Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 69, 69 from the hardback hymn, number
69. Let's all stand together. 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. From our worldly care set free,
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 states. 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. I think that him was originally
written to be sung just on Sunday, but we know who our Sabbath is. Our rest is in Christ. And what? Great hope and joy
we have and being able to. Sing that him all the time. So
let's open our Bibles together to Psalm 107 for our call to
worship Psalm 107 will begin reading in verse 23. I was thinking today, sometimes
God's providence is hard and sometimes it's easy. But it's
always right and it's always good. And we ought to be thankful
when his providence is hard as we are when it's easy. But we
are very thankful this week, aren't we, for the easy time
he gave us with that storm. This passage of scripture speaks
some about the power of God, and man sees the secondary causes
behind the storms. in terms of the high and low
pressures and steering currents and those sort of things, but
we know what the first cause is. It's the hand of God. He
is the first cause of all things. And we pause to rejoice in him
tonight, knowing that he's the one that directs the wind. Love
what the Lord said to Nicodemus in John chapter three, the wind
listeth whithersoever it wills. You know not where it comes or
where it goes and so is every man that's born of the spirit
and so The spirit is like the wind They that go down verse
23 of psalm 107 they that go down to the sea in ships they
do business in great waters These see the works of the lord and
his wonders in the deep For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy
wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the
heavens. They go down to the depths. Their
soul is melted because of trouble. I was thinking about Jonah and
the men that were on that ship, and they thought they were all
going to die. And sometimes the Lord sends turbulent seas, not
literally, but spiritually and figuratively. They reel to and
fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm and that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they
be quiet. So he bringeth them unto their
desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. Let's pray together. Our merciful and gracious, loving
heavenly father. We know that when you calm the
seas or whether you stir the seas, that you are the, the first
cause of all things. And we bow in worship and in
submission to your sovereign omnipotent authority and grace. Lord, we are in need of you to. To reach down from heaven and
to stir our hearts and cause us Lord to be able to enter into
thy presence. We need of you Lord to reveal. My dear son to us and cause us
to to rest in him and trust him for all our salvation. Thank
you for your word. We pray your Holy Spirit would
speak. To our hearts this night. And that you would call me any. Seas of trouble that we have
because of unbelief. And cause us to to rest in Christ. We thank you Lord for. The easy
providence that you gave to us. This week and. We pray for our
brethren in North Carolina and we ask Lord that you would. Keep
and protect them and. That you would give them good
hope in Christ. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. Number 19 from the Spiral Gospel
Hymnal, number 19. Let's all stand together again.
? Sovereign ruler, Lord of all
? ? Prostrate at your feet I fall ? ? You are holy, wise, and just
? ? I'm a creature of the dust ? ? All things move at your command
? ? Governed by your mighty hand ? Heaven, earth, and hell I see,
Fulfill all your wise decree. Dares a man resist his Lord,
Stand against the sovereign God? I will bow before your throne,
Seeking grace in Christ your Son. ? Through his blood and
righteousness ? ? Lord I plead with you for grace ? ? If you
will you can I know ? ? Grace and mercy to me show ? ? Will
you Lord my soul forgive ? ? Grant this sinner grace to live ? I've
no other hope but this, Jesus' blood and righteousness. Now I'm conquered by your grace. In the dust I hide my face. Give me Christ or else I die. I upon your grace rely. Oh, for mercy now I plead. Grant me, Lord, the grace I need. Turn, oh, turn to me and say,
all your sins are washed away. In my son, your debt is paid. He, for you, the ransom made. Please be seated. Ah, that's a good hymn. The ransom has been paid. Sin
has been put away. Open your Bibles with me, please,
to Psalm 89, Psalm 89. I've titled this message, God's
Salvation. God's Salvation. We often quote
Jonah when he was in the belly of the whale and brought down
to the depths, no hope of deliverance. And he cried, salvation is of
the Lord. And immediately, Immediately
he was vomited out onto dry land. Salvation is of the Lord. That's the message tonight. God's
salvation. God's the one according to his
own will and purpose. That chose a people in Christ
