My friends, we talk about mercy,
the mercy of God. Anything this side of eternal
condemnation is mercy. An old preacher years ago used
to say anything this side of hell is mercy. And there's not
a son of Adam living anywhere on this earth who cannot say,
I am a recipient of the mercy of God. For he maketh it to rain
upon the just and the unjust. And he causes his son to shine
upon the good and the evil. And every son of Adam ought to
be thankful that we are not like the fallen angels, reserved in
everlasting chains under darkness, under the judgment of that great
day. Common grace is enjoyed by every
human being. And the mercy of God is upon
every man, the common grace of God and the mercy of God. But
the Bible talks about special grace. The scripture says Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. When his whole generation
perished, Noah found special grace in the eyes of the Lord. And Abraham said when he prayed,
Lord, if I have found grace in thy sight, Gideon said the same
thing, Lord, if I have found grace in thy sight, and Moses
When Moses prayed that very special prayer in Exodus 33, when he
said, Lord, if you go not with us, don't let us go, and Lord,
show me thy way, and Lord, show me thy glory, he preceded those
three requests with this statement, Lord, if I have found grace in
thy sight. We're talking about special grace. We're talking about the special
favor of God and the mercy of God. This is what I'm interested
in. I'm thankful for God's common
grace. I'm thankful for God's mercy,
and we ought to be. Everything the scripture says
that hath breath, let him praise the Lord. Everything that hath
breath, because we have cause for which to praise the Lord.
We have reasons for which to praise the Lord, every one of
us. But I'm interested in this special grace, in this special
favor that Noah found in the eyes of the Lord, this special
grace that Abraham and Gideon and Jacob and Isaac and these
men of old found in the eyes of the Lord. And one of the best
scriptures in the Bible to read in reference to this special
grace is Psalm 91. I want you to turn with me to
the book of Psalm, the 91st Psalm. Now, if you will, keep your Bibles
open during the entire message because I'm going to keep coming
back to this particular psalm. I'm going to refer to several
verses in Psalm 91. Now the subject of this psalm
is the special favor of God, the special mercy of God. This
psalm is full of promises, but it closes with seven special
promises. Look, if you will, at Psalm 91,
verse 14. Will you follow with me? Here
are seven special promises. This is not for every son of
Adam. This is not for every human being. The way of the transgressor
is hard. The way of the wicked, his heart
is like the troubled sea. God is angry with the wicked.
He that believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God, not the
mercy of God, not the forgiveness of God, not the special grace
of God, but the wrath of God abideth on him. But here are
some special promises. Here in Psalm 91, verse 14, it
says, Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will
I deliver him." That's the first promise. Because he hath set
his love upon me, I will deliver him. The word deliver here means
to enable him to escape. That's what it means, to enable
him to escape, to be delivered. Or it means to make safe. Or
it means to save. to deliver is to save. So God
says, I will deliver him. First of all, I will deliver
him from the curse of the law. The scripture says, as many as
are of the law are under the curse of the law, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them. But Christ hath redeemed us,
delivered us, he hath caused us Enable us to escape from the
curse and judgment and condemnation of God's law. So that's the first
deliverance I'll deliver him from the curse of the law and
I will deliver him from the claims of justice What are the claims
of justice preacher? Well, the claims of justice are
these the soul that sinneth it shall surely die God said I will
in no wise clear the guilty sin when it's finished bring it forth
death. So the claims of justice The claims of justice are the
death of the believer. That's what the claims are. Justice
demands that we die. Justice demands that sin be punished.
And God says, I will deliver him from those claims. And then
he said, I will deliver him from something else, the way that
seems right unto men. Now, we not only need to be delivered
from the curse of the law, we know that, we admit that. We
not only need to be delivered from the claims of justice, But
we need to be delivered from ourselves. For God says, my thoughts
are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways. The worst
thing God can do to a man is turn him over to himself. If
you read the first and second chapters of the book of Romans,
and read about the degraded, evil, fleshly corruption of those
people in Romans chapter 1 and 2, it says God gave them up. Up to what? to do what seemeth
good in their own eyes. He gave them up to their flesh.
