Good evening. It's good to have
some of the early conference goers here with us. Let's open
tonight's service with hymn number 69 in your hardcover hymn book,
number 69, Safely Through Another Week. They talk about Sabbath
here, but every time we get together is the Sabbath we rest in the
Lord so number 69 Safely through another week,
God has brought us on our way. Let us now a blessing seek, waiting
in His courts today. Day of all, the week the best,
emblem of eternal rest. Day of all, the week the best,
emblem of eternal rest. While we pray for pardoning grace,
through the dear Redeemer's name, show thy reconciled face, take
away our sin and shame. ? Here afford us, Lord, a taste
? I'm sorry. ? May we rest this day in thee
? From our worldly care set free ? May we rest this day in thee Here we come, thy name to praise. Let us feel thy presence near. May thy glory meet our eyes while
we in thy house appear. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting feast. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting feast. May thy gospels' joyful sound
Conquer sinners' comfort saints. May the fruits of grace abound
Bring relief for all complaints. Thus may all our Sabbaths prove
till we join the church above. Thus may all our Sabbaths prove
till we join the church above. Please be seated. Good evening. We're going to
read from Psalm 105 for our call to worship. If you'd like to
turn with me there in your Bible, Psalm 105. Give thanks unto the Lord. Call
upon his name. Make known his deeds among the
people. Come to worship and thanksgiving,
to call upon him to bless us with his mercy and grace, his
presence, and declare his marvelous deeds. Sing unto him, sing songs
unto him. Talk ye of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in his holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice
that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and His strength.
Seek His face evermore. Remember His marvelous works
that He hath done, His wonders and the judgments of His mouth.
O ye seed of Abraham, His servants, ye children of Jacob, His chosen. He is the Lord our God. His judgments
are in all the earth. He hath remembered His covenant
forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. which
covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac, and
confirm the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting
covenant, saying unto thee, will I give the land of Canaan the
lot of your inheritance. when they were but few in number,
yea, very few, and strangers in it." God's people have always
been a remnant. And I'd rather be part of God's remnant
than part of the masses of unbelieving world. Let's pray and ask His
blessings on our time together. Our merciful Heavenly Father. We want to speak of your wondrous
works of your deeds. Call upon your name. Worship
you in the spirit of Thanksgiving. Lord, we. Confess to you that. Lest you enable us to worship,
lest you visit us, lest you run the heavens and come down, lest
you give us your spirit. Lord, it is impossible for us. And so, Lord, we. We ask that
we might experience the fulfillment of your promise that where two
or three are gathered together in thy name there you are in
the midst of them. Lord, that you would manifest
your grace and your glory in our hearts and reveal to us more
of thy dear son. Give to us. That Sabbath rest
that we just sang of. As we. Are brought by your spirit
to trust Christ. For all our righteousness. And
all of our justification before the. Father, we thank you for the
opportunity to have a special meeting this weekend and. Lord,
we we pray for Chris and for Todd and for Donnie and ask Lord
that you would move on their hearts even now as they prepare
to bring your gospel to us and. We pray that you would prepare
our hearts to hear from you and Lord that you would. That you
would comfort your saints and. That you would call out your
lost sheep. We pray especially Lord for our
children and for our loved ones that will be here and. Asked
Lord that you would have mercy on them. We prayed in Christ
name. Amen. Number 158. number 158 from the
Hardback Temple. And let's all stand together
again. ? Come Holy Spirit heavenly dove
? With all thy quickening powers, Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours. Look how we grovel here below,
fond of these earthly toys. Our souls, how heavily they go
to reach eternal joys. In vain we tune our formal songs. In vain we strive to rise. Hosannas languish on our tongues. And our devotion dies. Dear Lord and Savior, ? At this poor dying rate ? Our
love so faint, so cold to thee ? And thine to us so great ?
Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove ? With all thy quickening powers
? Come shed abroad the Savior's love ? And that shall kindle
ours Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 104, Psalm 104. I've titled this message our
sovereign. Omnipotent God. Nothing comforts
the heart of God's people more than knowing that he is absolutely
sovereign and that he is all powerful. We were speaking with
a dear friend last night that we haven't seen in many, many
years and. Had an opportunity to Say to
her that. Everything that's happening is
happening according to God's purpose. She was confused about
circumstances of her life and. And. And there's a lot of things
in this world that are confusing. But what great comfort we have
in knowing that the Lord says I know the thoughts that I have
for you. Thoughts of peace, not of evil. For good. to bring you to your expected
end. And we know, we know that all
things, he works all things together for good for them that love him
and those that are called according to his purpose. Psalm 104 is
a declaration of our God's absolute sovereignty. And you know, as
we, even as I say that, it's redundant to say that God is
absolutely sovereign because if he's not sovereign of everything,
he's not sovereign. And if he's not sovereign in
salvation, if he's not sovereign in election, in choosing whomsoever
he wills according to his own purpose, Our friend was asking
us last night, well why would God choose some and not others?
I said he does it according to his own sovereign will. I can't
explain it. He does what he wants. He's God.
He always gets his way. If God's not sovereign in election,
then he's not sovereign. If he's not sovereign in redemption,
if he didn't actually accomplish the forgiveness of the sins of
those whom he elected in that covenant of grace that we just
read about in Psalm 105. I've made a covenant with Abraham.
I've confirmed that covenant with Isaac and with Jacob and
with his people. And what is the covenant? To
give them the promised land. And we know it's not talking
about Palestine over there in the Middle East. It's talking
about heaven. And the Lord's promised to give
his people that place of glory. And he's sovereign in that, and
the Lord Jesus Christ actually accomplished that in his work
of redemption. If he's not sovereign in regeneration,
if he doesn't actually make us willing in the day of his power
and cause us to come unto him, if man's got a choice about it,
then God's not sovereign. What a blessed thing to know
that our God is sovereign in salvation. What a blessed one
to know that he's sovereign in our circumstances. Now Psalm
104 is, um, is a, a declaration of worship of our God and the
illustrations they're given are all of creation. We see the hand
of God working in creation. The scripture says that the heavens
declare his glory and that the firmament show forth his grace
and his glory. And if we actually had eyes to
see it, we would know that everything in creation is a commentary on
the gospel. And so when we read these passages
in Psalm 104, I want us to think of them spiritually as they relate
to the sovereign grace of God in the salvation of his people.
Because that's what matters, isn't it? That's what matters.
We have to put adjectives before our words in
order to define them, but we are redundant when we say that
God's grace is free and that it's sovereign. There is no other
kind of grace other than free grace and sovereign grace. But
so many people misuse that word, don't they? They misuse the word
grace. Our friend last night was talking about grace, but
she didn't know what grace was. So we had to define it. And when we talk about the Lord's
holiness being pure, holiness is always pure. Righteousness
is always perfect. There is no such thing of a righteousness
that's not absolutely perfect. And so it is with God's sovereignty. If he's not sovereign in everything,
then he's not God. He's not God. And if a person
doesn't believe that God's sovereign in salvation, they don't believe
God's sovereign. They can talk about God's sovereignty
in providence, they can talk about God's sovereignty in creation,
but you see, if he lacks sovereignty in salvation, then he's just
not sovereign. And in fact, man has put himself on the throne
of God. All these things in our God's
sovereign purpose. Don't you love it when Joseph
reveals himself to his brothers? A picture of Christ revealing
himself unto us. And what did Joseph say? You
meant it for evil, but God meant it for good to save you. To save
you. And here we have the darkest
hour in the history of the human race taking place on Calvary's
cross when man with their wicked hands crucified the Son of God. And yet that darkest hour was
the only hope of light and truth and forgiveness and salvation
that sinners can ever have. You meant it for evil. God meant
it for good. When Jacob didn't want to send
Benjamin down to Egypt, remember what Jacob said? Jacob said,
Joseph, my favorite son, he's gone. Reuben's gone. Now you want to
take Benjamin? All these things are against
me. Nothing was against him. It was all working perfectly
according to God's purpose. The Lord would give us spiritual
eyes to see, spiritual eyes to see His absolute good providence
in His sovereign purpose to save us. We would know that everything