in the Covenant of Grace before time ever began. Had he not chosen
us, we never would have chosen him. Salvation's of the Lord,
it's God's salvation. It was God that did all the work
of redemption, putting away our sins, shedding his precious blood
in order to satisfy the demands of God's holy justice. Salvation
is of the Lord, it's God's salvation. It's God the Holy Spirit that
comes in power and makes us willing, opens the eyes of our understanding,
and reveals to us the glory of Christ and gives to us the gift
of faith. If he didn't give us faith, we
wouldn't have faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourself. It is a gift of God. It's God's
salvation that gives faith. It's God's salvation that keeps
us looking to Christ and coming to Christ and believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's God's salvation that's brought
us here tonight to hear once again about God's salvation. It's God's salvation that will
bring us safely across that river to be able to feast on the tree
of life on the other side of the river one day when he calls
us home. It's God's salvation from election
to regeneration, to sanctification, to glorification. It's God's
salvation. And we praise him and worship
him. We wouldn't rob him of that glory or claim to have any hand
or any part to do with his salvation. And that's what the psalmist
is rejoicing in right now. In verse 13, he speaks of God's
ability to save. In verse 14, he speaks of the
standard and the act of salvation. In verse 15, he speaks of the
call of salvation. irresistible, effectual. And
in verses 16 through 18, he speaks of God's reward in salvation. Look at verse 13 with me for
just a moment. Thou hast a mighty arm, strong
is thy hand and high is thy right hand. Is there any sin that he
cannot forgive? Is my hand, my arm short that
I cannot save? Is his hand weak that he cannot
save? Is there any need that he cannot
meet? Is there any person beyond his
reach? No. No. That's what the psalmist
is rejoicing in. Thou hast a mighty arm. Lord,
if it wasn't for your arm and for your high hand and for your
right hand of salvation, I wouldn't be saved. If you didn't accomplish
it for me, he reaches into the fiery pit of hell and he pulls
the brand out of the fire. Oh, how strong is his hand? How
far does it reach? How able is it to save? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
right hand of God. And he is able to save to the
uttermost, to the uttermost. And he does. Why? Because he's
got the strength. He's got the omnipotence. He's
got the power. He's got the power to make us
willing. He's got the power to put away our sin. He's got the
power to satisfy God's justice. Oh, there is power in that blood,
isn't there? There's power in the blood. He can reach into
the turbulent sea. and lift every drowning Peter
back to the boat. And he gives them the power to
cry, Lord, save me, save me. It's his strong right hand. He reaches forth his hand and
lifts that 12-year-old child of Jairus from her deathbed and
gives her life. And he's able to do that for
me and you. He's able to take a dead dog center and by his
strong hand, give them life. He anointed the eyes of the blind
with those hands and he's still doing it. He's still doing it.
He's still taking that spittle. That which is considered to be
unclean. You remember in the Old Testament
law, if an unclean man spit on a clean man, that clean man became
unclean. That was the law. Why did the
Lord Jesus Christ use his spittle to give sight to the blind and
to loose the tongue of the dumb? To show us that the clean man
spits on the unclean. That makes him plain, that transfer
of righteousness and holiness that we have in Christ. Oh, his
hand is strong. His hand is strong to unstop
the ears of the deaf when he stuck his fingers in the ears
of the deaf and pulled them out. And all of a sudden, the man
who'd never heard before hears. He's still doing that. He's still
doing that. He still takes his right hand,
his strong arm, his high hand, and he unstops the ears of those
who would have no way of hearing his voice. And he says, they
that are of the truth, they that my father have chosen in the
covenant of grace, them that I'm dying for, they that are
of the truth, they hear my voice. How do they hear his voice? Because
he, with his strong hand, unstops their ears, gives them ears to
hear. He touches the lepers and makes
them clean. He's still doing it. The leper
in the day of our Lord had to cry, unclean, unclean, wherever
he went, and no one could get near to him, just like that woman
with the issue of blood. She was supposed to declare herself
unclean as well. But she didn't. She thought,
oh, if I could just touch the hem of his garment. If I could
just touch that, that. That place where I could receive
his grace, I could be made whole. And the Lord Jesus Christ looked
at her and he said, who touched me? Who? Hey, who touched me? Lord, what do you mean? Who?
