That was a good suggestion, R.G.
He says he misses Joy already because her playing music before
our service quiets everybody down and we think about what
we're about to do. So this box, it does have that capability.
And I'm going to start using it now. We'll do it. So anyway,
glad everybody's here. And good evening, everyone. Let's
open tonight's service with hymn number 145, 145 from the hardback
tenor. And let's all stand together. On 45. Hail Thou once despised Jesus,
Hail Thou Galilean King! Thou didst suffer to release
us, Thou didst free salvation bring. Hail Thou agonizing Savior,
bearer of our sin and shame. By Thy merits we find favor,
life is given through Thy name. Paschal Lamb by God appointed,
all our sins on Thee were laid. By almighty love anointed, Thou
hast full atonement made. All thy people are forgiven through
the virtue of thy blood. Opened is the gate of heaven,
peace is made twixt man and God. Jesus, hail, enthroned in glory,
there forever to abide. All the heavenly hosts adore
thee, seated at thy Father's side. Therefore, sinners, thou
art pleading, There thou dost our place prepare, By ever for
us interceding, Till in glory we appear. Worship, honor, power, and blessing
thou art worthy to receive. Loudest praises without ceasing,
meet it is for us to give. Help ye bright angelic spirits,
bring your sweetest, noblest lays. Help to sing our Savior's
merits, Help to chant Emmanuel's praise. Please be seated. Good evening. We're going to
read from Psalm 123 tonight for our call to worship. That's a really good hymn we
just sang. I like that hymn a lot. Psalm 123. Unto thee. Lift I up mine eyes O thou that
dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of a servant
look under the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a
maiden under the hand of her mistress. So our eyes wait upon
the Lord our God until that he have mercy upon us. Have mercy
upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly filled
with contempt. Our soul is exceedingly filled
with the scorning of those that are at ease and with the contempt
of the proud. Let's pray together. our merciful and glorious Heavenly
Father. We come boldly before thy throne
of grace to find help in our time of need. We thank you, Lord,
that thy dear son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has accomplished everything necessary in order for us to
have full acceptance before thee. We ask, Lord, that you be pleased
to send your spirit and power We pray that you would cause
us to. To rest in and look upon and
trust in thy dear son. For all our salvation. For Lord,
truly we are. Apart from Christ, filled with
our own. Contempt our own sin. Lord, we are in need of of you
to comfort us to. Quiet us to give us rest and
hope and peace. Forgiveness. We ask it in Christ
name. Amen. Number 44 in the spiral gospel
hymns, hymn book number 44. And let's stand together once
again, 44. Precious Savior, friend of sinners,
we as such to Thee draw near. Let Thy Spirit dwell within us,
with that love that casts out fear. Matchless Savior, let us
know Thee, as the Lord our righteousness. Cause our hearts to cleave unto
Thee, come and with Thy presence bless. Open now Thy precious
treasure, let Thy word hear freely Give to us a gracious measure,
tis thyself we long to know. Come and claim us as thy portion. Let us all find rest in thee. Leave us not to empty notions. We would find our hope in thee. Please be seated. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles to Psalm 118? Psalm 118. I've titled this message the
voice. Of rejoicing. Scripture. Has admonished us to rejoice
in the Lord. And again I say rejoice, let
your gentleness be known unto all men. for the Lord is at hand. We have reason to rejoice. And the psalmist gives us the
cause of that rejoicing beginning in verse 14 when he says, the
Lord is my strength and song and is become my salvation. The Lord is my strength. That's
the reason for rejoicing. Before the Lord was pleased to
make himself to be our strength, we were without strength. While we were yet without strength,
Christ died for the ungodly. You remember what that word ungodly
means? It's the word for worship with the A in front of it. God says those who are unable
to worship are ungodly. And why are we unable to worship?