is right where it's supposed to be, right where it's supposed
to be. How many times we see in the
scripture where God illustrates the gospel with things in creation? We saw that in Malachi chapter
4 when the Lord likens the Lord Jesus Christ to the Son, S-U-N,
of righteousness that rises with healing in his wings. And we
see it when the Lord defines the Lord Jesus Christ as a rock
or as the water of life or as the shepherd. The Lord takes
these natural things and uses them to illustrate the truth
of the gospel. He calls his people sheep. He
calls them trees of righteousness, the plantings of the Lord. There's
so many, we could just go on and on and on with the things
that God gives us. He is condescending. The truth of these things are
so glorious and so beyond our comprehension that the Lord has
to give us these natural illustrations so that he can say, it's kind
of like that. It's kind of like that. And that's what Psalm 104
is about, the Lord saying, This is my hand of sovereign, omnipotent
mercy and grace in creation. But I don't want you to look
at creation. I want you to see what these things illustrate,
what they show forth. Because the heavens do declare
His glory and the firmament shows forth His handiwork. And what
did the Lord say in Romans chapter 1 of those who refused to believe
that God was sovereign over all things. He said, for the invisible
things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made. The invisible
things of God are clearly seen by the things that are made. They're understood by the things
that are made. Even His eternal power and his eternal Godhead
so that all men are without excuse, without excuse. So as we read
Psalm 104, I pray the Lord will cause us to see these things
as they are spiritually meant to be believed by God's people. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Blessing God, worshiping God
is a work of the spirit and the heart of man and it comes from
the soul. And plenty of people, we've done
it ourselves, have feigned worship, we're there in the body, we weren't
there in the spirit, pretending to be worshiping God, but not
having the spirit of God in the light and the eyes of our understanding,
or move our hearts in worship and in love. Worship is a work
of grace. And so if we're to understand
these things, we're gonna have to depend upon the spirit of
God. to open our eyes and to enable us. The Lord seeketh them
and worship him in spirit. In spirit, isn't that what he
said with the woman at the well? This matter of worship is a spiritual
work. It's not something you can do
in the flesh. Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very
great. Thou art clothed with honor and
majesty. When Isaiah saw the Lord high
and lifted up, he said his train, his royal train filled the temple. There was not room for anything
else. He, he, he, he fills up everything. He's all in all.
Our friend was asking us last time, well, what about this and
what about... I said, it was Christ. Christ is everything. He's all our redemption. He's
all our sanctification. He's all our holiness before
God. He's all the hope of our salvation. He's all our peace
and all our comfort. He's all. It's not Christ plus
anything. It's just Christ. And so he's
clothed with majesty and honor and glory. His breastplate is
encrusted with the 12, uh, jewels representing the 12 tribes of
Israel. He carries them on his breastplate
near to his heart. Like Aaron did his he's clothed
in the majesty and in glory. And what, what hope and comfort
we have in knowing that the, that the, the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ, just like, just like Eve was taken from the,
from the rib of Adam, you know, that's a picture of Christ in
his church. And what did the Lord say? And the two shall become
one flesh. That's where we are. we've become
one flesh with Christ. And so this majesty and this
glory that we have seen in Aaron and seeing in Adam and seeing
all throughout the scriptures is the glory of our sovereign,
omnipotent God that we worship and that we're in. He's dressed
in a fine linen robe, crowned with majesty and glory. We're just, we're just in, we're
just interpreted this clothed with honor and majesty. And when
is his honor and majesty most glorious? When is it most glorious? When a crown of thorns are pressed
into his brow. And when he's covered in blood,
that's how John saw him in glory. He saw him as a lamb that had
been slain. There he is, clothed in majesty,
stained with the blood of his own sacrifice for sin. There's our hope. He has sovereignly
and omnipotently. He's not trying to get folks
saved. He actually had the power to
do it and he accomplished it. through the sacrifice of himself
once and for all. And so we bless the Lord because
he's clothed with honor and majesty. He covers himself with light
as with a garment. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten son, which
is in the bosom of the father, hath declared him. Light has come into the world. But men love darkness rather
than light. Why? Because their deeds were
evil. But here we have a God who clothes, how did he clothe
himself with light? He came into the world as the
light of the world. Shine the light of the gospel in our hearts
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ and reveal his glory. There's no scene without light.
