th th Good morning. Let's open up this
morning's service in the hardback hymnal number 36, A Mighty Fortress
is Our God. If you could please stand, number
36. A mighty portrait is our God,
a bulwark never failing. Our helper He amid the flood
of mortal ill prevailed. For still our ancient foe doth
seek to work us woe, His craft and power and great and armed
with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal. Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing. ? We're not the right man on
our side ? ? The man of God's own choosing ? ? Dusk ask who
that may be ? ? Christ Jesus it is he ? ? Lord Sabbath is
his name ? From age to age the same, And he must win the battle. And though this world with devils
filled Should threaten to undo us We will not fear, for God
hath willed His truth to triumph through us The Prince of Darkness
rimmed We tremble not for Him, His rage we can endure, For lo,
His doom is sure, One little word shall fail Him. That word of all earthly powers,
no thanks to them abided. The Spirit and the gifts are
ours through him who with us sided. Let goods and kindreds go. This mortal life also, the body
they may kill, God's truth abided still, His kingdom is forever. Thank you, Bert. His kingdom
is forever. That is the theme. Of our text
this morning. The everlasting kingdom. Of God. And will be in Psalm 89. Both. Both hours this morning,
so good morning. Psalm 89. We're going to begin
in verse 19. Let's ask the Lord's blessings
on our time together. Our merciful and gracious. Loving and all powerful Heavenly
Father. We come as you've called us before
thy throne of grace. Looking to thy dear son. For
all the hope of our acceptance. For all our righteousness. All
our justification. Lord, we ask that you would be
pleased this hour to. Open the eyes of our understanding.
We pray that you would. Open that which no man can shut.
That you would open the windows of heaven. That you would open
our hearts that you would open your word. That you would cause
us Lord to set our affections on things above where Christ
is seated at thy right hand. Lord, we confess to you that
we. We get so caught up with and distracted by and even enamored
with. The things of this world. Forgive
us, Lord, for our worldliness and. In this time. Or deliver us. Deliver us from
the temporal and enable us to understand that which is spiritual
and that which is eternal. Give us hope. Give us grace. Give us peace. In the Lord Jesus
Christ, for it's in his name we ask it. Amen. Psalm 89 adverse 20 says I have
found David. My servant. I have taken the
time to read some commentaries on Psalm
89 and almost without exception, as a matter of fact, even the
cross references that I find in my Bible refer these promises
back to events that took place in the life of David. The historical relevance of these
prophecies as they relate to King David can be seen by anyone
familiar with David's life. Books have been written and untold
sermons have been preached, drawing out these parallels. But I ask
myself and I ask you, what does that information do for one that
is poor and needy? How does it give a sinner any
hope for their soul? It may puff them up with knowledge,
but It will only increase their guilt before God if all we see
in these prophecies is the life of King David. Now you and I
know that in the volume of the book, it is written of me. We know that though these prophecies
were fulfilled temporally and physically in the life of King
David, they're not about David at all. They're about the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is called the Son of David. They're about the
one who is the sweet psalmist of Israel, the one who is king
eternally, the one who shepherds his sheep and provides for them
everything. Our Lord asked the Pharisees,
because they could only see the temporal, and the Lord asked
them, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And they said,
well, he's the son of David. And then our Lord, knowing that
that would be their answer, said, why is it then? The David, speaking
by the Spirit, said, The Lord, God the Father, said unto my
Lord, God the Son, Sit thou here at my right hand, until I make
thine enemies thy footstool. If Christ be the Son of David,
then how is it that the David called him Lord? And the scripture
says that no man did ask him any more questions. And then
when Mark tells us this event, the scripture says, but the common
people heard him gladly. These prophecies, when Paul,
Peter, I'm sorry, on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter
two, stood to preach the gospel for the very first time publicly.
Peter brings out David and Peter says, David's still in the grave. David's not risen from the dead.
