Good evening. Let's open this
evening's service with number 24 from your spiral hymn book,
Jehovah Sid Canu, the Lord, Our Righteousness. We haven't sung
this in a while. Let's all stand. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. We love to call you by that name,
our Savior Christ Jesus. Jehovah Sidkenu, The God-man
live for us, bringing eternal righteousness, which God imputes
to us. Jehovah-Sid-Cado, our substitute
who died. Your blood has put away our sin,
and we are justified. Jehovah Sidkenu, Your love has
won our praise. Trusting your blood and righteousness,
we're saved by your free grace. Jehovah Sidkenu, We stand in
you alone. Our only fitness before God is
in our Lord, His Son, Jehovah Sidkenu. ? The Lord our righteousness
? ? Christ Jesus you alone we call ? ? The Lord our righteousness
? Please be seated. Ah, what hope. We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. We open your
Bibles with me to Lamentation chapter three for our call to
worship. Lamentation chapter three. It's
right after Jeremiah. We were singing that hymn, I
was thinking about how all the righteous
All the righteous believe themselves to be unrighteous. And all the
unrighteous believe themselves to be righteous. And what a what
a comfort it is to have some understanding of where our righteousness
lies. It's all in him. Our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Man at his very best state is
altogether vanity. Oh, but what perfect righteousness
we have in Christ. You have your Bibles open to
lamentation chapter 3. The title of the message tonight
from Psalm 89 is. The Lord, our faithfulness. And. Or great is thy faithfulness
and actually the title comes from the title of that hymn,
which we're going to sing at the close of the service tonight
comes from this passage of Scripture. Verse 22 of Lamentation chapter
3. It is of the Lord's mercy that
we are not consumed. Because his compassions fail
not. If it wasn't for his mercy and
for his compassions, we would be consumed by his wrath. They are new every morning. Every
morning, every day, every time he brings us back into his presence,
he renews his mercies. Great, great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul. Therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto all them
that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good
that a man shall both hope and quietly wait for the salvation
of the Lord. That's a good thing to hope and
quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord for his faithfulness
and his righteousness is the hope of our salvation. Let's
pray together. Our merciful heavenly father,
thank you for the understanding that you have given to us. Lord,
we know that the depths of it are far beyond our comprehension,
but thank you for making us to be sinners, causing us to acknowledge
and confess before thee that we have no righteousness. Thank
you for the faith that you give us to rest all the hope of our
salvation in thy dear son, for he alone is righteous before
thee. And what great hope we have in
knowing that by virtue of our union with him, that that righteousness
is our righteousness. And that you see us in him. And
we have perfect acceptance in the beloved. Lord, great is thy
faithfulness. And we pray, Lord, that in this
hour that you would renew your mercies once again to our hearts
and cause us to rest all our hope in your faithfulness. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Number 239, 239. And let's all stand once again,
number 239. Art thou weary? Art thou languid? Art thou sore distressed? Come to me, saith one, and, coming,
be at rest. Hath he marks to lead me to him,
if he be my guide? In his feet and hands are wound
prints, and his side. Is there diadem as monarch that
his brow adorns? Yea, a crown in very surety,
but of thorns. If I still hold closely to him,
what hath he at last? Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,
Jordan passed. If I ask Him to receive me, will
He say b'nai? Not till earth and not till heaven
pass away. Finding, following, keeping,
struggling, is he sure to bless? Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
answer yes. Please be seated. He's never, ever turned any of
His children away and come to Him in faith. Turn with me in your Bibles to
Psalm 89, please. Psalm 89. I want to read the
first eight verses of this psalm, and then we'll go back and set
our hopes on the one whose faithfulness is great. Whose faithfulness
is great. I will sing of the mercies of
the Lord forever with my mouth while I make known thy faithfulness
to all generations. For I have said, mercy shall
be built up forever. Thy faithfulness shall thou establish
in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my
chosen. I have sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed will I establish
forever and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. And the heavens shall praise
thy wonders, O Lord. thy faithfulness also in the
congregation of the saints. For who in the heavens can be
compared unto the Lord, and who among the sons of the mighty
can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in
the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all
them that are about him. O Lord of hosts, who is a strong
Lord like unto Thee, or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee? Now the Lord has told us that
it is required of a steward that a man be found faithful. I want to be faithful. I don't
want an accusation to be made against me of not being faithful. I want to be a man of my word.
