Good morning. Let's open this morning's service
with hymn number 62 from your hardback hymnal. Hymn number
62, crown him with many crowns. Let's all stand together. Number
62. I miss Joy already. Here we go. Crown Him with many crowns, the
Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him
who died for thee, and hail Him as thy matchless King through
all eternity. ? Crown him the Lord of love ?
Behold his hands and side ? Rich wounds yet visible above ? In
beauty glorified ? No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight. The downward bends his wandering
eye at mysteries so bright. Crown him the Lord of life, who
triumphed o'er the grave, who rose victorious to the strife
for those he came to save. His glories now we sing, Who
died and rose on high, Who died eternal life to bring, And lives
that death may die. Crown him the Lord of heaven,
one with the Father known, one with the Spirit through him given
from yonder glorious throne. ? To thee be endless praise ?
? For thou for us hast died ? ? Be thou, O Lord, through endless
days ? ? Adored and magnified ? Please be seated. Good morning. And there's a line
in that hymn that we just sang. Who triumphed? Over the grave. Who rose victorious? Title of this message, the first
hour is Christ got the victory. He got the victory. And our text
will be found in Psalm 98 if you'd like to turn with me there.
I told our folks Wednesday night that I need to be gone more often. The services Sunday were just
such a great blessing to me. I'm very, very thankful. Appreciate
the time away. It's good to be home, but. Very, very thankful for the men
that. We're faithful to prepare and
bring. Clear, clear Christ honoring messages in my absence so. Let's ask the Lord's blessings
on his word. I also shared Wednesday night
that I had a confession to make, and that is that I often pray
for myself and my ability to speak more than I pray for you
and your ability to hear. But I've come to be convinced
and convicted that the real miracle of preaching The real miracle
of preaching is hearing, is hearing. And so let us go before the Lord
and ask him to give us ears to hear. It's amazing how people
can hear the truth and not hear. As I've mentioned many times
in the past, the most often quoted verse from the Old Testament
to the New Testament comes out of Isaiah chapter six, where
the Lord says, they will have ears, but they will not hear. Eyes they will have, but they
will not see. The seeing eye and the hearing
ear is from the Lord. And our hope is that he'll be
pleased to give us that this morning. So let's pray. Oh, our
merciful heavenly father. We come before thy throne of
grace in the name. Of our victor. The Lord Jesus Christ. Who was
successful in accomplishing the salvation of thy people? Lord,
how we hope and pray that you would be pleased this hour to.
Open our ears. To. To rend the heavens. We pray Lord that you would come
down. We ask that you would speak truth
to our hearts and reveal to us the glory of thy dear son. that we might rejoice in him
and find all our comfort, all our hope, and all our salvation
in his glorious person and in his accomplished work of salvation. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Some of us can remember back
in religion singing a hymn, Victory in Jesus. Remember that hymn?
We haven't sang that hymn in over 20 something years for good
reason. The words of that hymn go like
this. I heard an old, old story. That's good. How a savior came
from glory. That's good. How he gave his
life on Calvary. That's good. to save a wretch
like me. That's good. I heard about his
groaning and his precious blood atoning. That's all good. Why
can't we sing that hymn, pastor? Then, then I repented of my sins
and won the victory. That's the problem with that
hymn. The problem without him is the
problem that we see in man-made, self-righteous, freewill, works
religion. Christ has done his part. He's
made an offer of salvation. Now you have to do yours in order
to win the victory. So the question that I have this
morning for us is did the Lord Jesus Christ actually save anyone
on Calvary's cross? Did he actually save anyone?
Did he actually accomplish redemption? The answer to that question is
determined by who the Lord Jesus made his offer to. If he's making
his offer to man, then it's up to us to finish the work. If
he made his offer to the father and the father saw the travail
of his soul and the father was satisfied, then the answer is
resoundingly, clearly, yes, he got the victory. He got the victory. Let me illustrate it like this.
I'm not a big baseball fan, but I do enjoy watching the World
Series. And I particularly enjoy the
last pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning when the jubilance
of celebration breaks out among the winning team and I thought
this past week Houston was playing Washington as you probably know
and the bottom of the ninth inning the Washington Nationals were
up 62 All they had was to get one more out. What if Houston
was at bat? And it was a full count. And
it's two outs already. Washington's up by four runs. Nobody on base. And the coach
for Houston's up. The coach for Washington comes
up to you and says, All you got to do is patch one strike. One
strike and the game's over. One strike's all you got to do.
