It's hard to believe, but we are in the 16th part of Psalm 119. And that section begins at verse 121. Psalm 119, starting at verse 121. Here once again, the word of our God. I have done judgment and justice. Leave me not to mine oppressors. Be surety for thy servant for good. Let not the proud oppress me. Mine eyes fail for thy salvation and for the word of thy righteousness. Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy and teach me thy statutes. I am thy servant. Give me understanding that I may know thy testimonies. It is time for thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void thy law. Therefore, I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. Therefore, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right. And I hate every false way. Amen. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word this evening. Well, we are looking at a pilgrim this evening, as we have been for the past many months now. We see a man who is committed From the very first section, the very first verses, we find a man who is resolved to pursue obedience, a man who sees himself as a stranger in this world, a man whose home is not here. And we've seen in the past two sections, verses, well, sections 14 and 15, that this man is a man who has resolved solemnly. He has sworn, taken an oath before God, that he would keep all the Lord's commandments, that he would walk in the ways of his God. And the first section that we took up that theme, section 14, you remember that the psalmist tells us that he is sworn to do these things. And in several ways, he reminds us that his resolve is from the heart. He's not a man who is simply saying things in a cold or formal way. He really means what he said. He's a pilgrim who is determined and he calls God to witness on his own determination. But you remember that even in that section, we're not just given the man's oath, the pilgrim's oath, his own, but we're also given the oath that God has made, the word that God has given solemnly to the psalmist. And we're also reminded, too, of oaths that were taken that were not kept, those who also had sworn to keep the Lord's way, but had failed to, had strayed. Those three themes all surrounding this larger theme of swearing to God, vowing to be the Lord's and solemnly, solemnly committing oneself to the word that they speak, continues in our section this evening. Verses 121 to 128 really conclude those themes. And what we find in these verses, we find first of all, that there is something of a structure to them. The psalmist begins in the very first verse to tell us that he has, as he says here, done judgment and justice. He has done judgment and justice, and then as you come to verses 27 and 28, he tells you that he carries himself, he has an affection for that which he's sworn to do. He loves the commandments of God, and he prefers them as being the greatest of things, and hating, meanwhile, every false way. In between those two things, you have petition. You remember previously you did not have as many petitions as you did in other sections. Now the psalmist is moving particularly to go before the throne of grace and he is asking something in relation to that which he has sworn and also to that which he's done. We see three things really from this section. We find first of all the character of the psalmist. We find also his condition and something of his claim. In verse 121, as I just read, he is one who has done judgment and justice. That's a frozen phrase of sorts in the Old Testament. You'll find scripture writers from really the Pentateuch on through the end of the prophets who use that phrase. And the phrase really has in view the idea that this person has done right, he's done judgment, but he's also done justice. And the concept behind that is that he is rendered to everyone according to their due. He is rendered according to everyone their due. This is used by the Prophet Jeremiah to describe what happens when somebody doesn't do justice. In that chapter, chapter 22, the Prophet reminds us of those who have hired men but have not paid the wages that they've covenanted, vowed to give those who work for them. They have not done justice. He also uses this phrase, this idea of doing judgment and justice to describe those who are considered faithful. And so David is described as one who has done judgment and justice throughout his reign. The concept is that he's not only done good, but he's done that which he was obligated to do. There's a super added obligation of sorts. He's saying, I've done it. I've kept my word. And that's significant, of course, because of what the psalmist has previously told us. He has sworn to Almighty God, called God to witness that he would be the Lord's servant. And he's saying here, I have done judgment, that's I've done good, and I've done justice. I have rendered to everyone according to my obligation to them, which of course would include the Lord. And this is contrasted with the enemies, the oppressors that you have in this section. They are proud, he says here, they are oppressors. But then he says in verse 126, there are those who have made void thy law. That word void there is not the word for break or the word for transgress in a general sense. The word void