Everybody's strong in you. What do you mean? Who touched
you? No, no virtue has gone out from me. My power. my might has gone out for me
just like it went out when he touched the lepers and made them
clean and he's still doing that you and I in this world have
an issue of blood we inherited it from our father who inherited
it from his father all the way back to Adam we've got a blood
problem and the only cleansing for that blood is that fountain
of blood that comes from Christ And he makes lepers clean, he
makes those with an issue of blood to dry up and be made whole. Thomas didn't believe. He didn't believe until he saw
the strong hand of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ said,
here, Thomas, come put your finger into the wounds in my hand. what
Thomas do. He saw the strong, high right
hand of God and he fell on his knees and said, Oh my Lord, my
God, he worshipped him. He worshipped him. Our Lord is
telling us that I've got the ability to save. You've got no
strength in yourself. when we were yet without strength. Not when we had a little bit
of strength, not when we were trying our best, not when we
were doing what we could do, but when we were yet without
strength, without any ability to put away our sin, without
the ability to enter into the presence of God. Christ died
for the ungodly. You remember what that word ungodly
means? We looked at it just recently. Those who are unable to worship
God. are the ungodly. And if Christ
did not die for the ungodly, we would never be able to enter
into the worship of God. We who are without strength. When the crowd was hungry, the
disciples, the Lord told the disciples, give them meat to
eat. And the disciples said, well, Lord, we've got two small
fishes and five loaves of barley, but what is that among so many?
What did the Lord say? Bring them to me. And he took
them and blessed them and handed them to the disciples and they
dispersed them among the crowd. 5,000 people ate those two fishes
and five barley loaves and 12 baskets were left over. Oh, what
the power of our God's hand. And in contrast to that, everything
we put our hand to, we defile. Everything we touch, we defile.
Our hands are not clean. His are. His are clean and His
are powerful. High is thy right hand. How high
is the right hand of God right now? How high is it? Can't get any higher. He's given
him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. He has
given him preeminence over all things. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the high right hand of God. He occupies the highest throne
in all the universe. Is anything too hard for our
God? Anything? Is he not able to save? Is he
not able to provide? Oh, your heavenly father knows
what you have need of. Isn't that what he said? We've
got a high savior who is at the right hand of the majesty on
high, and he's able to, thou hast a mighty arm. And God's people say amen, amen,
his arm is mighty. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
51, Isaiah 51. Look at verse, look at verse
nine. Here's a good prayer for those
who are without strength, those who cannot put away their own
sin, those who cannot conquer sin, those who cannot provide
for themselves in this world. Here's a good prayer. Awake,
awake. Put on strength, O arm of the
Lord. On that good Sunday, awake, O
sword. Smite the shepherd. The sword
of God's justice had been sleeping. Now we're saying, Lord, I know
that you don't sleep nor slumber, but I need you to come to me. Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the Lord. Isn't that what the disciples
said in the boat when the Lord was asleep and they thought they
were gonna drown? They were in the turbulence of the sea, thinking
that life was over. Lord, care not that we perish.
Oh, ye of little faith. I'm in the boat with you awake,
awake, put on strength alarm of the Lord. The Lord wasn't
sleeping because he was dead. The Lord was asleep to give those
disciples an opportunity to wake him up. Lord, you have to save
us awake. Oh, arm of the Lord, awake as
in the ancient days and the generations of old. Art thou not it that
hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon? Now, Rahab, as we saw
last Sunday, or Wednesday, I can't remember when it was, is often
used as a synonym for Egypt. And here it is. Lord, aren't
you the one that drowned the armies of Pharaoh? Aren't you
with one that brought the 10 plagues? Aren't you the one that
delivered us from the death angel by the blood of the spotless
lamb? Or do you, you brought that great
nation to a humble end with great deliverance of thy people. Just
like you did then, Lord, I need you to do it now. I need you
to come in power with your right, with your high and strong arm
and strong right hand. And I need you to deliver me.