He gave them up to do what they wanted to do. God exercised no
restraining grace on them whatsoever. He just turned them over to themselves. God gave them over to a reprobate
mind. There's nothing, there's no greater
judgment that can fall upon a human being than for God to leave him
to himself. lead him to his own wisdom, his
own reasoning, his own understanding, his own darkness. And God says,
I will deliver these people who have special grace. I'll deliver
them. I'll enable them to escape not
only the claims of the law and not only the curse of the law,
but I will enable them to escape themselves. And then also I will
deliver them from traditions and the ceremonies of natural
religion. This is what Paul found deliverance
from in Christ Jesus the Lord. He said in Philippians chapter
3, I was born a Hebrew of Hebrews of the tribe of Benjamin. I was
a Pharisee of Pharisees. Concerning the law of God, I
was blameless. I exceeded many who were my equals,
but I found these things to be rubbish, and I was delivered
from them that I might win Christ and be found in him. So this
deliverance, This special grace for which we pray and which we
seek is deliverance. Deliverance from the curse of
the law, from the claims of justice, from ourselves, and from the
traditions of natural religion. Peter stood at Pentecost and
called upon those people to deliver themselves from this perverse
religious generation. And then he says the second promise
in Psalm 91, 14, if you'll read it there with me, he says, I
will deliver them. And then he says, I will set
him on high. What is David talking about here?
I will set him on high. Well, he's not talking about
the high seats in government and the high seats in religion
and the high seats in business, because many have occupied these
seats to their unhappiness and their eternal condemnation. But
he's talking here about being seated on high with Christ. We are seated in the heavenlies.
Blessed be the God and Father who hath chose us in Christ and
raised us up and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. That's the high place he's talking
about. Crucified with Christ, risen with Christ, and by the
grace of God seated with Christ on the right hand of God. That's
high places. I will set him on high." I'll
deliver him, I'll set him on high. Now listen to this, and
he says in the next verse, 15, I'll answer him. I will answer
him. He shall call upon me, and I
will answer him. Do you realize the implication
of these words? Now, to most people, I will answer
him means nothing, because we've taken for granted the blessing
of prayer. We've taken for granted, well,
God speaks to us through the word and we speak to God in prayer.
And anybody, anytime, can go rushing into the presence of
God and pray to God. There's no big deal there, preacher. You don't know how big a deal
it is. If you'll take the time sometime
today to read Exodus 20, remember that, Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy
5, the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy, you'll find that God does not
speak to any sinner. God does not speak to any sinner
without a mediator, and God will not be spoken to by any sinner
without a mediator. When Moses talked to Israel about
talking with God, they were astounded, because they said God speaks
to no man, and that man continued to live, and no man speaks to
God, and that man continued to live. The glory of God would
consume that man. But here he says in Psalm chapter
91, this man under special grace and special privilege, I will
not only deliver him, I will not only set him on high, but
God says, the living God, the almighty God says, I'll answer
him. He'll speak to me and I will
answer him. Oh, what a blessing if we knew
what it meant to be heard of God. God actually will do business
with us. but only on the basis of the
atonement, only on the basis of the mediator, only on the
basis of the intercession of Christ. There's no man outside
of Jesus Christ can come to God for salvation or prayer or blessings
or anything else. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father.
And that means in prayer, too. No man cometh into the presence
of the Father. No man cometh into the Holy of
Holies, except by me Christ is the great high priest through
which through whom we come to God so God says I'll answer him
you see these this special grace I'll deliver him I'll set him
on high and I'll answer him now listen to this the fourth one
in verse 14 15 I will be with him in trouble now we know something
about trouble every person listening to me today knows something about
trouble Christ said in this world ye shall have tribulation, that
is, trouble. And Paul said, we shall have
trouble in the flesh. And again, Paul said, we're troubled
on every side. So every person is acquainted
with trouble. But the believer, the believer
in time of trouble is aware of the presence of the Lord. God
says, I'll be with him in trouble. He's not going to be alone. David
said, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I'll fear no evil. with me, not that I'm capable
of defeating my enemies, not that I am sufficient in my own
self. I will fear no evil because God's
with me. God's with me. Christ said, I'll
be with you to the end of the earth. I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. So the believer is aware of the
presence of the Lord in time of trouble. He says, I'll be
with him in trouble. But not only is the believer
aware of the presence of God in trouble, but he's aware of
the purpose of God in his troubles. Now, the unbeliever can see no
purpose in trouble. When trouble comes his way, or
trials come his way, he's upset, because he can see no good coming
of this. But the believer can, because
he has the promise of God, which says, all things work together
for good to them who love God, who are the called according
to his purpose. and whom the Lord loveth, he's chasing it.
And we know that every believer knows that whatever takes place
in his life, it doesn't matter what it is, if it's good or bad,
it's for God's glory and for his good. So I will deliver him,
I will set him on high, I will answer him, I'll be with him
in trouble. I'll be with him, I'll give him
my presence, and he'll be aware of the purpose of God being accomplished
in that trial. the eternal good of every believer.