there does not mean that these people have simply committed iniquity. It's not just that they have sinned. This word void is used throughout the scriptures to describe what happens when somebody breaks a vow, unsurprisingly. So you'll find this, for instance, in the book of Leviticus, when the Lord gives the votive laws, the laws pertaining to vows. Those vows that are disannulled are described here or translated here as vows that are voided. It's the same word in the original. And throughout the prophets, this word void, we have translated here void, is used to describe particularly the breaking of God's covenant. They have voided God's covenant. And the sense is not that they've gotten away from the guilt that they've incurred by breaking it. The sense is their actions have rendered their swearing the covenant meaningless, empty, void. What the psalmist has in view here, these oppressors that he's praying that the Lord would deliver him from, are those who have disannulled, disannulled some obligation that they've laid upon themselves with regard to the law of God. And again, brothers and sisters, this is the primary theme that we've had in the previous two sections as well. He's not dealing merely with those who are sinners. He's dealing with those who have covenanted, who have vowed to do otherwise than what they have done. They have voided the obligations that they solemnly brought themselves under. The psalmist does not like that. In fact, he describes himself not far from being one who voids the law of God. In verse 127, he's one who loves them. And so you have the character of the psalmist, but there is also his condition. I want you to notice that the man is returning back to something of a review of his experience. The man describes himself here as one who is oppressed. He's oppressed by the proud, and he's one, if you look at verse 123, whose eyes fail for the salvation, for the salvation of the Lord. Now, we've come across that phrase before. It's actually what you have in the 82nd verse of Psalm 119. The psalmist says here that his eyes are failing. The failing of the eyes is a kind of metaphor that the scriptures use throughout the prophets, as well as in the Psalter, to describe what it is whenever somebody's affections have reached an extremity. They're drained. They cannot go on any further. Their hearts are entirely, as it seems, at their end. The prophet in Lamentations uses this phrase to describe his weeping over Jerusalem. His eyes are failing with weeping. The man that we have in this psalm is one who would describe himself as somebody whose affections, and you might even say whose faith, whose faith is faltering even in this moment. He's oppressed, yes, but internally. He's also a man who's languishing. This is something that we've encountered before, and we're now only returning to that theme again. The psalmist describes himself as a pilgrim, a pilgrim oppressed almost on every side, both externally and internally. But then finally, I want you to notice the claim that you have in the psalm. In the 122nd verse, he says, be sure for thy servant, be sure before thy servant. Now, this word surety is not a very common one in the scriptures and not in the Old Testament for sure, but it is used for instance, whenever Judah promises that he will be surety for Benjamin. You remember whenever the patriarchs were going back to Egypt to see Joseph, Judah offered himself to stand as surety or as pledge should Benjamin not come back alive. The idea that is in view here is that one is standing in the stead of another. They are legally liable for whatever befalls the person whom they represent. And so this is used throughout the scriptures to describe those who are taking on debts of somebody else. Proverbs chapter 11 describes those who we are not supposed to be surety for, those who are foolish. If we take a pledge for those who are foolish, we are likely, says the preacher in Proverbs, we are likely to incur debt ourselves. The sentence is, you become legally liable for the one for whom you undertake. And here the psalmist is saying, be sure to the Lord, be sure for thy servant, undertake for me, undertake for me, become liable for me. But I want you to notice, It's not as though that this is something that the psalmist is urging God to do and God has not done it already. In verse 123, he says that the Lord's word is one of righteousness. That word righteousness is the same word that we actually have there for justice in verse 121. It's the concept of faithfulness that's really in view. The man is saying that God's word is faithful. And this takes us back to the theme that we've seen time and time again here. The psalmist is looking to God's word and he is saying that God has promised something to him from that word. God has already brought himself under solemn oath to undertake for the psalmist. And so what the psalmist is praying for in 122 is not that God would become surety for him as though he weren't before, but he's really praying that God would be surety for him as he's already promised himself to be. As you come across the phrase time and again, according to your word, the psalmist is only reminding us of the fact that God has made solemn promises, that he would be, that