Before we get started. I wanted
to make some comments. About the face mask that we're
wearing tonight. I understand there's a a mutiny
abroad. And that a lot of you don't like
wearing those. I don't like him either. But. I got real nervous Sunday. Let me say this first of all.
There's so much about this virus we don't know. We don't really
know how extended. I've yet to meet anybody that
knows anybody that has it. So, but it's real and it's extremely
contagious and the mortality rate for people with underlying
health issues It's not working? Okay. I don't know if Christine
knows how to turn that on. The translation equipment or
the one that says, I think it might be that little box right
there. No? Okay. Laura Grace will do it. Laura
Grace is going to take care of it. We're the only church that I
know of. That has continued to meet throughout
this. I mean, even though we only had
a few people here for several weeks. And and I felt pretty
good about that. You know, we were all being careful.
And then Sunday. We had over 60 people here and
everybody was anxious to see one another and it was a lot
of. unconsensual hugging and handshaking
going on. So I don't know if we're going
to have to wear the face mask, but everybody's doing it, you
know. And, you know, I don't know if
it's necessary, but I know that we have some people that are
vulnerable. And when we have 60, 80, 100
people in this little room, All it takes is one person to come
in to be a real problem. And I feel particularly responsible.
I am responsible. I mean, buck stops with me. And
I went, I lost sleep Sunday night and Monday night worried about,
you know, what might happen. And I have since found out that
the people that we really need to protect in our congregation,
some of them are not able to wear a face mask. But the masks
are not really for you, they're for them. And so if we could do this for
just a little while until, you know, every day new information's
coming out and we're finding out more of the truth about this
virus. But so, you know, hopefully in
the next few weeks more information will be out and we'll be able
to make better decisions. In the meantime, hugs and handshakes
consensually only. Make sure that the person that
you're attempting to shake hands with or touch is in agreement
with that. And if they're not, you be okay
with that. And if you're not, you let people
know that you're not okay with that. And don't, you know, don't
make somebody feel bad because they don't want to shake your
hand or hug you. The people that are reluctant have some very
serious underlying health issues. And this could be deadly for
them. So respect that. I know some, People think that
this was kind of a knee-jerk reaction on my part. It really
wasn't. It was more a tap on the brakes. That's really what it is for
me. It was just, you know what, we
need to slow down a little bit and make sure we're doing this
right before we go any further. So thank you for supporting us
all in that. If you're OK with, you know,
with hugging folks and shaking hands, great. But some people
aren't and you need to respect that. And, OK? All right. Tom, where are you? All right. And if you have anybody
that's not here that has any questions, this is online. Those
comments I just made are on the internet, so they can listen
to them. All right. Number 374 from the hardback
temple. Let's all stand together. Jesus calls us o'er the tumult
of our lives while restless sea. Day by day his sweet voice soundeth,
saying, Christian, follow me. Jesus calls us from the worship
of the vain world's golden store. From each idol that would keep
us, Saying, Christian, love me more. In our joys and in our
sorrows, Days of toil and hours of ease, Still he calls in cares
and pleasures, Christian, love me more than these. ? Jesus calls us by thy mercies
? ? Savior may we hear thy call ? ? Give our hearts to thy obedience
? ? Serve and love thee best of all ? Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. We're. Well spaced tonight on
a Wednesday night and few here. If you want to pull your mask
down, feel free to do that. And I think we're yeah, we're
good with that. OK, my main concern was for Sunday. You know when we just. Everybody
was so anxious and there was just too much. Too much going
on for some of our folks, so. And I worry for them so. Ephesians chapter one beginning
at verse 3. Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who have blessed us with all
spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ? according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. And here's
the point that I want you to see, because this phrase is used
three times in these next few verses. verse six, to the praise
of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he at the
bounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure,
which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on the earth, even
in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to
the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom
you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed,
you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of his glory. Unto the praise of
his glory. I've prepared a message tonight
from Psalm 115. Who gets the glory? Who gets the glory? Let's pray
together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
We know that you do all things according to the good pleasure
of your will, to the praise of the glory of your grace. Lord, we come into thy presence
thanking you that we have acceptance in the beloved, that the Lord
Jesus Christ is all our righteousness before thee, and that all of
our sin has been put away and that your justice has been satisfied
through his precious shed blood on Calvary's cross. Father, we
pray that you would give us wisdom and pray that you'd give us understanding
and discernment, most especially when it comes to your nature
and your work, your glory. Lord, when it comes to the temporal
things of this life, we ask that you would order our steps. Keep
us safe. We pray it in Christ's name.
Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number three. from your Spiral Gospel Hymns
hymn book number three. We sing this hymn a cappella. A debtor to mercy alone of covenant
mercy I sing, nor fear with thy righteousness on my person and
offering to bring. The terrors of law and of God
with me can have nothing to do. My Savior's obedience and blood
hide all my transgressions from view. The work which His goodness
began, the arm of His strength will complete. His promise is
yea and amen and never was forfeited yet. Things future nor things
that are now, not all things below nor above can make him
his purpose forego or sever my soul from his love. My name from the palm of his
hands, eternity will not erase. Impressed on his heart it remains,
in marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end shall endure,
As sure as the earnest is giv'n, More happy, but not more secure,
The glorified Spirit's in heaven. Please be seated. If you have your Bibles, you'd
like to open them with me to Psalm 115. Psalm 115, not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for
thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. The gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace in the glorious person and accomplished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only message of salvation that
gives to God all the glory. Every other message that men
have contrived rob him of his glory and take to man some credit
and some work for their own salvation. And if there's anything that
distinguishes the truth from error, it is who it is that gets
all the glory. All the glory. Not unto us, O
Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name. Give glory for thy mercy
and for thy truth sake. Turn with me, if you will, to
Galatians chapter five. Galatians chapter five. This was the issue in the church
of Galatia who got all the glory for salvation. And you remember
the church in Galatia had some false prophets that came in that
tempted them to go back to the Mosaic Law for the hope of their
salvation. Basically what they said was,
yes, Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, he is the Messiah, and
he is necessary for salvation. But he's not sufficient. You've
got to have Christ plus you've got to do this or do that. It was Jesus plus gospel, which
in the end, robs Christ of his glory and it denies the very
truth of Psalm 115 verse 1. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us. No glory goes to us. Lord, you
get all the glory. You get all the glory for having,
as we just read in Ephesians chapter 1, for having sovereignly,
according to your own will and purpose, predestinated a people,
a particular people, before time ever began. You get all the glory
for having worked out a righteousness for your elect. through the perfect
obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. You get all the glory for having
put away their sin through the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary's
cross. They can't add anything to or
take anything away from the accomplished finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ as our sin bearer, as the one who satisfies everything
that God requires. He gets all the glory. He put
our sin away once and for all by the sacrifice of himself. We made no contribution to that.
He gets all the glory for sending his spirit and power and making
those whom he chose and those whom Christ died for willing
in the day of his power. He makes them willing. He opens
the eyes of their understanding. He gives them ears to hear. He
takes out their heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh.