I want to I want to keep my promises. I want to be faithful in my marriage. I want to be faithful to you. I want to be faithful to God.
And I pray by God's grace that he will make us faithful people. But if the hope of our salvation
is determined by our faithfulness to God, we have no hope. We have no hope. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the only one that satisfied the demands of God's righteousness
with perfect faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness, thy
faithfulness. In the book of Revelation, he's
called faithful and true. And he that sat upon the throne
said, behold, I make all things new, right? For these words,
these words are true and faithful. We're going to consider faithfulness
from this text in its perfect demonstration in the one who
is perfectly faithful. Before we go back to our text,
turn with me to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 17, wherefore in all things
it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in all things pertaining
to God. Man looks at the outward appearance,
God looks at the heart. God considers every thought and
intent of the heart. And when he tried the heart of
the Lord Jesus Christ, he proved him to be faithful pertaining
to the things of God. He satisfied all the demands
of God's requirement. Who of us can say that? To make
reconciliation for the sins of the people. That's what his faithfulness
did. It made reconciliation. We can't reconcile ourselves
to God. We're not faithful. Not like
him. For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, he is able to succor them who are tempted. He's able to help them, to comfort
them in their temptations. Tried in all ways that we are,
yet without sin he was faithful. And then he tells us in 1 John
1 verse 9, he says, if you confess your sin, you agree with me about
your sinfulness before God, your faithlessness. Confess your sins
before God and he is faithful and just to cleanse you of your
sins, forgive you of your sins and cleanse you of all of your
unrighteousness. God is faithful. You're there
in the book of Hebrews. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10 and look at verse 21. Brethren, the message is to trust
God for he is faithful. He's faithful. He's faithful
to provide us with everything we need in salvation, and he's
faithful to provide us with everything we need in this life. There hath
no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man, but
God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above
that which you are able, but will with all your trials and
all your temptations be faithful to provide the way of escape,
Christ the Lord, who is the faithful one, that you may be able to
bear it. He's faithful. When we're not
faithful, he's perfectly faithful all the time. The hope of our
salvation is in his faithfulness. And that's what the psalmist
is rejoicing in. He's rejoicing that he has a
God who's faithful. You have your Bibles open to
Hebrews chapter 10. Look with me at verse 21. And
having a high priest over the house of God, We have a priest
who's entered into the holies of holies and he's put his blood
on the mercy seat. The veil has been rent. And the
spirit and the bride say, come, we have a high priest. Let us
therefore draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water, and let us hold fast the profession of
our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that hath promised. That's holding fast the profession
of our faith. The profession of our faith is
that he's faithful. He's faithful. Look over just one page to Hebrews
chapter 11. At verse 11, through faith also
Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was deliberate
of a child when she was past age. How old was Sarah? 90 years
old. Because she judged him faithful
who had promised. Oh, that's what faith is. Faith
is judging him. Faithful. Faith is not believing that you're
saved. Faith is believing that the Lord
Jesus Christ is the faithful savior. That's what faith is. is believing on the lord jesus
christ as the faithful savior assurance comes and goes faithless
faith is rooted in that one who is faithful trusting him for
all your righteousness go back with me to our text great
is thy faithfulness. We saw last Wednesday night that
Psalm 88 is a, is a, a Psalm of, of, of great, um, horror,
actually. It's, it's a prayer that the
Lord Jesus Christ is crying out from the pits of his agony on
Calvary's cross. And he even says in verse 15
of that chapter, he says, I am afflicted and ready to die from
my youth up. From my youth up, I've been afflicted.
From my youth up, I've been ready to die. While I suffer thy terrors, I
am distracted. When the Lord Jesus Christ went
to Calvary's cross, he suffered the terrors of God's wrath. Now in Psalm 89, now in Psalm
89, we have a, a, a, a song of praise. Matter of fact, if you'll
notice, it's written by Maskeel, or actually Maskeel translated
means a poem of understanding or wisdom, and it's written by
Ethan, whose name means enduring. So this is an enduring poem of
God's faithfulness, and of his wisdom, and might the Lord give
us understanding to rejoice as Ethan rejoiced in this psalm. Notice in verse one, I will sing
of thy mercies of the Lord forever. And we know that these Psalms
can only properly be understood as reading them and hearing them. This, this mass scale means a
poem of understanding, a poem of wisdom. Who's this about? It's about the Lord Jesus Christ.