Because we have no strength in ourselves to come into the presence
of a holy God. While we were yet without strength,
we didn't have the ability. to come before him. We were without
strength when it concerned the law of God. We're not able to
keep God's law. We're not able to satisfy one
jot or tittle of the law of God. All of God's law stood in condemnation
of us. And then the Lord became our
strength. He kept the law for us. He is the end of the law for
everyone that believeth. The Lord Jesus Christ satisfied
all the demands of God's holy law. And this is the voice of
rejoicing because he is our strength, he is our song, and he is become
our salvation. We didn't have any strength to
believe on God, but to believe the gospel. We couldn't believe
until the Lord became our strength. And he caused us to believe on
Christ. He made us willing in the day
of his power. He opened the eyes of our understanding.
We were blind. We were deaf. We had no strength,
no ability within ourselves. And the Lord. became our strength. This is the voice of rejoicing.
Look at, look at our text again. The Lord is my strength and my
song and has become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation
is in the tabernacles of the righteous. Now we know the Lord
Jesus Christ himself is God's tabernacle. He's the one in whom
we reside. He tabernacled among us. We beheld
his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father,
the one who's full of grace and full of truth. But here the word
is plural, tabernacles. What is that? That's the individual
churches. This is just one of many tabernacles. And this is where the voice of
rejoicing is heard by the righteous who meet together in the tabernacles
of God, where the Lord is pleased to make himself known and reveal
his glory and his grace to the hearts of his people through
the preaching of his gospel. So this is the, the Lord has
become my strength. He's become my strength and that
I wasn't able to worship. I wasn't able to believe. I couldn't
see. I couldn't stand in the presence
of a holy God. I was lame, a halt, blind, deaf. I had no strength within myself. And now in the tabernacles of
the righteous, we have the voice of rejoicing for the Lord is
our strength. We still don't have any strength
for those things in and of ourselves. But we look on Christ and he
is our faith and he is our sight. He's the light of the world. He's the one who enables us to
worship in spirit and in truth. He's the one who gives strength
to our feet and enables us to stand in the presence of God. The Lord is my strength. He's
my strength. We had no strength to love God. We do love him now, but only
because he first loved us. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that God loved us. Christ loved us and gave himself
as a propitiation for our sins. This is where our strength for
anything relating to our ability to love God is found in Christ. In Christ. This is the voice
of rejoicing, isn't it? Lord, we had no ability, we had
no strength. Now that you've made yourself
known, the Lord has become my strength. And he's become, notice
in verse 14, not only is he my strength, but he's my song. He's my song. Shame on us for
murmuring. We've got no reason to complain.
Shame on us for being angry. We've got no reason to be angry.
Shame on us for being disquieted. We've got no reason to be disquieted. We do, don't we? And we're ashamed
of it when we are. But here, this is the song of
rejoicing among God's righteous in the tabernacles of God. The Lord has become my strength
and he is my song. No reason to be downcast. No reason to be afraid. Look
over in verse six of this same psalm. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear what man can
do unto me. Isn't fear the real cause of
all these problems that we have? And the Lord says, you know,
don't be afraid, fear not. How many times the Lord has to
say to his disciples, fear not, fear not, I'm with you. I'm not
gonna leave you nor forsake you. Oh Lord, I'm so ashamed of being
afraid. I'm ashamed of being disquieted.
I'm ashamed of being, of murmuring and complaining and being angry. I'm just, I'm ashamed of myself.
Lord, you're my song. You're the reason for my rejoicing. And, you know, the songs that
we sing in worship, they're true. And our circumstances don't change
that. You know, when the Lord takes
us from that place of distress and puts us in a broad place,
it doesn't mean that he's changed our circumstances. He means that
he's changed us. He's changed our hearts. He's
enabled us to sing and to rejoice. You know, when Paul and Silas
were in prison in Philippi and they were beaten and chained
to a wall in a Roman dungeon, and the scripture says they were
singing. In the middle of the night, they were singing and
rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for his name.
