Look forward to it, and I trust
God will be pleased to meet with us. But let's get the white elephant
out of the room first. I know all of you are concerned
about my health, and I appreciate that. I appreciate your love
for me. My family, I just started the immunotherapy treatments
that I will be taking, I presume, the rest of my life. The doctor
said indefinitely, started on Monday, it'll take them every
three weeks. And this is a result, direct result of cancer I've
had, the direct result for cancer I had 43 years ago, and the doctors
didn't expect me to live very long, then I fooled them. God
in his providence had other things in mind, other things for his
purpose, and I'm very thankful. perfectly at ease, perfectly
comfortable. And if you should see something posted about my
sickness on the internet, on Facebook or Twitter or whatever
that stuff is they use, if it's not posted by my daughter or
my granddaughter, whoever posted didn't know what they was talking
about. Because what I know, they know, and that's long and short
of it. But the doctors tell me about
this series of treatments I'm taking. It's fairly new. They've been experimenting with
it for, I think, 10 or 12 years, but I think it was just recently,
maybe three or four or five years ago, approved by the FDA for
common use. And she has a patient on it.
that's been on it for three years, doing very well. My family doctor
has a patient that's been on it for a couple years, doing
very well. So, we'll just see what God has for me. Meantime,
it's so good to be here. Turn with me to Psalm 68. Psalm
68. This congregation and I, my wife
and myself, have been part of one another since your beginning. In the early days, I preached
up here fairly often before God sent you a pastor. And since
that time, I've preached here at least once or twice a year,
every year. And I always look forward to
the opportunity to come and speak to you in the name of God, the
Word of God, I hope, or the power of God. And I want always to
give you a word of comfort. Word that will help you and inspire
you to greater devotion, greater commitment, greater joy, and
greater peace. This 68th Psalm, verses 18, 19,
and 20, give us a prophetic declaration of Christ's resurrection, His
ascension, and His glory as our substitute. Now we know that's
what the Psalm is written about. because God the Holy Ghost gives
us that interpretation in the 4th chapter of Ephesians. Now
let's begin at verse 18. Thou hast ascended on high, having
accomplished our redemption, having finished all the work
He came here to perform. HAVING PUT AWAY SIN BY THE SACRIFICE
HIMSELF, HAVING SATISFIED THE JUSTICE OF GOD BY HIS DEATH AT
CALVARY, HAVING BROUGHT IN EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS, HAVING HONORED
GOD'S LAW AND MAGNIFIED IT IN ALL THINGS, DYING IN OUR STEAD
AND RISING AGAINST THE SAVIOR, ASCENDED ON HIGH. HE TOOK HIS
SEAT IN HEAVEN BY THE MERIT OF HIS OBEDIENCE. HE AS A MAN EARNED
THE RIGHT UNIVERSE. HE TOOK HIS SEAT ON HIGH WHEN
HE HAD EARNED THE RIGHT TO TAKE HIS SEAT ON HIGH. HE RULES THE
UNIVERSE AS GOD BECAUSE HE'S GOD. HE ALWAYS HAS. HE RULES
THE UNIVERSE AS A MAN BECAUSE HE EARNED THE RIGHT BY HIS OBEDIENCE
UNTO DEATH TO RULE EVERYTHING AND EVERYBODY ALL THE TIME. THOU
HAST LED CAPTIVITY, CAPTIVITY, What does that mean? Well, you
don't have to guess about that. The Spirit of God tells us that
our all-glorious Christ brought out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us. That is, all
the ordinances and commands of the law that were contrary to
us, those things that we could never fulfill, those things that
demanded our death, He took them out of the way. nailing it to
His cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in His cross. Our Lord Jesus took every foe
of our souls, every foe of our souls, and took
it into captivity. Himself as the King of Glory,
even Satan himself. He's described in Revelation
20 as a mighty angel coming down from heaven with a great chain
in His hand. And with that great chain, He
binds Apollyon, that old serpent, the accuser, the devil, and casts
him into a pit and sets a seal on him that he should deceive
the nations no more. Satan is God's devil. He is God's devil. He's not in
rivalry against Christ. He is not a rival to the Son
of God. He is God's devil. He's God's
house cat. He's God's devil. That means
he doesn't wiggle or roar or move except by the decree of
that man who died for us at Calvary. No way. nowhere, not by any means,
not by any tongue. Our Savior rules. Read verse
19. Blessed, I'm sorry, let's back
up again. Thou hast received gifts for
men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might
dwell among them. The ascended Christ, who had
entered heaven as our forerunner, entered there for us. gifts for
us. What gifts? All the gifts of
grace, and righteousness, and salvation for men. Yea, for rebels
also. I'm so glad he put that in there.
