Good evening, everyone. Let's
open tonight's service with hymn number 53. Number 53, How Sweet the Name
of Jesus Sounds. And we'll repeat the last phrase
in each verse twice so that it goes with the music. Let's all
stand together. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals
his wounds, and drives away his fear. And drives away his fear. Dear name the rock on which I
built my shield and hiding place, my never failing treasury built
with boundless stores of grace, with boundless stores of grace. Jesus, my shepherd, brother,
friend, my prophet, priest, and king, my Lord, my life, my way,
my end, accept the praise I bring. Accept the praise I bring. Weak is the effort of my heart,
and cold my warmest thought. But when I see thee as thou art,
I'll praise thee as I ought. I'll praise thee as I ought. ? Till then I would thy love
proclaim ? With every fleeting breath ? And may the music of
thy name ? Refresh my soul in death ? Refresh my soul in death
Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 34. Psalm 34. I will bless the Lord at all
times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall
make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me
and let us exalt his name together. I'm just thinking as we were
singing that hymn that this is what we're gonna be doing for
all eternity, praising him in perfect worship, praising him. And now the Lord's calling on
us to join him in magnifying the father. I sought the Lord
and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked
unto him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The Lord did
cry, didn't he? He cried to the Father from the
cross and the Father saved him out of all of his troubles. The
angel of the Lord encamped round about them that fear him and
delivereth them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good, blessed is the man, happy is the man that trusteth
in him. Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints,
for there is no want to them that fear him. No want to them. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. I shall not be in want for anything.
He provides me with everything I need. The young lions do lack and suffer
hunger. What a picture. The unbeliever. but they that seek the Lord shall
not want any good thing. Come you children, hearken unto
me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. No man feared God like the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he's saying to us, follow
me, I'll teach you what it means to fear God. What man is he that desireth
life and loveth many days that he may see good? Keep thy tongue
from evil and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and do
good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon
the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry. The face
of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance
of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord
heareth, and deliver them out of all their troubles. The Lord
is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saved such
that are of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivered them, delivered him out of them
all. He keepeth all his bones, not
one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and
they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. That word's
guilty, guilty before God. The Lord redeemeth the souls
of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall
be desolate. Again, guilty. None of them,
none of them will be guilty. innocent before God. Let's pray
together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we ask that you would be pleased now in this hour to bless us
with Thy Holy Spirit. Open the eyes of our understanding.
Give us, Lord, faith to believe on Thy dear Son. Lord, Show us the innocence that
we have in him and how all our sins have been put away. Lord,
enable us to look where you look, to set our affections on things
above where Christ is seated at the right hand. We confess
to you, Lord, that we become so distracted from him by the
things of this world. Forgive us, Lord, for Christ's
sake, and cause us in this hour to put those things aside and
to worship you in the power of your spirit and according to
the truth of thy word. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Let's all stand together again.
126 Rock of Ages, 126. Rock of ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flowed Be of Sid the double pure, Save
from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow,
? Could my zeal no languor know ? These for sin could not atone
? Thou must save and Thou alone ? In my hand, O Christ, I bring
? Simply to Thy cross I cling While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold thee on thy throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let
me hide myself in thee. Please be seated. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles to Psalm 33, please. Psalm 33. I've titled this message spiritual
worship, but I thought about titling it praise is comely. Praise is comely. You see that
in the verse, verse rejoice in the Lord. Oh, ye righteous for
praise is comely to the upright. Praise is beautiful. It's beautiful
because it exalts Christ. It causes him to get all the
glory and all the attention is beautiful to the child of God
because it It reveals to him his complete and utter dependence
upon the Lord Jesus Christ for all of his righteousness, for
all the forgiveness of his sin. Praise is comely. Now, contrary
to being comely or beautiful, it would be contentious, ugly, disquieted, fearful, unbelieving. Twice in the Proverbs, the scripture
speaks of of a contentious woman once in Proverbs 21 verse 19
where it says it'd be better to live in the wilderness than
to live with a angry and contentious woman. And then in Proverbs 11
verse 22 we saw this last week, what a What a graphic picture the Lord
gives as a jewel of gold in the swine's snout. So is a fair woman
which is without discretion. Now, no child of God wants those
things to describe them and yet how oftentimes though we be a
fair woman, the bride of Christ is a fair woman. She's been made
comely. She's been dressed, robed in
the righteousness of her Savior. She's been decked with the jewels
of grace. She's been made beautiful with
His comeliness. That's what the scripture teaches
about the Bride of Christ. And yet, when we're not praising
God, we're like that woman, that contentious woman, aren't we?