And that's when the Lord sent his angels and brought them out,
didn't he? Oh, that God would give us the
grace for Christ to be our strength,
for him to be our song. Look at the, look at, look with
me to revelation chapter five, look at the song that is, that
is sung in heaven. Here's, here's what we're going
to be singing. May God give us the grace to sing this song now. in verse nine of Revelation chapter
five. And they sung a new song saying,
thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof for
thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Now you remember
what happened, John has a vision and he sees God with a scroll
in his hand. And in that scroll is the names
of all those who are to be saved. But no man's found worthy to
unlock the seals to the scroll and secure the salvation of God's
elect. And then the angel says, John,
and John wept bitterly, thinking there's no hope if the scroll's
not open and the seals are not broken, then no one's gonna be
saved. And John's weeping, and the angel
says, weep not, for the Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed,
and he is worthy to open up the seals. The Lord Jesus Christ
prevailed. He prevailed with God. He prevailed against sin. He prevailed in fulfilling the
law. He prevailed in satisfying God's
justice. He prevailed against death and
against Satan. And he prevails against his people,
doesn't he? The Lamb, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah hath prevailed and he is worthy. And now all the saints
in glory are singing this new song. Worthy is the lamb. Look at, uh, look at verse 10
for he has made us unto our God, kings and priests and shall reign
on the earth. He's given us royal status in
the family of God. He's given us access before the
throne of grace as priest, a royal priesthood able to come into
the very presence of a holy God without fear. Worthy is the lamb. He's, he's made us to be that
way. Look at verse 11 and I beheld
and heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the
beast and the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times
10,000 and thousands of thousands. Same with a loud voice. Worthy
is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Here's the,
the Lord is my strength and he is my song. Say, well, you don't
understand what I'm going through. No, I don't. But he does. He does. And he will put a song
in your heart in the midst of whatever trials and troubles
he has sent your way. The Lord is my song. I've got
reason to rejoice. Why? Because he has prevailed.
He's made me to be a king. He's made me to be a priest.
He's put away my sin. He's satisfied God's law. He's prevailed over me. Same with a loud voice worthy
as the lamb that was slain. The slain lamb, slain before
the foundation of the world and the covenant of grace, slain
on Calvary's cross, slain as we come, acknowledging and believing
on him and his shed blood for all the hope of our salvation. And he's worthy to receive riches
and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing in every
creature which is in heaven and on the earth. and under the earth
and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I
saying blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that
sit at the palm, the throne and until the lamb forever and ever
and ever. And the four beasts said, amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. That's the
whole church. That's the whole church. They worshiped him. They gave him honor and praise
and glory for he prevailed and he unlocked the book and saved
his people. Oh, we have reason. They aren't
you ashamed of how ungrateful we are, how, how much we confined
to be dissatisfied with and disquieted over and murmuring. We're like
the Israelites in the wilderness, aren't we? We really are. You know, things don't go our
way and we just start complaining. Oh, this is the voice of rejoicing. This is the voice of rejoicing.