You turn out all the lights, you can't see anything. And the
Lord turns on the light. He came as the light of the world. He said, I am come, a light into
the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. We don't have to be in darkness
about not under, not, not knowing what's going on or not, or being,
being, being, um, overwhelmed with our circumstances or being
confused about how it is that God, that God saves sinners. We have the light. We have the
light of Christ. He's come, he's clothed himself in light. And as we saw Sunday, Genesis
chapter one, let there be light. Why did there need to be light?
Because there was darkness on the face of the deep and the
wind, the spirit of God had to come and God had to say, he had
to say, let there be light. And when he said, let there be
light, there was light. We walk in the light as he is
in the light. We have fellowship one with the
other. and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us of all
sin. Here's the light of the gospel.
We're not groping as blind men in the darkness trying to figure
out what we can do to make ourselves right with God, what we can do
to make up for our sins, what we can do to earn his favor,
what we can do to establish righteousness by the law. We're not groping
in the dark. We have the light of Christ. God has clothed himself
in light and light has come into the world. And this light reveals
to us our, you know, God never says, uh, that faith saving faith
is believing that you're elect. Uh, saving faith is believing
that you have no righteousness and that you are completely dependent
upon the Lord Jesus Christ for all of your righteousness. Saving faith is not believing
that you're saved. It's not believing that, you
know, people say, well, I don't know if I'm saved. That's not saving
faith. And you know, assurance of salvation
kind of comes and goes, doesn't it? And, and the, and the one
time that I, that I, that I have the greatest assurance of my
salvation is when I'm with God's people, worshiping Christ and
hearing the gospel. There's plenty of other times
when I'm not, but do we, do we still have saving faith if we
don't, if we, if we have doubts and fears and. Saving faith is
not believing that you're saved. Saving faith is believing that
Christ Jesus the Lord is the all-sufficient successful savior
of sinners. That he's the son of God. It's
looking to him, it's resting in him. As soon as we start looking
for assurance, that's when we lose it, don't we? Psalm 36 verse nine says, in
thy light shall we see light. In thy light shall we see light. You want assurance of salvation?
You want that peace of God that's better than understanding? Then
we have to be looking to the light. God has clothed himself. in light and he's come into this
world and shine the light in our hearts, revealing to us our
depravity, revealing to us the glory of Christ and giving us
faith to rest our hope in him. We are worshiping our God who
is absolutely sovereign and completely omnipotent. He's covered himself
with light as with a garment and he stretched out the heavens
like a curtain. He stretched out the heavens
like a curtain. In other words, everything under
the heaven is under his control. Turn me to Isaiah chapter 40,
Isaiah 40. This is glorious brethren. This
is, this is, this, this is a God in whom we can trust. This is
a God in whom we can believe. This is a God in whom we can
rest. Look at Isaiah chapter 40 verse
18. To whom then will you liken God
or what likeness will you compare unto him? How are you going to
compare God to anything? Well, he's, the Lord's comparing
himself to different things, but we, but we know that he's
far beyond these things. That's what holy means. Holy
means he's beyond any, anything that we can compare him to. The
workman melted the graven image and the golden and the gold Smith
spread it over with the gold and cast it silver with chains.
He that is so impoverished that he hath no ablation chooses the
tree that will not rot. He seeketh unto him a cunning
workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved. In other
words, man's trying to create an image of God. Our God is to
be worshiped in spirit. He said, make no graven images
of me. Don't, don't, don't, don't look to something physical. We'll get verse 21. Have you
not known? Have you not heard? Hath it not
been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. He's, he's the one that stretched
out the heavens as a curtain and spreads them out as a tent
to dwell in. So when we read in Psalm 104,
he stretches the heavens like a curtain. It's a, it's, it's,
it's biblical language describing the sovereign control of our
God over all things, not just in creation. but in his good
providence, and most importantly, in his work of grace and salvation
of sinners. He stretches forth the heavens. Look at verse three. Our God
who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters. Whose chambers? That's his house. That's his
house. He's laying the beams of his
house in the waters. This water is a picture of humanity. He's calling out his sheep from
the four corners of the earth and he's building his house. The way of the Lord is through
the seas. He makes the clouds his chariots.