We're denying the beauty of what the Lord's given us. Worship,
praise is comely. My hope is that the Lord will
cause us to have a spirit of praise and worship in our hearts
more than we do. We get caught up in the things
of this world and like that beautiful woman who's beautiful on the
outside, we become contentious. We become We become ugly. And the Lord gives us here our
reasons for rejoicing. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Isn't that
what Paul said in Philippians chapter four? Rejoice in the
Lord. And again, I say rejoice. Rejoice,
let your moderation be known unto all men. Why? Because the
Lord is at hand. We rejoice in the Lord first
and foremost because we're in the Lord. We're in him. Paul said that I look to him
for all my righteousness. to be found in Him, not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that righteousness,
which is by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, that righteousness,
which is of God by faith. We rejoice because we have a
perfect righteousness before God. What great reason to rejoice,
to know that there's no condemnation, there's no judgment, We're justified. There's no sin. That's reason
to rejoice in spite of whatever else might be going on. If I
can stand in the presence of a holy God and be innocent in
His presence and have full, bold access to the throne of grace
based on what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for me, then
I have reason to rejoice regardless of what else might be going on. We rejoice because we are in
the Lord. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
1. Verse 1, Paul called to be an
apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes,
our brother, the Church of God. Here's that beautiful woman,
that woman who's made comely when she praises Him. Unto the
Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are made holy, sanctified,
perfect, sinless, in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. Again, sanctified,
holy. With all that in every place,
call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, or Jesus Christ
our Lord, both theirs and ours." Oh, whatever generation, wherever
we are, if we're found in Him, we have reason to rejoice, don't
we? We have reason to rejoice knowing that we are able to enter
into the very presence of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn
with me to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Verse 17, therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Oh, he's different. He's changed. There was a time
when we couldn't believe. There was a time when we couldn't
come into the presence of God. There was a time when we couldn't
praise. Oh, we may have feigned some religious activity and pretending
to worship God. Men that aren't in Christ, and
I know people worship in every, I mean, I was listening to the
boys that they interviewed that were in Thailand in the cave,
And they said they spent all their time meditating and praying
to Buddha. And, you know, I know people
do that. And people that don't have the
spirit of God, they generally err one way or the other. They
either become very stoic in their attempts to worship, which is,
I suspect, what Buddhists do, or they become very epicurean
in their in their attempts to worship, which is what you see
in, you know, people that are just acting foolish in their
attempts to worship God. We worship God in truth. We worship God in the spirit. Paul said we are the circumcision,
the true circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, rejoicing
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. We worship
Him from we've got to have a new heart, we've got to be made new
creatures in order to be able to worship God. We don't say
to our friends, come worship God with us, our unbelieving
friends. Come, hear the gospel. If the
Lord's pleased to save you, then you'll be able to enter into
worship. But you've got to have a new heart in order to be able
to worship God. Men of every Every generation and every culture
have some form of feigned worship. But to praise God, you've got
to be in Christ. If you're in Him, you're a new
creature. You're a new creature. You can
come into the very presence of God now. You know God. And I
repeat what I said Sunday. I've thought a lot about it this
week and last week. We know more about God than we
know about ourselves. We do. And we, each of us know
ourselves better than we know anybody else. But the believer
knows more about God than he knows about himself. You don't
know how you're going to feel tomorrow. You don't know how you're going
to act. You don't know what you're going to say. You don't know how you're going
to react to your circumstances. But you know how God's going
to react. He's not going to react. He's going to act according to
his nature. and he's going to accomplish
his perfect purpose in everything he does. He's always going to
speak the truth. He's always going to be holy.