I can't deliver myself. Art thou not it which hath dried
the sea, the waters and the great deep that have made the depths
of the sea away? That hath made the depths of
the sea away for the ransom to pass over. Did you get that? The Lord is
making the depths of the sea the way in which the ransomed
are to pass over. What I'm saying is that God,
as the first cause of all things, uses our sin to cause us to see
our need for a Savior, the depths of the sea. He uses, he uses
the circumstances of our lives to cause us to see our need for
a savior. Lord, I I've got no strength.
I've got no ability. I'm without strength. I need
you to awake. Oh, arm of God, awake to my deliverance,
awake to my salvation. Isaiah chapter 53, you know how
that begins. Who hath believed the gospel? Who hath believed our report?
Who hath believed our doctrine? Who can possibly believe that
God is absolutely sovereign and omnipotent, not only in creation
and in providence, but most particularly in salvation? Who can believe
that? Men don't believe it. They don't believe God's sovereign
in salvation. Oh, they'll talk about God's sovereignty and in
creation. They'll, they'll talk about God's
sovereignty and providence though, but, but they don't believe that
he's sovereign in salvation. Absolutely sovereign that he
did it all by himself. They don't believe that who had
believed our report. And then the answer to that question
is given in the rest of the verse, isn't it? To whom hath the arm
of the Lord been revealed? Oh Lord reveal Christ to me.
This, this salvation of God begins. It begins right here with the
Lord showing us his ability to save. Verse 14 tells us the standard
by which God saves and the act of his salvation. And we saw
this a little bit Sunday. Look at, look at verse verse
14. This goes with the message from
Sunday, uh, the justice of God. And, and here he says in verse
14, justice and judgment are the habitation or the the establishment
of your throne. Justice and judgment. Now, we sing that hymn, Jehovah Sidken
you. And we know that that comes from
Jeremiah chapter 23. He shall be called the Lord,
our righteousness. And one thing I didn't mention
Sunday is that justice comes from the same word that righteousness
comes from. It comes from the same word.
God has a perfect righteous standard by which the Lord Jesus Christ
is the man by which the whole world will be judged. That's
his righteousness, that's his justice. And so he's telling
us the way in which he saves. He says, I save by a standard
of righteousness and I make all my judgments according to that
standard of righteousness. I don't grade on a curve. I don't
excuse sin. I require absolute perfect justice
and perfect righteousness to be executed. And there's only
one that can do that. There's only one. When the sword
of God's justice was brought out from behind the ephod and
put into the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's judgment
was satisfied according to righteousness. Christ Jesus the Lord is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And
so in verse 13 he tells us about his ability to save, his power
to save, and now in verse 14 he's telling us the standard
by which he saves. He saves by that perfect standard
of righteousness. Justice and judgment are the
establishment of thy throne. This throne of God cannot be
moved. It cannot be moved. Isaiah saw him. Sitting upon
a throne, high and lifted up, the seraphim hovering over that
throne, crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. Heaven
and earth is filled with his glory. He is seated on his rightful
throne, having successfully accomplished the salvation of his people by
satisfying divine justice once and for all, establishing righteousness
once and for all. We don't try to add to his righteousness,
and we dare not ever take away from it. The righteousness of
God was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was obedient,
not only in his life, but was obedient in his death. He obeyed
God, even unto death, the death of the cross, satisfying justice. Justice and judgment are the
establishment, the habitation of his throne. He's got the ability
to save, and now he's telling us the standard by which he saves,
lest we try to save ourselves. Lest we dare take anything away
from the successful work of the Lord Jesus Christ or try to add
anything to it. Verse 14 tells us the standard
and the act by which God says, look, justice and judgment are
the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. Most people think of God as some
sort of sentimental grandfather who's just in the end going to
kind of overlook sin. And that's not mercy is his compassion
for words, his people, but there's no mercy without truth, without
truth, mercy, Psalm 85 verse 10, mercy and truth met together,
righteousness and peace kissed each other. Where did that happen?
It happened at Calvary's tree when the Lord Jesus Christ. Satisfied
God's justice, providing his compassion and his mercy through
the sacrifice of himself for sin. That's the truth. The truth
is that God's righteous. He said, I'm not going to overlook
your sin. All sins got to be punished.
