And I saw heaven opened, and
behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was
called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. and he was clothed with the vesture
dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And armies which were in heaven
followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white
and clean, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with
it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a
rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress
of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. And he hath
on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings
and Lord of lords. We're going to be looking at
Psalm 21. And I've titled the message,
The Coronation of Christ. And I thought this passage of
scripture is the final coronation of our Lord when he gathers his
church to himself. Let's pray together. Our merciful
heavenly Father, we rejoice in thy faithfulness
and in thy truth. And Lord, we pray now for your
Holy Spirit to give us hope and give us grace and faith, mercy,
as we find ourselves casting all our care upon thee, believing,
Lord, that thou carest for us. Lord, we thank you for the successful
work of redemption that was accomplished on Calvary's cross. We thank
you for the hope of knowing that every single one for whom thou
died has been redeemed, has been justified, been sanctified. And Lord, only in thy time will
wait on the miracle of regeneration for each one for whom you died,
bringing them to thyself. Lord, we pray that you would
have mercy upon this fellowship and that you would grow us in
your grace and bring to thyself those that should be saved. We
ask it in Christ's name. Amen. We're gonna sing now to him on
the gray spiral, number eight. You may remain seated, number
eight. Oh Lord, our hearts and soul aspire, number eight. O Lord, our hearts and soul aspire
to lift up from this earthly mire. O may we think of heavenly
things and know the joy Thy presence brings. Lord, let us see the
Savior's face, and let us taste of Thy sweet grace. May open, dears, Thy glory's
ears, and may we smell Thy fragrance near. ? Be pleased to open heaven's
door ? ? And on our heads thy blessings pour ? ? O wretched,
poor, and needy we ? ? Where can we go if not to thee? ? O may this day be blessed the
most That Jesus Christ becomes the host To feed our souls with
living bread And with our souls in joy to wed And where can we go if not to
thee? Now what the disciples said when
the Lord said, will you not leave me also? Lord, where should we
go? You alone have the words of eternal life. We know and
are sure that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. We've
got no place else to go. We didn't come to Christ because
we made a decision to come to Christ. He made us come to Himself
and He keeps us. We can't leave. We just don't
want to leave. Can't leave. Psalm 21. Will you open your Bibles with me to Psalm
21, please? Psalm 20, as we saw last Wednesday
night, is the church praying to the Father to look to Christ
for everything that he requires of them. That's the whole Psalm. Praying to God, asking God to
look on Christ for their behalf. Psalm 21 is the church thanking
God for having done that. It's a prayer of thanksgiving
that God was pleased to accept what the Lord Jesus Christ did.
Now I don't always know for sure that Christ died for me. I have to admit that. There are times when I wonder,
times when the windows of heaven are not being opened and the
Lord's not coming down and I'm looking at my sin and I'm thinking,
is this for me? But there is never a time that
I'm not absolutely sure that the only hope that I have to
stand in the presence of a holy God is that Christ died for me. And I'm equally confident that
everyone for whom he died is saved, justified in the presence
of God. I'm confident of that. And I
was thinking about that verse where Paul said, I know whom
I have believed and I am persuaded that he saved me. No, I'm persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. He's the only, I've got no place
else to go. I've just committed everything to him. And I know
beyond any shadow of a doubt that he's able. that he's able. You remember when the father
brought his son to the disciples and they weren't able to heal
him? And the father, the scripture says, came to the Lord and said,
he said, Master, if you can do anything, have mercy on us. And what did the Lord say? If
you can believe, all things are possible unto him that believes.
What is the evidence of believing? The evidence of believing, the
evidence of faith is the essence of faith. What is faith? It's not wanting to rob Christ
of any of His glory for salvation. It's believing that He is able
to keep that which we commit unto Him against that day. Our
commitment is not always as it ought to be, is it? If the hope
of our salvation is based on what we've, the depth of our
commitment, the sincerity of our commitment, the warmth of
our love, then that's when we begin to wonder if it's for us.
