord for His
grace. And we do. We do give thanks unto the Lord.
But here it says, at the remembrance of His holiness, at the remembrance
of His holiness, God is absolutely holy in all that He does. In creation, He created all things
in absolute perfection. All things He does in providence,
what unfolds in time, He does according to the perfection of
His holy will. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. And in saving sinners, He does
so in such a way that is honoring to His holiness. He doesn't ignore
His holy character. He saves us in such a way that
He is both a just God and Savior. Therefore, we sing unto the Lord
at the remembrance of who He is who has saved us, who we are. and we give thanks that God is
holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. What a remarkable gospel we have
to sing about God saves sinners and honors His holiness in doing
so. He is a just God and Savior. You know all through the book
of Acts and all the preaching of the apostles through the book
of Acts, you know how many times that they talk about the love
of God? How many times the love of God
is mentioned in the book of Acts? Not one single time. The word L-O-V-E is not even
in the book of Acts. Now when the gospel is declared,
we see the love of God declared in saving sinners, but the emphasis
is on the character of God, the attributes of God, how He saves
us in mercy, in accordance with His holiness. Oh, sing unto the Lord, ye saints,
and give thanks, remembering who he is in his holy character. Now look at verse 6. Or verse
5, rather. Verse 5. Now watch what it says. Verse 5. For his anger His anger
is but for a moment. In his favor is life. Weeping
may endure for a moment. Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy comes in the morning. Now verse 5. The anger of the
Lord or the chastisement of the Lord is but for a moment. You
know the reason that parents chastise their children, as our
dear brother just did. The reason that loving parents
chastise their children, they do so not out of anger, but out
of love. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. So we see the chastisement and
conviction and the correction of the Lord toward his saints
is in love. We may think for a moment that
Daddy's angry with me. And we may think for a moment
that the Lord is angry with me. But in reality, when we think
about it, It's His loving, correcting hand. His anger or His correction
is but for a moment. And you know the Lord corrects
us when we need it. We only correct our children when they need it.
And that's what the Lord says here. Where His anger does endure
but just for a moment. But in His favor is life. Life forevermore. Weeping may
endure for a night, but joy is coming in the morning. Daddy's
gonna hug me in the morning. Next time Daddy sees me, he's
gonna hug me in the morning. He's gonna let me know everything's
okay. We never discipline our children in anger, do we? We
do so out of love and loving kindness. Whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth. Although it appears unto us that
the Lord is angry, but when the chastisement has accomplished
its purpose, we are made to cry out, for mercy weeping does pass
into joy weeping endures for a night just a moment but eternal
joys come to us in the morning for his mercies are new every
morning turn to Isaiah 54 Isaiah 54 Look at verse 7. For a small
moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercy I will gather
thee in a little wrath. Verse 8, Isaiah 54. In a little
wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord. God does
correct us in His loving kindness. Now back to Psalm 30, the second
part, verse 5. In His grace, in His favor, is
life and salvation. His grace not only sweetens life
and cheers life, but His grace brings Christ unto us who is
life. His grace brings eternal life
unto us. For Christ once suffered for
our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. In His favor is salvation. In His grace is salvation. And He's bringing many sons unto
glory. And we do weep in the night of
conviction and the night of correction, but my friend I assure you, if
God convicts you for your sin, joy will follow, the joy of salvation
in Christ Jesus. If God is pleased to show us
what we are, He won't It won't be long until he shows unto us
the joy and the remedy for our sin in Christ Jesus. Now look
at verse 6. I said in my prosperity, God
had blessed David in so many ways, the prosperity of His grace,
the prosperity of salvation, the prosperity of mercy. In my
prosperity, in God's blessing me, I said I shall never be moved. Not moved, not moved away. Find Psalm 62. May God in His mercy show us
that what we are is by the grace of God. The only reason we have
prosperity and spiritual blessings is because God is pleased by
His grace to show favor unto us. Therefore we shall not be
moved, as He says here in Psalm 62, My soul, verse 5, wait thou
only upon God, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock
and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved. I shall not be moved. Cannot be moved. In my prosperity
I said, what I am, I am by the grace of God. All that I know,
He taught me. All that I am, He made me. All
that I have, He gave me. All that I ever will be in glory
is by His grace. I shall never be moved, not away
from Him, kept by the power of God. Verse 7, Lord, by Thy favor,
by Thy favor, He says it again. By thy favor thou hast made my
mountain to stand and stand strong. Thou didst hide thy face and
I was troubled. Lord by your favor you've made
me to stand like a strong mountain. Mountains don't move. Mountains don't move. David acknowledged
that his prosperity Both how God had prospered him in a material
way. David was a great king. I mean,
he had a kingdom. He was the sovereign in that
kingdom. God had blessed him in so many ways, materially,
but more than that, spiritually. Being made one with the Lord
Jesus Christ. According to God's loving kindness,
David said. According to your tender mercy,
blot out my iniquity. All of God's grace toward us. It's not that we have deserved
mercy. We have not deserved God's favor. We deserve His just wrath. But
God is pleased to show unto His people His loving kindness. Lord,
by Your favor, by Your grace, You've made me to stand strong. let us make sure that our confidence
is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone not in our strength not in our
righteousness the warning of scripture is wherefore let him
that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall now look at
the last part of verse seven thou didst hide thy face the perceived presence of the
Lord David felt like he said at one time Lord, you've forsaken
me. Your mercies are clean gone.
