Good morning. Let's open this
morning's service with hymn number 22 from the Spiral hymn book,
and let's all stand together. Number 22. We were ruined by the fall, Adam's
sin defiles us all. By our deed as by our birth,
we deserve the law's great curse. Helpless, hopeless sinners we
Never can our souls retrieve But the blessed Son of God Came
as man in flesh and blood He fulfilled the law's demands And
in death stretched out his hand Calvary, Christ redeemed and
set us free. In the time which God had set,
the Spirit came for His elect to regenerate and call from the
ruin of the fall. By his power and by his grace
We were born for God's own praise Now your purpose we fulfill Saved
according to your will Sing this song of joyful praise For the
glory of your grace blessed, holy, triune God. Hear our praise through Christ
our Lord. Please be seated. Good morning. If you'd like to open your Bibles
with me, we're going to be in Psalm 111 this morning. Psalm
111. 11 and i've titled this message
the power of his works the power of his works you'll see that
in verse 6 he hath showed his people the power of his works
that's our prayer this morning that's our hope that the Lord
would be pleased to show us the power of his works. Let's ask his blessings on our
time together. Let's pray together. Our merciful heavenly Father, we confess to you, Lord, that
we have nothing in and of ourselves that would recommend us to thee. Lord, we have but one place to
go to find all our acceptance in thy holy presence. And what
hope and comfort we have in knowing that thy dear son, our sin bearer,
our advocate, our surety, our savior is seated at thy right
hand and that he lives to make intercession for us. And so father,
we come into thy presence in the name of thy dear son. And
we ask Lord that you would answer the prayer of that hymn that
we just sang for Christ's sake. We ask father that you'd be pleased
to put away our sin for Christ's sake. We pray father that you
would reunite the fellowship of the saints soon, and that
you would give us that good hope and comfort of
worshiping you together as a congregation. We thank you for the ability
to be able to broadcast these services, and we ask your blessings
on them. Lord, we pray you bless your
word. Pray that you would open our eyes. We pray, Lord, that
you would open the windows of heaven, that you would come down
and visit with us. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. You have your Bibles open to
Psalm 111. One thing that all false gospels
have in common is that they deny the power of God. When the Lord
was speaking to his church through the Apostle Paul to Timothy,
he said, they have the form of godliness. They have the form
of godliness. They have the outward appearances
of being godly, but they deny the power thereof. They deny
the very essence of deity, which is omnipotence. Now our scripture
tells us that the Lord shows to his people, the power of his
works, the accomplishments of his works. The Lord said of those Pharisees,
you honor me with your lips. You call me Lord, Lord, but your
hearts are far from me. You, you deny the essence of
my deity. You deny God, his power. God's people rejoice in ascribing
to him all glory and all power for he has showed unto them the
power of his works. Now, how is it that the Lord
shows his people the power of his works? What distinguishes
the difference between how the Lord shows to his people the
power of his works and the fact that the rest of the
world doesn't know the power of his works? Well, he strips
them of their power. Uh, you have no understanding
and no, no insight, no faith in the power of his works until
you have lost all power. The Lord said, all power has
been given unto me now to be made a center is to be stripped
of your power. Lord, I don't have anything.
Lord, I can't do anything. Lord, I don't know anything.
