I've chosen to speak tonight
to you from Psalm 85. Psalm 85. Our Lord said to the disciples
in Luke 24, he said, all things must be fulfilled which were
written in the Law of Moses in the first five books of the Bible. And in the prophets, the major
and minor prophets, and in the Psalms, and in the Psalms concerning
me, all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Psalms
concerning me. And to ignore David's gospel. Pastor, what is David's gospel?
David wrote most of the Psalms. And to ignore David, the man
after God's own heart, to ignore his gospel and his testimony
of Christ, which is found in the Psalms, would be to rob ourselves
of the gospel according to David. We've got the gospel according
to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And here in the Psalms, It's
the gospel according to David. And David in these psalms speaks of Israel and Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob. But believers, all believers,
you and me and all believers, we're the true sons of Jacob.
We're the true seed of Abraham. We are, Paul said, true Israel. So when David writes about Israel
and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he's writing about us. And David
speaks in this psalm, you remember as Brother Frank read it, the
captivity, speaks of the captivity of Israel, out of which God delivered
them, more than once, out of captivity. But all believers,
are delivered out of captivity. Christ said, the spirit of the
Lord is upon me. He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor, and what? Set the captive free. That's
us. Set the captive free. So when
David speaks of him delivering us out of captivity, he's talking
about every believer. And then throughout the psalm,
David gives the glory to Jehovah, Jehovah God, God our Savior,
who delivered Israel not by their might. They were never delivered
by their might, not from Egypt or any other captivity. They
were delivered by his power and his might. I have brought thee
out, he said, with a strong hand. And we are delivered not by might,
No, by our power, but by his power and his might and his grace. And then he says this, that glory
may dwell in the land. I have delivered you out of captivity,
that glory may dwell in the land. And our land is the eternal kingdom
of our Redeemer. And I read to you a few Wednesday
nights ago, in his kingdom, everyone gives him the glory. So let's
look at Psalm 85 and see what we can find here. It was a blessing
to me, and before I left home this evening, I told my wife
Doris, I believe I have something for us tonight. And so I hope
that I do, by his grace. But Psalm 85 begins with, Lord,
Jehovah. I've told you again and again,
when that word there appears in the Bible, the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, capital, four capital letters, L-O-R-D, Lord,
that's Jehovah. That's his name. God, my Savior,
the All-Sufficient, efficient, redeemer, in whose name, in whose
name is salvation. And there is none other name
unto heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. By that name, he revealed himself
to Moses, I am Jehovah. By that name, he came into the
world, Jehovah, God my Savior. By that name he fulfilled all
righteousness, and in that name we call upon him, and in that
name we come before the Father, Lord Jehovah, Jehovah. Thou hast been favorable. Lord,
thou hast been favorable unto thy land. Thou hast brought back
the captivity of Jacob." What was our captivity? Our captivity
was in Adam's fall. By one man, sin entered this
world, and death by sin, and so death, captivity, bondage
passed upon all men. We were children of wrath, even
as others, in captivity to sin and Satan and death, in bondage. What's the restoration? It says
here, thou hast been favorable to us, and thou hast brought
back the captivity of Jacob. He brought us back. He suffered
just for the unjust to bring us to God. bring us to God. Thou hast brought that. And then the cause of it is he's
been favorable. The angel said, Mary, you've
found favor in the eyes of God. All of the Old Testament believers
who knew something about God's mercy said this frequently, If
I have found favor in your sight." I tell you, in his favor is life. Let me show you that. Turn with
me to the book of Psalms, chapter 30. Chapter 30 of Psalms. Look at this. In his favor, thou
hast been favorable. Thou hast been favorable. Thou
hast been favorable. It says in Psalm 30, verse 1,
verse 1, verse 3, listen, O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul
from the grave, thou hast kept me alive, kept by the power of
God, that I should not go down to the pit. Oh, I've found a
ransom, deliver him from going down into the pit. So sing unto
the Lord, O ye saints of his, O ye saints of his, and give
thanks at the remembrance of his holiness, for his anger endureth
but a moment. In his favor is life. In his favor thou hast been favorable
unto us. In his favor is life. Now weeping
may endure for the night, but I tell you this, joy is coming
in the morning. Joy is coming in the morning.
Lord, Jehovah God, thou hast been favorable unto thy land,
unto the people of thy kingdom. Thou hast brought back the captivity
of Jacob." Now, note the language of grace. Verse 2 and 3. This is the language of grace. It starts out in verse 1 there.