Thou did hide thy face. But watch this, I was troubled. I was trouble. If the Lord, for
His purpose, in order to humble us, would just leave us alone,
just hide His face, His presence from us, what great trouble would
arise in our heart? For without Him we can do nothing.
But even in this we find assurance that we are the Lord's people,
for if His absence did not trouble us, we would not be His saints. and that our joy is dependent
upon His presence is a good indication that we are His. If the Lord
does forsake us and we're not troubled, That would be a good
indication that we don't know the true and living God. But
the Lord for His own purpose does hide His presence from us. Not that He ever forsakes us,
but that He just withdraws His felt presence. Maybe that's a
better word. I don't know if that's even the
right way to say that. But if the Lord in His purpose
would withdraw for just an instant, It would greatly trouble us,
wouldn't it? To be left to ourselves, to our
own thought, our own will. That would trouble us. But it's
a good indication that when the Lord is pleased to withdraw for
just a moment, just a little while, that it does trouble us,
and that we cry out unto Him, Lord, forsake me not. is a good
indication that we are dependent upon his mercy a good indication
that we are dependent upon him now in verse 8 and down to verse
10 so David cries out when he perceived that the Lord had withdrawn
his presence and had withdrawn his blessings on him for a while
David said I was troubled and no doubt he was greatly troubled
And then it caused him to cry unto the Lord. I cried to thee,
O Lord, and unto the Lord I made a supplication. And here his
argument is. What prophet is there in my blood?
Lord, if you kill me now, when I go down to the dust, shall
the dust praise thee? Shall the dust declare thy truth? Hear, O Lord, have mercy upon
me. Lord, be thou my helper. A sincere cry for help, for prayer
is the unfailing resource of God's people. What a blessed
privilege our holy God has given unto us to call upon Him in our
daily need, in our daily struggle, in our trouble in the trouble
of our own heart and our own soul to call upon the Lord. What
a privilege God gives us. No wonder he says in the gospel,
come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, I will give
you rest. and in the gospel message in
the book of Hebrews it declares come boldly under the throne
of grace that you may obtain mercy find grace to help in time
of need so then when the Lord chastises us let us never forget
to cry out unto him let us never doubt the worth and value of
prayer for the same almighty hand that wounds us is the same
hand that heals us. The same hand that convicts us
and chastises us is the same loving hand that comforts us. Now, verse 9, David's plea is
simple. Verse 10, have mercy upon me. Verse 9, David's plea is simple. Lord, if you are pleased to kill
me and take me to glory, I no longer will be able to serve
you among the sons of men and to proclaim your truth, so preserve
my life that I might serve your purpose here. That's a pretty
good argument. Save my life here that I may
serve your, preserve my life here that I may serve your purpose
among your people and declare thy truth. Verse 10, hear O Lord,
hear O Lord, have mercy, Lord be thou my helper. Because He
is a living God, He can hear. Because He is the God of love,
or God that is love, He will hear the cry of His children.
And because God is almighty, He will answer our prayer. He's able to do above all we
ask or think according to His purpose, His power that works
in us. And our cry is simple like the
publican, Lord have mercy. He does delight to show mercy
to his people. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. Now, watch this, verse 10. Lord,
have mercy upon me, and Lord, be thou my helper. When he helps, difficulties vanish. For vain is a help of vain. If the Lord be our helper, there's
no duty which we cannot perform. If the Lord be our helper, there's
no foe we cannot overcome. If the Lord be our helper, no
temptation is too strong. If the Lord be our helper, no
trial is too great. If the Lord be our helper, no
burden is too heavy. For I can do all things through
Christ that strengthens us. The Lord is our helper. This verse here has been a great
comfort to me, especially just in the last few weeks. Psalm
46, verse 1. God is our refuge and strength,
the very present help in trouble. On the night of our flood, July 17th, I sat at the top of
my stairs. Most of you have been in my house,
been in my home. And I sat at the top of the stairs
and I sat there with my feet on the first step. And as I watched
the water come up and up and up and come up so quickly, I
began to think that it wasn't going to stop. And this verse
came fresh to my mind in a way that it never has before. God
is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, therefore
will not we fear. Though the earth be removed,
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though
the waters roar, and be troubled, though the mountains shake with
swelling, there is a river the streams whereof shall make glad
the city of God, the holy place, the tabernacles of the Most High.
He is our refuge and strength, and very in the face of deep
trouble, The Lord is our helper, He is our refuge, He is our strength. into dancing thou has put off
my sackcloth and girded me with gladness to the end that my soul
may sing praise to thee and be not silent oh lord my god i will
give thanks unto thee forever forever thou has turned for me
my mourning my weeping my lamenting into praising the Lord. Thou
hast put off my sackcloth, a token of humiliation and repentance,
and girded me with gladness. He has clothed us with the garments
of salvation. To this end, or to this purpose,
that we might sing praise to Thee, that we might give thanks. Unto the Lord for in everything
give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus Concerning
you the ultimate end of God's mercy to us in Christ. It is
to praise and worship him forever for all that he has done for
us. Oh, Lord, my God, I will. And I do, don't you? As much
as we're able in this flesh, as weak and sinful as it is,
oh, Lord, my God, I will give thanks unto thee forever, now,
and forever. Forever.