Well, if they had picked me to throw that last strike, I guarantee
you Houston would have won. Houston would have won. Those guys would have smacked
my softballs over the fence every time I threw it. Every time. God didn't call on us to throw
the last pitch. If our salvation's determined
by us throwing the last pitch, then the victory's not been won. Look at verse one of Psalm 98. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new
song. For he hath done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm
hath gotten him the victory. Now the right hand of God is
clearly the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is God's right strong
arm. And he has gotten the victory. Yes, everyone that God chose
according to his own sovereign will and purpose in the covenant
of grace, Christ came to redeem and he was successful in getting
the victory. When David went up against Goliath, you remember what the proposition
was. Goliath said, you send out one
man and you fight against me and whoever wins gets the victory
for the other team. And no one in Saul's army was
brave enough or trusting God enough to go up against this
nine-foot giant. And so David comes and he says,
who is this uncircumcised Philistine that blasphemes our God? The
God that delivered me from the lion and from the bear will deliver
me from this man also. And David in that picture is
not a picture of a brave young man going up against a giant. It's a picture of Christ getting
the victory for all Israel. And that's exactly what he did.
He got the victory. When David, you remember, was
off in battle with his men in 1 Samuel chapter 30, I think
it is, and the Amalekites came and burned,
they stole all their wives and children and burned the city
of Ziklag. And when they came back, the
men were ready to turn on David. And David comforted himself,
the scripture says, in the Lord. He went before the Lord and said,
Lord, what do I do? And the Lord said, pursue him.
You remember how that story ends, don't you? David delivered all,
all. When God brought the children
of Israel out of Egypt, the scripture says, that not only was every
Israelite, not one single Israelite was left behind, but not one
hoof of one of their animals was left behind. He brought them
all clean out and delivered every single one of them. And so it
is with the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has recovered
all. He has gotten the victory for
his people and There's nothing left for us to do. And that's why we rejoice. That's
why we rejoice. If, as the world says, Christ
died for all men. And the people who say that will
also say that everybody he died for will not be saved. then the
work of Christ on Calvary's cross was a miserable failure. It was
a miserable failure. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
42. You see, we don't worship a God who fails. We worship a
successful savior. By Isaiah chapter 42, verse one,
behold, look, Look at my servant, whom I uphold. The Lord Jesus
Christ was held up by his father. That's why he wasn't able to
fail. He was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows.
He came as the Christ to successfully accomplish the salvation of his
people. We sing a new song because the right arm of God His right
hand has gotten the victory. The victory's won. You see, it's
time for the winning team to be jubilant, to sing a new song,
to rejoice in the Lord, for he has gotten the victory. Mine
elect, look at verse one of Isaiah 42. Mine elect, the one I've
chosen, in whom my soul delighteth, The soul of God is not delighted
in you. And he's not delighted in me.
He's delighted in his son. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. He's pleased with Christ. And the only hope we have to
be in the pleasure of God is to be found in Christ. He's the
victor. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. No question
about it. He's going to succeed in satisfying
God's justice in putting away the sins of his people. He shall
not cry nor lift up his voice nor be heard in the street. He
doesn't go around like we used to do in religion and browbeat
people. to believe on Jesus, you know,
throw the last pitch. You know, the battle's almost
won. You get to participate and make
your contribution. Won't you come to Jesus? We would
beg men to do that. The Lord doesn't do that. And
we don't do that anymore. We preach the gospel, we persuade
all men everywhere, we tell them about Christ. But we know that
it's the Lord's work. It's like I said at the beginning,
the hearing ear and the seeing eye are a gift from God. And
that's the miracle of salvation is that God will enable us to
hear and to see. I was so reminded of that last
Sunday. officiated in a wedding in Atlanta
Georgia last Sunday probably a hundred and fifty people there
and Rinaldo and Laura and me and Tricia were the only believers
that I know of and I was as clear on the gospel
and I love preaching the gospel at a wedding because it's so
easy to make the the connection between Christ and his church
and the bride and her bridegroom and not a single word, not a
single person had anything, you know, they didn't hear. They
didn't hear. Renaldo and Laura heard, Tricia
heard. We rejoiced in what we were hearing. But it's a miracle
to be able to hear. Look at verse three. A bruised
reed shall he not break? Are you a bruised reed? Sin has
bruised us horribly, hasn't it? And here's our God's promise.