Now the prophets, the false prophets are called clouds without water,
but The, the, the, the cloud now that's referenced here is
the, is the delivering of the gospel, the, the protection of
the, of the heat of the sun and the bringing to opening up the
windows of heaven and bringing down the showers of the blessings
of God's grace. He says, he says, he's doing
this. He don't, we don't just, in other words, we don't read
Psalm 104 and just say, well, the clouds aren't that that's,
that's God's grace. No, that's his, that's his work
of redemption. That's his salvation. He makes
his clouds, his chariots. And he walks among the wind,
the wings of the wind. And what is the wind? It's the
spirit of God. Son of man, can these bones live? Isn't that
what the Lord asked Ezekiel when he looked at that valley of dry
bones? And what did Ezekiel say? Lord, thou knowest. What was
Ezekiel saying? Lord, those bones have been there
a long time. They are sun-bleached, dried
out. Why, the insects have eaten out
all the marrow of the bones. There's not enough life in those
bones to scrape up a DNA. If they're going to live, Lord,
you're going to have to do it. Now, what are those bones a picture
of? Well, the Scripture tells us what they're a picture of.
These bones, God says, are the whole house of Israel. It's us. How are we going to live? How
are we going to live? Prophesy to them, son, man, prophesy. Tell them, preach the gospel
to them. And so Ezekiel begins to prophesy. And yet, and they
start coming together. But the scripture says, yet there's
no life in them. There's no life in them. They're
starting to look like they're, you know, they're taking some
shape and form. And then what the Lord say to
Ezekiel, prophesy to the wind. Call out for the Spirit of God.
What did Adam? Adam was made from the dust of
the earth, but he had no life in him until the Lord had breathed
the breath of life into his nostrils. That's the Spirit of God. Lord,
send your Spirit in power. Send your Spirit in power right
now. Send your Spirit in power this weekend, Lord. If you don't
send your Spirit, what we do is worse than vanity. It's nothing
but feigned, fleshly, religious activity if the Lord doesn't
send His Spirit. But He promised to do so. But
He said you have not because you ask not. Oh, that the Lord
will put on our hearts to cry out for Him to send it. If you
being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how
much more your Heavenly Father will give His Holy Spirit to
them that ask Him. It's the spirit of God that gives
us faith. It's the spirit of God that opens.
And so he's saying these, these clouds that carry the water of
the gospel now, and, and God calls out to the wind because
apart from the spirit of God, blessing the water of the word
to our hearts, there'll be no life. There'll be no life. God's laying the beams of his
church. among the waters, sending his
clouds and sending the wind of his spirit, who makes his angels
spirits, his ministers a flaming fire." Hebrews tells us these angels
are ministering spirits. There's so much about that we
don't understand in terms of the heavenly angels. We know
that they possess great power. We know they do exactly what
God tells them to do. But are not, are not those who
carry the gospel, ministering spirits? Are we not messengers
as we declare the gospel of God's free grace in Christ to the world? And so the Lord sends forth.
Job put it like, Job said, the spirit of God hath made me and
the breath of the almighty hath given me life. If the breath
of the Almighty had not given me life, I would have no life. Nicodemus, except you be born
of the Spirit, born from above, you cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. It is the Spirit, it is the Spirit
that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. How dependent are we on the Spirit
of God? Lord, you sent your clouds, you sent your angels, you sent
your ministering spirits, and you sent your Holy Spirit. Look at verse five. Who laid
the foundation of the earth. Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation a sure foundation, a tried stone,
a cornerstone, the stone which the builders have rejected God
has made to become the head of the corner. Upon this rock I
will build my church. You're not talking about just
the foundations of the earth. You're talking about Christ as
the foundation of his church. That's the only reason this earth
exists. The only reason this earth exists. Soon as the Lord calls out his
last lost sheep and finishes the work of regeneration among
his people, there'll be no more need for this world. Now the next few verses speak
of the Noah's flood, but. And we know what happened in
Noah's flood. God sent a deluge lasted 40 days. Um, he killed
everything that was living on the face of the earth. And, uh,
the only one that survived was Noah and his sons and daughters,
daughter-in-laws, uh, and his wife. and only because they were
in Christ. They were in that arc that had
been pitched within and without. God kept them safe. And they
landed on Ararat and the waters assuaged. Genesis chapter 8 says
that God sent a wind. He sent a great wind after they
landed on Mount Ararat. The scripture says God sent a
great wind. Genesis chapter 8 verse 1 says, and God remembered Noah
and everything that was alive and he sent a great wind and
the waters assuaged. What are those waters a picture
of? Well, they're a picture of judgment, aren't they? How often
times the Lord opens up the deeps in our lives and we get overwhelmed
with the flood of our sin. And what are we dependent upon?