He causes them to believe and to turn and he gets all the glory
for that. We can't say, well, I pursued,
we saw that in Exodus chapter 15. I pursued and I overtook
and I dropped my sword. No, we don't say that. Not unto
us, oh Lord, not unto us. but into thy name, be all the
glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. He gets the glory
in regeneration. He gets the glory in sanctification. Who is it that keeps you coming
back to Christ? Who is it that refuses to let
you alone and let you go astray from him? He does, doesn't he? You don't just decide when, it's
the spirit of God that brings us under conviction. It's the
spirit of God that comforts us. It's the spirit of God that keeps
drawing us back. He's the one that makes us continue
to come. And he's going to get all the
glory. What are we going to do when we draw our last breath
to make ourselves acceptable in the presence of God? What
are we going to do to enter into glory? He's going to have to
take us, isn't he? He's going to have to translate us just
like he did Enoch and carry us into the presence of God. He
get not unto us. You see this is the one thing
that distinguishes the difference between the truth of the gospel
of God's free grace that is successful in saving centers and all the
false gospel messages that men have contrived. We're going to
see that further in Psalm 115, but look what, look what Paul
says in Galatians chapter five, stand fast. Therefore don't go
back to Egypt. Don't go back to the law. Don't
look to anything else. Stand fast. Therefore in the
Liberty where with Christ has made us free and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Don't look to anything other
than Christ. Not unto us, oh Lord, not unto
us. Lord, we can't add to, we can't
take anything away from what you've done. You get all the
glory. You see, these Judaizers that
were coming in were robbing Christ of His glory and telling men,
well, you know, you need to do this, and you need to do that,
and you need to have this, and nothing's changed. The message
of salvation that we hear in the world today is a Jesus plus. Look what Paul goes on to say,
well, the Lord is saying to us, behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, and circumcision is representative
here of everything we lay our hands to. It is not of him that
willeth, it's not of him that runneth, it's of God that showeth.
He gets all, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. He gets all the
glory. And he says, if you've been circumcised,
if you put your hand to the work of salvation at any point, then
Christ shall profit you nothing. You see, Christ is either going
to get all the glory or he's not going to get any. He'll do
all the saving or he won't save it all. For another, for the Lord Jesus
Christ to profit us, we've got to say, with the Psalmist, not
unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be glory for
thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Who gets all the glory
for our salvation? For I testify again to every
man, verse three, that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the
whole law. You're gonna try to do something to satisfy God? You have to do every bit of it
and not just outwardly, but inwardly. You're going to have to be obedient
to the law of God. Like the Lord Jesus was, you
got to be born without sin and you have to live without sin.
You, you're obligated to keep the whole law. If you're trying
to keep any part of it as the hope of your salvation, Christ
has become no effect of you who swear no of no effect unto you,
whosoever you are the justified by the law, you're falling from
grace. If you look into anything other than the Lord, Jesus Christ,
for the hope of your salvation, you're not standing in grace. For we through the spirit wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. Faith is saying not
unto us, oh Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name. Be glory,
be all the glory for thy mercy and for thy truth sake. He gets all the glory because
of his mercy. Go back with me to Psalm 115. His mercy, and He delights in
showing mercy. This is His compassion. This
is His love. This is the affection that He
has for His people. It's the first cause of our salvation. The very first cause of our salvation
is the love of God. He has loved us with an everlasting
love. He put us in Christ because of
His love for us. He redeemed us because of His
greater love had no man than this. He laid down His life for
His friends. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ did. And herein
is love, not that we love God, but that God loved us and gave
His Son as a propitiation for our sins. It's the first cause.
For His mercy's sake, He gets all the glory because in His
heart, in the heart of God, in the eternal, infinite heart of
God, was compassion and mercy and love for his people. So the Psalmist says, not unto
us, we didn't have a love for God. And we love him because
he first loved us. He had to make us love him, didn't
he? And he, and he, and he did. He wooed us with his love. The
love of God constrained us. When we saw his love for us,
we were irresistibly drawn in love to him. And so we, we said,
Lord, not unto us, not unto us. We didn't, we didn't decide one
day we're going to love God. No, to the contrary, we're enmity
with God by nature. We come to this hot wind of this
world with no love for God. And, and he loves us. And so
we said, not unto us, not unto us, Oh Lord, but unto by name. Be all the glory for thy mercy. That's where it started. And,
uh, by truth's sake, what is the truth? The truth
is that God's holy and God required justice and righteousness for,
to, to satisfy his holy nature. And, uh, you and I weren't able
to do anything to accomplish that. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the only one that could measure up to what God required. That's
the truth. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ
said, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No man can come to the Father
but by me. For thy mercy, that's his motivation, and for thy truth,
that's his work. That's why he did it, his mercy,
and what he did. satisfied truth. David said in Psalm 85 verse
10, mercy and truth have met together. The compassion of God,
the mercy of God, the love of God, and the requirement that
God has to satisfy his divine justice, to punish sin, and to
establish a perfect righteousness was accomplished at Calvary's
cross. That's where mercy and truth
met together. That's where righteousness and
peace kissed each other at Calvary's cross. We see the mercy of God
most clearly at Calvary's cross. We see the justice of God and
the truth of God demonstrated most fully and clearly at the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're able to say, Lord,
I didn't do anything. I can't get any credit. I can't
say, well, you know, I just decided one day that I was going to let
God come into my heart. I was going to invite Jesus.
I was going to give my life to Christ. You see, that's men robbing
God of his glory. What's the child of God say?
Not unto us. This is the thing that distinguishes
the truth of the gospel from all the lies that Satan is telling
in the world. Who gets all the glory? And the child of God says, not
unto us. Oh Lord, not unto us, but into
thy name be glory, all the glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. That's why you get all the glory. Look at verse, look at verse
two. Wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God?
But our God is in the heaven and he has done whatsoever yet
pleased. You know, the heathen is the
unbeliever. It doesn't mean they're irreligious.
No, to the contrary, most heathens are bare religious. And when
they come and they listen to what we say, what do they say? Where's your God? Well, let me
ask you that if you ask them, well, where's your God, what
would they say? What would they say? Well, they would point to
their religious trinkets. They would point to their works.
They would point to a decision that they made. They would point
to their creeds and confessions. They would point to their, uh,
to their baptism, their ceremonies and their traditions. They would
point to an experience that they had and a feeling. They said,
that's where my God is. In other words, all the evidences
of their God are measured by the flesh. It's what you can
see. It's what you can experience.
It's what you can feel. It's what you can touch. And
without that, they have no God. We don't have any of that. See, our God can only be seen
by the eyes of faith. Our God can only be seen by the
work of the Spirit of God. Our God can only be seen through
the preaching of the gospel. We just read that he hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased, what the scripture says. Hey, God, our God has been pleased
by the foolishness of preaching to save them which believe. What's
the heathen say? Where's your God? Where's your
God? We don't see any evidence of
your God. And we don't go around the child of God because he begins
with not unto us, oh Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be
glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. You don't hear
the people of God going around showing their God by telling
people what they're doing. Do God's people serve the Lord?
Yeah, they do. They do. But they're ashamed
of their service. They're not proud of it. They're
ashamed of it. Lord, I'm but an unprofitable
servant. I should be doing so much more than I'm doing. I can't
brag on my service to God, but that's what they do. You see,
they say, well, where's your God? Tell me something you're
doing for God. And what do we do? I can't tell
you what I'm doing for God. Well, I'll tell you what I'm
doing for God. And that's their God. And so the heathen says
unto us, where's your God? I'll show you mine. I'll show
you my God by what I'm doing. I'll show you my God by what
I'm experiencing. I'll show you my God by my, by
my religious. Look, look here. I got this cross
right here on my neck. There, there he is. I've got
a big one, bigger one on the wall with the man hanging on
it or, you know, or statue. I can wait. All these, all these
things, that's their, their, their showing the evidence of
their God by the flesh. Now here's the truth, brethren.
We don't look to our God by any evidences in the flesh. We're not looking to our works
for the evidence of our salvation. We're not looking to anything
we carry around for the evidence of our salvation. You see. We're looking to Christ, who
himself is the author and the finisher of our faith. And without
faith, it's impossible to please God. Our God is pleased with
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is my beloved son. In him,
I am well pleased. And what did the Lord say in
Colossians? It pleased God. It pleased God. Look at our text. But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. And Colossians chapter
one says, and it pleased the father that in him should all
fullness dwell. Our God's in the heavens and
he's pleased with his son. And, and he's not looking to
me for anything. So I can say not unto us, not
unto us, but unto thy name, be glory for thy mercy and for thy
truth sake. And the even says, where's your
God. I'll show you my God. You show me yours. And we say,
I can't, I can't tell you anything I'm doing for him. That would,
that would prove his existence. I can't, I can't show you any
physical evidence. No, our God is in the heavens
and he half done notice the verb tense. He half done it's accomplished. He's finished his work of redemption
in the only one that he's ever been pleased with. And I'm just
looking in faith to the same one that my God's looking to. Unless God gives years to hear
and eyes to see. You're not going to see my God.
He's in the heavens. See, all my blessings are in
Christ in heavenly places. No, it's not by might nor by
power, but by my spirit saith the Lord, our God cannot be seen through
fleshly means. The natural man cannot receive
the things of the spirit. He can't know them. He can't
experience them. They're spiritually discerned.
That's why the Lord said in Nicodemus, Nicodemus, septa man be born
again. He shall not see the kingdom
of God. You can't, you can't see it. Where's your God? He's
in the heavens. How are we going to see that? Through faith. through faith, by the preaching
of the gospel and the declaration of who Christ is and what he's
accomplished, we know that he is seated at the right hand of
the majesty on high. Sit thou here at my right hand
until I make thine enemies thy footstool, for I have made thee
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Can you see that
with your physical eyes? No. But you see it, don't you? And you believe it. Your physical
eyes will fool you, but the eye of faith won't fool you. You
know it's true. You know where he is. You might
doubt everything else in this world, but when God gives you
faith to rest your hope on the Lord Jesus Christ, to say From
the heart, not unto us, oh Lord, not unto us. Lord, I didn't do
anything, but unto thy name, be all the glory for thy mercy
and for thy truth sake. And the heathen might say, where's
your God? Because they can look at evidences
of their God, but we respond by saying our God's in the heavens
and he hath done. Done, D-O-N-E, he hath finished
what he pleased. And he has accomplished my salvation. 1 Samuel 12, verse 22 said, the
Lord will not forsake his people for his namesake because it hath
pleased him to make you his people. He will not forsake his people
for his namesake. He's got a covenant promise on
his people. He said, he's made you to be
his people. It pleased God. First Corinthians
chapter one, verse 21. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. He's pleased. He's pleased to save them who
believe by the foolishness of preaching. Now to us, preaching
is not foolish, but to the world it is. That passage, that whole
verse in 1 Corinthians 1 says, when the world by wisdom knew
not God, In other words, they, they, they went after all the
different philosophies and religions in order to try to find God.
And when the world by their wisdom knew not God, God, by the foolishness
of preaching what they consider, that's not wise. That's foolish.
God through the foolishness of preaching was pleased to save
them, which believe. To open their eyes, to give them
faith. Faith comes by hearing, doesn't
it? And hearing comes by the word of God. And so we just keep
preaching Christ because that's what, that's what pushes away
the fog. And that's what enables us to
peer into glory and to see our savior seated successfully. Having pleased the father and
put away our sins. so that we can say not unto us,
oh Lord, not unto us. We would never dare rob God of
his glory and salvation. He's done it all. He did it all
by himself. He did it because of his namesake
and he did it by his mercy and he did it by his truth. And the
detractors of the world might say, where's your God? And we
say with confidence, our God, He's in the heavens. You can't
see him unless he opens your eyes. And if he does, it'll be
through the preaching of the gospel. He's going to shut your
mouth, open your ears, sit you down and make you to hear. And
then you'll see. Then you'll see Isaiah chapter 53, it pleased. The Lord, our God is in the heavens
and he hath done whatsoever. He's pleased. He's never asked
anybody for permission. He's never considered an optional
view. He's never asked a question.
He's never learned anything. He's never changed his mind,
whatever he's pleased to do. He does. And he, and you know,
When we do things, we have to weigh the consequences of our
choices, don't we? And we have to decide, well,
what's the right thing to do? What's the wrong thing to do?