When did he, when did he, uh, speak of the mercies of God with
his mouth, with his mouth? Scripture says that, that scripture
was given by inspiration of God, men of old spoke as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit, and God who at sundry times and in
divers manner spake to our fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his son, every time he opened his
mouth. And when was the first time the Lord Jesus Christ opened
his mouth, other than when he was 12 years old? When he began
his ministry in Nazareth, and he read from Isaiah 61, and he
declared himself to be the Messiah, and there was dead silence in
the synagogue, and they wondered at the gracious words that proceeded
out of his mouth. Out of his mouth, God has come
in the flesh, and he has spoken of the mercies and the faithfulness
of God. When they sent those police to
arrest the Lord, what did they came back empty-handed? They
said, never a man spake like this man before. We couldn't
contend with the words that were coming out of his mouth. Every
one of them were true. Every one of them were faithful.
Who of us can say that? How many vain words we speak
every day? Not the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the faithful one. We wonder. at the gracious words
that proceed out of his mouth. And so here he says, I will sing
of the mercies of the Lord forever with my mouth. The Lord Jesus
Christ now has been brought forth out of the grave. God would not
allow his holy one to see corruption. Everything necessary to justify
God's people has been accomplished through the death of Christ.
And God raises his son from the dead. And now he's singing mercies
to his father. He's not crying as he did on
the cross in agony. No, now he's rejoicing and he's
teaching his church and his people to rejoice. And so he says, I
will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever with my mouth. I
will make known by faithfulness to all generations. How many generations have passed
in the last 2000 years? Not one single generation has
gone by without there being a people from every kindred and every
tongue and every land and every people. God has elect people
in every generation that he speaks to and he calls them by name
and he brings them to himself. He says, I'm going to rejoice
in your mercies and speak by my mouth to every generation. And I'm gonna give them ears
to hear. Let him who has ears to hear hear what the Spirit
has to say to the churches. God gives us ears to hear his
voice, doesn't he? We don't listen to the voice
of a man. We don't listen to our own voice. Say, God, speak. Speak effectually to my heart.
And someone says, oh, are you talking about hearing the audible
voice of God? No, it's much louder than that. It's much louder than
that. Audible voices, I don't hear
too well. And I get confused with what people are saying audibly,
but when God speaks, there's no confusion. There's no mistake
about it. It's clear. I will speak to every generation,
to all generations, generation after generation have heard the
Lord and he has successfully, faithfully called everyone that
he redeemed. For I have said, mercy shall
be, verse two, for I have said, mercy shall be built up forever.
Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. And the
next verse, we're gonna talk about when that faithfulness
was established. It was established in the covenant
of grace. That God made with God before
time ever began. In the heavens. This, the faithfulness
of God, cannot be moved. Our faithfulness is so fickle
and so unsure, but His is established in the heavens. And here our
Lord is saying, I have said mercy shall be built up forever. Forever. Our God, brethren, because of
His faithfulness, And because of his compassion delights in
showing mercy toward his children. He delights in glorifying himself
by showing his faithfulness and his mercy and his compassion
towards his sinful, unfaithful children. Thy faithfulness, thy faithfulness,
not mine. Thy faithfulness shall be established
in the heavens. I have made a covenant with my
chosen. I have sworn unto David, my servant."
Now we know who he's talking about. The Lord made it clear
when he asked the Pharisees, he said, uh, he said, uh, whose,
whose, whose son is the Christ? He's the son of David, the son
of David. Well, if he's the son of David,
then why is it that David said, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou here at my right hand until I make thine enemies, my footstool.
And Paul makes it clear. David's not risen from the grave. Why would David refer to his
son as his Lord? If it was nothing more than his,
than his fleshly descendant, the seed is not seeds. It is seed. It is the, it is
Christ. And, and he's the faithful one. And so he says, I've made a covenant.
I've made a covenant with David, God speaking. He said, here's,
here's your hope. Your hope is not in your faithfulness.
Oh, be, be a person of your word. We're, we're not, we're not advocating
being unfaithful. We're just understanding that
God's standard of faithfulness is, is infinitely beyond ours. And that's what he requires.