Lord, forgive me. You are my strength. I have no strength
without you. And I have reason to sing. I have reason to rejoice. Look at the rest of verse 14. He has become my salvation. It was a time when the Lord Jesus
Christ was not our salvation. We looked to our righteousness
as our salvation. We looked at our free will as
our salvation. We looked at everything other
than Christ. Christ becomes our salvation
when he is all our salvation. David said, he is all my salvation,
all my desire. That's the only time Christ is
our salvation when he's all our salvation. I've had a couple
of conversations recently with some people and it went the same
way both times when I quoted our Lord's last words on the
cross. And I said, you know, the work
of redemption is finished. And they both said, amen. I said,
it's finished. Everything required for the salvation
of God's people was accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's
cross. And they said, amen. The more we talked, the more
I realized what they believed was everything necessary to make
the offer available was accomplished by Christ on the cross. That
there was nothing else for them to do in terms of their works
because his works were sufficient, but now they had to, they had
to, you know, exercise their will and make a decision to accept
that offer. No, when the Lord said it's finished,
what he was saying was that everyone that God chose in the covenant
of grace was successfully redeemed the moment the Lord Jesus bowed
his head on Calvary's cross. They were saved effectually by
his death on Calvary's cross. And the Lord Jesus is not our
salvation until he's all our salvation. If it's Christ plus
my acceptance, Lord didn't die on Calvary's cross to make an
offer of salvation to man. He died on Calvary's cross as
an offering to his father. And the father was satisfied
with the offering that he made and the salvation of his elect
was made sure and secure at his death on Calvary's cross. Nothing else for us to do. The
Lord has become my salvation. If it's Christ plus, anything,
then the Lord is not our salvation. Look at verse 15. The voice of
rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord doeth
valiantly. Now that word valiantly is a
word describing the coming home of a conquering king with his
army. And the right hand of God, you
know who that is. The father, how many times this
verse is quoted in the scriptures? The father said to his son, sit
thou here at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
The right hand of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. He hath done
valiantly. He's, he's the conquering savior. There's not anything that we
need to do to make what he did work for us. He did it all. There's the, there's the strength. There's the song. There's the
salvation. Listen to what Peter said in
first Peter chapter three, verse 22. He said, he has gone into
the heavens and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities
and powers being made subject unto him. The Lord Jesus Christ
has ascended back into glory and taken his rightful place
at the right hand of God. Hebrews chapter 12. looking unto
Jesus the author and the finisher of faith who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and
is set down at the right hand of the majesty on high. But this man after he had offered
one sacrifice for sin forever sat down at the right hand of
God. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again and even
is at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for
us. Here's the voice of rejoicing. We have an advocate with the
Father. We have a brother. We have a savior. We have a,
we have a substitute who bore our sins and put them away. And
he is now sitting in the seated in the heavenlies and all the
blessings of God are in him in heavenly places right now. Look, look at the voice of rejoicing
verse 15 and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous.
The right hand of the Lord do it valiantly. You remember in
Acts chapter seven, when Stephen is witnessing to the, to the
successful saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ and those religious
leaders of his day. And they were enraged. And he
said, I looked into the heavens and I saw the heavens opened
and I saw the son of God standing at the right hand of God, standing
as my advocate, standing to receive me, standing to plead my case
before God. There we have him at the right
hand of God in revelation chapter one. The scripture refers to
the churches and the pastors of those churches as being in
his right hand. And then John is greatly afraid
in Revelation chapter 1, and the scripture says that the Lord
came and laid his right hand on John and said, fear not, fear
not. The right hand of God is his
salvation. It's done valiantly. He has become
our salvation. This is the voice of rejoicing. You remember in Matthew chapter
25, when the Lord speaks of dividing in the great day of judgment,
the sheep from the goats. And I said that backwards, didn't
I? I said the sheep from the goats.
No, he said he put the sheep on his right hand and the goats
on his left hand. And what did he say to the sheep?
Enter in. Enter in to the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. And to the goats,
what does he say? Depart from me for I never knew
you. The right hand of God is Christ
himself. It is the right hand of salvation. In Job, turn with me to Job just
back a few pages, Job chapter 40. The Lord Jesus Christ, the scripture
says in Isaiah 53, was wounded for our transgressions. Why was
he wounded in his hands? Because whatever we touch with
our hands, we defile. The Lord said, when you build
an altar, don't hew the stones, don't put your hands to it. Whatever
you put your dirty hands to, you're going to defile. Or someone
asked Charles Spurgeon one time, do you all ordain elders by laying
on hands on their head and blessing them? He said, what good's it
going to do me to put my dirty hands on another man's dirty
head? You know, that was for the apostles to do. That was
one of the unique things that the Lord did in those early days
of anointing the disciples. But no. No, our hands are dirty. Our head's dirty. That's why
he was wounded in his hands. You remember Job. Job justifies
himself. Elihu is angry at Job because
Job was accusing God of wrongdoing. Job was saying, I don't deserve
this. And Elihu preaches the gospel
to him. And then the Lord comes and says,
Job, Brace yourself like a man, I'm gonna ask you a few questions.