I have no ability to save myself. I don't have a will for you. I don't have the ability to have
faith. I can't make up for my sin. I
have no power. I'm stripped of my power. And we will not have any understanding
or belief in the power of his works until he brings us to that
place to where we are stripped of our own power. Turn with me
to second Corinthians chapter 12. You see the unbeliever who will
say with their lips that God is omnipotent, that he possesses
all power. Uh, at the same time, they will
deny him of his power by ascribing to themselves, some ability,
some ability. Uh, you remember when the, when
the man brought his son to the disciples to be healed, uh, scripture
says that he was a lunatic. He would be, the demons would
cast him into the fire and into the water and, and the disciples
weren't able to heal him. And so the man in desperation
is brought before Christ. And the man looks at the Lord,
Jesus Christ. And he says, Lord, if you can
do anything, help us. And the Lord very calmly looked
at him and said, if you can believe all things are possible to him
that believeth. You see, when God shows us the
power of his works, we don't say to him, if you can do anything,
Lord, all power and all glory and all honor is being given
unto you. Lord, I have no power. I have
no ability. to save myself. I have no ability
to put away my sin. Look what Paul prays in 2 Corinthians
chapter 12. We'll begin reading in verse
7. And lest I should be exalted
above measure through the abundance of the revelations that was given
to me a thorn in the flesh. Paul talks about these glorious
revelations that the Lord had given him. of the gospel and
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and with those revelations came a
thorn in the flesh. The messenger of Satan to buffet
me lest I should be exalted above measure for this thing, this
thorn in the flesh, I besought the Lord thrice. I prayed three
times, Lord, take this thorn away. Take this demonic influence
out of my life. And he said unto me, My grace
is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions
and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am
strong. When we were yet without strength,
not when we had a little strength, not when we could wiggle our
little finger, not when we could make a decision or pray a prayer
or, or, or commit ourselves. But when we had nothing, when
we were without strength, without the ability to present ourselves
to God, Christ died for the ungodly. Now, you know, we've, we've looked
at that word ungodly before. You know what it means? It's
the word in the Greek language for worship with the little letter
alpha in front of it. That's what the word ungodly
means. It doesn't mean that person is engaged in all sorts of shameful
behavior. It means that they are unable
to present themselves into the presence of God and worship him. That's what it means to be ungodly.
Lord, I've got no ability to come into your presence. Lord,
you're going to have to, God shows the power of his works
to those who have no power. If you have any power at all,
if you have any ability whatsoever. If you have any righteousness
or anything that you believe will give you access to God,
then you'll never know the power of God. God strips us of our
power. When I'm weak, then I'm strong. And his strength is made perfect
in my weakness. Look at our text, Psalm 111. He hath given meat to them that
fear him, verse 5. He will ever be merciful of his
covenant, remindful of his covenant. He's given the meat of the gospel
to them. We're in Psalm 111, verse 5. He hath given meat. My body is
your meat indeed. My blood is your drink. Indeed,
unless you eat of my body and drink of my blood, you have no
life in you. This is the life and the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. His life is our righteousness. His death is our justification. We have no righteousness and
we cannot justify ourselves. We have no ability. And so he
gives us the Lord Jesus Christ as our meat. and he's ever mindful
of the covenant promise that he made in eternity past with
his son. I'm going to fulfill all my promises
for my son's sake. He accomplished that which I
sent him to do and I'm going to be ever mindful of my covenant,
my promise with him. Look at verse 6. He hath showed
his people. Only those who have no strength,
only those who have no ability have seen the power of his works. The Lord tells us in Proverbs
chapter 5, Our chapter three, verse five, trust in the Lord,
trust in the Lord with all of your heart, lean not on your
own understanding. You have no understanding in
all your ways. Acknowledge him. He's your strength
and he shall direct my path. The Lord knows how to humble
his people, doesn't he? He knows how to strip us of our abilities. Moses at the age of 40 thought
that he would deliver his brethren from the Egyptians and he saw
an Egyptian soldier, taskmaster, abusing a Hebrew and in an attempt
to deliver that Hebrew, he murdered that Egyptian taskmaster and
hid his body, you remember? And what was Moses doing? Moses was trying to deliver his
people with the power of his own hands. What'd God do? Next 40 years, 40 years he spent
on the backside of the desert. What was God doing? Humbling
him, humbling him until the Lord Jesus Christ made known to Moses
the power of his works. At the burning bush, Moses, take
off your shoes. This ground in which you stand
is holy ground. You see, Moses wasn't anxious
to go to Egypt at that point, was he? Moses said, Lord, I'm
not able. What can I do? I can't speak. I've been a shepherd here on
the backside of the desert for the last 40 years. You're going
to send me back to Egypt? Yeah. My strength is going to
be made perfect in your weakness. Same thing happened to Peter,
didn't it? When the Lord said that he was going to the cross
and made it clear that he had to go by himself and that no
one could go with him. And Peter said, they may deny
you, but not me, not me. Oh, Peter, if you're going to
see the power of my works, you're going to have to be stripped
of your own power. And that's exactly what happened that very
night, isn't it? Peter was broken. And Peter looked into the loving
eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ as he was coming out of the place
where he would been flogged and they wept bitterly, realizing,
I don't have anything. I don't have any strength. I'm
dependent on the power of his works. I don't have any works. My, all my works are as filthy
rags. All my righteousness is as filthy
rags. I can't do anything. This is,
you see, he shows to his people the power of his works. Other people, they honor him
with their lips. They say, oh yeah, he's God.