And there's only one that met that standard and it's the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he's saying, here's your
hope. Here's your hope. You fret over your sin and over
your unfaithfulness? Well, you know what? You have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one.
You have one who is always faithful and true. And it began with a
covenant that he made with David way back then, way back then,
before man ever had a chance to become unfaithful the first
time in the garden. God established the hope of salvation
based on his faithfulness. His faithfulness. He's faithful. Now faith, brethren, is believing
that he is faithful. It's not believing that you're
saved. I mean, I love having assurance of salvation. Sometimes,
you know, assurance of salvation is kind of subjective. Sometimes
it's really good and sometimes it's not so good. But that's
not what faith is. Faith is not believing that you're
saved. Faith is believing that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
faithful Savior and that all the hope of your salvation is
bound up in His faithfulness. And that's what He's saying now.
I've made a covenant. I've made a covenant with David.
Don't look to your faithfulness. It's not there. I have sworn. Is it possible
for God to swear and put his name as an oath on a covenant
document and that, you know, that not be had? Scott and Christine are fixing
to buy a condo and I'm going to tell you, brother, you're
going to have about 100 pages of documents and you're going
to have to sign every one of them. And you have to initial them.
when you get a mortgage, that's the way it is, isn't it? And
what are you saying? You're putting your name, you're
swearing to be faithful to pay that mortgage back, pay that
money back. Well, that's exactly what God
has done. He's put his name all over this book. And he's saying to his people,
I'm faithful. I'm going to take care of that
debt. Trust me. Trust me. Thy seed will I establish forever
and will build up thy throne to all generations. Not seeds
as in many, but seed as in one. And he's not talking about Solomon,
David's seed. He's talking about Christ. He's the seed of David. He's
the son of David. He says, for every generation
I will build up thy throne. Thy throne. He's seated on the
highest throne that there is. There he is. He's unthreatened by man's unbelief. He's unchanged. We've read that. I am the same. I change not.
I'm the Lord. It's the only reason your sons
of Jacob are not consumed. You're so unfaithful, but I'm
faithful. I'm faithful, trust me, trust
me. And the heavens shall praise
thy wonders, O Lord, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the
saints. That's what we're doing right now. We're praising God
for his faithfulness. We join our voices together in
singing hymns. We're going to close the service
in just a few minutes with great is thy faithfulness. May God
give us, I, you know, I read the words of that hymn again
today and I thought, you know, that was a popular hymn among
the evangelists that didn't even believe the gospel. They didn't
understand what they were singing. I mean, it's not the clearest
gospel hymn that there is, but it's true, what it says is true.
And if you understand the gospel and understand the words of that
hymn, then you can sing with some understanding, great is
thy faithfulness. The heavens shall praise thy
wonders. When did the heavens praise the wonders of his faithfulness?
When did they praise him? Well, I can think of two times
when they praised him. I mean, the angels ministered
to the Lord Jesus Christ after his fasting in the wilderness
for 40 days. They strengthened, they came
and strengthened him. Well, we don't know what happened
there other than that they ministered to him. But we do know what happened
on that night when Mary brought our Lord forth from the womb. God brought him forth from Mary's
womb. What, what happened? Heaven broke forth a multitude
of heavenly hosts, praising God and saying glory to God in the
highest and on earth. peace and goodwill toward men. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord. Heaven
broke forth in praising God for his faithfulness and fulfilling
the promises of his covenant. And then when our Lord ascended
from this earth to be received back into glory and to accept
his rightful place at the right hand of God, what do we have? The disciples standing there
bewildered on the Mount of Olives and the angels came again. Man
of Israel, why stand you here gazing into heaven? Don't you
know that the same Jesus which has been caught up from you will
come again in like manner? You come again in like manner. And the disciples went away praising
God, believing the faithful testimony of heaven. And the witnesses
of heaven have given us God's word over and over and over again,
declaring His faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. Weak is our faithfulness, but
great is His faithfulness. And faith is believing that he
is faithful. That's what it is. Faithful to do what? Faithful
to save to the uttermost. Faithful to fulfill all the requirements
of the covenant of grace. Faithful to be our surety. Faithful
to bear the full burden of our sin and satisfy God's divine
justice. Faithful. He was faithful to
the end, faithful to ascend back into glory, faithful to intercede
on our behalf. The heaven shall praise thy wonders,
O Lord, verse five, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the
saints. We have here tonight, saints
congregated together. And what a joy, what a joy it
is. to be able to join our hearts
together in agreement and in rejoicing over his faithfulness. And what an encouragement it
is. How difficult it would be if we didn't have the fellowship
of the saints to encourage us in knowing that God is faithful. Look at verse six. Let me say this about the last
part of verse 5. We speak of His faithfulness,
not ours. Some of us, the Lord took down
a dark path of man-made, free will, mutual admonition society
kind of religion where we just patted each other on the back
and told each other how faithful, and then we competed with one
another to see who could be more faithful or either look more
faithful, just pharisaical, hypocrisy. We don't do that anymore. We
speak of his faithfulness. We're not trying to, we would
never glory in anybody's faithfulness other than his. Let him who glories
glory in the Lord. For who in the heavens, verse
six, who in the heavens can be compared unto the Lord? Who is a God like unto thee? Micah asked, who is a God like
unto thee? That pardoneth iniquity. There's
his faithfulness. He pardons our iniquity. And
he passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. His heritage is his elect. The
remnant is the church. He passes over. How did he pass
over that? The same way he passed over the
children of Israel in Egypt with the death angel. The blood. the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
he was faithful to shed his precious blood on Calvary's cross. And
God said, when I see his blood, I'll pass by you. Who is a God
like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever. No, no, no, no. He delights in showing mercy. He delights in showing mercy.
Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah 40. The psalmist is asking, who's
like our God? Who's faithful like him? Who's
going to compare themselves to God? That's why the Lord said,
don't make any likeness of me in the earth. You can't compare
me to anything. The only way you're going to
know me is by the revelation that I've given you of myself
in my word. In my word. If I speak to you
and reveal myself to you, it'll be by my word. Isaiah chapter
40. Look at verse 25. To whom then will you liken me
or shall I be equal, sayeth the Holy One? Now holy Literally translated
means other. It means other. Separate one. He's not anything like us in
any way. And he's saying, who are you
going to liken me to? I'm holy. I'm other than you. I'm faithful and I'm true. Lift up your eyes on high and
behold, who hath created these things that bringeth out their
hosts by number. He calleth them all by names
by the greatness of his might. For that he is strong in power,
not one faileth. He calls each one of his children
by names. You know, another thing I thought, he's talking about
the stars in the sky also here. And the scripture tells us that
God has named them all. And I thought about these things
where you can go and buy a star and have your name put on it.
Isn't that the way? It's just so consistent with
man's rebellion against God, isn't it? God's put names on
the stars. Don't put your name on one. Who's like unto me? Look at verse 27. Why sayest
thou, O Jacob, and speaketh, O Israel, my way is hid from
the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast
thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the
everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth,
fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his
understanding. He giveth power to the faint
and to them that have no might. He increaseth strength. When
we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly,
those that were unable. You remember what the word ungodly
means? It's the word worship with the Greek alpha in front
of it. The word ungodly literally translated
means unable to worship. When you take a Greek word and
put the alpha in front of it, it changes the meaning of that
word to the opposite of what that word means. And so the ungodly
is not some person who's just living some sort of debauched
life, it's a person who's unable to enter into the presence of
God and worship Him. When we were yet without strength,
when we were yet unable to enter into the very presence of God,
Christ died for the ungodly. And He gave strength to the weak. Even the youth shall faint and
be weary and the young man shall utterly fall. Let man bring forth
his best strength, his best ability, and he's going to fall short.
He's going to fall short, but they that wait on the Lord, what
we read in lamentations, it's good that a man learned to wait
and trust in the Lord. They that wait upon the Lord,
they're the ones. that shall renew their strength.
When I was weak, I became strong, for his strength is made perfect
in my weakness. They that wait upon the Lord,
they shall renew their strength. To wait upon God is to look to
Christ and rest in his faithfulness. They shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and
not be weary. They'll walk and not faint. The
Lord's gonna provide for them. Why? Because he's faithful. He's faithful. He can't be unfaithful. We can be unfaithful, can't we?
He can't be. He can't be. Go back with me to our text in
Psalm 89. For who in the heavens can be
compared unto the Lord? Verse six, who among the sons
of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? And all of God's
children said, no one, no one can even begin to come close
to his faithfulness and to his glory. God. is greatly to be feared
in the assembly of the saints. To fear God is to worship him.
It's to bow before him. It's to fear standing in his
presence without an advocate, without a faithful savior, a
sin bearer, one who is righteous in and of himself. to stand in
my stead and present himself on my behalf. That's a fearful
thing to stand in the presence of a holy God without Christ. God is greatly to be feared in
the assembly of the saints. The natural man doesn't fear
God. The religious man doesn't fear
God. He enters into the presence of God without a thought. He
thinks that he can present God with his decision-making and
his works and his wisdom and somehow impress God. He has no
fear of God. The believer who has no righteousness
and has no understanding and has no justification before God,
who's fully guilty before God, who's completely dependent upon
the Lord Jesus Christ for everything, he's the only one who fears God.
He's the only one who's worshiping God. Men may feign worship, they
may pretend to be worshiping, they may act like they're worshiping,
but they don't, they're not. He is greatly to be feared in
the assembly of the saints. It's the only place God's feared.
There's no fear of God in their hearts. The fool has said in
his heart, no God. But among the saints, He's greatly
feared. He's greatly worshiped. They're
not feared in the sense that we do what Adam did, trying to
cover our nakedness and hide from him and hide our sin. No feared in the sense that we
bow before him and say with that sour finish, oh, truth, Lord.
Truth, Lord. I'm a dog. Like that woman with
the issue of blood. She told him all the truth. Like the woman at the well, come
and meet a man who told me everything I ever did. Everything. Is this not the Christ? That's
what fear is. Worshiping, bowing in submission
and dependence upon him. It's believing him to be faithful
and acknowledging our inability to meet the standard of God for
faithfulness. and to be had in reverence of
them that are about him. Every once in a while somebody
will refer to me as a reverend. His name is reverend. We reverence
him. Call me anything else, but don't
call me reverend. Oh, Lord God of hosts, who is
a strong Lord like unto thee? Oh, how strong is he? Is he strong
enough to save you? Is he strong enough to save your
life? Everything about you? Is he strong
enough to put away your sin? Is anything too hard for God?
Anything? Does he lack any strength or
any ability? Not if what he says about himself
is true. Who is a God like unto thee?
Who in the heavens is like unto thee? Who on earth is like unto
thee? We bow in worship to him because
we believe that he's faithful, he's true, he's omnipotent, he's
sovereign, he's omniscient, he's God. He's God. Who is a strong Lord like unto
thee? or to thy faithfulness round about they. I look at verse
nine, thou rule list. Do you believe this? Now, is
he strong enough to save? The scripture says the way of
the Lord is through the seas. Seas and scripture represent
separation and they represent turbulence, troubles, trials,
tribulations. And God says, my way is through
the seas. And you're going to have to walk
by faith, like those children of Israel did when they were
caught between a rock and a hard place. And the Egyptians were
hot on their heels, and God put a cloud between them. And the
scripture says that that cloud became a light to the Israelites
and became darkness to the Egyptians. God made a distinction between
the Egyptians and the Israelites. And he told Moses, he said, Moses,
why stand you here? Hold up that rod. It's the rod
of his authority, his faithfulness. Moses is representing God there. And they walk through on dry
land. We're getting ourselves between
a rock and a hard place, don't we? We've got the light of the
gospel. And God says, why stand you here?
Walk by faith. Walk by faith. I'm able. Look
what he says, Thou rulest the raging of the sea, when the waves
thereof arise, Thou stillest them. Now brethren, when heaven is
described in the book of Revelation, the scripture says, and there
is no more sea. No more sea. That's the only time there's
not going to be. In the meantime, there's going to be separations
and there's going to be trials. And the Lord's telling us here,
I'm faithful. I'm going to lead you through
those seas. And I'll rule the raging of the seas. Remember
the illustration last Wednesday night of the dog biting the stick? You know, the stick's not your
problem. I'm the one controlling the stick. Don't get angry at
the stick. It's the hand of God. And he said, I'm ruling your
circumstances. I'm putting them exactly where
you need them to be. And then notice what he says. And when the waves thereof arise,
thou stillest them. Now, turn to me Philippians chapter
4. I pointed this out some time
ago, but I want you to see it again. Philippians chapter 4. I hear a brother or sister saying,
you know, God hadn't stilled my seas yet. I'm getting tossed
about pretty bad out here and the storm's still raging and
the wind's still blowing. But he promised, he said, I'll
be faithful to still your seas. Does that mean I just have to
wait until the still comes? Or is there something else? Philippians
chapter four. Verse four, rejoice in the Lord
always. You say, but you don't understand. No, no, no, no. And again, I
say rejoice. But no, always. And again, I say rejoice. Rejoice in his faithfulness.
Rejoice in the fact that all things work together for good
for them that are called according to his purpose, all that love
God. Rejoice that it's his hand behind the stick. Rejoice, trust
him, believe on him. Wait on the Lord, rest in him. Let your moderation be known
unto all men for the Lord is at hand. You see, when we're
given to extremes, All we're doing is showing that we're not
trusting God. He said, let your moderation,
don't become so overcome with fear that you become helpless
and depressed and don't become so overjoyed that you become
foolish, but let your moderate, God's in control. Lord, give
me that moderate spirit to trust you and to believe. that you are
near. That's what the Lord is at hand.
In other words, God's doing this. God's doing it. And be careful
for nothing. Don't be anxious. Don't be overwhelmed
with anxiety. But in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known unto
God. He's not saying don't worry, be happy. He's saying don't worry,
pray. Pray. Make your request unknown unto
him. Your father knows what you have need for. And the peace
of God, which passeth understanding. Now what causes anxiety in the
midst of the sea? What causes it? You say, well,
unbelief. But here's what I'm trying to
get at. We're wondering, you know, why
is this happening and when's it going to end? I need some
understanding as to what these circumstances are all about.
Isn't that, isn't that what it is? And because we don't have
understanding, we get overwhelmed with fear. I used to think that verse seven
meant the peace of God could not be understood. Is beyond
understanding. That's not what it means. That
word passeth means surpasseth. It means it's greater than. It means it's better than. So what God's saying is, be anxious
for nothing, but in all things by prayer and supplication, let
your requests be known unto God, and the peace of God, which is
better than being able to understand your circumstances, will keep
your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. What God's saying is,
you can have my peace in the midst of the turbulence, even
though I haven't changed your circumstances yet. We so often
think, well, if I could just change my circumstances, I'd
be happy. No. No. God will speak peace to our hearts
in the midst of the storm. That's what he's saying. We bring
him before him. He will calm the storm of fear
in our hearts even though our circumstances may continue on
for a while. He'll calm those too in time
when need be. But our problem is not our circumstance.
Our problem is our fear, isn't it? It's our fear. It's our lack of peace. It's
our unbelief. And so the Lord says, The peace
of God is better than understanding. You want understanding so you
can figure all this out so you can be in control. And God's
saying, no, you come before me. I'm going to settle your heart
with my peace. And you're going to find out
that the peace of God is a lot higher. It surpasses, it's better
than any understanding you could have as to why this is happening. not good anchor what's got saying he's
I'm faithful I'll take care of you now go back with me to our
text real quick will finish look at first look at verse 9 thou
rulest the raging of the sea all these trials and troubles
God sent them he sent them he's ruling them he's ordained them
and when the waves thereof arise Thou stillest them. Thou stillest them. Lord, I can't wait for you to
still my troubles. But here's what Paul said about
that. I reckon, and he didn't mean I reckon, I think so. He
said, I have counted it to be so. that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that
shall be revealed in us. They're not worthy to be compared. Finish one last verse, look at
verse 10. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces. Now Rahab is used
there as a symbol of Egypt. Egypt. You look it up. It's used in symbolic language
speaking of Egypt. God has broken the bondage of
the law and set you free. Where the Spirit of God is, there's
liberty. Lord, I'm free from the law? Free from the curse of the law,
my unrighteousness. I've got an advocate with the
father who's perfectly righteous and faithful in all things. Our Heavenly Father. Speak peace
and truth to our hearts. We ask it in Christ name. Amen. Great is thy faithfulness. What's
the number? 40. Number 40. Let's stand together. Great is Thy faithfulness, O
God my Father! There is no shadow of turning
with Thee. Thou changest not thy compassions,
they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever
wilt be. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath
provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above. Join with all nature in manifold
witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath
provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Pardon for sin and a peace that
endureth. Thine own dear presence to cheer
and to guide. Strength for today and bright
hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with ten thousand
beside. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies
I see. All I have needed, thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness. Lord unto me.