David's not ascended up on high. These prophecies were not about
David. They're about the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm really not too interested in the life of David. except
for how it points us to Christ. Now what we have here in our
text is the Father, God the Father, revealing His Son. Revealing His Son. And that's, well, the revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ is everything. Everything. I read a statement by, um, a
dead preacher, uh, recently that said that, uh, you cannot understand
the cross until you have some understanding of sin. And I thought, Hmm, that's just
the opposite of the truth. You can't really understand yourself
as a sinner until God is pleased to cause you to see what happened
at the cross. Job didn't see himself as a sinner
until he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah didn't see himself as
a sinner until he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, it's seeing
Him that puts everything in perspective. It's seeing Him that causes us
to come to the conclusion that there is nothing, nothing, nothing
in my life like Him. And that's when we conclude that
we're sinners in need of a Savior. So, my hope this morning is that
the Holy Spirit be pleased to reveal Christ to us by vision. Notice in verse 19, then thou
spakest in vision to thy, now you see the term holy one, that's
actually in the plural in the original language. And the meaning
here is he, it's the word saints is what it is. Uh, the Lord is
speaking. God, the father is speaking by
vision to his saints or to the church, revealing to them his
son. That's what, that's what David's
reference is all about. God is speaking by vision. Hey preacher, are you suggesting
that we're to have some sort of vision? I was sitting in a
doctor's office the other day, and I suppose that, I was in
the waiting room, you know, they have books and magazines, and
picked up a book that was authored by Ellen G. White. I suppose
this doctor's office, like all the other medical facilities
in our city, was owned by the Seventh Day Adventist. Ellen
G. White was one of the co-founders
in the latter part of the 19th century of the Seventh-day Adventist
denomination. And she professes to have, I
was reading in the book, she professes to have had 2,000 visions
and revelations. And I thought, well, there's the
problem. There's the problem. Once you believe yourself to
be receiving extra biblical visions and revelations, you open yourself
up for all sorts of heresies and all sorts of errors. Yes,
God gives visions and revelations, but always, always, always through
his word. In other words, he gives us understanding
as to what his word really means, in particular, how it relates
to Christ and salvation. That's the vision. And it's a
miracle of grace. Truth comes by divine revelation. No amount of intelligence, no
amount of study, no amount of education on our part is going
to be sufficient to reveal the glory of Christ. It's the work
of the Spirit of God. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And I brethren verse one, when
I came to you came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring
unto you the testimony of God for I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. So Paul said the, the sum and
substance of every message I preached was Jesus Christ and him crucified. The work that he accomplished
on Calvary's cross puts everything else in light of truth. Everything about justification,
everything about righteousness, everything about the love of
God, everything about my sinfulness. is seen most clearly at the cross. And Paul says, I didn't come
to you with clever ideas, and we didn't bring to you fables,
Peter said. We handled the word of God. And we heard the actual literal
voice of God speak from heaven. and say, this is my beloved son,
hear ye him, for in him, in him, I'm well pleased. So Paul goes
on to say, and I was with you in weakness and in fear and in
much trembling. My speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and of power. That's my hope. My hope is that
the spirit of God will take the word of God and speak Effectually. To the hearts of our to God's
people. I have no I have no confidence
in my words or in your words. But when God speaks. And here's
the promise that he gave us brethren, they shall be all taught of God. God, I thank thee, the Lord Jesus
Christ said, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and
the prudent. Man by wisdom knew not God, but
as revealed them unto babes, unto babes. Those who are brought by the
spirit of God as a babe before God, hear his voice. That your face should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. How be it we
speak wisdom among you that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of
this world, nor the princes of this world that come to naught,
but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. A mystery in the
scriptures doesn't mean that it's mysterious or weird. It
means that it's hidden. It's hidden and it has to be
revealed. And that's what the Lord's doing
in His Word. He's revealing the mystery of
the gospel to the hearts of God's people. which none of the princes of
this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I have
not seen, nor is ear heard, nor is it entered into the imagination
of man, the things that he has prepared for us. But the natural
man cannot receive the things of the spirit, he goes on to
say in this same chapter, for they are spiritually discerned.
But then he says in verse 10, but God hath revealed them unto
us by his spirit, by his spirit. Nicodemus, you've got to be born of the
spirit of God in order for you to be able to understand the
kingdom of God. in order for you to be able to
see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus, the spirit of God,
must, must reveal Christ to you. All right, go back with me. Well,
you know what? I mentioned Ellen G. White. Turn
with me to Revelation chapter 19, because this is the passage,
according to what I read this week about her, that she claimed
justified her visions and her revelations. Now look at it with
me. Revelation chapter 19 verse 10,
and I fell at his feet to worship him. Now John is receiving a
revelation from an angel about Christ. And John falls at the
feet of this angel to worship him. And he said unto me, see
thou do it not. I am thy fellow servant. and
thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus worship God for the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Now the prophecy
that we have is right here. It's in God's word. And what
God is saying, what that angel was saying to John was the testimony
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the spirit of this book. That's exactly
what he was saying. Don't look for anything outside
of the revelation of prophecy that God has made in his word
about his son. I thumbed through this book a
little bit more, and every single bit in there, everything I saw,
I was sitting there for 30 minutes, and everything I saw in this
book had to do with victorious Christian living. And I thought,
you know, that's exactly the theme of all religions. How am I to live my life? What work must I do to work the
works of God? And what the Lord Jesus Christ
say, this is the work of God, that you believe on him whom
he has sent. That's the work of God. Are we
concerned about how we live? Certainly. We want to honor God
with our lives. But to try to figure out how
to live without knowing Christ is nothing but a works gospel.