he would stand for the psalmist time and again. We're putting all of this together. We see here that this section reminds us that to persevere, our pilgrim, our pilgrim claims an interest in God's covenant by faith. Our pilgrim claims an interest in God's covenant by faith and the main theme for this evening for all believers is that the Christian by faith seeks present mercy in God's gracious covenant. The Christian seeks by faith present mercy in God's gracious covenant. I want to consider that under three headings very briefly this evening. I want to consider first of all the covenant, secondly the interest that the man claims, and then finally the petitions that arise from that. So first of all, the covenant. I want you again to look at verse 122 with me. He says here, be sure he for thy servant for good. What is it in scripture for God to become sure he for his people? What is it for God to say that he will, as it were, stand and undertake for his own? Well, scripturally speaking, we think of that in two basic terms. We think of that in what we would refer to as forensic or judicial terms. And we think of that also in terms that you might say are custodian. or in a conserving sense. Take it in the first way, forensically. You remember, the idea of surety is the idea of bringing oneself under a legal claim, saying that they will undertake for this person. And when God says that he will become surety for his own, what he means here is what you find all throughout the scriptures. When the prophets, when the psalmist describes the Lord as his righteousness, Psalm 4.1, The Lord is my righteousness. The prophet Jeremiah, again, the Lord is my righteousness. The idea there is that God is the one who is standing. He is the one standing in the stead of the psalmist. And it is the Lord's righteousness. It's the Lord's righteousness that is being pleaded there. And this, of course, is something that we need to keep in mind pertains to the bar of heaven. This pertains, of course, to the matter of justification. It's when God is pleading, pleading before his own justice, that his people would be spared. Because his righteousness is applied to them. And brothers and sisters, this is something that is all throughout the scriptures, of course. But I want you to notice, it's in the prophet Isaiah in a very intriguing way. In Isaiah 51.22, the Lord says this. He says, Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord, and thy God, that pleadeth the cause of his people. Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury. Thou shalt no more drink it again. I want you to notice that he's saying here, I am pleading the cause of my people, but against what? Whom is he pleading with as he undertakes for his own? Again, he says here, He is pleading against his own fury that the dregs of that cup would not fall on his people. When God undertakes to be surety for his own, he is saying that he will stand as their righteousness and plead against his own justice in the sense that he will become their righteousness. That's the forensic way in which Christ is surety for his own. But I also want you to notice that there is a sense, and this is perhaps more the point of this section, There's a sense in which God becomes surety for his people, not only that he might plead their cause in the court of heaven, but he also becomes surety so that they might be conserved, that they might actually be kept. And that really is the point that the psalmist is driving at here. And this is part of the covenant. When God says that he will be the one who actually becomes surety for his own, he is saying that he will preserve them through this life and on through eternity. And the point that the prophet is making is one that you'll find not just in this altar, but all throughout the scriptures. The prophet Jeremiah, when he comes to discuss the covenant of God, the Lord says very pointedly, he will be the one who puts the fear in his people such that they will not depart from him. You see how the covenant is arranged then. God is the one who is the reason why his people do not depart from him. He is the one that keeps him. That is his bond that he makes with his own. He will keep his own. That's the very thing, of course, that you find. The very thing that you find in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where there the Lord reminds us that all the work that God has done in the church at Corinth has been done by his own power. He will keep his own to the end. And in all of these ways, the forensic and in the custodial sense of there being a surety for God's people in God. All of that, of course, brings us back to the Lord Jesus Christ, who in Hebrews chapter 7, 22 is described as our surety. He is our surety who undertakes as mediator of the covenant, both to undertake for us before the bar of heaven and also promises that he will bring all of those who are his glory. He'll preserve them through this life and into the next. The effect of that surety ship is that first of all his people are justified. Psalm 31 verses 1 and 2. The blessedness of justification accrues to God's people only because God has solemnly undertaken for them in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the only reason why their sin is not imputed to them. God has pledged himself to be their righteousness in Christ. But also, beloved, as you leave justification and you come to sanctification, it also is important for us to remember that God's pledge to be sure applies there as well. This is not a new covenant reality only. When Moses looks at the people of God, as the covenant has just been read, he tells them that it will be the Lord himself who holds them. Deuteronomy 26, verse 17. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, says Moses, and to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes and his commandments and his judgments and to hearken unto his voice. There is the obligation that Israel has willingly brought upon themselves. But I want you to notice the 18th verse. And the Lord hath avouched thee, that is, the Lord has become surety for thee this day, to be his peculiar people as he hath promised thee. and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments. I want you to notice again the connection there. They are the ones who have sworn to be the Lord's. But as the Lord undertakes for them what is part of the covenant that God makes, that they should keep all his commandments. God says that falls also upon his part of the covenant. That is they are looking to him by faith and truly God will keep them, really. They will not depart from him. And beloved, this is precisely what the apostle has in mind in 1st Peter 1. When he says that the people of God are there kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. How is it that the people of God are kept? It is because God as surety continues to hold them. He has solemnly undertaken, not only to justify them, but also undertaken for them that they would continue to live by faith. And the Apostle Peter again describes that as God's power working in them. This is critical because as we come then to the petitions, which brings us to our second point, we have to ask the question, how is it that a man can claim this charityship where God actually undertakes for him? I want you to notice the second point, the interest in the covenant that the psalmist sees is predicated upon him looking for the salvation of God and looking for it in the word of righteousness. How is it that he can claim God to be his surety, to stand as his justification, to stand as the one who upholds him, even in this life? Well, brothers and sisters, of course, it is only by faith that he gains this interest, only by faith that he gains a stake in this covenant. And the psalmist himself recognizes that. I want you to notice In verse 123 again, the psalmist says that his eyes fail for the salvation of the Lord. The sense is that he's a man looking. He's a man looking to God's covenant. He's a man who, though he's failing, possesses some sight. Possesses some sight. And then what really is the focus that he has? Well, it's upon the Lord's word, the word of his faithfulness. And again, as we've seen in the previous sections, this is described for us as the Lord's promises that are, again, the phrase comes up time and again, according unto thy word. The psalmist is holding to the promises of God by faith. And this is the only way that God becomes surety for him. Psalm 95, famously, we could go to any number of scriptures in the Old Testament, but Psalm 95, why was it? Why was it that the people of God could not enter into the land of promise? and instead wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Because they would not believe. They would not believe. The writer of the Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 4 reminds us that they had a heart, an evil heart, of unbelief. The people of God knew, just as Canaan represented typical glory, it represented a type of heaven to the people of God. They understood that their being barred because of their lack of faith was also to show That one could not actually come to the substance, the thing that the type pointed to, except by faith. There was no entrance in the covenant apart from faith. I want you to notice, brothers and sisters, that this is a crucial theme to the psalmist. Time and again he goes back to the promises of God's word and it's only upon the promises that he pleads. We've seen that really from the first section until now. He pleads according to the promises. He has faith in the promises, and that becomes his life. But I also want you to notice, brothers, this is a psalm that reminds us that this man's faith is sincere. In verse 121, he says, I have done judgment and justice. I have done judgment and justice. Now it sounds almost like he's boasting. It almost sounds like the man is saying, because I've done judgment, because I've done right, and because I've kept the vows that I've made, therefore Lord, undertake for me. That's what it can sound like. Brothers, I want you to notice, just look down to verse 124 now. He says here, deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy. Ask the pilgrim. If the Lord is gracious to him, if the Lord does preserve him, what has he received? Did he receive his wages? Did he receive something that he merited? No. According to verse 124, the man says, if the Lord deals with him mercifully, it is only by mercy, not something that he's merited. So what is it then that he's saying in verse 121? Why is he talking about his own obedience and his own faithfulness here? Beloved, he is doing precisely what the Apostle James commands us to do, what he says he himself does. He shows his faith by his works. That's the point. He's not saying at all that he's reached perfection, because at the end of the day, all that he can say, if he receives good, it is mercy that he receives. No, the point of the psalmist is making is he has looked to the covenant in faith, in a sincere faith, not perfectly, but certainly sincerely. And that leads him then to assurance. He sees, of course, that he is a man who requires God's goodness to him. And he also sees that if he is to receive any goodness from the hand of God, It is only mercy that he receives, not something that he has merited or deserves. But as you look in this section, you find a man who is saying that he does see that God has undertaken for him. His faith is genuine, and so he reasons in a way kind of like this. He says, I have believed. I have looked. No, not perfectly. No, I've not faithfully. according to the rigor of the law, kept what I vowed. But sincerely, I have looked to the promise. And therefore I believe God to be my surety. God is undertaking for me." That's the basis for his assurance here and the basis for his claims. Which brings us then to our third and final point. What are his petitions? He says here, Lord undertake for me, be surety for thy servant for good. Verse 122. And then he tells us what that good is. He says, let not the proud oppress me. Verse 122. But then he moves, you'll notice, to describe another need that he has. Verse 125 and 124 and 125. He says, teach me thy statutes and give me understanding. He's praying for two things. He's praying for deliverance from his oppressors. And he's also praying that God would instruct him. Now why is he praying for temporal deliverance and is it right for him to do so? And the answer, of course, to that is yes. In fact, he's commanded to do so. Beloved, the pilgrim as he's making his journey from this life and into the celestial city, he is to meet with trial only by prayer. Psalm 50, verse 15. In the day of trouble, cry out to me. That's not an option. That's a command. Again, James. James chapter 5, the apostle reminds us that those who are afflicted are to pray. That's a command. And the psalmist says that this is precisely what he will do. In his affliction he will use the affliction to go back to God. But note the second petition then. Lord instruct me. We've met with this before. And we've said before that the kind of instruction that the psalmist is looking for is not merely intellectual. He's not merely looking for a transfer of information. He's looking for God to instruct him effectually so that his heart is inclined to the Word of God. And so what is his request? According to the covenant, according to God being his surety, the psalmist is praying, Lord, deliver me from my oppressors and also instruct me, lead me in faithfulness. Why is that significant? Because the psalmist does qualify as petition. He says, be surety for thy servant for good. He doesn't say, Lord, you've undertaken to deliver me from all of my oppressors. He doesn't say that at all. He says, do good. And the sentence is, you've made yourself a surety to do me good, really. really good. The sentence is not good as the psalmist determines it, but good as it actually is. If it is good for the psalmist to be delivered from oppressors in God's standard, the psalmist is saying, the psalmist is saying he'll be delivered. Because God has undertaken to do that for him. God has undertaken to be his instructor, his tutor. But as we close and apply what we have before us, I want you to notice Brothers and sisters, what you have here is a clear picture that the Lord's people are to see that the covenant of grace provides for their every good, now and to eternity. The psalmist is looking at God as surety, but notice that his petition is for his present difficulty and for his present instruction. And that takes us back to what we read in Mark chapter 10. There the Lord has promised not just that they would receive From the covenant, from himself, good in the life to come. But even in this life, yes, with persecution. Yes, with persecution like what we have in our section. But there will be good in this life that accrues to the people of God as well. Real good. Good that is for their eternal and spiritual well-being. That too is included in the covenant. But the question that arises from this section, as it does in every section, How do we see ourselves in light of the psalmist? Are we one like he who looks to Jesus Christ as our only surety? Do we have a need for him? Really? I think we'll say in terms of justification, absolutely. Psalm 143 is very clear. None can stand before God. None. If God judges according to the determined and the rigorous form of the law, There is no way that any could stand. And so Jesus Christ, of course, must be our righteousness if we are to stand. But is he surety in the fullest sense, the sense of the psalmist has in view, that he'll stand before the bar of heaven, but he will also stand to uphold you in this life. Do you need such a surety this evening? Do you need somebody who will hold you because you cannot keep yourself? That's the kind of charity the psalmist is looking for. And certainly that's the one that we need. But also, I want you to notice, brothers and sisters, we do still get a glimpse of the heart of this man, don't we? The man is praying under affliction. But what is he praying for? He's praying, of course, as he feels his whole heart and even perhaps his faith languishing. And he prays that the Lord would come and he would visit him, strengthen him really, revive him, and quicken him as he had before. But he also prays that the Lord would make him fruitful. He prays that the Lord, you notice this, in verse 124, teach me thy statutes. I am thy servant, verse 125, give me understanding. Why does a servant need understanding? So that he can faithfully do the work that's been set to his hand. The psalmist is praying for quickening. In other words, he's asking for God to spiritually, spiritually work upon him in such a way that the influences of God's favor are known to him. But he's also praying for fruitfulness. He's praying for experiences of God's favor, as well as God's fruitfulness in his life. He doesn't long just for the former. He doesn't just want expressions of God's favor. He also wants to be fruitful for the Lord as well. How are we such people? But as we come to a close now, brothers, I want you to notice that this is a man oppressed, but a man who still can claim God as surety. And this reminds us that the covenant itself stands in such a way that even difficult providences do not disannul what God has pledged. They do not. Even under difficulty, the people of God still have a surety. They still have one who undertakes for them. But I'll also note here that these oppressions come. They come by God, who is of course Lord of Providence. They come from the one who holds even the wicked in his hand. And this reminds us that though Though the covenant is not broken, the covenant does remind us that our God is not a doting father. He's not one that will spoil his children, who will give them their felt good, but actually those things that would snare them. Now God gives according to his own wisdom. There are times when the psalmist will be oppressed, and there will sometimes be whenever he is in plenty. And all of this from the hand of the Lord. Your Father, knows how to deal with you, as we're sure. He knows when to give you oppression. And he also knows when to give you plenty. But then finally, beloved notice, notice how God works in just these few verses. He leads the psalmist to go back to him and to claim him as surety, the one who has pledged in his word to do him good. And the psalmist says that this is something that he can resort to in every providence, at all times, in any difficulty. He looks to the covenant of grace and he sees that it's an expansive covenant. something that has all that he could need. He'd need not ask for anything beyond it. He always asks, do you note that? He always asks according to the word of the Lord, according to what God has promised, because he sees that that's sufficient. And beloved, what you find is, as you take hold of the covenant of grace by faith, you find more and more that all that is truly good, is sealed for you there. There is no truly good thing that is left out of that covenant. You can pray according to that covenant and find every need truly met. He need not make another covenant. You need not pray beyond it. It is sufficient for all time. I'll close with this. In North America, there are deer. that the white-tailed deer especially, the does will indicate to their fawns where to lay. And the purpose of that is very basic. The mother will indicate to her offspring where is safest, where is the most secure place to keep the young one from predators of any kind. And the fawns will do that. They will lay where the mother tells them every time, even if a predator does discover. If you're a farmer out in that neck of the woods, you'll notice from time to time that as you're in the field, they won't even move as you drive close to them with your tractor. They'll stay where their mother has told them to stay. And many of the fawns died because of that. They stay even as the tractor comes over, even as the predator comes over to them. They stay because their mother has told them this is a safe place. Beloved, the psalmist looks to a God and he says that this God is one whom he can trust even if he slays him. Where God says stand, When God says, these things I have promised to you, the psalmist here says, upon these things then I will stand. Let oppression come of whatever sort. This God, this God will never lead me to destruction. This God I can trust absolutely. And beloved, that of course is what we have to take on as we make our own pilgrimage. As we look to Jesus Christ, our surety, who has promised to undertake all things for us, we have to be those who are willing and content to stay upon his covenant, even when providence seems to be drawing near and would overtake us, even whenever the oppression is at its height. We need to be numbered among those who, like the psalmist, are simply saying, only to your covenant, only to your covenant do I look. Amen.