No sin will go unpunished. No sin. God's not, his mercy
does not excuse truth or does not overlook truth. There's no
mercy without truth. But here we have a God who has
been able to be just to his truth, his nature of righteousness and
the truth of our unrighteousness. That's true. We're, we're, we're
sinners. We have no righteousness in and
of ourselves. Paul said in me that is in my
flesh that dwelleth no good thing. We have our righteousnesses or
as filthy rags before God, that's the truth. So how is mercy and
truth going to meet together? God himself has provided the
way. for him to be compassionate and
merciful towards his children without sacrificing truth. And
it's the only way that's gonna happen. Most folks wanna have mercy without
truth. Not gonna happen, not gonna happen. This is the, I heard a preacher say recently,
that unity among brethren has nothing to do with doctrine.
Well, I beg to disagree. God's word disagrees with that.
Turn with me to Ephesians chapter four. Unity among brethren that
has nothing to do with doctrine is nothing more than sentimentality. That's all it is. It's without
substance. It's without truth. It's an attempt
to have mercy without truth. You have your Bibles open too.
I'll get there in a minute. Ephesians chapter 4. Look at
verse 3. Ephesians chapter 4. Endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Oh, we
love unity. Unity among the brethren is a
beautiful thing. It's like the oil that drips
down on Aaron's beard and goes down to the hem of his garment.
It's a, it's a sweet thing when God's people come together and
are in unity, but it's not without truth. As a matter of fact, it's
the very truth of the gospel that gives us unity. We rejoice
together in, in, in believing the same thing, don't we? Look,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of
peace, for there is one body, one spirit, even as you are called
in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and father of us all, who is above all and through
all and in you all. There's the unity of the spirit.
You can't have unity without doctrine. That's the doctrine
of the gospel. One omnipotent sovereign God. There's one church. There's one
gospel. There's one truth. There's one
salvation. There's one Christ. That's, that's
the source of our unity. Unity without truth is not, is
not spiritual unity at all. Go back with me. To our text,
the standard and act of God's salvation is for mercy and truth
to meet together, for truth to be satisfied and mercy to be
given. And the only way that can happen
is for justice and judgment to be executed and to be established
at the throne of God. The justice of God, as we saw
Sunday, only one time. Judgment of God has been executed
many, many times and will continue to be. The justice of God was
only served once, only once. God required that his throne
is established. It's founded on justice and judgment,
mercy and truth. Oh, I'm so thankful, aren't you?
We're not sacrificing the justice of God by begging for mercy. We're pleading for mercy while
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only one that's able to
satisfy God's righteousness and God's justice on our behalf. Verse 15. The ability to save is in verse
13. The standard by which God saves
is in verse 14. And the call of salvation. The irresistible call. What did
Paul say? When it pleased God. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb to call me by His grace and reveal Christ
in me. That's when it happens. In the
power of God's grace, when he sends his spirit through the
preaching of the gospel to open the eyes with those strong hands
to unstop the ears with those strong hands to take out the
heart of flesh or the heart of stone to put in a heart of flesh
with those with that high hand of Christ. And here in verse
in verse 15 he tells us about that blessing. Blessed is the
people. That no. the joyful sound. Now the joyful sound is a reference
to that ram's horn that blew every Sabbath and more particularly
that blew on the year of Jubilee. And what the Lord is saying is
blessed are those who know that sound. Blessed of God. He's not saying if you know the
sound, then you'll be blessed. He's saying if you know the sound,
it's because you have been blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. God's not saying, well, if you're
poor in spirit, then I'll bless you. No, if you're poor in spirit,
it's because you've been blessed. If you mourn over your sins,
it's because you've been blessed. And that's what he's saying here.
Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. They've been
blessed of God. To know that when that trumpet
sounds, now who's gonna be waiting for that trumpet to sound at
the beginning of the 50th year, the year of Jubilee, when all
the land goes back to its original owners? those who had lost their
property through poverty, when all slaves were set free and
all debt was canceled, when that joyful sound, that trumpet sounded,
who's gonna be the ones that are gonna be happy to hear, they'll
be waiting, they get up in the morning, this is the day, let's
hear the sound, the sound of the Sabbath. What did the Sabbath
provide? It provided a day of rest. Who's going to be glad for that
joyful sound? Those that are in debt. Those
that have lost their way. Those that those that are have
lost their possession. Those those that are enslaved
to sin and those that are that are struggling, struggling, not
resting, but struggling. Those are the ones that are going
to be thankful when they hear that joy. Blessed of God are
those who have who know that sound. They know. And every time we preach the
gospel, that's the trumpet we're blowing. Isn't it? It's the trouble
we're saying to centers, Christ came to save centers. We're saying
to those that are in debt, Christ paid your debt. We're saying
to those that are without strength, Christ is your strength. We're
saying to those who need an advocate, Christ is your advocate. He's the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He's all
of your salvation. He's your life. That's the trumpet. We're blowing
that trumpet right now. Right now, we're blowing that
trumpet. And those that struggle with sin, oh, they're so glad
to hear that trumpet sound. Oh, you mean there's a Jubilee?
Yes. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me. For he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Preach deliverance
to those that are bound. Set at liberty them that are
bound. Preach the acceptable year of the Lord. That's the
year of Jubilee. Look at this verse again, blessed,
verse 15. And this has to do with the call
of salvation. The call of God, come. The spirit
and the bride say, come. You say, well, how do I know
if God's calling me? Just tell him right now, come. You got no place
else to go. That's how I know he's calling
me. Is it because I feel the full weight of my sin as I ought?
No. Because I understand how desperate
my situation is? No. No. It's because God has
taught me that I am a sinner and that I have no righteousness
outside of Christ, and I've got no place else to go but to Him. I've got to have Christ. I can't
satisfy God's justice. I can't present to Him any righteousness. And so, to those, what'd the
Lord say? Are you laboring? Heavy burden? Come unto me. Come unto me. My burden is light, my yoke is
easy. I'll give you rest for your soul. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance. They shall walk. in the light
of thy countenance. What is the light of his countenance?
It's the gospel. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, that's the truth. Truth is light. Then we have
fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us of all our sin. And the Lord said, as you received
Christ Jesus, the Lord, how'd you receive him? Received him
as a mercy beggar, understanding something about the truth of
my own need and the truth of his ability to save, I came begging
for mercy. And as you received Christ Jesus,
the Lord, so walk ye in him. And now he's saying, how do I
know I've been called? How do I know that the Lord has
called me? Is it because I'm looking back
to an experience when I accepted Jesus or a religious experience
when I felt a warm feeling come over me? No. You can't trust that. You know
that, don't you? You can't trust your experiences.
I don't have any confidence whatsoever in yesterday's manna. Yesterday's
manna is rotted to me today. How do I know that he's called
me? Because I'm walking in the light of his countenance right
now. You can walk. You can't walk yet. You can't
walk yesterday. You can't walk. Walking, the
word walk is used in scripture to describe our current situation,
our current, we're walking. It's not you walked or you will
walk, you're walking right now. So, look at this verse again.
Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. How do I know
that I've been blessed of God to know the joyful sound? For
they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. The
only confidence I have of my salvation is that I'm looking
to Christ right now. Right this minute. That's the
only confidence I have. Salvation is a Is a moment by
moment experience, isn't it? We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which he hath ordained that we
should walk in them. Whatever is not a faith is sin.
A good work is that which is done in faith. We're walking
by faith. We won't walk by sight. The just shall not walk by sight.
They walk by faith. So this, this walk of faith is
a walk by where we look to Christ for all the hope of our salvation.
And that is the light of his countenance upon us. And that's
the only evidence that we have that we've been called. That's
it. We can't look at a blessing.