The Lord to send to remember us, to remember us, Lord remember
me, send your spirit and cause these waters to assuage, cause
them to go back where they came from. Now that's the picture
here. Look, look. Thou coverest it with the deep
as with a garment. The waters stood above the mountains,
and at thy rebuke they fled. At the voice of thy thunder they
hastened away. They go up by the mountains,
they go down by the valleys into the place which thou hast founded
for them. Oh, yes, yes, the floodwaters
of sin and hell break out. And the breaking up of the great
deep of inequity is something that we experience in this world. And the only hope that we have
is that the Lord will send his spirit, cause the waters to recede
and cause them to go to a place that he's appointed for them. Many waters, Solomon said in
the song of Solomon's chapter eight, verse seven, many waters. The way of the Lord, the scripture
says, is through the seas. And seas represent turbulence
and tribulation in this world. And most of that is the result
of our own sin, isn't it? And so this is the picture here.
The waters come up, the mountains are covered, and the Lord remembers His people,
and He sends His Spirit. And He causes us to look to Christ. And in doing so, The waters go
away and he buries them. He puts them back into the deep.
They go back into where no man can see them. Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can the floods drown it. Brethren, there's our hope. We're talking about God's sovereignty
and God's omnipotence. Now we're not, we would never
blame God for our sin. You know, let no man say when
he sends that God made me do it. I, yeah, I've heard people
say they believe the gospel and, and yet they've taken the sovereignty
of God to the extent of saying, well, if God wants me to go to
church, he'll take me to church. What are they? What is that?
They're blaming God for their own unfaithfulness and for their
own sin. No, we don't, we don't, we don't
do that. When God makes you a sinner,
you can't blame anybody but yourself. You're fully, fully responsible
for every bit of it. But here's our hope. God is sovereign
in those things. And many waters cannot quench
love. And no flood, no flood, regardless
of how, or we, you go through the waters, the scripture says,
you would not, that will not overwhelm you through the fires,
you're not be burned. Why? Because the floods cannot,
cannot do away with God's grace and God's love. Turn, turn me
to Isaiah chapter 57, Isaiah 57. This you'll find this encouraging. Verse seven, upon a lofty and
high mountain thou hast set thy bed, even thither winnest thou
up to offer sacrifice. Behind the doors also in the
post hast thou set up thy remembrance, for thou hast discovered thyself
to another than me, and art gone up. Thou
hast enlarged thy bed and made thee a covenant with him, Thou
lovest their bed where thou sawest it. Our Lord cannot, he provides
for his people a place of rest and a place of comfort, a place
of hope. And that's always found in the Lord Jesus Christ, regardless
of how deep the waters are. What did Peter say when he found
himself sinking into the waters? Peter looked at the Lord Jesus
Christ and say, Lord, me and you can work this out. You know,
between the two of us, we can fix this problem. Isn't that
the way we deal with our sins sometimes? You know, we find
ourselves drowning in the waters and we think, well, you know,
between me and God, we can fix this. No, no. Lord, save me. Save me. I'm drowning. I can't do anything. And immediately the Lord reached
down and pulled him out, didn't he? Immediately. So that's the picture of the
flood there. Um, go back with me to Psalm
104. They go up by the mountains,
verse eight, they go down by the valleys into the place which
thou has founded for them. What is that place? Everlasting
forgetfulness. You know, these sins, they come
up to our mind. They haunt us. The accuser of
the brethren, uh, We're going to see he's like a roaring lion
seeking whom he may devour, but, but they've already been put
away. That's what, that's what justification is. They've, they've,
they've been buried in the depths of the sea. They've been, they've
been sewed up in a sack and thrown behind. They've been covered
by the blood of Christ. They've been put away. They don't
exist. They don't exist, not before God. You say, well, they
sure seem to exist before me. Well, brethren, how God sees
it is how it is. It's just how it is. How we see
it's not how it is, how God sees it's how it is. And faith is
believing what God says about how things are. Faith is not
believing that God's going to do something in the future for
us. Faith is believing everything that God has said and done. Everything. Verse 9, I love this. Thou hast