And hopefully the Lord gives us grace to make some good choices
in life. But God's not like that. He just
acts. And because he did it, it makes
it right. He doesn't have to say, well,
I wonder what's the best option here like us, or what's right
and what's wrong. Because he did it, it's right. And so when a scripture says
he hath done whatsoever he's pleased to do, you and I can't
go through life just doing what we're pleased to do. Well, we'd
leave a train wreck of destruction behind us, wouldn't we? If we
just acted on our pleasures all the time. He's not like us. He just does
what he's pleased to do. And when he does it, because
he did it, it's right. Isn't that glorious? Not unto us, O Lord. It pleased
God to bruise him and to make his soul an offering for sin. And the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. Isaiah 53 verse 10. So it pleased
God to bruise him. It was the pleasure of the Lord
to pour out the wrath of his justice on the Lord Jesus Christ
as he hung suspended between heaven and hell on Calvary's
cross as our sin bearer. And as our substitute, it pleased
God to bruise him. The Lord Jesus Christ was not
making us an offer to be saved or not. He was making himself
an offering to the father. And the father saw the travail
of his soul. And the father said, I'm satisfied. I'm pleased. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
42. This is, this is glorious. Isaiah chapter 42. You familiar
with this passage? It's quoted in Matthew chapter
12, behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. Now you see that word delighteth? When this verse is translated
in Matthew chapter 12, instead of the word delighteth, it's
the words well pleased. Well pleased. Our God is in the
heavens and he hath done whatsoever he's pleased. And here, here
he said, behold, my servant, my elect look to the Lord Jesus
Christ, because in him, I am well pleased. I had put my spirit
upon him and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He's
going to do it. Not unto us. Oh Lord, not unto
us. but unto thy name be glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. And the heathen says, where's
your God? I'll show you mine. And we say, he's in the heavens
and he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. And he's pleased
to give eyes to see through the preaching of the gospel. to those
that he was pleased to choose and those that he was pleased
to save. And we're good with that, aren't
we? We're just good with that. Verse four, Psalm 115, Men are by nature idolaters.
We come into this world speaking lies. We come into this world
deceived. We come into this world with
a little idol factory in our darkened imagination. And from
the very earliest stages of life, it begins fashioning little pictures
of God, doesn't it? And we make him to be altogether
as unto ourselves. And that's exactly what this
passage says. What is idolatry? It's creating, fashioning, and
worshiping a false god. And in doing so, it robs God
from his glory. And it ascribes to another the
glory that belongs to God. That's what idolatry is. And
anything apart from, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto thy name, be all the glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake, is idolatry. Look at their idols
are silver and gold, verse 4, the work of men's hands. They
have mouths but they speak not, eyes they have but they see not.
They have ears but they hear not, noses have they but they
smell not. They have hands but they handle not, feet have they
but they walk not. Neither speak they through their
throat. And they that make them are like unto them, so is everyone
that trusteth in them. Here's the Here's the spiritually
dead idolater who has fashioned for himself a little God in the
idle factory of his imagination. And that little God looks just
like him. And he worships himself and puts himself on the throne
of God, makes that God dependent upon him. In order for that God
to be able to do anything for him, he's got to consent to it,
doesn't he? He has to agree to it. He's got
to make some contribution to it. And the Lord saying, those
are just all idols. That's all they are. No, our God has feet and they
were pierced. He was wounded for our transgressions
because our feet are swift to shed blood. His feet were pierced. Our God has hands. And they were
pierced as he was wounded for our transgressions because our
hands can do nothing but work iniquity. But the hands of the
Lord Jesus Christ did nothing but perfection. Our God has a
throat, doesn't he? And out of his mouth, oh, there
came nothing but perfect perfection. Well, the perfection of God was
spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ. There was no guile in him. Our God walks upright. Now here's
the glorious truth. All men are like their God. And so the idolater fashions
a God like himself, and he makes the God to be like him. And our
God fashions us to be like him. For as he is, so are we in this
world. We have perfect righteousness
before our God. Our sins have been put away.