We can't look at an experience. We're looking to Christ right
now. And that faith in him is the
evidence of our salvation. It's the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Know what scripture
says? Look at verse 16. The reward
of his salvation in thy name shall they rejoice all the day. Rejoice in the Lord. What is his name? Jesus. Why did the Lord call him Jesus? Because Jesus translated means
Jehovah saves. That's the title of this message. God's salvation. You shall call
his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. We
rejoice in the fact that he actually saved his people from their sins. He actually accomplished everything
necessary for my salvation. Everything. In thy name shall they rejoice. all the day, and in thy righteousness
shall they be exalted." Not in their own righteousness, in thy
righteousness. That's going to be their exaltation.
I mentioned Jeremiah chapter 23, Jehovah said, can you, the
Lord, our righteousness, which is what his name is. And then
you remember in Jeremiah 33, and she shall be called the Lord,
our righteousness. So that as he is, so are we in
this world. He that sanctifies and they that
are sanctified are all as one whereby he's not ashamed to call
them his brethren. We have the righteousness of
God in Christ. Imputed to us charged to our
account without sin before God. Oh, what hope What there's I
rejoicing we can't rejoice in anything else Not before God Rejoice in his name Emmanuel
We rejoice in that his name is Emmanuel God with us. I will never leave you nor forsake
you. Your mother and your father might
leave you. They may forsake you, but I won't. I won't and I never
sleep or slumber. So that anytime a child of God,
whatever time of day or night it is, the Lord is our Emmanuel. God with us. He's our advocate
who intercedes on our behalf. The righteous one presenting
himself before the father on our behalf. He's our alpha and
our omega, the beginning and the end. He's the one who stood
for us in the covenant of grace before time began. He's the one
who stands for us now. Remember when Steven was being
stoned? The scripture says he looked up into heaven and he
saw the Lord Jesus Christ standing. He stood up. To be an advocate. For Steven. He's the bread of
life that came down from heaven. He's the water of life. He is
life. He's the way, the truth and the
life outside of him. We have no life. It's his name,
his name. His name is The Rock, and the
scripture says our rock is higher than their rock. The rock which
the builders have rejected has become the head of the corner.
We have a rock on which we stand so that whatever storms God sends,
the greatest one is yet to come. When we pass from this life into
the next, we'll stand on that rock, not on shifting sand. Here's our reward. Our reward
is rejoicing in his name. Look at verse 17. I will close
at verse 17 and 18. For thou art the glory of their strength. We saw that Sunday in the first
hour when Paul said in Corinthians, he said, when I'm weak, I'm strong.
He said, God's given me this thorn in the flesh. And I, and
I've asked for it to be taken away. But, but the Lord said,
my grace is sufficient for thee. My grace is, his grace is our
strength. He is our strength. And so here
he says, for thou art the glory of their strength. Lord, I have
no strength in and of myself, but in you, I've got all the
strength of God. All the strength of God to put
away my sin and to make me righteous, enable me to stand and rest and
wait on the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou art the glory of their strength
and in thy favor, our horn shall be exalted. Horn is strength. And here our horn is exalted
in him, in him. For our strength, his strength
is made perfect, is made perfect in my weakness. For the Lord
is our defense. Now that word defense is most
often translated shield in the Bible. And the scripture tells
us that the shield in the spiritual armor of the believer's life
is what? Faith. Faith. The shield of faith by which
they're able to quench the fiery darts of the devil. So for the
Lord is our defense. He's our shield. Our trust is
in Him. And the Holy One of Israel? He's our King. He's our king. He's our prophet. He is the word
of God that came down from heaven. He's our priest. Whoever lives
seated at the right hand of the majesty on high making intercession
for us. And he's our king who gave the
law and then fulfilled the law. He's our king. We have no other
king. But Christ. We can say with Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego. Who would have us bow down to
Nebuchadnezzar? No, we're not going to bow down.
Not going to worship another God. We have unity with the brethren
in the bond of peace in the Gospel of God's free grace. Our salvation
is of God. We're not going to bow. Our God's
able he's King. He's King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. He's able to save me. Our Heavenly Father were. We're
thankful for the declaration of your sovereign mercy and grace
given to us in your word, and we ask that you would send your
spirit and power. Give us faith to believe all
that you've said. but we ask it in Christ's name,
amen. Number 272, let's stand together. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veils his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath is covenant, His blood
supports me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand.