The Lord Be Magnified

I want you to open your Bibles
to the book of Psalms. Psalm 40, verse 16. The title
of my message is, The Lord Be Magnified. And here in Psalm
40, verse 16, the scripture says, Let those that seek thee rejoice,
and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation
say continually, continually, The Lord be magnified. the Lord
be magnified." Now, who's the speaker? Well, first of all,
it's David, the chosen. God sent Samuel down to the house
of Jesse to anoint a king for Israel. God had rejected Saul,
and he said to Samuel, one of Jesse's sons will be the king,
the God-anointed and chosen king of Israel. So Samuel went down
to the house of Jesse and told Jesse he was coming Jesse had
seven sons, I believe it was, and he said to the youngest boy,
David, he said, Now the prophet of God won't be interested in
you. Suppose you go out and take care of the sheep and do the
other chores while your brothers and I take care of this anointing
of the king for Israel. So Samuel came down and Jesse
brought his sons before the prophet of God. The first one came before
the prophet. He was the oldest boy. big, strong,
handsome lad, intelligent. And the prophet of God looked
at him and said, Well, surely the Lord's anointing is before
him. This is an impressive man. And God said, Samuel, I've rejected
him. Don't annoy him. So they came
to the next one, and one right after the other, the prophet
of God said, Well, surely the Lord's anointing is before him.
But each time God would say, This is not he. I've rejected
him. And finally, when all the boys
came by, except the one out there in the pasture, you know, feeding
the sheep, taking care of the sheep, Samuel turned to the father,
Jesse, and said, Are these all the sons you have? And Jesse
said, Well, no, I've got one more, but I didn't think you'd
be interested in him. Well, Samuel said, You send for
him, you fetch him. We're not going to eat, we're
not going to sacrifice till he comes. And so a little while
passed, and in a few moments the door opened. and young David
stepped through the door. And the voice of God came to
Samuel the prophet, anoint him, arise, anoint him, he's mine,
he's mine. For Samuel, God seeth not as
man seeth. Man looketh on the outward appearance,
God looks on the heart. Anoint him, he's mine. And scripture
tells us in 1 Corinthians 1.26, not many mighty, not many noble
are called. God has chosen the foolish things
of this world to confound the things which are mighty and the
things that are wise, and the things that are not, to bring
to naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. God Almighty chose David, an
anointed in King. Who's speaking? Let all those
that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love
thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified." Well,
who's speaking? It's David, the man after God's
own heart. That's in the Scripture, it's
in there twice. It's in Acts 13, verse 22. God said through
Paul, I have found David to be a man after my own heart. The
heart of God and the heart of David were one. From beginning
to the end of his reign, one thing can never be questioned,
David loved the Lord. His heart beat in tune with God. He walked with God. Abraham was
said to be the friend of God, only of David, as it says, he's
a man after my own heart. That's who's speaking here, the
man after God's own heart. Wouldn't that be something? How
would you like to be called a man after God's own heart? I covered
that. And then it's David. Who's speaking
here? It's David, the Exalted One.
The Lord Jesus Christ was called the Son of David. Jerusalem is
called the City of David. The hymn book of the Bible, the
Psalms, are called the Psalms of David. The Messiah is said
to sit on the throne of David. And then this very chapter in
the Psalms here that we have as our text are the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Look up Hebrews 10, 5 through
9, and you'll find these very same words were spoken by the
Master himself. Read Psalms 22, and you'll find
David writing hundreds of years before Calvary the very words
that Jesus Christ uttered on the cross. So it'd be well for
us to listen to this sermon, wouldn't it? The Lord be magnified. David tells us in this psalm,
40, verse 9 and 10, what he preached. David, the chosen one, David,
the anointed, David, the man after God's own heart, David,
the exalted one, he preached. He was a preacher. He preached. He tells us five things that
he preached. Here's the sum of his message. He says in verses
9 and 10, I have preached thy righteousness, I have preached
thy faithfulness, I have preached thy salvation, I have preached
thy lovingkindness, and I have preached thy truth. Let's take
them one at a time and look at them. Is this what we preach? I have preached thy righteousness,
David said. Well, now, my friends, God is
holy. God is holy, God is righteous.
Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 6, in the year that King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord. I saw him in his glory, in his
holiness, high and lifted up. And even the cherubims and seraphims
covered their eyes and covered their feet and covered their
mouths in his presence and cried, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. God is holy. God is holy. God Almighty is light, and in
him there is no darkness. And this we will preach. But
this is not what David is talking about here. I have preached thy
righteousness. And then the law of God is holy.
The law of God is righteous. And some men preach that, and
we will preach that. It ought to be preached. The
law of God is perfect. It demands perfection. It demands
perfect love, perfect obedience, inwardly and outwardly, and attitude
and action. This we will preach. This is
not what David's talking about. When we preach the perfect law,
all the world it does is reveal our imperfection. It can't do
anything for us, that's for sure. The law can never speak mercy,
it can only speak curse. Cursed is everyone that continues,
if not in all things that are written in the book of the law
to do them. The law can't bless you, no way. And a preacher of
the law cannot help you, nor bless you, and he has no good
news for you. And then the kingdom of God is
righteous. Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3, 13, we look for a new heaven
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. That's not what
David's talking about, though. I can't help you today preaching
about a future kingdom. I don't know why everybody's
going to seat on prophecy in these days. Everybody wants to
preach on what's going to happen in the future. I want to know
what's happening right now. I'm not nearly so much interested
in the reign of Christ in the future as I am, his reign right
now in your heart. If he doesn't reign in your heart
right now as your Lord and Savior, you won't want any part of that
future reign. You'll be one of those crying
for the rocks and mountains to fall on you and hide you from
his face. Here's what's important to a
sinful world, is a reigning Savior right now. Let's just forget
about the future for a little while and think about your relationship
with Christ right now. What think ye of Christ? Well,
what is David talking about? I have preached thy righteousness
in the great congregation. Three scriptures will help us.
The first one is found in Romans 10, verses 1 through 4. Paul
begins Romans 10 with these words, "'Brethren, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
I bear them record, I know They have a zeal of God, but it's
not according to knowledge, for they're going about to establish
their own righteousness and have not submitted themselves to the
righteousness of God. Now we're getting into it. David
said, I've preached thy righteousness, the righteousness of God. These
people have rejected the righteousness of God, Paul said, and they're
going about to establish their own righteousness. I preach the
righteousness of God, not man's righteousness, not man's goodness,
not man's works, which are filthy rags. I preach God's righteousness. Well, what is that? Christ, Jesus,
verse 4, is the end or goal or consummation of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. Christ is our righteousness.
That's God's righteousness. Almighty God is perfectly holy.
His law is perfectly holy. Man is perfectly evil. In order
for God to have anything to do with us, in order for God to
receive us, in order for God to accept us, we've got to have
a righteousness too. Two can't walk together except
they do agree. Who can stand in his presence?
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Who hath not lifted
up his soul to vanity. That's not you and that's not
me. But Christ is that righteousness, and he came down here in the
flesh, and he met the law of God as a man, in the flesh, and
obeyed it perfectly. And now in him, our representative,
in him, our Redeemer, we have a righteousness with which the
Father can be pleased, which he can accept. And it's not ours,
it's his. his own righteousness, provided
by his own Son, who met his own law and obeyed it according to
his own specification. This is my Son, in whom I am
well pleased." Paul said, in the flesh no man can please God,
but Christ did, and in him we have a perfect righteousness.
This second scripture in 2 Corinthians 5.21, he who knew no sin was
made sin for us. that we might be made the righteousness
of God. This is what we're talking about.
David said, I preached God's righteousness, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ not only obeyed
the law, but he took our sins in his body. He who knew no sin
was made sin. The sinless became sinful. Why? That the sinful might be sinless.
Sin can't be in two places. You see, my sins were heavy upon
me, and Christ came down here and took my sins and put them
on himself and bore them away and paid for them and died for
them. And now I don't bear them any more, and the Father can
accept me because I'm righteous in Christ. Philippians 2.9, Paul
looked back at all of his religious heritage, tradition, customs,
accomplishments, and he said, I count these things but don't. that I may win Christ and be
found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law, which is shot full of holes, which is self-righteous rags,
which God won't accept, but the righteousness of God, which is
by the faith and through the faith of Jesus Christ. I have
preached thy righteousness." That's what David is talking
about. I have declared there is a righteousness to be had.
You won't find it in here. You won't find it in there, you'll
find it in Christ. And then David said, I preach
thy faithfulness. What is God's faithfulness? And
we know something about man's faithfulness. We say he's a very
faithful person. You mean by that a loyal person.
You mean by that a person that keeps his word, a person that'll
do what he says he'll do. All right? The faithfulness of
God is the very same thing. It's the immutability of God.
the unchangeable quality of God, the characteristic or attribute
of God that says, I am the Lord, I change not. Jesus Christ the
same yesterday, today, and forever. The gifts and calling of God
are without change. Now you and I don't know a whole
lot about that, do we? The songwriter says, swift to
its close ebbs out life's little days. Earth's joys grow dim,
and its beauties fade away. Change and decay all around me
I see. That's about all we know anything
about, isn't it? O thou that changest not, abide with me."
He changes not. David said, that's what I pray.
God doesn't change. God is unchanging in all of his
purposes, his decrees and his counsel. Listen to this scripture,
Isaiah 46, 9 and 10. I am God, there is none else. I am God, there is none like
me. I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand,
I will do all my pleasure. God is faithful in every purpose. Every council, every decree,
it shall be done exactly as he decreed it. Nothing changes.
And then our God is faithful, immutable, unchangeable in every
promise, in every prophecy, in every word concerning Christ
Jesus. He said, Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my word, not one jot, not one tittle shall pass
for all before them. You go back through the word
of God and you find the prophecies of Christ coming. He came. You
go back in the word of God and you'll find the types and pictures
of his sacrifice. He died. You go back in the word
of God and you'll find the prophecies or predictions of his resurrection.
He arose. You go back in the word of God
and you'll find the promises of his coming. He's coming again. You believe in God, he said,
you believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for
you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself, that where I
am, there you may be also." It'll be done. Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried and rose again
according to the Scriptures. He reigns at the right hand of
the Father according to the Scriptures. He'll come again. According to
the scriptures, my body will be raised according to the scriptures.
That which was sown in mortality shall be raised in immortality
according to the scriptures. It's all been fulfilled so far.
And it'll all be fulfilled until not, because he said that, until
heaven and earth pass away. Not one jot or one titter shall
pass from my word till it all is fulfilled. And then God is
faithful, immutable, unchangeable in his promises to the believers.
He said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Paul
wrote, All things work together for good to them who love God,
who are called according to his purpose. He said, I'm persuaded
neither height nor depth nor length nor breadth nor angel
nor principality nor things present nor things to come nor any other
creature can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus. That soul that owns Jesus hath leaned for repose. I will
not I will not desert to expose. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, never, never forsake him. I preach thy faithfulness, O
the faithfulness of God." Have you ever heard that hymn, Great
is thy faithfulness, O God my Father? Great is thy faithfulness
now unto me. And then David said, I have preached
thy salvation. Now listen to me. Will you listen
a moment? David rightly called it thy salvation. Notice David didn't say, I preach
thy righteousness and I preach thy immutability, thy faithfulness,
and I preach my salvation. That's what we call it. Not David. Not the anointed of God, not
the chosen of God, not the man after God's own heart, not the
exalted David. He's got more spiritual intelligence
than that. He says, I preach thy salvation.
Salvation is not something David did for God. Salvation was something
God did for David, and David knew it. David wrote several
times in Psalm 51, he says, O Lord, restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. In Psalm 3, verse 8, he says,
Salvation belongeth to the Lord. In Psalm 37, verse 39, he says,
The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. Jonah, in the
depths of the sea, in the belly of the whale, with the gates
of hell closed upon him, and the weeds, the seaweeds about
his head, and darkness engulfing him, cried, One of these days
I'm going to get saved. One of these days I'm going to
give my heart to Jesus. One of these days I'm going to
make a decision and start doing better. No, he didn't. Down there
in the depths of impossibility, Down there in the depths, shut
up to the impossible inability of any creature, only to the
power of God, he cried, Salvation of the Lord. That's what Peter
said as he sank beneath the waves, Lord, you save me or I perish. Salvation of the Lord. Now, you
can call it what you want to. You can call it your decision,
your experience, you call it what you will. But the man who
knows God knows who saved him. He knows God saved And he knows
God saved him on purpose. And he knows God saved him by
the death of his son, by the blood of Christ, not by anything
that that man did or contributed. And he knows that God Almighty
saved him by his grace, and that God saved him for his own glory,
to the praise of the glory of his grace. My friends, our salvation
is of God in its origin. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. That's what scripture says. Herein
is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us. Christ
said to his disciples, you didn't choose me, I chose you. I chose
you. We love him because he first
loved us. Salvation is of the Lord in its execution. God sent
his Son. We didn't send for him, he sent
his Son. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. We tried to destroy him. We tried to cast him out of our
world. We asked him to leave our shores and not come back.
That's man's reaction. Christ said, I'll come in my
Father's name and you won't receive me. Let another come in his own
name and you will receive him. You will not come to me that
you might have life. You never would have come to
Christ if God hadn't drawn you. Salvation of the Lord is application. We're His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. It pleased the Lord to reveal
his Son to me. He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. And I'll tell you, it's of the
Lord in its sustaining power. Philippians 1, 6 says, he that
hath begun a good work in you, he'll perfect it, perform it,
until the day of Christ. The book of Peter says we're
kept by the power of God through faith. Not apart from faith,
through faith. But David said, I preach God's
righteousness and God's faithfulness and God's salvation, and then
I preach God's loving kindness. Let me talk to you privately
a minute. Just me and you, you listen to
them, will you listen to them? It's quite evident to me that
somewhere down the line our preachers have failed us, totally failed
us. I don't believe our preachers
have preached the love of God as it ought to be preached. And
you know why I believe that? Because there's so little of
God's love manifested by those who claim to know him. Somebody's
failed. Either they didn't preach it
or we didn't hear it. Now, the Word of God says, Christ
said, You love one another as I have loved you. Now then, evidently
we don't know how he loved us, because there's not much of that
kind of love today, is there? You love one another as I loved
you, unselfishly, sacrificially, everlastingly, infinitely. when you were unlovely. And then
the scripture says, Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, as I have forgiven you, as God for Christ's
sake has forgiven you. Now, where is that kindness?
Where is that tenderness? Where is that forgiving spirit?
Evidently we haven't heard about it. Evidently we don't understand
His kindness and tenderness and forgiving love. Something's missing. Most churches are the hotbed
of confusion and conflict and contradiction and hatred. And then the scripture says,
Be ye merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful. Now, do
we know how merciful our Father is? Are we acquainted with his
mercy? Are we? We're not showing it.
Husband, love your wife as Christ loved the church. Evidently,
we don't know how much Christ loved the church. or how he loved
the Church, or to what extent he loved the Church, because
there's very little happiness in most homes today. Most of
them are just little bits of hail. In John 13, verse 13, our
Lord washed the disciples' feet, and he said, If I, your Lord
and Master, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's
feet. I've given you an example, as
I've done to you, you ought to do to one another. We're not talking about literally
washing feet. That was a service rendered to
people in that day who wore sandals and walked in dusty ground and
needed their feet washed as they came in the home through the
door, you know, and a servant washed the feet, and Christ took
the place of a servant. He rendered a humble service.
He rendered a loving service. He rendered a pitying service.
He rendered a service with nothing to be gained by to his loved
ones. He gave himself. O love of God,
how rich, how pure, how measureless, how strong, it shall forevermore
endure, the saints' and angels' song, O for the power to preach
the love of God, the eloquence, the ability, the spirit to preach
the love of God, so that somebody will hear it, believe it, receive
it, and show it, and give evidence that it's been shed abroad in
his heart. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. By this shall all men know you
are my disciples, if you love one another." Not much discipleship,
is there? We want to convince people we
are disciples of Christ by how loud we can preach and how long
we can pray. We want to convince people that
we are disciples of Christ by how much we give to the Church,
and how many services we attend, and how faithful we are, and
how much doctrine we know, how clean livers we are. That's not
what he said. He said, By this shall all men
know you are my disciple, if you love one another. And then
David closed, and he said, I have preached thy truth. I have not
concealed thy truth. Paul said the same thing, I'm
not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. If
it's there, I'll preach it. I'll preach it. For if I please
men, I'm not the servant of Christ. Somebody said, every man has
his price. Well, Paul had his. He sold out for Jesus Christ.
The Lord bought him with the price of blood. And you couldn't
threaten him because he said, if God be for me, who can be
against me? And you couldn't buy him with silver. He'd been
bought with blood. And you couldn't promote him. You couldn't give
him a bigger church. He was the Son of God. He was under shepherd. He was assistant pastor to Jesus
Christ. He wasn't looking for promotion.
I hope you'll join us next week for the broadcast. Tell your
friends about it. Henry Mahan, I wish you a pleasant
day.

The Lord Be Magnified

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The Lord Be Magnified

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