Yea, for the rebellious also. We who are by nature children
of wrath just like everybody else. He received these gifts
so that God the Holy Ghost would might come down here and dwell
in our hearts, that we, being made new creatures in Christ
Jesus, might have God live in us. Might have God live in us. That's what the new birth is.
It is the life of God in the soul of man. It is Christ in
you, the hope of glory. He received gifts for the rebellious
also, that the Lord God might dwell among us." Dwell here with
us, in us, and among us now and forever. Now verse 19, Blessed
be the Lord who daily loatheth us with benefits, even the God
of our salvation. Now when you read that word,
selah, When I'm reading the Scriptures aloud I generally pause for a
little bit over that. It's really a punctuation mark.
People read it and don't understand it all the time. It's really
a punctuation mark. It's an unusual punctuation mark.
When you read a sentence and you come to a comma you pause
a little bit, just a second, move right on because it's a
punctuation mark, it's intended. When you get to a colon or a
semicolon you pause just a little more. When you get to a period
you pause just a little bit more because you've come to the end
of the thought. come to Selah, that means stop right here for
a little while. That's a long period. Stop and
think this over. Blessed be the Lord God who daily
loatheth us, loatheth us with benefits, even the God of our
salvation. Now, just sit back in your easy
chair and think on that. He daily loadeth us with benefits,
daily benefits of grace and mercy, benefits of forgiveness and righteousness,
of consolation and joy, access to God, all his promises, refuge
for our souls and peace. He daily loads us with benefits,
all the benefits of his providence. been for 69 years the constant
recipient of God's relentless goodness. The constant recipient of God's
relentless goodness. Verse 20, He that is our God
is the God of salvation. And unto God the Lord the issues
from death. He who is our God, He is God
alone. He and none but He, the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Almighty, effectual Savior, He is God alone. Pastor, we worship God, the triune
God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Yes, sir, we do. The only way
you know Him is in this man who is God, Jesus the Christ. The
only way you see Him is by this Man who is God, Jesus the Christ. The only way He speaks to you
or makes Himself known to you is by this Man who is God, Jesus
the Christ. And there is no God but He, Jesus
Christ our Lord who daily loads us with benefits. And to Him,
to Him who is God belong the issues from death. What does
that mean? What does that mean? HE IS THE
ONE WHO DETERMINES THE ISSUES FROM HIS DEATH. HE IS THE ONE
WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO BLESS MEN, THE RIGHT TO SAVE MEN, AND HOLDS
THAT RIGHT IN HIS HANDS ALONE AS THE RESULT OF HIS DEATH. HE
HAS MERCY ON WHOM HE WILL HAVE MERCY, AND WHOM HE WILL HE HARDENETH. NOW, I WANT TO TALK TO YOU A
LITTLE BIT ABOUT the issues of his death in salvation. Salvation, salvation, what a
word. If you should go up and down
the street here, knock on the doors and ask a dozen folks or
a thousand people what salvation is, you get just about that many
different answers. Some folks think salvation is being baptized
when you're a baby. Some folks, we live in this part
of the world where Campbellites run rampant, and folks think
that you're saved when you get in the pool of water and get
baptized as an adult. Some folks think we join the
church, or you make a decision for Jesus, or you say a prayer,
or sign a decision card, or raise your hand and ask the preacher
to pray for you. Just anything, call it religious, that's salvation.
But the Scriptures speak of salvation in personal terms, very personal
terms, terms that can't be misunderstood if you pay attention to the Scriptures.