set a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not
again to cover the earth. Aren't you thankful that the
Lord puts boundaries on what he allows us to do? He restrains us, doesn't he? It was a time when I thought,
you know, I just want to be, I want to be something great
for God. Now I'm just thinking, Lord, just restrain me. Keep
me from shaming you. Keep me from, keep me from doing
something that's just going to be, that's going to be so shameful
and you know, just. Well, here's our, here's our
hope brethren. Thou has set a bound these This, this turbulent sea
of sin that breaks out of the deep like Noah's flood. The Lord
senses the wind of his spirit and the waters assuage, and he
puts boundaries on them. He puts boundaries on the sea
can only come so far, no farther. Uh, but here he puts boundaries
on our sin. He send it the springs into the
valleys, which run among the hills. Oh, I hope he's doing that right
now. He opens up the water of life. He sends that river that's
clear as crystal that flows from the throne of God, and it flows
among the hills, and it gives his people a place to drink. They give drink to every beast
of the field, and the wild asses quench their thirst. That's what
we are. David said, I am a beast before
thee. When David stood in the presence
of God, he said, I'm like, I'm like a beast. I'm like a wild
ass. And the Lord said, I'm going
to, I'm going to send a, a river among the hills and you're going
to drink there. By them shall the fowls of heaven
have their habitation, which sing among the branches. The
Lord speaks of that, that tree that's, um, planted with a seed
of faith and grows into a great tree and the birds of the air
come and make their nests in it. What is that's the church.
That seed is the seed of the gospel and the birds, that's
us. That's us and we come and we
nest in the church and in Christ. He watered the hills from his
chambers and we sing among the branches. We sing of his grace
and of his glory. He waters the hills from his
chambers and the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
We're satisfied. God's satisfied. God Almighty
is satisfied with what the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished
on Calvary's cross. And when he gives us faith, we're
satisfied. We don't try to add to or take
away. We're just content with what
Christ has done. And we're content in having him
as our righteousness. We're content in having him as
the one who puts away our sin. He causes the grass to grow for
the cattle and the herb for the service of man that he may bring
forth food out of the earth. He causes us to lie down in green
pastures. He's the one that causes the
grass to grow. Lord, we live in a dry and thirsty land. It's
a desert out there. There's no grass, there's no
water. The sheep are hungry, aren't
they? That's why we come together,
to feed on God's word, to feed on Christ. He's the only one
that can satisfy our soul. Oh, bless the Lord, oh my soul. All that was within me, bless
his holy name. All these things, there's so
much more in the psalm, but all these things in creation, all
of them are commentary on the gospel. Now, no one would ever
come to the right conclusions about the gospel by looking at
creation only. Okay? Can't go out in creation
and learn the gospel. People say, well, I'm just going
to pray under the stars and I'm going to see God in all these
things. No. No. The gospel is only learned
through the preaching of the gospel from the word of God. But once the gospel is heard
and once it's learned, then we see that the Lord has illustrated
the gospel in all these things. Our heavenly father, we're thankful
for your word and we pray, Lord, that you would give us eyes to
see Christ in all things. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. 186, let's stand together, 186. The Church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is His new creation by water
and the Word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her, and for her life he died. ? Elect from every nation ? Yet
one o'er all the earth ? Her charter of salvation ? One Lord,
one faith, one birth ? One holy name she blesses ? Partakes one
holy food and to one hope she presses with every grace endued. Mid toil and tribulation and
tumult of her war, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore. Till with a vision glorious her
longing eyes are blessed, And the great church victorious shall
be the church at rest. Yet she on earth hath union with
God the three in one, and mystic sweet communion with those whose O happy ones and holy, Lord,
give us grace that we, like them, the meek and lowly, on high may
dwell with thee.