And in Job chapter 40, look at verse one. Moreover, the Lord
answered Job and said, shall he that contendeth with the Almighty
instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him
answer it. Are you trying to teach me something,
Job? Are you reproving me? Isn't that really what we do
when we complain? It really is the root of all
of our murmuring. Adam was accusing God. The woman
that you gave me, she did give to me and I did eat. God, this
is all your fault. That's not the voice of rejoicing,
is it? Or give us grace to rejoice even
when things are not going as we would like for them to go.
Believing that they're going exactly like they're supposed
to go. But look what, look what the Lord said to Job. He said,
he said, you're going to reprove God. Then Job answered the Lord
and said, behold, I am vile. Now that word behold means I
see something I've never seen before. I never realized how vile I was,
how sinful I was, how unrighteous I was, how guilty I was. And Job said, behold, Lord, who
was I to accuse God? Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will
lay my hand upon my mouth once I have spoken, but I will not
answer, yea, twice, but I will proceed no farther. Lord, I've
already said way too much. I'm gonna shut my mouth. Then
answer the Lord unto Job out of the world, when and said,
gird up thy loins now like a man, I will demand of thee and declare
thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? Wilt thou contend me that thou
mayest be righteous? Hast thou an arm like God? Or canst thou thunder with the
voice like him? Deck thyself now with majesty
and excellency. Array thyself with glory and
beauty. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath and behold everyone
that is proud and abase him. Job, can you, can you abase the
heart of a proud man? Only God can do that. You know,
most man-made religion is based on just, you know, curtailing
the behavior of your life. Men can change their behavior.
Men can change their attitude. Only God can change the heart.
What's the Lord saying to Job? Job, can you take a proud man,
a self-righteous man, and change his heart? Verse 12, look on everyone that
is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked in their
place, hide them in the dust together and bind their faces
in secret. Can you do that, Job? No, you
can't. Only God can do that. And verse
14, Job, in the day when you are able to do what only I can
do, That's what God's saying in verse 14. Job, when you can
do what only I can do, then I will confess unto thee
that thine own right hand can save thee. Job, when you can be God, then
you can save yourself. with your right hand. But in
the meantime, you're dependent upon my right hand to save you,
aren't you? Aren't you? We say with brother
Job, behold, I'm vile. I need the right hand of God.
Go back with me to our text. This is the voice of rejoicing.
The Lord is our strength. He is our song. He has become
our salvation. He is the right hand of God's
salvation. He is the right hand of blessing.
You remember when Jacob is about to die in Egypt and Joseph brings
Manasseh and Ephraim to Jacob to be blessed by his father? And Jacob's blind. He's an old
man. Can't see. And Manasseh, Joseph's
eldest son, he brings and puts on Jacob's right hand. And Ephraim,
the younger, he puts on his left hand. And Jacob does this. He crosses his, he puts his right
hand on Ephraim and he puts his left hand on Manasseh. And Joseph
objects to his father, he said, father, father, no, don't, no,
this is, this is my eldest, put you right in over here, that's
the hand of blessing. And Jacob said, son, I know what
I'm doing. Ephraim was God's elect. Ephraim was the tribe
that represents the church of God's elect in all of Israel.
Manasseh, Manasseh was, and a matter of fact, the Manasseh tribe was
divided. which is pretty typical of man-made
religion today, isn't it? They're all divided. Ephraim
was God's chosen. That's where the blessing was.
And then you remember, well, how does this blessing come to
us? You remember when the Lord was instructing Aaron on how
he was to intercede as the high priest for the children of Israel?
And when he slew that lamb, he was to take the blood of the
lamb, and he was to put it on the earlobe of his right ear,
the thumb of his right hand, and the great toe of his right
foot. You see what that's a picture
of, don't you? The only way our ears are going to be unstopped
and our only way we're going to be able to hear the voice
of rejoicing and and have Christ as our as our right hand is for
his shed blood to put away our sins. The only way the evil works
of our hands can be washed away is by his blood. The only way
that we can stand and walk straight before God is by his blood. It's
all on the right hand of God. The right hand of God hath done
valiantly. He hath become my salvation.
The world's not aware of this. David had an enemy. His name
was Amasa, Amasa. And David's commander's name
was Joab. Joab was a ruthless warrior. And Joab was sent by David to
do business with Amasa. And the scripture says that Joab
came up to Amasa and took him by the beard with his right hand. And Emesa thought that Joab was
going to give him a kiss. And the scripture says that Emesa
took no notice of the sword that was in Joab's left hand. Just as the right hand of God
is the hand of blessing, the left hand of God is the hand
of judgment. And like a mesa, most men take
no notice of the fact that God has a sword in his left hand. And that wrath and judgment is
the end of all those who cannot rejoice in the valiant work of
God's right hand. The world doesn't know the difference
between the right hand and the left hand of God. You remember
when Jonah, after the repentance of the people of Nineveh, and
Jonah went and sulked and the Lord gave him a gourd and a vine
to shade him from the sun. And then the vine died and the
gourd died and Jonah got upset. And the Lord rebuked Jonah by
saying, Jonah, should not I have spared Nineveh? For there are
in the city of Nineveh 120,000 who cannot tell the right hand
from the left hand. Now most of the commentators
will tell you, well he's referring to children who haven't learned
their right from their left yet. No. No. The people of Nineveh cannot
discern the difference between the right hand and the left hand. of God. It's his right hand. Christ is the right hand of God.
He's the one who's seated at the right hand of God. He's the
one who's done valiantly. It's the sheep that are on the
right hand of God. The goats are on the left hand
of God. The sword of God is in his left hand. The scripture
doesn't tell us about those two thieves on the cross as far as
which one was on the right hand, but which was on the left. But
you know where they were, don't you? No question in my mind. That the one that God gave the
grace to believe was on the right hand of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The scripture says one was on the right and one was on the
left. Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse
two says a wise man's heart is in his right hand, but a fool's
heart is in his left. Look at verse 16, the right hand
of the Lord is exalted. It is exalted. Oh, God has given
him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus,
every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. He has given
him the preeminence over, over the living and the dead. He's
made him to be Lord. The right hand of God is exalted. He has done valiantly. He is
exalted. The right hand of the Lord hath
done, or doeth, valiantly. He doeth valiantly. He conquers his people. He didn't just do valiantly on
Calvary's cross, he's still doing valiantly. He still gets his
way all the time, all the time. Somebody called me recently,
and after my conversation, when they were asking about the church,
and after my conversation, I thought, you know, they were asking some
really dumb questions about the church. And I got a little aggravated. And I basically said, you're
just asking the wrong questions. You need to ask what we think
of Christ. And I started talking to him
really, and we hung up and I thought, man, I just. Lord, if he's yours,
you'll override whatever offense I may have added to the gospel.
And I know that's sure. I know that's for sure. He lives
here in Orlando. He's got a family and kids and,
you know, looking for a church. And I thought, you know, I need
to call this guy back and apologize. And I thought, no. I told him
the truth. And if he's the Lord, God will do valiantly with him.
And there's no doubt about it. No doubt about it. Look at verse 17. I shall not
die. The Lord told. Mary and John Chapter 11. I am
the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me. Though
he die, yet shall he live. Yet shall he live. Oh, the body's
gonna die. We don't have to fear death.
The Lord has conquered death. He's done valiantly. He's conquered
the grave. I shall not die, but live and
declare the works of the Lord. Now, these things are true first
and foremost of the Lord Jesus. He said, I'm not gonna die. He died, but he didn't die, did
he? I shall live. The Lord have chastened me sore,
but he hath not given me over to death. There's the voice of rejoicing.