And as God, he must be omnipotent. But his omnipotence comes to
a screeching halt when it comes up against my free will. You
see, man by nature, it all goes back to the garden, doesn't it?
It all goes back to Satan's temptation to Eve. Man wants to be God. He wants
to be on the throne of God and he's got to be made to know that
there's nothing about God in him. That there's nothing in
him like God. Nothing in him like God. God
is holy. God is omnipotent. He shows to
his people the power of his works. Aren't you thankful? Aren't you
thankful to be left with no power? with no ability and every time
we lose sight of that and we try to control things, the Lord
quickly reminds us. He quickly reminds us, doesn't
he? And that's all. And he brings us to our knees.
And that's all prayer. Prayer is nothing more than an
admission and confession of one's inability. True prayer. is when we come into the presence
of God, confessing our total dependence on him for everything. Lord, if you don't save me, I
won't be saved. If you don't have mercy on my children, they
won't know mercy. Lord, if you don't give me wisdom,
I won't have wisdom. Lord, I can't fix this. What a blessing it is to be made
completely dependent upon him for everything. He shows to his
people the power of his works. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
only one that could please God, scripture says that God's eyes
are too pure to look upon iniquity. And that's the reason that we
hear the father saying three times, behold, this is my beloved
son in him. I'm well pleased. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the only one that could please the father. Only holiness
can please holiness. Only perfection can please perfection. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the one in whom the power of God is accomplished because he
pleased the father. In Isaiah chapter 53 verse 10
it says, yet it pleased him, the father, to bruise him, the
son, for he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he, the father, shall see his seed and shall prolong his days for
the pleasure of the Lord. The pleasure of the father is
in his hand. When God shows us the power of
his works, he shows us the Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who
was able to accomplish the work of the father. Deuteronomy 9, verse 29, they
are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by
thy mighty power. The Lord made a distinction between
the Israelites and the Egyptians, didn't he? He didn't show his
power to the Egyptians. He showed his power to the Israelites. so that not a hoof was left behind. Every single one of them was
brought out. That's the power of God in salvation. He said, you are my inheritance
and I have brought you out by my power. Oh, that God would
show us his son, the very right hand of God, the very one who
accomplished All that the father sent to do. Turn with me to Ephesians
chapter one, Ephesians chapter one. Look at verse 19. Oh, verse 18. At the eyes of your understanding,
being enlightened, there's the power of God. that he would give
sight to the blind. And that's what we are. We are
spiritually blind that God has to show us the power of his works,
that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may
know what is the hope of his calling? What is the hope of
his calling? Job said, When I'm made in his
likeness, I'll be satisfied. That's the hope of his calling
to be made like him, to be without sin, to have a glorified resurrected
body, to spend all of eternity in his glorious presence. That's
the hope of his calling. Now the natural man doesn't know
anything about the power of his works. Their whole lives are
wrapped up in the things of this world. and what the riches of
the glory of his inheritance in the saints. That's our inheritance,
isn't it? That's showing us by lightening
the eyes of our understanding, the power of his work. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
firstborn among many brethren. He ascended into glory, took
his rightful place. And because of that, Everyone
that he lived and died for have the hope of knowing that they
will be with him. And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us word who believe according to the working of his
mighty power faith. That's it. Lord, I wouldn't believe
if you didn't give me faith. I couldn't see if you didn't
give me eyes to see. I would not be able to hear if
you didn't give me ears to hear. I would have no righteousness
if Christ was not seated at thy right hand for all my righteousness. I could not do anything about
putting away my sin. Unless the Lord Jesus Christ
all by himself had been successful in putting away my sin. Lord,
I have no power. And he shows onto them the power
of his works. Has he shown you his power? Look
at, look at, look at, um, look at verse 20 on that same passage,
which he brought the father rot brought about. I love that word
rot. You know, we have wrought iron,
don't we? Where by heat and pressure and
pounding, a regular old ugly piece of iron can be made into
something beautiful. And the fiery wrath of God's
justice and the pounding of his justice, it formed the Lord Jesus
Christ, didn't it? And formed us. formed us which
he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and
set him at his own right hand in heavenly places far above
all principalities and power all power is being given unto
me far above all principalities far against all leaders and all
powers I'm the one who is seated and every name that is named
not only in this world but also in that which is to come He's been given preeminence.