Our God who has a An eye and ears and hands and feet and throat
stood in our stead, satisfied everything that God required.
And God now has made us to be like him. We're perfect. The new man before God stands
perfect in Christ. He said, well, show me that. He's
in the heavens. And if you look to me to find
that, all you're gonna see is the evidences of what you can
see. You can't see my new man. You can't see my new nature.
And I can't see mine and you can't see yours either, can you?
All you see is the corruption of your flesh that you carry
around so that you say, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God. Through the
eyes of faith, I can say, There is now therefore no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. I have perfection before God
in Christ. I can't see it. I don't expect,
but I believe it. Why? Because God said so. Not
unto us, oh Lord. Not unto us, but unto thy name
be all the glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. And
the heathen says, show me your God. And we say, oh no. Our God's in the heavens. He's
got to reveal himself. I can't show him to you, but
he can show himself. And if he does, it'll be by his
spirit, through his word and the preaching of the gospel.
And you'll come to see my God. Where is he? He's in the garden.
You remember, you remember when the, when the, when the bride
was looking for her beloved in the song of Solomon and, and,
and they, and they said, where is thy beloved? Oh, he's gone
down to the garden. That's where the spices are.
That's where, that's where he makes himself known. And that's
where you and I are right now. And I'll finish with verse nine.
Oh, Israel. Oh, Israel. What is Israel as
a prince? Royalty. Okay. Adopted as the children of God. What higher place could any,
could any creature of God, any son of Adam have? Oh, Israel. Trust thou in the Lord for he
is your help and he is your shield. He's the one that will defend
you and protect you and provide for you. And notice the next
verse. Oh, house of Aaron. Now in revelation,
it says that God has made us to be unto him, Kings and priests. In other words, we have a position
of royalty in the family of God, and we have access into his presence
as a kingdom of priests through our high priest. It's not talking
about fellowship with God, union with God. It's talking about
acceptance with God, kings and priests. Now, what does the Psalm
here say? Israel, that's your kingship.
Aaron, that's your priesthood. Israel, trust in the Lord. Aaron,
Aaron, trust in the Lord for he is your help and your shield. Do I look like a king? No. Can
I show you my acceptance before God? No, I can't. I can't. The Lord can show it. But I know this, I can get no
glory and take no credit and rob the Lord Jesus Christ of
none of his work. And I can't add to or take away
from what he's done. All my trust as Aaron, the priest
and as Israel, the Prince. is looking in faith to the Lord
Jesus Christ. You can't see him. The world,
let the religious world, all they've got is eyes. All they've
got is physical eyes. And they're looking for evidences
of God in their life, in their world, in their religion. And
we say, our God is in the heavens. He hath done. Whatsoever he had
been pleased to do. And he was pleased. Paul said,
when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by his grace to reveal Christ in me, all done at his
pleasure, our merciful heavenly father, we're thankful. For the truth of salvation that
gives to you all the glory. Exalts thy dear son. Lord, we pray that you would.
Give us eyes of faith to believe. Forgive us for our unbelief.
We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 488488 let's stand together. Yeah. I will sing of my Redeemer and
His wondrous love to me. On the cruel cross He suffered
from the curse to set me free. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer
With His love He purchased me On the cross He sealed my pardon
Paid the debt and made me free. I will tell the wondrous story,
How my lost estate to save. In His boundless love and mercy
He the ransom freely gave. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer, With His blood He purchased me. On the cross He sealed my pardon,
He sealed my pardon, debt, and made me free. I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant power I'll tell, How the victory given, over sin
and death and hell. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer. Sing of, oh, my Redeemer. He purchased me, He purchased
me. On the cross He sealed my pardon. He sealed my part, paid the debt,
and made me free, and made me free. I will sing of my Redeemer and
His heavenly love to me. He from death to life hath brought
me, Son of God, with Him to be. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer, With His blood He purchased me. On the cross He sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free.