Thou hast been favorable. Thou hast been favorable. We
didn't favor you, you favored us. We didn't love you, you loved
us. Thou hast been favorable. And then, Thou hast brought back
the captivity of Jacob. You've delivered us from bondage. You planned it. You purposed
it. You executed it. You gave Christ. You brought us back. And verse
2, thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people. You have, by your
grace, through the blood of your Son, totally, completely forgiven
all their iniquities. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that's within me, bless his holy name, who forgiveth all
thine iniquities. Let me show you a picture over
in Leviticus chapter 16. Leviticus 16. You know, here
is the priest, and he selects the bullock to be slain, and
he selects the goat, the scapegoat. And here in verse 21 of Leviticus
16, listen. Leviticus 16, 21, And Aaron shall
lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess
over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, in all
their transgressions, in all their sins, transferring them,
putting them in type and picture upon the head of the goat, and
shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and he
shall let go the goat in the wilderness." That's the scapegoat,
barring them away. And all our iniquities. Thou
hast been favorable to us. Thou hast led us out of captivity,
and Thou hast laid all our sins, all our sins, all the iniquities
and transgressions of Thy people. on the head of our substitute,
and he's borne them away. From us, as far as the east is
from the west, in a land not inhabited, borne them away. Thou hast done that. All the
iniquities. Listen, he's not through. This
is the language of grace. Thou hast covered all our sins. Say it again. Selah, that's what
that means. Say it again. Emphasize it. Repeat
it! Thou hast covered all our sins. What is this covering? Mercy
seat. There in the Holy of Holies was
the Ark of the Covenant. And in that Ark, the two tables
of stone, the Law, broken. Guilty sinners broke the Law
of God. Over that mercy seat, over that
Ark, was a mercy seat that totally, completely covered completely
covered the law. The mercy seat completely covered
it. And on that mercy seat, the blood. And thou hast completely covered,
hidden, blotted out all our sins in a sea of atonement in the
blood of Christ to remember them no more. Thou hast. Now through
verse 3, listen. You see, David preached the gospel.
This is the gospel. This is Christ. The only way
that he can show favor to us is in Christ. The only way we
can be led from bondage and captivity in the pit is a ransom paid.
The only way for iniquities to be forgiven is for iniquity to
be borne away by somebody. The only way to cover their sins
is in the blood. And thou hast taken away all
thy wrath. Sometimes people quote rather
carelessly and frequently John 3.36. He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God. The wrath of God. Think about
the wrath of God. The wrath of almighty, irresistible
God abides on them. And here he says, for your people,
you've taken away all that wrath. Taken it away. It's great. It's the wrath of God. It's fearful. It's just. We deserve it. But
having removed our sins, He removed the wrath, because sin is the
cause of wrath. God's not angry with us anymore
because the sin is gone. And the sin is gone because the
wrath fell on Christ. My God! My God! He had no sin of his own. Then
what is it that separated him and his God? Our sins laid on
him. The wrath of God! My God! Have you forsaken me? Thou hast
taken away all thy wrath. We are reconciled. Thou hast
turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. God has done
all that. We didn't do it. He did. God
has done that in Christ. The only way it can be done.
And God has done it forever, past tense, thou hast been favorable. I've loved you, he said, with
an everlasting love. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end. He'd have never loved them to
the end if he hadn't already loved them. Thou hast been favorable. Thou hast. Thou hast delivered
us from captivity. Whom he foreknew, he predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his Son. Whom he predestinated,
he called. Whom he called, he justified.
Whom he justified, he glorified. He purposed to do it. He did
it. Thou hast forgiven all our iniquities. Thou hast covered
our sins in a sea of atonement, the death of thy Son. And thou
hast laid thy wrath on him and taken it away from us. God loves
us now in Christ. And thou hast turned away the
fierceness of thine anger. Now then, verse 4, turn us. Salvation consists not only of
Jehovah turning away his wrath from us, but by his power and
might turning away our wrath from him. Christ reconciled us to the Father
and removed the cause of wrath, sin. And the Holy Spirit comes
with the gospel and the Word and reconciles us to God. Let
me show you that in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. This is what Paul
is talking about here. See, God turns away His wrath
from us. and our wrath from him. In turning
away our anger from him, he turns our hearts to him. 2 Corinthians
5 verse 18. Listen. And all things are of
God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. He reconciled. You who were enemies are reconciled.