There's no one that has the power that he has. I'm going to show
them the power of my works by showing them what it is my son
accomplished. He have put all things under
his feet. The father has put everything
onto the feet of the Lord Jesus. And gave him to be head over
all things to the church, to the church. Everything belongs to Christ
and it's for the salvation of his people. Next time somebody threatens
to take something away from you, just say, well, you can't do
that. I don't have anything. Next time somebody promises to
give you something, say, well, you can't do that. I already
own everything. And that's true. He shows to his people the power
of his works. His church, which is his body,
the fullness of him that filleth all in all. He shows to his people
the power of his works. What are we going to do to put
away our sin? How are we going to satisfy God's holy law? What
ground are we going to stand in the presence of a holy God?
How are we going to justify ourselves before God? We don't have any
power. Oh, when he shows us the power
of his works. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
1. I often quote the first couple
of verses in this passage and glorious as they are. I want us to look at verse three,
who speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ being the brightness of
his glory and the express image of his person and uphold it all
things by the word of his power. Don't you love it when those
Roman soldiers came to arrest the Lord at the, at the garden
of Gethsemane and the Lord asked him, he said, who are you seeking?
Jesus of Nazareth. I am. I am. And they fell over. They fell
backwards. They all had to get up off the
ground. I mean, with their swords and shields and who are you seeking? Jesus of Nazareth. Let these other go. And they
let him go. Even after Peter had taken the
ear off of the high priest servant, the soldiers still let him go.
Why? Because of the power of his word.
You let them go. Why? Because when he had by himself
purged our sin. That word purge means put away.
And He did it all by Himself. What power! What power! You and I can't make up for one
sin. And He took all the sins of all
of His people, of every generation, and purged them by Himself. What power! He's going to show
those of his people who have no power, what the power of his
work is. And after he purged their sins,
he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high being
made so much better than the angels for he hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they. You see, the inheritance was established at
the covenant of grace. The father had made a promise,
had written out a last will and testament. That's what the covenant
of grace is. It's God's will and testament
promising to the Lord Jesus Christ. His glory and His people and
His rightful place ascended at the right hand and God, He obtained
by inheritance His rightful place. Has He shown you the power of
His works? You realize, Lord, I wouldn't
be able to see anything. I wouldn't have any understanding.
It'd be easy for me to have a form of godliness and deny the power
thereof. Everybody's got some form of
godliness. Everybody's got some form of
religion. Lord, a change of man's heart. You know, you can change a person's
behavior, but you can't change a person's heart. You can't even
change your own heart. Oh, people say, people say, well,
God wants us to love him freely. He wants us to believe on him
freely and therefore God would not violate man's will. Well,
let me, it's a couple of things I want to say about that. First
of all, I don't have any trouble with God violating my will. The
problem is he doesn't. He changes our will. He makes
us willing in the day of His power. Now that's power. He's going to show His people
the power of His works. The power of His works in election. The power of His work in redemption. The power of His work in regeneration. The power of His work in sanctification. Turn to me to the book of Jude.
Right before the book of Revelation. The last two verses in the book
of Jude. Verse 24, now unto him that is
able to keep you from falling. Now, let me ask you this. How
many times have you fallen? Who is it that got you back up? Who is it that kept you from
falling headlong into total destruction? Who is it that keeps you from
just deciding, you know what, I've had enough of this? Who is it? Who is it that works
in you, causing you to will and to do after His good pleasure? He's going to show His people
the power of His work. This is the power of His work
in sanctification, isn't it? Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless in the
presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God our
Savior be glory and majesty and dominion and power. Power. Now and forever. He's going to show his people. the power of His work. And when they see the power of
His work, they're going to come to one conclusion, Lord, I've
got no power. I've got no power. I can't present
myself with great joy before the throne of grace. Lord, I
can't keep myself. I can't believe, I can't see,
I can't come, I can't be made willing. I can't justify myself,
I can't pay for my sins, I can't keep one of your laws. And he
shows unto his people the power of his work. Turn with me to
Romans chapter nine. Romans chapter nine. Has he shown you the power of
his work? When he shows us Christ, we come
to one simple conclusion. He has all power. I have no power. That's it. Now you might get a religious
person to say those words. They don't believe him. He shows to his people. the power
of his works. Look at, uh, look at Romans chapter
nine at verse, uh, at verse 19, that will say then unto me who
doth yet find fault for who can resist as well. Now, this is
the objection of the natural man to the truth of election. I will have mercy upon whom I
will have mercy and whom I will harden. And the natural man who
is devoid of the spirit of God and has no power to believe God
objects to God. The natural man objects to God
because he has no power to believe he's ungodly. He can't worship
God. And so he justifies himself and
he excuses himself before God. He says, well, then how can God
blame me? I can't be held responsible. Now here's the truth of the gospel.
If you're a believer, it's all God's fault and he gets all the
glory. And if you're not, it's all your
fault and you get all the blame. You say, well, that's a contradiction.
No, it isn't. That's scripture. It may be a
paradox, but it's not a contradiction. The contradiction is nonsense.
A contradiction cannot be reconciled. God reconciles these things in
his word, doesn't he? And here's what he says to those
who would justify themselves, those who were unable to believe,
those who are unable to worship God, those who are ungodly, those
who say, well, it's not my fault then if I'm not elect. God says,
But nay, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Now the only person that would
say such a thing against God is a person who does not believe
that God has power over them. They believe they have power
over God. A person who God has not shown the power of his works. The person who has set themselves
on the throne of God would stand in opposition to God and object
to what God says. Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Is God not the potter? Are we
not the clay? Does he not have the sovereign
right to make out of the same lump of clay some vessels of
honor and some of dishonor? Who are you to speak against
God? You see, when God's people hear
what God says, God's people just say, amen, Lord, amen. I don't have the power to understand
all that. All eternity is not going to
be sufficient for us to have a full understanding of the things
of God. Lord, I believe you've shown
me the power of your works. And in doing so, you have stripped
me of all my power and I have no leg to stand on. Go back with me to Psalm 111.
Psalm 111 verse six, he has showed his people the power of his works
that he may give them the heritage of the heathen. Now this same
passage is repeated in revelation and the heritage of the heathen
is just the inheritance of God. It's eternal life. The works of his hands are verity. You know what that word verity
means? It means true, true. The truth, the whole truth, nothing
but the truth, no lies of the truth. This is, this is God,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is truth. I am the way, the truth
and the life. The works of his hands are verity
and judgment. Right, right. What God did in
Christ was right. When God almighty saw the sins
of his people on his own darling son, which he took on himself,
God had no choice but to pour out the fullness of his wrath
if God was going to be just. His works are true and they're
right. They're judgment. And his commandments, all of
his word is sure. Whether you understand it Whether
you can fully enter it, just, oh, believe God, give me grace
to believe you. Every word. They stand fast forever
and ever and are done in truth and uprightness. He sent redemption
unto his people. He hath commanded his covenant
forever. Holy and Reverend is his name. Our God is holy. That just means he's not anything
like us. He has all power. We have no
power. He is reverend. It is blasphemy
to call a man a reverend over the years. I've had somebody,
I've had people say to me, call me reverend because I'm a preacher
and I make it quick. I'd make a quick correction.
Oh, don't call me reverend. His name is reverend, not a man. You can put that title on. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. That's what it is to fear God.
Lord, I don't have any power or I can't do anything. I can't,
I can't pay. I can't make up for one sin or
to fear God is to believe God is to flee to him. Now sometimes
fleshly fear will cause you to hide, won't it? Adam and Eve
hid from God because they were afraid of God. How do I know
if I fear God in a godly way? Because the fear of God makes
you run to him. Makes you run to him, not away
from him. Don't make you hide from him. Lord, I've got to have your power.
I've got to have the person of Christ. The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all
day that do. Now we do his coming. You see
those next two words are in italics. We do all of his commandments
in Christ, but that's not in the text. The tech says the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding
have all day that do fear the Lord. You want an understanding of
things of God, come before him, bow in his presence, ask for
his mercy, confess your inability, and you'll have the fear of God,
and you'll begin to understand some things. He has shown to his people, not
to anybody else, power of his works. Amen. All right. We're going to take a 10 minute
break and then we'll be back. Okay.