Nothing but a works gospel. And I'm thoroughly convinced. I know it to be true in my own
life. I know it to be true from God's
word. When the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed and our hearts and
eyes and affections are set on him, he will work in you, causing
you to will and to do after his own good pleasure. The disciples asked the Lord,
Lord, why do you speak to them in parables? What'd the Lord
say? Because it's not for them to
know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. I've spoken to them in
parables, but for you, for you it is to know. And what does
every child of God say right now? Oh, Lord, just as we prayed
at the beginning of this service, open the eyes of my understanding,
send your spirit in power. Lord, if you don't teach me,
I won't be taught. If you don't reveal Christ to me, I'll get
caught up in the temporal things of this world and concentrate
all my time and effort on either worldly mammon or some sort of
religious behavior that would give me some sense of hope. Give
me Christ. Christ is what I need. Remember
those Greeks that came to the disciples? We've got it posted
on the back wall up there. John chapter 12 verse 21. Sir,
we would see Jesus. Show us Christ. That's what Paul
said. That's what he said. I I profess to know nothing among
you save Jesus and him crucified. The Lord. Look, go back with
me to our text in Psalm 89. Then thou spakest in vision to
thy holy ones and saidest, now this is the father revealing
his son. You ever heard something that
someone that didn't know you said about you and you knew it
wasn't true? He said, well, that's not me.
They don't know me. Who's better? We have a lot of
voices in this world telling us about Jesus. Or a Jesus. There are lots of
them, isn't there? There's lots of them. But who's
better in telling us about the one who is? And the one who is
able to save than his own father. See when God, the father testifies,
the spirit of Jesus is the, uh, that's the spirit of prophecy.
The testimony of Jesus who made the testimony. God made the testimony. The father is telling us about
his son and everything he says about him is perfectly accurate
and can be believed with all of our hearts. So it's by vision,
it's by revelation, it is a mystery given to God's people by his
spirit and it's about Christ. It's about Christ. And he said, verse 19, I have
laid help upon one that is mighty. Mighty. He's not talking about
David. And you remember what they said
about David, the thing that, that, that caused Saul to become
so jealous of David and wanted to kill him is when Saul heard
the people singing, Saul has killed his thousands and David,
his tens of thousands. And, and God had blessed David
to get great victory in battle. But the battles that David fought
cannot be compared to the battle that the Lord Jesus Christ fought.
David has killed his tens of thousands. The Lord Jesus Christ
has gotten victory over all, all. He's destroyed the works of the
devil. He's delivered his people. He's put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself once and for all. What greater power, David's power
wasn't, David had the power of the spirit of God enable him
to get victory in battle, but all the power, the mighty power
that God gave to his son to accomplish the salvation of his people.
Now, the Jesus that you hear about in the world today is a,
is a wimp. He's a powerless, impotent God
who is dependent upon man in order for him to be able to have
his way. He's powerless. He's powerless. They'll say,
oh, God is sovereign and he's omnipotent and he possesses all
power until it comes to the saving of a sinner. And then he's dependent
upon the cooperation of that sinner in order for him to be
able to get what he wants. Man's free will stands in his
way. That's not, that's not the revelation
that God's given of his son. He's saying this, my son has
all power. And here's the mystery of the
gospel that the natural man can't see. He believes that, he believes
the lie. He believes the lie. God has
sent them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie.
Why? Because they had no love for the truth. What is the truth?
The truth is that the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely sovereign
and omnipotent. He possesses all power. He saves
whom he will save and whom he will, he condemns. He's the potter
and we're the clay. And he makes out of the same
vessel of clay, some, the same lump of clay, some vessels of
honor and some of dishonor. No man can stay his hand or say
unto him, what doest thou? He possesses all power. And when
the, they say, how do I know that the gospel has been revealed
to me? How do I know that Christ has been revealed to me? Because
I believe what God says about him. And the only option that I have
is to beg Him for His mercy and bow before Him and worship Him
because He holds my soul and my life in His hand and He will
do with it whatsoever He wills. I'm not holding on to some sort
of false God that the world believes in. I'm not taking His place
and His throne. I have laid help upon one that
is mighty. David may have conquered men
physically. The Lord Jesus Christ conquers
the minds and the hearts of men spiritually. Now that's power. That's power. He's got the power to raise dead
men from the grave. He's got the power to cause deaf
men to hear. He's got the power to give sight
to the blind. He's got the power to make us
willing in the day of His power. Oh, once we believe that, God
gives us the grace to believe what the Father has said about
the Son. And we will come to the same
conclusion Job came to. Behold, I am vile. We'll come to the same conclusion
that Isaiah came to. Woe is me, for I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. My
eyes have seen the king. I'm completely dependent upon
him. He's going to have to take a coal from off his altar and
touch my lips and make me clean. The Jesus of modern day religion
is not a God of power. They honor him with their lips,
but their hearts are far from him. And they deny, they have
a form of godliness. It's what the scripture says,
they have a form of godliness. In other words, they go through
the religious motions, but they deny the power thereof. Isn't that the Jesus you hear
about out there in the world? It's the one Ellen G. White was
talking about that I was reading this week. A powerless Jesus
who wasn't able to speak by his word. He had to give extra visions
and revelations to teach people how to live. That's not our God. And that's
not the God that the father is revealing to his holy ones, his
saints. Look what else he says. In verse
19. I have laid help upon one that
is mighty. I have exalted one. Out of the people. Yes, just like David, the Lord
Jesus Christ was his son after the flesh, after the flesh. He was of the tribe of Judah.