He was your enemy too. And he had given to us the ministry
of reconciliation, to wit, namely, dear, that is, that God was in
Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing our
trespasses unto us, but unto Christ, and had committed to
us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. God sent the preacher and the
Holy Spirit and the Word and the Gospel, as though God did
beseech you by us We pray you, in Christ's stead, you be reconciled
to God. Christ turned away God's wrath
by His blood. The Holy Spirit turns away our
wrath. He humbles us. He strips us. He breaks us. He arrests us,
like Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus was angry with
Jesus Christ, angry with the God of salvation. But he'd been
reconciled by the blood of Christ. But he wasn't reconciled in his
heart to God, until God smote him. And then he was reconciled
to God. Turn us, O God, of our salvation,
and cause thine anger toward us to cease. God has reason to
be angry. Will he always be angry, he says
in verse 6? No. In verse 5, will he always
be angry? No. Will thou draw out thine
anger to all generations? No. He's going to turn us to
him because he's turned to us in Christ. That's what he said. Repentance and faith are inseparable. Which comes first, repentance
or faith? I don't know. They come together like a piece
of paper. with two sides. You can't have
a piece of paper without two sides. You can't have faith without
repentance. You can't have repentance without
faith. You can't turn from your idols unless you turn to God.
You can't turn to God unless you turn to your idols. He turns
to you, you turn to Him. He turns to you, you turn to
Him. You turn to Him, He turns to
you. Always true. Turn us, and we'll
be turned. You turn us, O God of our salvation,
O God of our salvation. It's not a turning that we do,
it's a turning He does. The broken heart is of the Lord.
Verse 6, Wilt thou not revive us again and again and again?
What does the word revive mean? Well, it means to restore. It means to repair. It means
to refresh. And the word revive, the word
revive implies a decline. That's right, it implies a deterioration. If something's refreshed, it's
gotten stale. If something's repaired, it's
been broken. If something is restored, it's
drifted away. And this is what he's saying,
O Lord, wilt thou not revive us again? Whom's he talking about? Thy people, that thy people may
rejoice in thee. The decline is not in him, it's
in us. It's experienced by every one
of us. It's experienced at different times throughout our lives. The
decline is in us. The deterioration is in us. The
staleness is in us. The reviving is of God. Wilt
thou not revive us? Refresh us frequently again and
again and again. And if he does, and when he does, the results is a rejoicing. And
thy people rejoice. They rejoice in Thee. A thousand
things can cause us to decline. A thousand things can cause us
to lapse. And a thousand things can cause
us to experience indifference. But only one thing can revive
us, and that's Him. Wilt Thou not revive us? And
the means of that reviving is the Holy Spirit and the preached
Word. Turn to Psalm 137. Let's see
if we have something here that may be interesting right here.
Psalm 137. This is Israel talking about
their state of captivity in a foreign land. It says here, And this
is a place where we get sometimes. By the rivers of Babylon, there
we sat down. Yea, we wept. We're in a foreign
country with strange people. And there we wept when we remembered
Zion. We remembered our fellowship
with God and with His people. Fellowship of the gospel. Fellowship
when things were good and happy and we were at home. Verse 2,
we hanged our harps on the willows. Somebody said on the weeping
willows. And those branches of the weeping willows hanging down,
that's the way our hearts and harps were. Hung, just hung them. Our harps, we hung them on the
willows in the mist thereof. For there they that carried us
away captive, They said, sing us a song. They required of us
a song. They said, sing us a song. And
they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, sing us
one of the songs of Zion. Sing us one of the songs of Israel.
We know you are singing people and are happy people. Now sing
us those songs that you used to sing, worshiping the Lord. And the writer says, how? How
shall you sing the Lord's songs in a strange land? You ever been
there? You just can't sing the Lord's
songs among a strange people and in a strange land. You can't
do it. So that's the reason he says
in verse 6, Lord revive us, refresh us, bring us back Restore us,
repair us, that our people may continually rejoice in Thee,
in Thee, in Him, in Him. All right, verse 7, this is a
special verse. Show us Thy mercy, O Lord, and
grant us Thy salvation. Show us Your mercy. We cannot
see it unless you show it to us. We cannot believe it by reason
of our darkness and hardness of heart unless you show it to
us. Others have seen thy mercy, show it to us. Show us mercy
that washes away our sins. Show us mercy that covers our
nakedness in the righteousness of Christ. Show us mercy that
keeps us and guides us in all our ways. Show us mercy that
will not forsake us till we be made like Christ. Show us your
mercy. And listen, and grant to us,
give us thy salvation. This is a salvation God gives.
This is a salvation that Christ bought. This is a salvation that
we preach. This is a salvation David possessed. This is a salvation I want. Grant unto me thy salvation. Show me your mercy and grant
unto me your salvation. God's salvation. God's salvation
is sovereign in bestowment. He'll grant it to whom He will.
He said to Moses, I'll be merciful to whom I will. I'll be gracious
to whom I will. Hath not the potter power over
the clay to make one lump of the same lump a vessel under
wrath and a vessel under honor? Lord, grant me your salvation. It's sovereign in its bestowment. It's perfect in its completion.