And not only that, but the believer is aware of God's power in time
of trouble. When Paul prayed about the thorn
in the flesh, the answer came, my grace is sufficient. God said,
I'll not remove the thorn. I'll not remove the cause of
trouble. You're going to keep it for my glory and your good,
but I'll be with you. You're not going to be alone.
So we're aware of the presence of God, we're aware of the purpose
of God in trouble, and we're aware of the power of God. But
now listen as I go. Here's the fifth promise. He
says in verse 15, I'll deliver him. Again he says that, but
this time he adds, I'll deliver him and honor him. Now you know,
unfortunately, when prisoners are released from jail, from
the penitentiary, They usually carry, this is unfortunate, but
it's true, they usually carry the scars and the stigma of their
crime throughout the rest of their lives. But this is not
so with God's people. We're delivered from the dungeon
of sin, but we're raised to redemptive glory. We're delivered from the
dunghill, but we're made, we're raised to the throne. That's
what it says in 1 Samuel 2. God says, I lift them from the
dunghill and seat them on the throne. I'll lift them from the
dunghill and make them to be companions of kings and princes. And not only that, but I'll make
them kings and priests. And we're raised from children
of wrath to the glorious privilege of sons of God. And there are
no scars, and there is no stigma, and there is no past. The children
of God have no past. Everything's future. Everything's
the glory of God. It doesn't matter. Paul said,
I was a blasphemer, and I was injurious, and I was a persecutor.
Nobody was any worse than I was but forgetting those things which
are behind and Pressing forward towards the mark of the prize
of the high calling of Christ Jesus my lord He says I've not
arrived yet. But one thing I do is I forget
the past God's forgotten He said there's sins and iniquities.
Well, I remember no more Don't you remember it and don't remember
it on the other fellow either God says I'll honor him I'll
not only deliver him but in delivering him I'll honor him with the honor
of God himself. What greater honor could we have
than sons of God? And then notice the sixth promise.
These are special promises of grace. I will satisfy him with
long life. Now, I know there's some people
who believe this means a long life on earth, but I don't believe
that at all. And there's several reasons for
that. First of all, so many of God's choice people have died
quite young. John the Baptist was only 33
when he died. And Thomas, or rather, Augustus Topley, who
wrote Rock of Ages, was only 38 when he died. And Robert Murray
McShane, the great Scottish preacher, was only 29. And so was David
Brainerd, the greatest missionary the Indians have ever heard in
this country. He was 29 when he died. And perhaps the prince
of preachers himself, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, was only 58.
So we're not talking about years on this earth because, listen,
for the believer to die is gain. There's no reason for the believer
to continue on this earth 70, 80, 90, 100 years. That's not
especially a blessing. Sometimes it's very unfortunate,
and sometimes it's a very unhappy existence. I've heard older believers
say, I wish God would take me home. But the life we're talking
about here, with long life, I will satisfy him. We're talking about
eternal life, the life of the eternal, life that will never
end. I'll satisfy him. Let me give
you a reference. Psalm 1715, David said, and who
could have had greater glory than David on this earth? But
he wasn't satisfied. David was the king of the greatest
kingdom on earth. David had everything a man could
possibly want here on this earth. But you know what he wrote in
Psalm 1715? I shall be satisfied when I awake with his likeness
and not until. So there's no satisfaction here.
We have joys, of course. We have happiness, of course.
We have the blessings of God and the mercy of God, of course,
but not satisfaction. That will be ours when Christ
comes, and we are given that long, long, eternal existence
and glory with him. The last, the seventh promise,
I'll show him my salvation. I'll show him my salvation. This
is the last. This is the greatest. This is
the climax of all blessings. This includes them all and concludes
them all. God's going to show us his glory. He's going to show us his glory. Now we see through a glass dimly. Now we know in part. We preach
in part. We preach what we know, and that's
about all. And that's not much. But one of these days I shall
know, even as I have been known. I'm going to know. God's going
to show me his glory. He said in Ephesians 2.7 that
in the ages to come, he might show. the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. As Moses
prayed, Lord, show me your glory. I want to see your redemptive
glory. I want to see the climax of your
glory and the manifestation of your sons and the greater glory
of thy only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. And we're going to see
that. Do you know of seven greater blessings? This is special grace.