He's never going to change. Oh, we can rest there, can't
we? What else is there in this world that's immutable? We're
not immutable. He's the only one that is, isn't
he? And we enter into his presence with thanksgiving and praise
is comely. It's comely. And when we lose
sight of that, we become like that contentious woman, don't
we? Any man be in Christ, he's a
new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. Oh, we don't have to feign our
worship anymore. We can come in spirit. And in
truth, you remember the woman at the well in John chapter 4
when she said, well, you know, I perceive that you're a prophet.
Let me ask you a theological question. She was getting real
uncomfortable about how personal the Lord was with her life, wasn't
she? And she thought, wanted to redirect the attention away
from her own sin. Should we worship? Our fathers
say we should worship here in Mount Gerizim and you Jews say
we should worship in Jerusalem. Which is it? What did the Lord
say? Oh, the Father seeketh them who worship Him in spirit and
in truth. Doesn't matter where you worship,
it's how you worship. It's how you worship. Worship
has to be from the heart. And in order for that to happen,
we got a new heart. Those that are in Christ Jesus
are new creatures. They've been given a heart of
praise. And that praise is comely. We praise him because we are
in him. Look at verse 18 in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. All things are of God who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and given to us the ministry
of reconciliation. There was a time when we weren't
reconciled with God. What is the opposite of being
reconciled with God? To be in enmity with him. And what the
father say to his son, sit down here at my right hand until I
make thine enemies thy footstool. And those who were born at enmity
with God are reconciled through the gospel and the new birth
and the new heart to sit down at his feet and listen to him. The ministry of reconciliation.
We have reason to praise him, don't we? We were estranged from
Him. We didn't know God. And now,
we've been brought nigh by the gospel. And that's reason to
praise, to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath
committed to them the word of reconciliation. That's the gospel. We plead with men to be reconciled. Be reconciled. Look to Christ. What Christ did on Calvary's
cross is sufficient to put away all your sin so that you're innocent
before God, justified, sanctified, holy, perfect. Now then, we are
ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us as
we pray you in Christ's dead be reconciled to God. Come to
Christ. Come to Christ, look to the Lord
Jesus Christ for all your righteousness before God, for He, God the Father,
hath made Him, God the Son, sin for us. The one who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. So we have reason
to praise God because we are in Christ. And in Christ, we
are reconciled to God. In Christ, we are justified.
In Christ, we have no sin. There's no condemnation. The
law has been silenced. There's no judgment. The wrath
of God has been propitiated by the sacrifice that Christ made
of himself on Calvary's cross. That's reason to praise. Lord,
whatever else happens. Whatever you deem necessary for
my life, I've got reason to praise you because I'm right with God. I'm reconciled to Him. Not based
on anything I did. He did it all. And that's my
reason for praise, isn't it? And we also have reason to praise
because not only are we in the Lord, remember that rejoice in
the Lord for praise is comely to the upright, to the righteous. Rejoice in Him. Rejoice in Him
because you are in Him and rejoice in Him because all things are
in Him. All things are in Him. I brought
this out this past week, I can't remember if it was last Wednesday
or Sunday. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 18, in everything
give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. Now, the phrase the will of God,
is it a reference to give thanks or is it a reference to everything?
In other words, does that verse say, in everything give thanks
for it is the will of God in Christ Jesus that you give thanks?
You see, if that's what it means, then we will pretend to be thankful
even when we're not. We'll say, okay, I gotta be thankful.
I mean, you hear religious people talking about that all the time,
don't you? What does the world say? Well, you know, things could
be worse. You know, it with there's a silver
lining around every cloud you know I gotta have a positive
attitude you know the power positive thinking let's just be thankful
you know let's be upbeat because that's the will of God that's
not what that verse says the word everything is the reference
to the will of God you see if you and I believe that everything
everything Everything that happens, happens according to the will
of God. What can we do but be thankful?
What can we do but be thankful? Lord, this is the Lord. In everything,
give thanks for everything is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you. So this idea, you know, look
to the bright side, you know, if life gives you lemons, make
lemonade out of it, you know, just be a positive person and
you'll be happier. No. No. Life doesn't give lemons. Sometimes God does. And that sour fruit's going to
be good for you. Be thankful for it in all things
for the will of God. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord because you're
in the Lord and rejoice in the Lord because everything is in
the Lord's hands. That's why That's why Paul in
Philippians chapter four, when he said, rejoice in the Lord
always. And again, I say rejoice, let your moderation be known
unto all men. Oh, a beautiful woman's moderate,
isn't she? She's not given to extremes and
emotions. She's just moderate. Why? Because
she's confident in her husband. Let your moderation be known
unto all men, for the Lord is at hand." The Lord is at hand. He's near. He's doing all this. That's the reason that we rejoice.
So when God says rejoice in the Lord, for praise is comely for the
upright, who is it that's able to worship? Well, look at verse 1, rejoice
in the Lord, Oh ye righteous, oh ye righteous. Only the righteous
can rejoice in the Lord. How do I know if I'm righteous? Turn with me to Proverbs 18. Proverbs has been a blessing.
Proverbs 18, look at verse 10. The name of the Lord is a strong
tower. The righteous runneth unto it
and is safe. How do I know I'm righteous?
Because when the enemy comes, When sin gets the best of me,
when the devil's there, when fear begins to... I've got no
place else to go but to run to Him. He's my strong tower. That's
the only reason I know I'm righteous. I wouldn't run to Him. I'd run
to everything else. I'd run to the world. I'd run
to play. I'd run anywhere but to Him. I'd run to hide from
Him. But the fact that I run to Him is the evidence. That's what faith is. Faith is
the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the evidence of
things not seen. Faith is looking unto Jesus, the author and the
finisher of our faith. It's running unto Him, isn't
it? The righteous run to Him. Praise
is comely to the righteous. Only the righteous are able to
praise You remember in Matthew Chapter 25. Now, what does the
world look to? What does the religious world
look to for their righteousness? Matthew Chapter 25 makes it clear.
When the Lord separates the sheep from the goats and he says to
the sheep, come now and sit here at my right hand. This place
has been prepared for you. For when I was hungry, you fed
me. When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was a stranger, you
took me in. And what does the righteous say? What's the righteous say? Lord,
when did we do that? When did we do that? See, the
righteous aren't taking notice of their ministries as the hope
of their righteousness. And what's the Lord say? In that
you did it unto the least of these, my brethren, you did it
unto me. You see, every child of God participates whether they
know it or not. by faith, by their union with
Christ, by their membership in the body of Christ, their part
and parcel of the work that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ
is doing in the world. And every time the gospel is
being preached, every believer, everyone that's in Christ is
participating in that ministry. By their prayers, by their faith,
by their participation, And by their rejoicing in what's being
said and what's being done when God takes that message of the
gospel and regenerates one of his lost sheep, every child of
God participates in clothing the naked, in bringing in the
stranger, in feeding the hungry, in giving water to the thirsty. And they don't even know it.
They don't even know it. when God's pleased to take the
message of the gospel over there in Australia and speak effectually. And Angus, right now as we speak,
has traveled down about three hours south of Sydney or an hour
where the church is and he's preaching the gospel to a family
down there that has a son that Probably going to come here in
January and visit with us for a while. And you know what? We're part of that. We're part of that. That's how
the Lord sees it. That's how the Lord sees it. The whole church participates
because when I tell you that story in your heart you're rejoicing
right now and hoping and praying that the Lord's gonna do something
over there, aren't you? Aren't you? God's looking at
the heart. He's looking at the heart. It's
the hearts of His people that He... and He's looking at what
He put there. Men look at the outward appearance.
The religious people, they look at what they're doing. He said,
the Lord says to the goats, I was hungry. You didn't give me the
food to eat. I was, I was naked. You didn't clothe me. I was hung.
I was a stranger. You didn't take me in Lord. We've
been doing that all our lives. That's all we've been doing.
We've been participating in all these Christian ministries. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. I never knew you. You see, God's
calling what the religious do as their outward righteousness
and as their self-righteousness, he calls it iniquity. And then
he looks at his children and he calls what they're not even
aware that they're doing in their hearts, through faith, in their
participation and rejoicing in the gospel, he's calling that
good. The world's got it backwards,
don't they? They've got it backwards. That's how God describes the
righteous. That's how God describes it. I want to be a part of that.
Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous. For praise is comely, beautiful. The bride of Christ is most beautiful
when she's praising God for her righteousness in Christ
and praising God, knowing that whatever he's doing is right
and good. We saw that Sunday, didn't we?
The Lord raises up kingdoms and tears them down. And he says
in Isaiah chapter 40, he says, the nations are a drop in a bucket.
To me, they're a speck of dust on the scale. There's no consequence. What's of consequence is that
which is eternal. That which is eternal is the
salvation of men's souls, the gospel of God's grace. That's
what's going to last forever, isn't it? That's what I want
to be a part of, don't you? Praise. Praise is comely for
the upright. Praise with the heart. Sing unto
Him with the psaltery and an instrument of 10 strings. Sing
unto Him a new song. Now, Isaiah chapter
42, turn with me there, tells us what this new song is. Isaiah 42, verse one. Behold, my servant, That's just another way of saying,
look to Christ, set your affections on things above where Christ
is seated at the right hand of God, not on things of the earth.
Behold my servant, look, look at my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect, I chose him in whom my soul delighteth. Oh, I'm so
pleased with him. I'm so pleased with him. I have
put My Spirit upon Him. He's the Anointed One. He's the
Christ. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles." Now that's the new song. The new song is,
and we're going to look at it in Revelation Chapter 5 in just
a moment, and Revelation Chapter 14 speaks of the new song. But
prior to the gospel going out to the Gentiles, the old song
was the same message of salvation, but it wasn't near as clear and
it wasn't as, it wasn't as, as, as, as effectual to the world. The gospel didn't go out to the
Gentiles after Pentecost did it. When the Lord told the disciples,
he said, the spirit is going to come upon you and you're going
to be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the
uttermost parts of the world. Yeah, even at the Gentiles, this
gospel, this Christ is going to be preached among the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift his
cause or his voice to be heard in the street. He doesn't have
to go around begging men. He doesn't work that way. A bruised
reed shall he not break and a smoking flax shall he not quench. He
shall bring forth judgment to truth. Judgment to truth. Now our Psalm 33 speaks about
him loving judgment and truth. Righteousness and judgment. He's
gonna bring forth judgment. In other words, everything that
God requires in order to judge our sin is going to be effectually
worked out by the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross. He's
gonna bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor
be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth and the
isles shall wait for his law. All the nations of the world
are going to wait for Him and God's going to have a people
in every nation, in every tongue, tribe, and people. Thus saith
the Lord, thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens
and stretched them out, He that spread forth the earth and that
which cometh out of it, He that giveth breath unto the people
upon it and spirit to them that walk therein, He's the creator
and sustainer of all life, both physical and spiritual. physical
and spiritual. That's what he's declaring here.
I, the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold
thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant
to the people for a light to the Gentiles to open the blind
eyes and to bring out of prison from the prison them that sit
in darkness and out of the prison house. I am the Lord, that is
my name. My glory, my glory will I not
give to another. Neither my praise to graven images." The world in which you and I
live is more pagan than the world used to be back when we, you
know, we read stories and see shows and movies and, you know,
hear about all these pagan cultures. And it's no less pagan today
than it's ever been, more so. More so, there's more diversity
among the gods. There's more gods today than
there's ever been. Every man's got an imaginary
god, doesn't he? Behold, the former things are
come to pass, and new things do I declare. Before they spring
forth, I will tell you of them. Now Isaiah's writing, Many years
before the Lord Jesus Christ comes, he said, before they spring
forth, I'm gonna tell you about them. Now look at verse 10, sing
unto the Lord a new song and his praise from the ends of the
earth, ye that go down to the sea and all that is therein,
the isles and the inhabitants thereof. Sing a new song. It's new in its revelation. God, who in times past spoke
to our fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
to us by his son. This is the new song. The new
song started 2,000 years ago, when the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ began declaring the gospel out into the world. This is the
revelation of the new song. Look at Revelation chapter 5. Revelation chapter 5. This new song is the song of
the saints that's going to be sung for all eternity in glory. It's a song about Christ. I will
not share my glory with another. It's the praise that is comely
to the righteous and lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ. And
they, verse nine in Revelation chapter five, and they sung a
new song saying, here's the words of this song. I don't know the
tune of it. We'll learn the tune when we get to glory, but the
Lord's already given us the words. Thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof. This is the book of God's decrees.
It's the book of everything that God's doing. And John wept bitterly
when he saw that there was no one in the heavens that could
open the book. No one was worthy. The book that was sealed with
seven seals. And then the angel said, John,
weep not. For the lion of the tribe of
Judah, he has prevailed. He's won the victory. He's worthy
to open the book. And now the church is singing,
worthy is the lamb. Now are worthy to take the book
to open the seals thereof for that what's slain Here's why
you're worthy because thou what's slain and hast redeemed us to
God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people
in nation Here's the new song See now now a Person's birth
person's nationality And none nothing nothing makes any difference. I before you had to be born israeli
I was the old song and he has made us on to our
God Kings and Priests he has made us on to our God Kings and
Priests that means the where of royal blood and that means
we have access into the very presence of God that's That's
what we do when we praise God. What we're doing is we're coming
into His very presence, aren't we? As kings and priests, because
by the Lord Jesus Christ redeeming us to God, by Him being slain,
we have been made unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall
reign on the earth. And I beheld and heard the voice
of many angels round about the throne and the beast and the
elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands
of thousands. Same with a loud voice. Here's
the new song. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy, worthy
of all praise. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and blessing and every creature which is in the heaven
and the earth and under the earth and such that are in the sea
and all in them heard I say in blessing." Here's the words of
the new song. Oh, can't you wait to hear the
tune to this song? Blessing and honor and glory
and power be unto him that sitth upon the throne and unto the
lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said, amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. To worship
God. Go back with me to our text in
Psalm 33. We sing a new song with a loud
voice and the word of the Lord is right. Verse four, the word
of the Lord is right and all his works are done in truth.
How do I know if I'm righteous before God? I believe God. I just believe Him. I can't not
believe Him. I'm tempted and I try all the time, but I cannot
not believe God. I know that's a double negative,
but that's just the way it is. You can't do it, can you? You
can't. Once God makes you a believer,
you believe everything that God says. You've got no choice about
it. You've been made a believer.
And you believe what God says about yourself. Look what he
says. For the word of the Lord is right and all his works are
done in truth. The work of redemption was done
in truth. The work of regeneration is done
in truth. And what comes in the work of
regeneration? I'll tell you what comes. The
Syrophoenician woman. When she pleaded with the Lord
for mercy and the Lord said, it's not right that I give children's
bread to dogs, what'd she say? Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. That's what I am. I take full
responsibility. It's not anybody's fault but
mine. I'm a sinner. I'm a dog. I'm not worthy. But
the dogs do eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table.
Lord, if you could just send a few crumbs my way, that'd be
wonderful. One crumb of God's bread is sufficient
to save a man's soul, isn't it? Save a dog's soul. For the word of the Lord is right
and all his works are done in truth. He loveth righteousness
and judgment. Oh, he does. He loves righteousness. That's why he loves his son and
all those that are in his son. And judgment. Sin's been judged. The devil's been judged. Death's
been judged. That's what the Lord said. When
I go away, I'll send the comforter and the comforter will convict
the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because
they believe not on me. Yes, Lord, that's my problem.
If you don't give me faith, I won't believe. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father. I have no righteousness outside
of that one that's seated at the right hand of God, making
intercession for me. He is all my righteousness. I
have none outside of Him. Outside of Him, I have nothing
but my sin. And of judgment, because the prince of this world
has been judged. Those who were held captive in
unbelief were redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Judgment has been satisfied. Sin's been put away. He can no
longer hold them captive. Verse six, by the word of the
Lord were the heavens made. John chapter one makes that clear.
Nothing was made without him. everything that was made was
made by Him. In the beginning was the Word.
Let there be light. He spoke and that's all He does. That's all He has to do is speak,
isn't it? I brought this out Sunday. Lord, I'm not worthy
that Thou shalt come under my roof. Only speak the Word and
my servant shall be healed. Lord, Your Word's powerful. Just
speak. You spoke You spoke the physical
world into creation, and you speak the spiritual world into
creation. And if I'm going to be saved,
you're going to have to speak to me. By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of
His mouth. Just like Adam was made from the dust of the earth,
and there was no life in him until until the Lord, till the
Spirit of God breathed life into his nostrils. Just like that,
those bones, those dry bones in Ezekiel's vision were brought
together and bone came to bone and flesh and sinew came upon
them and skinned, but yet there was no life in them. That's man-made religion, isn't
it? You got a whole bunch of folks, bunch of zombies, there's
no life in them, no life in them. And then the Lord said, son of
man prophesy unto the wind. And when the spirit of God came,
they became alive. And so it is when the Lord speaks
from the breath of his mouth, he gathers the waters verse seven
of the sea together as a heap. And he layeth up the depths in
storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants
of the world stand in awe of him. Now that's what praise is. That's what worship is. Let me
ask you a question. What are you most awestruck about
God for? That he would save a person like
you. That's my testimony. Nothing awes me more about God
I look at his creation, I rejoice in glory and in his handiwork. I see the stars in the sky, I
see the beautiful things that he's made. I hear about what
he, but nothing strikes more awe in my heart than when God
would have mercy on somebody like me. For he spake, verse nine, And
it was done. What power? He just said it. It was done. Lord, I'm a man under authority.
I know what authority is. And I know you have all authority.
Speak the word only. And the Lord bringeth the counsel
of the heathen, and to naught he maketh the devices of the
people of none effect I looked up that word devices it's the
word opinions opinions he brings the opinions of the people that's
all that's all men have is opinions if we don't have the Word of
God all we have is our own opinions and everybody's trusting in their
own opinions aren't they? they just have their own idea
about well this is what I think What's it matter what you think?
God's going to bring all the devices of man to naught. What God says is the only thing
that matters. The counsel of the Lord, verse
11, standeth forever. The thoughts of his heart to
all generations. Oh, don't you rejoice. Don't
you praise God. of the fact that He doesn't change. What He established in the covenant
of grace before the world ever began cannot be changed. It cannot
be changed by anything you do or anything you fail to do. It's established. It's done.
I am the Lord and I change not. I change not. That's the only
reason you sons of Jacob are not consumed. The Lord looketh from heaven.
He beholdeth all the sons of men, all of them. From the place
of his habitation, he looked upon all the inhabitants of the
earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike. He considereth all their works. Genesis chapter six tells us
what he sees, doesn't it? He looks into the recesses of
men's hearts and he sees that every imagination of the thoughts
of their hearts are only evil and that continually. That's
all we can do, isn't it? There is no King saved by the
multitude of a host. And there's no sinner saved by
the multitude of his works. None. A mighty man is not delivered
by much strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety,
neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Behold,
the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that
hope in his mercy to deliver their soul from death and keep
them alive in famine. Our soul waited for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield for our heart shall rejoice in
him because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy,
oh Lord, be upon us. according as we hope in Thee. Praise His comely. For the upright,
it's beautiful. Beautiful. Gives Him all the
glory, doesn't it? And He gives us all our hope. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, We grieve, Lord, in that we're not
able to praise you and worship you as we ought. We long for
that day when we'll see you as you are and be made like you. When we'll be able to join our
voices with the heavenly choir and sing that new song. Lord, we pray that you would
increase our faith. We pray that you would give us
glimpses of your glory, and we pray that you would enable us,
Lord, to praise you in a way that would be comely and beautiful.
Lord, when we become contentious, we forget who we are, and we
forget who you are. Lord, forgive us. Remind us once
again of thy mercy and thy grace. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. At the top. 442, let's stand together. Oh. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Sing, O earth, His wonderful
love proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangels
in glory. Strength and honor give to His
holy name. Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard
his children. In his arms he carries them all
day long. Praise him, praise him, tell
of his excellent greatness. Praise him, praise him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and
bled and died. He our rock, our hope of eternal
salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the
crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus, who
bore our sorrows. Love unbounded, wonderful, deep,
and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals loud with hosannas
ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, Prophet
and priest and king, Christ is coming over the world victorious. Power and glory unto the Lord
belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song.