It's finished. That's what the Lord Jesus said.
It's finished. Grant me this finished salvation. It's preeminent in power. It's
able to save to the uttermost. It's able to do all that you
promise. It's able to keep us from falling. It's able to present
us faultless before your throne. It's able to raise our bowels
and make them like Christ. Give me thy salvation. I don't
want this world's salvation. I don't want this religious turning
over a new leaf. Show me your mercy and grant
me your salvation that's sovereign as it's bestowed, that's perfect
in its completion, that's preeminent in its power, and that's eternal
in its extent, and I'll never forsake you. My sheep, hear my
voice. I give them life and they'll
never perish. Grant unto us. Thy salvation. Anything less, I'm not interested
in it. Anything less is not of God. Anything less wouldn't give Him
any glory, would it? Show me your mercy. Show it to
me. You showed it to... Moses, why
not show it to me? And grant me thy salvation. Oh, and look at verse 8. I will
hear what the Lord will speak. The proper place for a man who
wants mercy is at the feet of Christ as a
listener. The proper place for a woman
or a man who wants salvation, his salvation, which is sovereignly
bestowed. The proper place for that person
is at the feet of Christ, like Mary, as a listener, not a talker, not a doer, but a listener. Adam was a talker. The woman you gave I was afraid, I hear. I, I, I. Adam was a doer. He got him some
fig leaves and fixed him up a cup. He wasn't a listener. Finally,
he had to listen. And God said, the woman's seed
will handle this situation. You listening, Adam? I'll hear
what the Lord will speak. I'll hear what the Lord will
speak. I'll hear what the Lord will
speak. The eye must give place to the
ear. The foot must give place to the
ear. What the ear hears, the eye can
see, and the foot can hasten thereto. The Jews saw His miracles,
but they wouldn't hear His gospel. The Jews saw Him feed the 5,000,
but they wouldn't hear His word. They said, this is a hard saying.
Who can hear it? We're not listening to this anymore.
Not going to hear this anymore. I've had people tell me that.
I'm not coming near you no more. I won't hear what the Lord will
speak. Well, what's He going to speak?
Listen. He'll speak peace to His people.
My sheep will hear me. My sheep will hear me, and I'll
give them eternal life. My sheep will hear me. You didn't
hear me because you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear me. And
I speak peace. You're not going to have any
peace until he speaks peace. Your preacher will tell you now,
I believe you're saved. But he can't speak peace. He
speaks peace when there is no peace. I'll hear what the Lord
has to say, and He'll speak peace to His people. And we'll have
no peace till we hear Him speak peace. And when He speaks peace, they'll
never turn again to folly. Self-confidence, self-sufficiency,
and self-righteousness is folly. And they're not going that way
anymore. Lord, show me your mercy. Alright, sit down and listen.
Grant unto me your salvation. Sit down and listen. And hear
what the Lord has to say. And He'll speak peace. Surely, verse 9, His salvation
is nigh unto them that fear Him. His salvation, His peace, His
grace is nigh unto them that fear Him, and only to them. Did
you notice all these times throughout this epistle, throughout this
psalm, verse 1, thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Verse 2, thou hast driven,
forgiven the iniquities of thy people. Of whom? Thy people. Verse 6, wilt thou not revive
us again that thy people may rejoice in thee? Verse 8, I will
hear what the Lord will speak. He will speak peace to whom?
His people. Verse 9, His salvation is known
to them that fear Him. That fear Him. That the glory of the Lord may
dwell in our land. That the glory of the Lord may
dwell in His church. Where the people of God dwell,
there His glory dwells. Where men fear Him, respect Him. Hold him in reverence and listen
to his voice. His glory dwells there. He said
where two or three are met in my name, I'll be with them. The
glory that was with Israel between the cherubim, the Shekinah glory,
that glory may dwell in our midst. Our Lord Jesus prayed that. He
said, Father, the glory that You've given Me, I've given them.
Those that Thou gavest Me, I've given them the glory that You
gave Me. Because You love them as You
love Me. His salvation, His grace, His
mercy, His presence is with them that fear Him. There's no walk
to them who fear God. that glory may dwell in our land."
Now here, listen. Here he speaks peace. Mercy and
truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. What are these? Mercy and truth. Righteousness and peace. They
are divine attributes. Divine attributes of God. Peace, love, and grace on one
side. Because they separated when Adam
fell. When Adam fell, they parted as
far as man is concerned, as far as you and I are concerned. Those
attributes of God have parted. Over here is mercy, peace, love,
grace. Over here is truth, righteousness,
and justice. When Adam fell, they split. As far as man is concerned. When did they meet? It says here
that mercy, love, grace met truth and righteousness and justice.
