Look at Psalm 40, verse number 11.
Let's take our title for the sermon here.
It says,
We've hold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord.
Let thy loving kindness and thy truth
continually preserve me.
And so the title for the sermon tonight is
Thy Truth Continually Preserve Me.
Thy truth continually preserve me.
You know, it's wonderful that we're saved, praise God.
It's wonderful that we know we have a home in heaven
that we've been saved from our sins.
And the moment you've believed on Christ, brethren,
the Lord has preserved you.
There is nothing that you can do to lose your salvation.
And so it's great to know that we're saved,
but you know, not only are we looking at the preservation
of our soul and our spirit as it were,
but we still have a life to live.
You know, if you've been saved,
let's say you're 20 years old when you got saved,
you still may very well live to your 70 or 80
or 90 years old.
You might still have a good 80, sorry,
a good 60 years of life ahead of you.
And you want to make sure that the next 60 years of life
is a life where you are being preserved
in your spiritual walk with the Lord.
And so this is what this Psalm is primarily focused upon.
It's not just our preservation as far as salvation goes,
but our preservation in remain faithful to the Lord,
day by day, step by step as we continue to serve the Lord.
Now, when it says thy truth continually preserve me,
I believe what we can take out of this,
of course, is the truth that comes from the word of God,
the Bible, okay?
And what this is teaching us,
if we want to be preserved in our daily walk with the Lord,
we must be focused upon the truth of God's word.
We must be reading our Bibles on a daily basis.
We must be leaning upon his word,
his promises that he has for us.
The Bible says in John 17, 17,
sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth, okay?
So we're talking about safe people here.
You know, as safe people,
we talk about our life of faithfulness
as a life of sanctification.
As I said, sanctify them through thy truth.
The word sanctify is this continual cleanse
that we have as we continue to desire to be,
as we are looking at the perfect man,
as we desire to be more like Jesus Christ,
we need to be worked through this sanctification process
and we're sanctified through the truth, thy truth,
thy word is truth.
We must have God's word to be sanctified, to be cleansed,
to live that holy righteous life that pleases the Lord.
Now, if you've been saved for some time,
you know as well as I do,
if you're just recently saved,
you probably don't know this, okay?
But for those that have been saved for some time,
even just a year or so,
you'll know that your spiritual journey,
your spiritual life is not always on this upward trajectory
like, you know, you may have your spiritual highs,
but then you'll have your spiritual lows as well, amen?
You're gonna have times when you're excited and zealous
and you just love the Lord and you're living for the Lord
and there'll be other times when you just,
you drop off the, you drop the ball, right?
And you're living for yourself
and you may forget to pick up God's word,
you may forget to go through that sanctification
of God's word and you find yourself at a low.
We all have highs and lows, you know,
some people think that, oh, I get saved,
everything's gonna be wonderful from now on,
but that's not the case.
They soon realize, just like anybody else,
just like anybody that's even unsaved,
you know, they personally have times of highs
and times of lows.
We still have a life to live.
And so while we live this life and we experience the highs
and we experience the lows,
we don't wanna get to the point where we experience
such lows that we no longer preserve,
we're no longer preserved in our daily walk for the Lord.
But we get to a point where we're done with church,
we're done with the Lord, we've done with the Bible.
And we just say, well, praise God that I'm saved,
but you know what, it's too hard to live a Christian life.
We don't wanna get to that point,
we wanna continue being preserved in our daily walk.
Now, as I said, you know, the ups and downs,
the highs and the lows, the mountain peaks in the valleys,
this is all part of the Christian life, you know?
Please don't think that if you find yourself
in the valley today, that that's it, I'm done for,
I'm backslidden, you know, I'm depressed, I'm cast down,
I'll never get back to that spiritual high.
But as I said, the Christian journey is this constant
up and down, okay, constantly,
that you're going to experience through life, okay?
It could be partly your spiritual life,
that you're far from the Lord,
you forget to pick up your Bible, you don't go to church,
you don't go soul with me, you don't do the works for God,
but partly also just the reality of life, okay?
Just the burdens, the sorrows that life brings,
can cause us to get to a point of being alone.
And so the reality of the Christian life, as I said,
are these ups and downs, but what you want,
what you want your spiritual life to be,
even though you're experiencing the up and down,
you want the general trend to be going higher
and higher and higher, even though you continue
to experience the highs and lows, right?
You start here, you get saved, you have your highs,
you have your lows, you have your highs, you have your lows,
but the trend is that you're getting higher
and higher and higher, you continue to serve the Lord,
you continue to be sanctified.
And so when you can look back, maybe not yesterday,
hey, maybe yesterday you had a spiritual high,
and maybe right now you're on low.
Maybe yesterday you were on the mountaintops
and right now you're in the valley.
But the idea is that you can look back over the years
and you can say, you know what?
I'm much more ahead in my spiritual journey
than I was a year ago, where I was two years ago,
where I was three years ago, where I was five years ago,
and you should continue on this upward trajectory.
And so we need God's word to sanctify our lives,
to cleanse us, to ensure that we continue to preserve
in our faithfulness to God.
If you find that as you experience your up and downs
in spiritual life, you're actually trending downward,
that's what we call backsliding, okay?
That's when you're going to start losing
your faithfulness toward God,
you're gonna start losing your interest in the word of God,
you're gonna start losing interest in attending church,
et cetera, et cetera, and that's not the best thing to be.
In fact, these Christians that are on a downward trend,
you almost need to remove yourself from that situation
because they can also bring you down low, okay?
I'm not saying that a Christian that is going for a value
or a hard time, avoid them, I'm not saying that, okay?
I'm saying that those are on a downward trend, okay?
That are walking away from the Lord, you know what?
You better just keep them in prayer,
just encourage them when you can,
but don't get too involved
because they can bring you down in that low as well, okay?
And you get to that backsliding state.
Now, so what we see here that if thy word
will continually preserve me,
then we know that by sitting aside our Bible,
this is a guaranteed downward trend in your Christian life,
okay?
Now let's look at verse number one.
Psalm 40, verse number one, it says,
I waited patiently for the Lord,
and he inclined unto me and heard my cry.
You know, this theme of waiting patiently on the Lord
is a major theme in the book of Psalms, all right?
And it's so vital that you learn patience, you know?
If you can just go back to Psalm 37,
go back to Psalm 37,
we see something quite similar how it's worded here.
In Psalm 37, verse seven,
Psalm 37, verse seven, it says,
rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him.
What does it mean to wait patiently for him?
It says, fret not thyself because of him
who prospereth in his way
because of the man who bringeth wicked the vices
to pass.
And so waiting patiently for the Lord basically is this,
don't fret yourself, fret not thyself, okay?
And to fret is to basically say that,
you know, you need to wait without anxiety,
that you just know, well, Lord,
I've taken my prayers to you, Lord,
I know you've heard my prayers,
I know you're going to do something,
I need to just be wait, to wait patiently
for your time and to deliver me out of this difficulty.
But if you start to get stressed and anxious,
that's not waiting patiently for the Lord.
You know, I hear people say sometimes, you know,
ah, I suffer with anxiety.
As though like that's acceptable, you know,
I just suffer with anxiety.
But the truth is, we all suffer with anxiety.
We all stress, we all have worries,
we all have problems, right?
It's not like, well, I suffer, you know,
I got diagnosed that I suffer with anxiety
and that's the end of it.
No, God does not want us to fret, okay?
If these are instructions from the Bible,
this means this is something we can change.
These emotions of anxiety and fretting about
is something we can change,
so long as we bring our requests before the Lord
and wait patiently for him, okay?
We all suffer with anxiety.
It's just that some of us have learned
how to give those anxieties to God.
And some of us think that,
well, no, I've got to wear my own anxieties.
No, you don't, if you can't handle them, brethren,
you give them to the Lord and you wait patiently for him.
All right, so crying to the Lord and wait patiently.
Let's go back to Psalm 40, please.
Psalm 40, verse number two.
Psalm 40 and verse number two.
It says, he brought me up also of an horrible pit
out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock
and established my goings.
Well, as I said, you know,
we go through our ups and downs.
Right now, the Psalmist feels
as though he's in these horrible pits in the miry clay.
Now, as you know, I've recently been going
through the Jeremiah series down here in Sydney,
and I've completed that now.
But you know, the prophet Jeremiah
was literally put into the miry clay.
You know, I know we read this
and we know it's symbolic and poetic language.
We find ourselves in a spiritual slump,
you know, cast down.
We may feel like we're in a horrible pit, as it were.
But I just want to quickly read to you
from Jeremiah 38, verse six.
It says, then took they Jeremiah
and cast him into the dungeon of Malchi,
the son of Hamalek, that was in the court of the prison.
And they let down Jeremiah with cords.
And in the dungeon, there was no water, but mire.
So Jeremiah sunk in the mire, okay?
Why did Jeremiah find himself literally in the miry clay?
Simply because they did not like his preaching.
Simply because Jeremiah was preaching against Judah.
He was saying, hey, you know, surrender to Babylon.
All right, this is God's judgment.
You know, Jeremiah was preaching the truth,
and they took the preacher of the truth
and threw him in the miry clay.
You know, sometimes you're going to find yourself
in the miry clay.
You're going to find yourself in the dumps,
not because you've even done anything wrong.
You may have actually proclaimed the truth of God's word,
but people aren't going to like you
and they're going to reject you.
They're going to hate on you.
They're going to, you know, cast you out of the family.
Your friends are going to leave you.
And then you'll find yourself there in the miry clay.
If it's happened to the Psalmist,
if it's happened to Jeremiah,
look, it's going to happen to you.
Okay, not necessarily literally in the miry clay,
but you will go through times of being in the slump,
by being in the miry clay.
But notice that when you do pray unto the Lord,
it's the Lord who will take you out of the miry clay.
He brought me up also, a horrible pit,
out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock
and established my goings.
And when you think about the rock, you know, the rock,
I would quickly read to you from Psalm 62 verse seven.
It reads, in God is my salvation and my glory,
the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God.
So we know, of course, the Lord God is our rock.
He's our refuge.
He's our stability.
And Brevin, if you're going through a hard time right now,
you have worries, you have anxieties,
you're fretting about,
you need to go to the rock of the Lord, okay?
You need to get your strength from the Lord, all right?
You need to go to the Lord.
You must go to the Lord, Brevin.
The great teaching of the book of Psalms
is how much we ought to be praying to the Lord,
you know, committing ourselves unto the Lord,
singing praise unto the Lord because we need him.
I don't know how the unsaved, I don't know how the wicked,
and I definitely don't know how the atheists
get through life without the Lord.
I mean, the world is such a miry clays or not.
And thank God that we have a rock that we can stand upon.
But if you can keep your finger there,
go to Matthew chapter seven for me, please.
Go to Matthew chapter seven,
because I did say the title for the sermon tonight
is Thy Truth Continually Preserve Me.
And we looked at the truth as being the word of God,
the Bible, okay?
So you go to Matthew chapter seven, verse number 24, please.
Go to Matthew chapter seven and verse number 24.
Matthew chapter seven, verse number 24.
This is, of course, is a teaching here of Jesus Christ,
very familiar passage.
Jesus Christ says,
"'Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine
"'and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man
"'which built his house upon a rock.'"
And so, brethren, what is this rock
in the teachings of Christ right now?
He says, well, "'Therefore whosoever heareth
"'these sayings of mine.'"
Where do we find the sayings of Jesus?
Of course, in thy truth.
Thy word is truth.
In the Holy Bible, we find the sayings of Jesus.
Now, if you take the sayings of Jesus,
but not just take the sayings, but doeth them.
You've got to do the work of the words that Christ says.
You know, it's wonderful to know doctrine,
but it's much more superior to actually do the doctrine,
to apply it in your life, brethren.
Taking the words of Jesus Christ
and applying them to your life
is as though you were a wise man
which built his house upon the rock.
Now, verse number 25 is interesting because it says,
and the rain descended and the floods came
and the winds blew and beat upon that house.
As I said, you know, being saved isn't a bed of roses.
It's not like everything's gonna be wonderful
from this day forward.
No, even if you build your house upon the rock
of the words of Jesus Christ,
the floods are still gonna come.
The rains are still gonna fall.
They're still gonna be beating upon your house, brethren.
You know, this is the real world that we live in.
But instead of you falling away,
you're going to be preserved because then it says,
and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.
You wanna preserve, you wanna be faithful to the Lord
all the days of your life?
You wanna be standing strong to the last day
that you lived for the Lord?
Then you need to build your house upon the rock,
found yourself upon the rock
on the foundation of Jesus Christ and his word.
Verse number 26,
and everyone that heareth these sayings of mine
and doeth them not.
You notice that?
So these people that doeth not,
they still hear the sayings of mine.
They've come to church.
They've read the Bible.
They know what God's word says, but they don't do it.
Okay, these guys, they're not missing out on any teaching.
They're receiving the teaching.
Maybe you can honestly say, I come to church,
I hear the sayings of Jesus,
but pastor, I can honestly say, I never apply them.
I never do them.
Okay, or I barely do them.
Well, if that's you brethren, and doeth them not,
shall be likened unto a foolish man
which built his house upon the sand,
or like the miry clay if you want.
Okay, verse number 27.
And the rain descended and the floods came
and the winds blew and beat upon the house and it fell.
And great was the fall of it.
You see, whether you actually do the sayings of Jesus
or whether you don't,
the rains are still gonna fall in their lives.
The floods are still gonna beat on your house, brethren.
But those that will be preserved
in their faithfulness of the Lord
are those that have done the words of Jesus Christ.
They've been sanctified by the truth of God's word.
As I said, you go for the ups and downs.
And when the rains come, the floods come,
that's gonna be a downer, okay?
But you're gonna remain, stay in faith.
You're gonna have this upper trajectory
so long as you stay faithful and true
to the sayings of Jesus Christ, to the word of God.
Back to Psalm 40, please, and verse number three.
Psalm 40 and verse number three.
It says, and he have put a new song in my mouth,
even praise unto our God.
Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord.
Most of us hear that God is gonna put a new song
in our mouths.
Of course, if you're stuck in the miry clay,
you know, the words that will come out of your mouth
are words of sorrow, of depression,
and of fear potentially, right?
But when the Lord delivers you and sets you upon the rock,
you know what, you ought to be singing praises to the Lord.
You know, God answers your prayers.
He helps you in a difficult situation.
So turn around and say, Lord,
now it's time for me to sing praise unto you.
You know, I wanna sing a new song unto you, Lord.
It says here, put a new song in my mouth,
even praise unto our God.
Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord.
You know, singing is such an important part
of our worship toward God.
It's such an important part of our church.
And let me just remind you what Jesus Christ says
in Matthew 15, eight.
He says, this people draw nigh unto me with their mouth
and honor for me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me.
But in vain, they do worship me.
And let me remind you, when you come to the house of God,
you sing praises.
I know there's not many of you today tonight, okay?
But listen, even if there's not many of you,
brethren, tonight, you know what you do?
You still open your mouths loudly.
You still sing praises to God
and make sure that it's coming from your heart.
You know, open your mouth, you know, sing with your lips
and make sure your hearts are drawn to God.
That's how he receives your worship.
You know, please never let, you know, the song,
the singing, you know, the worship and the praises
before the preaching,
don't let that be like this buffer to you, right?
You know, if we don't come on time to church,
it's okay, because I know we have the singing time,
but I'll still make it for the preaching.
That's, you know what, that tells me
that's only your heart is far from the Lord, okay?
It's not just that you're running late.
Now listen, we can all run late.
You know, I've run late for church.
You know, these things can happen from time to time,
but if you find that's your habit,
if you find yourself week in, week out, you know,
running, turning up late for church,
you know, coming halfway through the songs of praises,
that just tells me your heart is not there, brethren.
And you don't want to worship God in vain.
You want to make sure that your worship counts.
You want to make sure that your time
that you've come to church tonight counts for the Lord.
Then he can look down on the Sunshine Coast
and say, praise God for New Life Baptist Church.
That still praises me with their lips,
but also with their hearts.
And so this song that is being sung,
of course, is a song of deliverance from the Mirey clay.
And let me just once again, remind you,
God is looking down at our church at the praising,
the praises, the singing that is going on,
not just what is being heard,
but also the condition of your heart.
Is your heart drawn to the Lord?
Does your heart love the Lord?
Are you ready to sing these new songs unto the Lord?
Let it be so.
Verse number four.
It says, blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust
and respecteth not the proud,
nor such as turn aside to lies.
You know, this COVID world that we're living in,
I feel like it's been such a blessing, such a blessing.
I love it.
It's like, do you really love it, pastor?
Some parts of it, I guess I don't love.
But you know what I love about it?
I just love it because I serve a God
who is greater than COVID.
I serve a God that is greater than our politicians.
I serve a God that is greater
than these pharmaceutical companies.
You know, I serve a God that is greater
than all these ridiculous laws that have been passed.
You know, and I just think, well, God, you know,
you've allowed for your reasons, for your purposes,
none of this is a surprise to you.
And so what does it say here about verse number four again?
Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust.
Brethren, what's wonderful about this COVID world
is that, you know, things are so unstable.
You know, I still don't know
when I can get up to Queensland.
And it can be frustrating, but you know what it does?
Instead of drawing me to be afraid or fearful,
it pushes me.
I don't know about you, Brethren,
but it pushes me to have greater trust in the Lord.
Okay, who has it all in his hands.
How God has not been taken by surprise.
And I'm still a child of God.
And he's still on the throne.
He's still above them all, Brethren.
And so, you know, if you're unsettled, you're anxious,
you're fretting about because of this COVID world,
you're concerned about what may happen in December
when the unvaccinated take, you know,
locked out of society, Brethren,
just learn to trust in the Lord
because you're going to be blessed.
God's going to bless you.
He's going to reward you.
When you stop looking at this world
and you start putting your heart and trust
on the Lord God alone.
Okay, so we ought to make the Lord our trust.
And then it says, and respect if not the proud.
So we shouldn't respect the proud,
nor such as turn aside to lies.
And again, I think about the COVID world
because when I look at our premiers, all our premiers,
all the states, aren't they prideful people?
You know, they pass down some new restriction,
some new lockdown, some new mandates, some new measures,
and then they are with a stern face.
And you know that they're just puppets.
Okay, but they're like,
we're doing it for the health of you, you know,
but for the wellbeing of our citizens, you know,
and they have this attitude and you know,
they're just full of pride.
You know, we are not to respect the proud.
And our premiers, our politicians,
boy, they're full of pride right now, aren't they?
But not only that, it says no such as turn aside to lies.
And so you have the premiers who are proud,
but then you have the mainstream media
pumping out their lies, pumping out the propaganda.
You know, brethren, don't put your trust in the politicians.
Don't put your trust in the news,
put your trust in the Lord, okay?
You stand out and be different, okay?
I know the whole world is looking at our governments
and they're looking at the news
and they're trying to absorb the information,
but brethren, there's so many lies.
There is such pride in the world today.
And we just need to,
I don't even know sometimes what is true and what is not.
Okay, but I'm being sanctified by God's truth, thy truth.
Okay, that's what preserves them brethren.
It's not the truth that might come out of the lips
of some other party.
It's gotta come from the Bible.
And so, you know, I've said it before and I'll say it again,
but the only truth that we can depend on
is the word of God, okay?
As I've said it before,
even the alternative media is full of lies.
I've told so many lies from the alternative media.
I just feel like they're just another branch
of this great, you know,
controlled opposition, if that's what people call it.
There is so much controlled opposition
even amongst the alternate media world, okay?
So let's not turn aside to lies.
Let's not look at the proud
and think they've got it all together.
Let's make sure we put our trust in the Lord.
And you know, the world that we live in
is also known as the information age.
Ever since the internet has come into effect,
we think about it as the information age.
And there's great blessings.
We've having so much information at our fingertips.
But even though it's the information age,
it's not the age of truth
because so much information are lies.
You know, even the historical records
that we read about on the internet,
we can't really rely on it, brethren.
I mean, you know, unless those historical records
are consistent with the word of God,
you know, I don't really know whether they're true or not.
Okay?
I accept that as that's the current position
that our world holds sometimes,
but I don't necessarily know if it's all true.
Okay?
Can you please actually keep your finger there
and go to 1 John 5.
Turn to 1 John 5, verse 19.
1 John 5 and verse 19.
I believe this passage here, 1 John 5, 19,
goes well with Psalm 40.
But 1 John 5, verse 19, it says,
and we know that we are of God
and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
Pause and think about that for a moment.
So we are of God.
New Life Baptist Church is of God.
Now, when it comes to the rest of the world,
it says the whole world lieth in wickedness.
The whole world is wicked, brethren.
The whole world is against the Lord.
So it's vastly different to you and I
and our knowledge of the Bible,
the sanctification process that we go through
as we preserve ourselves through his word.
Completely different, but let's keep going.
Verse number 20, it says,
and we know that the Son of God is come, look at this,
and have given us an understanding.
Hey, you want the truth?
You go to the Son of God.
Here's the one that gives us understanding.
Look at this, that we may know him that is true,
and we are in him that is true,
even in his Son, Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life.
You want truth?
We go to God.
You want truth?
You go to his word, all right, brethren?
This is as different as heaven is from the earth, okay?
God's word is unlike any other literature
that we have on this world, okay?
Because this world lies in wickedness.
But here we are, brethren,
we've an understanding that God gives us
through his Holy Spirit and we have his word
that sanctifies us.
Back to Psalm 40 in verse number five.
Psalm 40 in verse number five.
It says, many, O Lord, my God,
are thy wonderful works which thou hast done,
and thy thoughts which are to us-ward.
They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee.
If I would declare and speak of them,
they are more than can be numbered.
What's more than can be numbered?
Well, as it said there, many, O Lord, my God,
are thy wonderful works.
You know, when you start getting worried
and upset and anxious,
you need to look at God's creation once again.
Just open your eyes and God's creation is unparalleled.
You know, this is the work of God.
And, you know, you can look at the heavens,
you can look at the, you know,
at the universe of vastness of space
and the greatness of God's creation.
And you need to, you know, it's overwhelming
just to think about how great our God is,
how great from a macro level,
the vastness of this universe.
And then we can also think about from a very micro level,
even the smallest particles down to the atom
and just the, you know, microorganisms that exists.
You know, your body has a bunch of,
I don't know how many, microorganisms,
probably in the thousands, okay, in your body.
And, you know, you look at the, from a macro level,
look at it from a micro level, God's works are amazing.
You know, just the creation of what is life?
How do you, you know, give an answer to life?
You know, science can't figure these things out, brethren.
It's a work of God.
You know, the feelings of emotions,
how does science explain emotions?
You know, the ability to reason and to believe,
you know, to make judgment on certain things
and to put your faith on certain issues.
How does science explain these things, brethren?
You know, yes, creation is one thing,
but just mankind, just life is amazing.
The works of God is amazing.
And, you know, even if a scientists,
we know a scientist, they've got their field of study.
And even if they were to, you know,
devote their entire life to their own field of study,
they would not come to the end of the knowledge
that they can attain.
And that's just their field of study.
How many fields of study are contained within the sciences?
You know, God's works are amazing.
Truly, they are more than can be numbered, okay?
And so this should remind us that we serve a mighty God,
okay, a mighty God that's done wonderful works.
And then he even cares about us
when we're stuck in the miry clay.
He wants to deliver us from our hardships
and our difficulties, okay,
as we wait patiently upon the Lord.
Verse number six.
Now this is the way it gets really interesting in the Psalm.
Look at verse number six.
Sacrifice an offering, thou didst not desire.
Mine ears has thou opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering has thou not required.
Now this is really interesting.
So this is an Old Testament passage in the book of Psalms.
Remember King David, who wrote this Psalm,
is the one that wanted to build the temple.
And what happens in the temple,
that's where there was offering sacrifices.
Now as a Psalmist, he says, you know,
that these are things that God has,
thou has not required, all right?
So what do we learn here?
Even without the New Testament,
we learn within the Old Testament that these sacrifices,
the Old Testament sacrifices and offerings
were not desired by God, nor were they required by God.
God does not need these animal sacrifices, brethren.
God does not need it, he does not desire it.
Isn't that interesting?
And the reason I make a point of this,
and every time I come across something like this,
I make a point of it,
is because there are still people
that believe Old Testament saints
were saved by offering sacrifices.
Well, if it was a requirement for salvation,
how can this passage make sense?
That God does not require those animal sacrifices,
nor those offerings, okay?
Those animal sacrifices
were never a requirement for salvation.
You know, they could never save anybody.
Now what I get you to do,
keep your finger there in Psalm 40,
and let's go to Hebrews chapter 10.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 10, please.
Because Hebrews chapter 10 quotes Psalm 40, okay?
So let's go to Hebrews chapter 10, verse number four.
Hebrews chapter 10, verse number four.
Now, the book of Hebrews is known as the main book
that helps us understand, you know,
why God had to do away with the old covenants
and bring in the new covenant
by the sacrifice of Christ, okay?
It's a helpful book just to understand
all the changes between the two covenants.
And in Hebrews chapter 10, in verse number four,
it says, for it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats
should take away sins.
Isn't that consistent with Psalm 40?
Isn't the New Testament writings consistent
with the Old Testament writings?
Amen, it is, okay?
Now, keep your finger there in Hebrews 10, please.
Go back to Psalm 40.
Keep your finger there in Hebrews 10.
We'll come back to it soon.
Go to Psalm 40 in verse number seven.
Psalm 40 in verse number seven.
Then said I, lo, I come.
In the volume of the book, it is written of me.
Who's saying these words?
Say it's David, the Psalmist.
Well, of course, David is writing this,
but these are actually the words of Jesus Christ, okay?
Verse number eight.
I delight to do thy will, O my God,
yea, thy law is written in my heart.
So we look at verse number seven again.
Then said I, and this is Jesus, I'll prove it to you
in a moment, then said I, lo, I come, okay?
So we know God does not need the sacrifices,
the Old Testament sacrifices.
Someone says, I come, that's Jesus, okay?
Because he's going to be that ultimate sacrifice.
Then he says, in the volume of the book,
it is written of me.
Now, we already saw that thy word is truth.
We're sanctified by the Word of God.
But we also learn here, in the Old Testament scriptures,
Jesus Christ says, in the volume of the book,
it is written of me.
He says, in the scriptures, in the Old Testament Bible,
it is written that I will come.
He says, it is written that the Old Testament sacrifices
are not needed by God, but I will come, says Jesus,
because I will be the sacrifice.
Again, I make a point of this,
because some people still have not grasped it, right?
That the Old Testament sacrifices
were not a way of salvation, okay?
Now, go back to Hebrews 10.
Keep your finger there in Psalm 40.
Go to Hebrews 10 and verse number five.
We read verse number four already,
but let's look at verse number five.
Hebrews 10, five.
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world,
hey, who cometh into the world?
Jesus, okay?
And what did it say in verse number seven
back in Hebrews 40?
Then said I, lo, I come.
Those are the words of Jesus, okay?
Hebrews 10, five.
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world,
he saith, these are the words of Jesus,
sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, look at this,
but a body has thou prepared me.
Jesus says to the Father,
Father, you have prepared me a body.
This is the body that's going to be sacrificed
for the sins of the world.
Look at verse number six.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin,
thou has had no pleasure.
That's what we read there in Psalm 40.
Let's keep going, verse number seven.
Then said I, this is basically Psalm 40 verse seven,
then said I, lo, I come.
In the volume of the book it is written of me,
to do thy will, O God.
You see, that's so wonderful how Psalm 40
captures the words of Jesus Christ,
even before he came into this world.
And again, I make a point of this
because you've got this hyper-dispensational crap
that gets taught in many Baptist churches
that are the Old Testament saints,
or they did not know about Jesus.
They did not know that Christ would come
to suffer on the cross.
They did not know that God would offer a way of salvation
and or they had to be saved by works,
by offering the sacrifices
and doing all the Old Testament requirements.
That is rubbish, okay?
That is rubbish.
It was always the plan of God that Christ would come, okay?
I mean, the book of Psalms, Jesus Christ is saying,
I'm coming, I'm gonna be the one that gets sacrificed.
The body that gets given to me by the Father
is the one that will be sacrificed for all of mankind
because God did not require or desire the animal sacrifices.
So what do we learn here?
We learn that basically those animal sacrifices
were just like many things in the Old Testament,
a picture of Christ.
It was an object lesson for Jesus Christ, okay?
Because one of the jobs for the priests
was to teach the people the Word of God,
as they would come and offer the sacrifices of the animals,
this was a reminder, a lesson, a teaching
that one day the Lamb of God will come, okay?
And that He would offer His body for us.
That's what it was.
These were lessons, these were objects pointing them
to Jesus Christ, okay?
This is irrefutable from the Old Testament
to the New Testament.
Go back to Psalm 40, please, in verse number nine.
Psalm 40 and verse number nine.
Now these, again, may very well be the words of Christ.
I'm not sure, it could just be the Psalmist or both, okay?
But it says, I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation.
Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest.
So I believe, yeah, we can say these are the words of Christ
that He preached righteousness.
But you know, this is also applicable to all preachers.
I don't like what he said here in verse number nine.
Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest.
I love that, okay?
So it is the preacher's job,
it is the pastor's job not to refrain his lips.
What does the word refrain mean?
To stop.
You know what, I should never get to a point
where I think, you know what, this passage of the Bible,
it's too hard, it's too controversial,
it's going to cause someone to get offended,
it may even cause someone to leave the church,
therefore I'm not going to preach
and I'm gonna refrain my lips.
No, okay?
Christ did not refrain his lips.
You know, as preachers and as a pastor,
I will not refrain my lips, brethren.
I hope you know this about me,
that if I've got something to preach, brethren,
that's on my heart, coming through the word of God,
I'm going to preach it without compromise.
And that's how we ought to be as preachers, okay?
You know, if there's one thing
that you ought to like about our church,
you know, I mean, hopefully there's several reasons
why you like our church, okay?
But I hope one reason is, you know, someone says,
hey, what's so good about your church?
I hope you can say, well, my pastor
does not refrain his lips.
Our pastor teaches the whole council of God,
all the council of God, amen?
That's what I hope, that's what I hope you believe
about new life of this church.
We're not here to hide any doctrines,
any truths in God's word.
We need all of God's truth to be sanctified,
to continue to be preserved and live in a life
that is holy and faithful to our God.
Look at verse number 10.
I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart.
I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation.
I have not concealed thy love and kindness
and thy truth from the congregation.
Now, this is important, because again,
this is the words of the preacher,
the words of Jesus Christ, if you will.
He says, I have not concealed thy love and kindness
and thy truth from the great congregation.
Now, I'm going to quickly read to you
from Romans chapter three, verse number 25, okay?
Because we saw here in verse number 10,
I have declared thy faithfulness
in verse number nine, it says,
I have preached righteousness.
So in Romans 3.25, it says,
whom God have set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood,
to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past
through the forbearance of God,
to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him,
which believeth in Jesus.
And so if we're not concealing God's loving kindness,
we're not concealing the truth,
then we are proclaiming the sacrifice of Jesus.
And praise God for you that go thoughts of a soul within,
because when you go through,
I want you to take the truth, yes,
but I also want you to take loving kindness,
love the people that are behind the doors, okay?
Understand that their souls are in danger of hellfire
and as a loving, safe person that loves Jesus,
that loves the gospel, that loves humanity,
and as far as God does,
that you're willing to go with the truth
and declare the righteousness of God,
to declare how to be made righteous
by putting your faith in his blood,
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Now let's go to verse 11.
It says, withhold not thy tender mercies from me, O Lord,
let thy tender kindness and thy truth
continually preserve me.
That's why we get a title from the sermon tonight.
Thy truth continually preserve me.
I've been focusing on the truth of God's word so far,
but I also want you to notice there are other elements
that make up this necessary preservation for ourselves.
What were they?
The truth is good, yes.
But then at verse 11,
withhold not thy tender mercies.
We need the Lord's tender mercies.
Why?
Because we sin every day.
We mess up every day.
We go through the valleys.
We're not always on the spiritual high.
We go through the valleys.
We need the Lord's tender mercy.
Let thy loving kindness, we need his loving kindness.
Let thy loving kindness and thy truth
continually preserve me.
So truth is great.
Knowing your doctrines are great, brethren,
but we also need loving kindness from the Lord.
We need his mercy.
We need his grace.
And when I read this,
I'm reminded of the words about Jesus Christ
when he came into this world.
I'll quickly read to you from,
you guys familiar with these passages anyway,
but John chapter one, verse 14 says,
and the word, that's referring to Jesus.
And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
And we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the father.
Then it says full of grace and truth.
Christ, yes, he's the truth.
He came preaching the truth,
but he was also full of grace.
He was full of mercy, full of loving kindness.
And then in verse number 17, John 1 17,
it says for the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
And so as we go proclaiming the truth,
door to door preaching the gospel,
we must take grace with us as well.
I mean, grace is the message of salvation, amen.
Without grace, we cannot be saved,
which is received through faith.
And so we need to remember this in our lives,
not just as we go and preach the gospel,
not just when we seek God's truth
and we seek his loving kindness and grace toward us,
but we need to be able to share that
amongst our brethren.
If you want to be influential
in a brother or sister's life in church,
you want to be influential
and help them in their spiritual journey.
You know, it's not just declaring truth, okay?
It's also the loving kindness.
You know, the best way for people to grow and to learn
is when they know that you care for them,
when they know that you're willing to be merciful
and show them love, show them kindness.
And then when they know you care for them,
then you can drop the truth bomb and they'll receive it
because they know you mean well, okay?
But if you don't show them loving kindness,
if you don't show them mercy
and all you do is come out with the truth,
you're gonna offend people, okay?
And I'm not saying avoid the truth.
I'm not saying it's all loving kindness
and mercies and grace and no truth.
There are plenty of churches like that, brethren.
You can love someone all the way to hell.
You can love someone all the way,
even a Christian who is destroying his life
and you can love him as it destroys his life
without the truth.
It doesn't help him.
But neither, it's just truth alone without loving kindness.
All you're going to do is, you know,
have that holier than thou attitude.
I know more of the Bible.
I know more doctrine.
You're in the wrong.
Hey, how about show some loving kindness as well?
We need it from God to ourselves.
Let's show that to our brothers and sisters as well.
Verse number 12.
For innumerable evils have compassed me about.
Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me
so that I am not able to look up.
They are more than the hairs of mine head.
Therefore, my heart faileth me.
So in comparison to verse number five,
where it says thy wonderful works
are more than can be numbered, okay?
God, you know, God's works are overwhelming,
but sometimes the evils that we face in this life
are innumerable evils as well.
The evils of this life can also be overwhelming.
But either case, whatever case is overwhelming for you,
it will draw us closer to God.
You know, if we're overwhelmed by God's works,
then we are drawn to sing praises and to worship him.
If we're overwhelmed by evil,
then it draws us to seek his deliverance
from the mirey claim.
Verse number 13.
Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me, O Lord.
Make haste to help me.
Again, comparison to verse number one,
which said I will wait patiently for the Lord.
So we can go to the Lord and say, Lord, you know, make haste.
Please, Lord, I need your help.
Please be quick, Lord.
But then once we leave it in God's hands,
then we wait patiently and wait for the Lord
to answer that prayer, okay?
So these things come together.
Verse number 14.
Let them be ashamed and confounded together
that seek after my soul to destroy it.
Let them be driven backward and put to shame
that wish me evil.
Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame
that say unto me, aha, aha.
And so, you know, Simon feels that there are enemies
that are seeking his soul, seeking his life.
They look at him, they look at him, you know,
they seek to destroy him and they're mocking him.