You're a bruised reed. Now, if you're a stalwart oak
and you're gonna present your works for the hope of your salvation,
then that tree's gonna get cut down. The axe is laid to the
root, the scripture says, and the tree of self-righteousness
is going to be cut down. But if you're a Bruce Reed, a
Bruce Reed, he will not break. And a smoking flax? Now flax,
you know, is what they use for a wick in an oil candle, in an
oil lamp. And so the oil is almost gone
and the wick is just smoldering. Lord, that's the way I feel a
lot of times. And he says, not going to, what
do we normally do? And he said, I'm not going to
do that. I'm going to blow the wind of my spirit on that wick. And I'm going to put more oil
in the lamp. And I'm going to keep it burning. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged
till he has set judgment in the earth and the isles shall wait.
for his law. Our God is not discouraged. He's
not a failure. But if it's true that Christ
died for all men, that all men that he died for are not going
to be saved, then he is a failure. If it's true that Christ died
for all men, but that all men are not going to be saved, then
his death is not really the cause of man's salvation. It's not
the effectual cause. It's the guy. Who's the team
jump on when that last pitch is thrown and the win is secured? They jump on that pitcher, don't
they? You threw the last pitch. That's
what men want in their glory, in their pride, and in their
self-righteousness. They want credit for having gotten
the victory. Our scriptures make it clear
that our Lord Jesus Christ got the victory all by himself. If Christ died for everybody
and everybody's not saved, some people for whom he died go to
hell, then our God is guilty of double jeopardy. He's guilty
of punishing the same sin twice. He's not just. Justice demands
that once sin is paid for, that it's paid for. You can't try
a man twice for the same crime. And so it is with God's justice. Christ died for everybody, and
not everybody that he died for is gonna be saved, and he died
because, as the world says, God so loved the world, then the
love of God really doesn't have anything to do with our salvation.
You see, it just doesn't make any sense at all. God, the Lord Jesus Christ got
the victory, didn't he? He just got the victory all by
himself. If Christ died for everybody
and everybody that he died for is not going to be saved, then
God is not immutable. The very essence of his nature
of deity can be changed. He can be one way one day and
one way another day. No, our God changes not. He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. If Christ died for everybody
and everybody that he died for is not going to be saved, And
ultimately, salvation is by works. It's by works, not by grace. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new
song, believer. This word victory in our text,
Psalm 91, 98 verse 1, the word victory is the word that's most
often translated to save. And it's in the perfect tense,
which just simply means that it's an action completed never
to be repeated. That's what the perfect tense
means, a completed action. Can't add to it, can't take away
from it. So the strong right arm and the
right hand of God has gotten him the salvation of his people. They're saved. Nothing left for us to do. Now, I know what some people
are thinking. You can't tell folks that. They'll just live lawlessly.
The people that say that are people that are under the law. That's the people who say that.
People that are under the law and they're looking to their
performance of the law as the motivation of their living. The law has become their rule
of life. People who say that have no understanding of grace.
They're looking to the law to monitor their success. They're
looking to the law to motivate them. They're looking to their
performance of the law for their salvation. They're under the
law. They're not under grace. You
won't hear a person under grace talk like that. God's people
are not lawless. We're not looking at anything
we've done or are doing to either cause our salvation or to give
assurance of salvation. The cause of our salvation and
the assurance of our salvation is the accomplished work and
glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for, it's the evidence of things not seen.
We're looking to the one who got the victory for us. We're
under the law of grace, aren't we? under the law of love. We don't need another law. Marvelous things he has done,
extraordinary things, wonderful things, things that are beyond
one's power. You remember when the disciples,
after the Lord said it's easier for a rich man, it's easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of God, and the disciples said, who,
Lord, then can be saved? And what did the Lord say? With
man, it is impossible. What's impossible? For you to
save yourself, that's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. All things. Salvation's of the
Lord. He's the one that got the victory
all by himself. These things are hard to understand.