This is special grace. As I said when I began this message,
every man is a recipient of God's common grace, but I want more. I want his special grace. I want
this to be mine and yours, where he says, I'll deliver him, I'll
set him on high, I'll answer him, I'll be with him in trouble,
I'll honor him, I'll satisfy him with long life, and I'll
show him my glory. Well, my friends, there's no
need to burden you with arguments and reasons why these promises
are not for all men. They certainly are not given
to all men. It's clear and evident that they're not. The Scripture
says the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. Well,
to whom are these promises given? For whom are these promises reserved? Well, we'll find out as we look
in the preceding verses of Psalm 91. Will you look with me? First
of all, in verse 9. God says, because, because thou
hast made the Lord thy refuge, I'll honor thee, I'll deliver
thee, I'll answer thee, I'll set thee on high, because you've
made the Lord your refuge and dwelling place, habitation. And
then in Psalm, in 91 verse 14, it says, because you have set
your love upon me, I will deliver you. And then in verse 14 again,
he says, because you have known my name, therefore I will deliver
you. I will set you on high. I will
answer you. Even as there is a because and
a therefore in the law, and you've seen that, because you've broken
the law, therefore you died in sin. Because you rebelled against
God, therefore his judgment is upon you. Because you sinned
against the Lord God, Therefore his wrath is upon you see because
you sin Therefore God's judgment. Well, this is also true and great
He says because you've made the Lord your refuge. I will deliver
you because You love the Lord. I will deliver you because you
have known my name I will deliver you. Let's look at as we have
time in closing. Let's look at these three statements
these three conditions that are set forth preceding the special
mercies of God. He says, first of all, because
you have made the Lord your refuge. A refuge is a hiding place. A
refuge is a hiding place, a secret place where we dwell. And he
says in the first verse, he that dwelleth in the secret place.
Where is this secret place? Well, it's in the covenant of
God's grace. It's in the shepherd fold of
God's Son. And it's within the veil in the
Holy of Holies. That's where the believer doesn't
visit occasionally. He dwells there. He dwells in
the secret place. He dwells in the secret refuge,
the covenant of God's mercy, the shepherd fold of God's Son. And within the veil, by the blood
of Christ, he dwells there. The Lord, verse 2, he says, is
my refuge. The Lord is my fortress. The
Lord is my God. in whom I trust. All of this
is in Christ. A hymn writer put it this way,
in the beloved accepted am I, risen, ascended, and seated on
high. In Christ. Read the first chapter
of Ephesians. All of God's mercies are in Christ.
Everything God has is vested in Christ. In him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. If I want to know God, I've got
to know Christ. If I want to dwell in God, I've
got to dwell in Christ. If I want to worship God, I've
got to worship Him in Christ Jesus. Everything's in Christ.
Read the first chapter of Ephesians. We're chosen in Him. We're blessed
in Him. We're accepted in Him. We're
redeemed in Him. We're seated in Him. Everything's
in Christ. There are no blessings for any
sons of Adam outside of Christ. Common blessings, common grace,
but no special grace, no special favor. No special mercy, no forgiveness,
not outside Christ. He that hath the Son of God hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. So
because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our refuge. He's our hiding
place. All right. Secondly, because
you have set your love upon me, I will deliver you. Now I'll
be the first one to declare. That our love for Christ is an
offspring of his love for us. We love him because he first
loved us. That's what the scripture says.
Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us
and gave him Sepharis, his son, to be the propitiation for our
sins. But this verse is talking about our love for God. And let
me show you five or six things. First of all, love for Christ
is the mark of the new birth. Everyone that love it, true love,
is born of God. Love for Christ is the mark of
knowing God. He that loveth not, knoweth not
God. Love to Christ is the root of
love for others. He that loveth him that begat,
loveth them that are begotten of him. Love to God is the means
of peace. Perfect love casteth out fear.
Love to Christ is the motivation for obedience. The love of Christ
constraineth me. Love for Christ and for one another
is the evidence of discipleship. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples, if you love one another. So this special grace,
I'll deliver him, I'll set him on high, I'll answer him, I'll
be with him in trouble, I'll honor him, I'll satisfy him with
long life, I'll show him my glory, is because you love the Lord. If any man love not our Lord
Jesus Christ, the scripture says, let him be anathema, let him
be accursed, the Lord cometh. Now last of all, Because he hath
known my name. Do you know his name? Other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid Christ the Lord. There's
none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. His is the name which is above
every name. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture tells us that whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord. Who is he? He's the Lord
God of heaven and earth. He's the word. He's the creator.
He's all things. Christ Jesus, that's his name.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
But how shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? Do you know his name? His name is Jesus Christ our
Lord.