And, you know, this reminds me again,
these may very well again be the words of Christ,
where he's on the cross and he's being mocked
by the two things on the cross.
He's being mocked by the religious leaders.
He's being mocked by everybody that's looking upon him.
I'll quickly read to you in Matthew 27, verse 39.
And they that pass by reviled him,
wagging their heads and saying,
thou that destroys the temple and buddhist it in three days,
save thyself if thou be the son of God,
come down from the cross.
Likewise also the chief priests mocking him
with the scribes and elders.
So they're all mocking Christ.
Ah, aha, look at this guy.
He can't even save himself.
He can't take himself down from the cross.
I do believe we can apply this to Jesus Christ,
but hey, maybe you feel this way.
Maybe you feel that there are people just waiting
for you to fall, waiting for you to be destroyed.
Again, brethren, it's our Lord that we ought to turn to
and seek his guidance,
seek him to put our feet upon the rock.
Verse number 16, please.
Psalm 40, verse number 16.
Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee.
Let such as love thy salvation say continually,
the Lord be magnified.
But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.
Thou art my help and my deliverer.
Make no tarrying, oh my God.
I love how this Psalm ends.
And let's look at verse number 17 first
and then let's look at verse 16.
But you know, Psalm says, I am poor and needy.
This is why we got to the Lord in prayer
because we're poor, we're needy.
We're needy people.
You know, sometimes I go to the Lord in prayer and say,
Lord, you know that we're needy people.
Lord, you know I have needs.
You know, I'm poor, Lord.
There are things that I need you to do for me.
And it's good to acknowledge that,
that you need the Lord, that you're poor,
that you're needy.
And again, when you're poor and needy,
this could be a spiritual slump
that you're facing in your life.
You realize, you know, you could be doing more.
You could be accomplishing more, right?
If you just had things together,
but you need to turn toward the Lord.
But notice in verse number 17,
it says, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.
Even though we're poor and needy,
even though we're but dust,
even though we've got a sinful flesh,
the Lord thinks upon us.
The Lord thinks about you, brethren.
You know, do you think about the Lord?
I know you do.
I know you think about the Lord when you come to church.
The Lord thinks about you, you know?
The Lord looks at your life and, you know,
he sees what we need.
He cares about you.
You're his child, you're his son or daughter,
if you're saved, okay?
And what a wonderful thing.
This God that has done amazing miracles, amazing works,
you know, put the stars, created the sun and moon
and all the microorganisms, that's created life,
it's created emotions, okay?
Sent Jesus Christ to die for us,
then looks at you and looks at your needs.
He loves you, he cares for you.
How wonderful is that?
Thou art my help and my deliverer, make no tarrying.
Oh my God.
Now, even though you're poor and needy,
even though you're downcast,
even though you might find yourself in a spiritual valley,
I want you to remember verse number 16, okay?
Because verse number 16 isn't just for the spiritual highs,
okay?
Verse 16 is for whether you're high, spiritually high
or you're spiritually low, it doesn't matter, okay?
Verse number 16 is important.
It says, let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad in thee.
Sometimes we need to be poor and needy, okay?
So we don't rejoice and be glad in other things,
worldly things, finances and possessions
and whatever else this world seeks after brethren.
Sometimes God just allows us to become poor
in a poor and needy place,
so we can just rejoice and be glad in thee,
to be glad in God.
Look, God, my world is turned upside down,
I'm in a bad place, but thank God, thank you, Lord,
that I have you.
I'm gonna rejoice over you, Lord.
I'm gonna rejoice in your salvation.
I'm gonna rejoice that you love me,
that you sent Jesus to die for me.
That ought to be your attitude, brethren,
even if you're in a spiritual low place,
even if you're suffering and it's stuck in the Murray Clay.
Hey, you know what?
Just rejoice in the Lord.
You know, I have no doubts that Jeremiah,
when he was literally in that Murray Clay,
have no doubts he still rejoiced in the Lord, okay?
Because he was used as a great prophet by God, okay?
And when you learn to rejoice, even in the hard times,
it's just gonna make it easier.
Make it easier to get through those hard times
as you rejoice in the Lord.
Let such as love thy salvation,
say continually, the Lord be magnified.
That's what you need to praise, okay?
Even when you're poor and needy,
say the Lord be magnified and love his salvation.
Thank you, Lord, that you still saved me.
Thank you, Lord, that you've given me eternal life.
Thank you, Lord, that I don't have to be in the Murray Clay
when I go home to be with you in heaven.
So brethren, just to end the sermon tonight,
you know, I just wanna end on this thought, you know,
let's remain preserved, okay?
Not just salvation, amen, that's done deal,
but also in our faithfulness and our walk with the Lord.
You will continue experiencing hardships.
You will go through times when you're downcast,
but you know what, let me just encourage you
to think upon the Lord, think about his great works,
understand that he's looking upon you,
he knows your needs, yeah?
Sing praises to the Lord through your lips,
but also in your heart, okay?
Lift up the Lord, magnify the Lord, and he'll bless you.
You know, and this is the key.
As you read God's word, as you learn God's word
and do God's word, you will be preserved
even during the highs and lows.
You will have an upward trend in your spiritual journey
as you seek to serve him and live your life for him.
Okay, let's pray.