They have to be revealed by the Spirit of God. I will stretch out my hand, the
Lord said in Exodus chapter three, and will smite Egypt with my
wonders, which I will do in the midst thereof, and after that,
he will let you go. I'm gonna smite Egypt, and when
I do, he's gonna let you go. Now what were the plagues that
God afflicted Egypt with? Started with water being turned
into blood, didn't it? Then Moses smote the Nile and
the river became a river of blood. What was the first miracle that
the Lord Jesus Christ performed when he began his public ministry? Scripture's clear. He went to
Canaan and went to a wedding. What'd he do? He turned water. into wine. You remember there
were six wash tubs there. They were 50 gallons. The scripture
makes it clear how big they were. These were not tall. These were like bathtubs and
they had 50 gallons in each one of them. And they were for ceremonial
washing. So the Jews would walk down and
wash their hands in these bathtubs. The scripture says there were
six of them. What is that a symbol of? Six is man's number. And the
ceremonial washings is the law. And now what did the Lord do? He said, go and draw out water
and bring it to the table. And they poured the water out
and it was wine, wasn't it? What was the Lord saying in that
first plague in Egypt, as well as in his first ministry, his
first miracle performed? I did not come to destroy the
law, I came to fulfill it. God's not going to look at your
ceremonial washings. He's not gonna look at any of
your performances for the hope of your salvation. He's looking
to the blood. When I see the blood, I'll pass
by you. What were the last two plagues that struck the Egyptians? One was darkness that could be
felt. The scripture says lasted three
days. How long was the earth darkened
at Calvary's cross? Three hours. From the sixth hour
to the ninth hour, there was utter darkness where God cut
his son off. Why? Because Christ became sin. He became sin. And he saw the
sins of his people on it, on Christ, and Christ owned our
sin as his own. And God forsook his only son. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ
cried out, my God, my God, whyst thou forsaken me? And then what
was the last plague? I don't know about the flies
and the lice and the frogs and the plagues and all that. I'm
sure there's some correlation in the life of Christ, but I
know the first one and the first miracle, and I know the last
two was darkness. And what was the last plague?
It was the death angel, wasn't it? When the lamb that was without
spot and without blemish was, its blood was shed and it was
put on the door panels and the lentil of the house. And God
said, when I see the blood, I'll pass by you. The only escape
that the children of Israel had from the death angel was the
blood of that lamb. And that was fulfilled when Christ
bowed his head on Calvary's cross and cried, it's finished. It's finished. I got the victory.
It's time to rejoice. It's time to sing a new song. The whole team has won because
I got the victory by myself. What hope we have. Look at our
text quickly. Sing unto the Lord a new song,
for he hath done marvelous things. He's brought his people out of
Egypt. He got the victory. And what did he do? He did it
with his strong right arm. and with his right hand. Listen
to what Moses, now this is Psalm 98 is a reference to that deliverance
from Egypt but the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt
is a type, it's a picture, it's a shadow of our Moses who delivered
us from the bondage of sin and from death and from the wrath
of God. And so Moses in Exodus chapter
15 after they crossed The Red Sea sang, thy right hand, O Lord,
has become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath
dashed in pieces the enemy. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
returned back into glory, the scripture says, he sat down at
the right hand of the majesty on high. This is the work of
Christ. Oh, we don't sing. That that
that blasphemous song. Then I repented of my sin and
I won the victory. No, we say he got the victory. The right hand of God got the
victory. In closing, terminated 1st Corinthians
chapter 15. 1st Corinthians chapter 15. Verse 54, so when this corruptible, one
thing I know about God's people is that they have an interest
in the destiny of their soul. They really do. They know, they're
reminded by the Spirit of God every day how brief this life
is and how frail this flesh is. And their greatest need is to
be saved, is to be saved from their sin, to be forgiven. So
when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this
mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Death is swallowed up in victory.
When did that happen? When the Lord Jesus Christ died.
He conquered death by death, he conquered death. And so, oh
death, where is thy sting? Where is the sting of death?
Oh grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. And
the strength of sin is the law. Do you get that? all being under the law does,
people who say, well, I need the law in order to give me some
rule of life. If all the law does is just inspire
more sin. You show me a man who preaches
against a particular sin and I'll show you a man that's committing
that sin. He's just trying to cover up
his own He's guilty of the very thing that he's preaching against. People that are under the law,
and if it doesn't, if being under the law doesn't inspire breaking
the law, it certainly inflames self-righteousness, which is
worse than breaking the law. It's worse than breaking the
law. Mark it down. Of sin is the law. The sting of death is sin. In the day in which you sin,
you shall surely die. Oh, look at the next verse, but
thanks be to God. Thanks be to God. Which giveth
us the victory He has right hand, his strong
right arm has gotten the victory. Thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Death's been conquered. Sin's
been put away. The law's been satisfied. The
victory has been secured. God's people are to sing a new
song and rejoice in the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's take a break.