Whatever chastening the Lord finds necessary for me is because
he loves me. No question about that. Scripture's
clear. If you're not, if you're not
chastened by God, You don't, if you're not, if you're not
reminded by the Lord of how vile and how weak and how blind and
how dependent, how sinful you are and how needful you are for
Christ, then, um, you're not as child. The Lord has chastened me sore,
but he's not given me over it onto death. Open to me the gates
of righteousness and I will go into them. I will praise the
Lord. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
calling for those gates to be open. Open up the gates, I'm
coming in. And he entered back into glory
and took his rightful place at the right hand of God. And he's
still doing valiantly. And we say, open up to us the
gates of righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
gate. He's the door into the sheepfold, John chapter 10, he's
clear on that, isn't he? I am the door. It's the liar,
it's the thief, it's the, they come in some other way. And Matthew
chapter seven, the Lord said, narrow is the gate. Turn with me to that passage,
Matthew chapter seven. Verse 13, enter ye in at the straight gate,
narrow gate, straight it's, and for wide is the gate and
broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be
which go in there at because straight is the gate and narrow
is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find
it. Now the Lord says, open the gate
of righteousness. Oh Lord, open the gate of righteousness
for me. Make Christ to be my strength
and my song and all my salvation and all my righteousness and
all of my justification, all of my law keeping. open to me the gates of righteousness
and I will go in them and I will praise the Lord. This gate of
the Lord into which the righteous shall enter. Verse 20 verse 21
I will praise thee for thou hast heard me and art become my Salvation. The stone which the builders
refused is become the headstone of the corner. You see that picture
there. The builders had this stone.
They threw it out, become a rock of stumbling now, a rock of offense. They've refused it. They've rejected
that stone. And God took that stone and made
that stone to be the head of the corner, the foundation stone,
the stone that holds all of God's work together is Christ. He is that rock. You remember
in Daniel chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar had that dream of that great
figure and a head of gold and arms and breasts of silver and
belly of brass and legs of iron and feet mixed with iron and
clay and Nebuchadnezzar didn't know what it meant. And Daniel
gave him the interpretation. He says those are the kingdoms
of the world and those are the only four kingdoms that have
ruled this world. The other men have tried. But
ever since the fall of the Roman Empire, no nation has ever ruled
this world, and they never will. Ever since the fall of the Roman
Empire, that was Babylonian Empire, the Medes and the Persians, the
Greeks and the Romans. And where are we now? We're in
the feet, mingled with iron and clay. And it's been that way
for, well, what, 1,400 years, 1,500 years since the fall of
the Roman Empire? And that's the way it's going
to remain. No nation is going to rule this world until what
happens? What did Daniel see? What did
Nebuchadnezzar see? He saw a mountain. And out of that mountain was
cut a rock. And the rock came and fell on
the figure and crushed the figure. And the rock grew into an eternal
kingdom. That rock is Christ. The rock
which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.
God is going to take that rock and crush all the kingdoms of
this world. And the kingdom of God is an eternal kingdom. Christ
is the king in that kingdom, isn't he? We long for the time
when we'll be able to worship him as we ought in that kingdom. which is an eternal kingdom.
All the kingdoms of this world are temporal. They're all shaken.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the right
hand of God. He's the gate of righteousness.
He's the rock of the kingdom of God. And He's
the reason for our rejoicing. The voice of rejoicing is heard
in the tabernacles of our God. And God, for Christ's sake, give
us the grace to rejoice in the Lord always, always. And again, I say, rejoice. Our merciful Heavenly Father.
We pray that your spirit would make your word effectual to our
hearts through faith. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 27. Let's stand together. Free from the law's great curse,
in Jesus we are free. For Christ became a curse for
us and died upon the tree. The rituals of the law and all
the law's commands have been fulfilled in Christ the Lord,
established by His hands. No covenant with the law can
now with us exist. Complete in Christ we stand by
grace, both free and ever blessed. No more the dread of wrath, no
more constrained by fear. We worship and we serve our God
with gratitude and cheer. In Jesus we are free. In Jesus we are free. Free from all sin and from all
guilt. We live in liberty. We'll join the happy song. with all the blood bought from
and sing the praises of the lamb whose grace makes us his own.