I wish that we could put aside what church creeds say and what
confessions of faith say and and what Catechism say, the Armenian
and the Calvinistic, Baptist and Methodist and Catholic, put
them all aside and find out what God says about salvation. You interested in that? Now,
when I talk about salvation, this is what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about everything involved in bringing sinners
from the pit of damnation. from the very brink of hell,
from the depths of Adam's fall, his death and his depravity,
our fall, our death, our depravity in our father Adam, bringing
sinners from the depths of corruption to the heights of glory as the
sons of God, without sin, without curse, without the possibility
of curse or sin or condemnation. bringing us into heavenly glory.
I'm talking about complete deliverance from the fall, from the sin,
from the curse of the law, from bondage, from all that is the
consequence of sin and that fall. Deliverance into the glorious
liberty of the sons of God. This is what God says about it.
By grace are you saved through faith. and that not of yourselves. The grace is not from you, the
faith is not from you, and the salvation is not from you. It
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We
must be agreed on what we're talking about. That's what salvation
is. Salvation is not a ritual, but a resurrection. It's not
an experience, but an emancipation. It's not a decision, but a deliverance. It's not a reformation, but a
restoration. Restoring to sinners all that
we lost in our father, Adam, and more. Our Savior said, I
restored that which I took not away. Try to picture Adam back
yonder in the garden. Have you ever tried to do that? What a man he was. What a life
he and Eve had in the garden, walking with God in the garden
in the cool of the day, like a man would walk with his own
son, like a man would walk with a pet in the house, walking with
God, conversing with God in the cool of the day, Adam and Eve
walking arm in arm with the Son of God, our Savior. walking constantly in the Savior's
presence with nothing to interfere with a sweet communion. And the
Son of God gives us something more than that. Then I restored
that which I took not away. This salvation is the work of
God alone. What we do, be it good or bad,
before or after conversion, HAS NOTHING WHATEVER TO DO WITH OUR
SALVATION. WHAT WE DO, GOOD OR BAD, BEFORE
OR AFTER WE'VE BEEN BORN AGAIN BY GOD'S GRACE HAS NOTHING TO
DO WITH OUR ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD. NOT AT ANY TIME. WE ARE ACCEPTED
IN THE BELOVED. WE'RE SAVED BY GOD'S FREE GRACE
ALONE. BUT SURELY MAN HAS HIS PART TO
DO." NO, YOU'RE MISTAKEN. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH SALVATION.
IF GOD WAITS ON YOU TO DO SOMETHING, YOU'LL GO TO HELL. IF GOD WAITS
ON YOU TO DO SOMETHING, YOU'LL GO TO HELL. LISTEN TO WHAT HE
SAID. TURN AND LOOK AT IT. ROMANS CHAPTER 9. ROMANS CHAPTER
9. I WANT YOU TO SEE THIS. Verse 15, He saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Oh, Brother Don, that's hard
to understand. It's not if you read the next verse. Well, what
does that mean? So then, since God has mercy
on whom He will have mercy, and God has compassion on whom He
will have compassion, so then, It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. What part does the will of man
have to do with salvation? None. None. But you've got to
make your decision now. choice. No. But you've got to
make your choice. No. You made your decision. You made your
choice. You went astray from God, from your mother's womb,
speaking lies, and you will never return except God return you
by His grace. Look at 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy
chapter what? The Apostle Paul is writing his
last epistle, and he knows it's his last word to his young friend,
Timothy. He knows he's writing now to
a young preacher who'd been under his influence since he was a
youth. And he's telling Timothy to be steadfast and to teach
men to be steadfast in the Gospel. Here it is, the Gospel, declares
that God hath saved us. There, verse 9, and called us
with an holy calling, not according to our works, Did you ever pay
attention to the fact that almost every time Paul said, we're saved
by grace, he turned around and said, that means works don't
have anything to do with it. Almost every time. Why? Because we always
want to put our works in there somewhere. We want to put our
finger in the pie somewhere, just somewhere, wherever you
get your hand in it, you ruin it. works, but according to His
own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began." This thing was taken care of before you
were ever born. This thing was taken care of
before God created the earth. This thing was taken care of
before Adam fell in the garden. This was done in Christ before
the world began. but is now made manifest by the appearing of
our Savior Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and brought life
and immortality to light through the Gospel." There it says, my
brother David lived up here in one of these hollows all your
life.