When did they meet? They met when Christ was born
in Bethlehem. They met in Him. In Him is every
attribute of God. It meets in Christ, in Christ,
on Christ the man. They met in Christ. Well, when did they kiss? I've met some folks I never kissed. When they kiss, they're in love. They're together. They reconcile. When they kissed, they reconciled.
I tell you, when they kissed each other, when he hung on that
cross, and the blood streamed down from his hands and his brow
and his side, and mercy, love, grace, peace, kissed, justice,
righteousness, and truth, they reconciled. God will be merciful. He must be truth. God will make peace, but He must
be righteous in doing it. God will manifest His love, but
He must punish sin. Must. He cannot clear the guilty. God will justify His people,
but He will be just in doing so. And in Jesus Christ, mercy,
and truth met together, and in his death they kissed." As far
as we're concerned, never to be parted again. Every attribute of God was satisfied
and honored for those he chose and those who fear him and those
who believe, and only for them, because it's done. Now the religious world in which
I live and the churches in this area concerning Jesus Christ
and his death on the cross, they say, well Jesus Christ did something
or other which somehow or other was in
some way or other connected with everybody's salvation. And this is their gospel. But
I want to know how that can be called good news. Jesus Christ
did something or other which somehow or other was in some
way or other connected with our salvation if we can get all the
components together and make a decision. That's bad news. I can't get my thoughts together,
let alone anything else. Can you? But God says, His salvation in
Christ, mercy and truth met together. And righteousness and peace kissed
each other. And God is reconciled. God is
reconciled. God's not angry. And I'm sure
not angry with Him, are you? I will let God be God. And be
awful thankful. Awful thankful. Alright, here's
the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Spurgeon said this verse
has got to be Christ. Truth shall spring out of the
earth. In Him, truth was found in our
humanity. He said, I am the truth. Pilate
said, what is truth? Untruth. Truth sprang from the
womb of the Virgin. Truth. Truth sprang out of the
earth. Truth was born in Bethlehem.
Truth walked the earth as a man. And righteousness looked down
from heaven. Divine righteousness came down
and joined truth in Christ. And in him that ladder that Jacob
saw, reaching one part of the ladder on earth
and the other part of the ladder to the throne of God. The angels
of God ascending and descending. Truth shall spring out of the earth
and righteousness look down from heaven and is joined in Christ. You see that? Show me your mercy. There it is, in Christ. There
it is. There it is, it's in Christ.
And yea, the Lord, He'll give that which is good. He'll give
that which is good. David said, if I had not believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, I'd
have quit. But He'll be good. He'll be good to them that wait
for Him, Solomon said in Lamentations. He'll be good to those who seek
Him. He'll be good. All things work
together for good to them who love God, who are called according
to His purpose. He'll be good. There's a lot
that will go on now, though, that cause problems if we don't
follow this verse here. Turn to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4. The Lord is good. Philippians
4 says this in verse 7, and I've
wrestled with this verse a long time. Still wrestle with it, but I've
got a little light on it now. Listen. Verse 6 says, be careful
for nothing. Be anxious, fretful for nothing.
Don't be upset about things. In this world, you'll have tribulation
and trials and troubles. But don't fret. Don't question
God's providence. But in everything, in whatever
it is, everything, the ups and downs, the good, the bad, the
difficult, the success and failures, everything, by prayer and petition,
supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
to God. and the peace of God, which passeth
all understandings, shall keep your heart and your mind through
Christ." One word there that I'm going to change that helped
me a great deal. The word passeth. At times I've
looked at that and thought the peace of God which passes the
understanding of the world, passes the understanding of this man,
passes the understanding of that one, and folks don't understand
what we have. Wait a minute. This peace of
God transcends all trials and troubles and difficulties. It transcends. We don't have
to understand. It transcends understanding.
It goes above understanding. It goes beyond understanding.
It doesn't have to have understanding. Well, why does the Lord do it?
None of your business. He doesn't give an account to
His creatures. And the peace of God, peace in
Christ, knowing that He does everything for our good and His
glory, and it will result in our eternal good, it transcends
this understanding stuff. Give me a reason. Give me an
answer. If you have the peace of God,
you don't need an answer. You don't need understanding.
That's what he's saying there. If you don't fret and worry,
and if you pray, if we will pray and look to Him with thanksgiving,
the peace of God, which transcends understanding,
all these, that'll keep you hot. When there's not a reason given,
there's not an answer forthcoming, and you just can't figure out
why this darkness. You don't have to.