And, and, and, and, but, but he's not talking about King David.
The margin of my Bible, and I like my Bible, but the margin of my
Bible points back to that time when Samuel went and anointed
David, and chose David. Remember, Samuel went to Jesse's
house, and Jesse brought all of his sons out, and God spoke
to Samuel, said, no, not this one, not this one, not this one.
And finally, Samuel said to Jesse, you have any more? The Lord has
rejected every one of these. Well, we got this little boy
out in the yard taking care of the sheep, but surely he's not
very kingly. Bring him in. Bring him in. Isn't that what people think? That's the attitude they have
about Christ. He's not much. He's a man after God's own heart.
He is the man after God's own heart. He's got the heart of
God. And the Lord anointed him. But
this is not about David, it's about Christ. It's about Christ. I have found David, my servant.
Look, I have exalted one chosen out of the people. And what does
the scripture tell us about what God has done to reward the Lord
Jesus Christ for though he thought it not robbery to be equal with
God yet he made of himself no reputation became a servant was
made in the likeness of man and was obedient even unto death
even the death of the cross that was part of his obedience. We
think oftentimes we think about the obedience of Christ just
being his keeping the law in his life in heart and in thought
and in actions. But the scripture makes it clear
that the ultimate expression of his obedience to the father
was going to the cross. That was his obedience. The father
had had ordained that, had purposed that. And he was obedient. Father, if there be any way this
cup can pass from me, let it be. Nevertheless, not my will,
but thine be done. There was no other way. And he
went to the cross. He was obedient. Wherefore, God
has given him a name that is above every name. That's why
the Lord asked those Jews What think ye of Christ? That's
why Paul preached, Peter preached on the day of Pentecost about
Christ being the one that David was referred, that David was
a type of. Christ was the antitype. David
was just the type. That's all he was. And they were
so hung up and wanting to see David. I've given him a name that is
above every name. He's been given preeminence over
all things, and he's the head of the body, which is the church. I have laid, go back with me
to Psalm 89. This is God Almighty revealing
by vision, by the mystery of the gospel to his holy ones. Do you believe it? Do you believe
what God's saying about his son? Do you? Because that's all faith
is. Faith is what faith is saying
when God speaks. Amen. Amen. He's all my hope. He's all my
salvation. He's all my desire. I believe
what God is saying about Christ. I have exalted one. I have exalted
him, and he's my chosen one. You see that? I thought we'd
get through four or five verses the first hour of this morning.
It looks like we're going to make it through one, but he's my chosen one.
What did the Lord say in Isaiah chapter 42? Behold my servant,
whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom I am well pleased. He's speaking of Christ, saying,
look to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one I chose. He's my
chosen one. This matter of the kingdom of
God is not a democracy. Men have made it a democracy. Americans in particular are so
proud of their democracy, aren't they? Don't get me wrong. I'm thankful for the system of
government that we have. But don't think that the kingdom
of God is a democracy. It's not. It is a theocracy and there's
only one vote. One vote. And it's not you and
it's not me. God cast one vote. And whatever he votes for, that's
the way it's gonna be. And God's people say, amen. I mean, you have a hard time
figuring out politics? Yeah, I do. I mean, it's complicated,
isn't it? Wouldn't it be great? Wouldn't it be great to have
a benevolent monarchy where the king had nothing but good for
his subjects? And that's exactly what we have.
A complete theocracy, a complete benevolent monarchy where our
king doesn't seek our counsel. But every decision he makes is
what's best for his subjects. He is God's chosen one. And not only does God choose
him, but God chooses everyone that will believe on him. It
is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. It is of
God that showeth mercy. Bow in submission and worship. to this glorious king that the
father is pleased to reveal to us by his word, by his word. All right, let's take a break. you