But oh, we know he's able. We know that the father was pleased
with what the Lord Jesus Christ did and that every single one
for whom he died The Father accepted His sacrifice on their behalf. We're sure of that. Absolutely
convinced. That's our faith. Our faith is
in Christ. It's in His ability and His successful
work of redemption. When Philip said to that Ethiopian
eunuch, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.
When he asked him if he could be baptized, The Ethiopian didn't
say, I believe that I'm saved. He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ, that one you just preached to me there from Isaiah 53, I
believe he is the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the son
of God. And as the son of God, it's not
possible for him to fail. And I believe the only hope that
I have to stand in the presence of a holy God is based on what
he did. I've got no place else to go. I'm hanging all my hopes on him.
That's what faith is. And Psalm 21 is a prayer of faith
that the church offers to the father rejoicing, rejoicing in
the successful work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The king, now, Verse four, let's just skip down
to verse four real quick because I want to preface this Psalm
again. Like, you know, I looked up again
today to find out what the theologians say the Messianic Psalms are,
and they bury anywhere between 10 and 15 of the Psalms they
say speak of Christ. And the rest of them are all
understood only in the context of the history of King David. Every Psalm is Messianic. And
this one, verse 4, clears up any question about who this psalm's
about. Look what he says in verse 4. He asked life of thee and
thou gavest him even length of days forever and ever. Now, if King David, if this is
talking about King David, and King David asked God to give
him life forever and ever, David's in the grave. The Lord made that
clear, didn't he? He said that David wasn't talking
about himself. David's dead and gone. The Lord Jesus Christ, his prayer
to the father was for eternal life, everlasting life for himself
and for his people. And God rewarded him. God answered
his prayer. So the king, spoken of in verse
four, is none other than the son of David, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the king. The king shall
joy in thy, thy is the father. And the church is saying, the
king is rejoicing in thy strength. And that's what he's doing right
now. Seated at the right hand of the majesty on high rejoicing
in the power and the strength of his father, having raised
him from the dead and rewarded him for his work of redemption,
the king rejoices in his strength." I read some comments that a man
made recently and he was talking about rejoicing evermore and
how impossible it is for us in the flesh to rejoice as we ought."
And that's true. And then he made the statement,
he said, he said, the Lord Jesus Christ as the man of sorrows,
even he was not able to rejoice evermore. That's wrong. That's blasphemous. The Lord
Jesus Christ, though he was a man of sorrow, He rejoiced always
in his father. He delighted in his father. God
didn't say to us, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I
say rejoice and he himself not do it. Yes, he was a man of sorrow. Yes, he poured out his soul unto
death. Nevertheless, he rejoiced in
knowing that the father was going to reward him for what he was
doing. He was fulfilling the conditions
of that covenant that he had made with the Father in eternity
past. And he was confident rejoicing
in the Father. The King shall joy in thy strength,
O Lord. And in thy salvation, how greatly
shall he rejoice. And the Lord shed tears. Did
he shed blood? Did he cry out, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Of course he did. Of course he
did. But he never ceased to rejoice
and delight himself in the Lord all the time, believing that
his father was going to reward him. Now, faith on your part
and my part is believing that God, the father, was obligated,
you could say, to reward his son for his faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Is
that what we were just saying? He's faithful and he's true. He fulfilled everything the father
sent him to do. And so we say to the father, the king,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he rejoiced in thy strength, oh father, and
in thy salvation, How greatly shall he rejoice? Thou hast given
him his heart's desire. Thou hast not withholding the
request of his lips. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that God the Father gave to the Lord Jesus Christ his heart's
desire and withheld nothing that he asked? He gave him everything
he asked for. What he asked for, what was his
heart's desire? Why did he come into this world?
The salvation of his people, the love of his bride, that's
his heart's desire. And every request that he made
to the father on behalf of his bride, the father withheld nothing
from him. Turn to me to John chapter 17.
I know we quote from this chapter a lot. Our Lord's heart's desire is
the glorification of his church. The assembly of his people together
with him in glory. That's what he's asking the father
for. That's what he came to do. He came to save his people. He didn't come to make an offer
of salvation to be accepted or rejected by man. He came to offer
himself to his father on behalf of his bride. on behalf of his
elect people. And now look, we'll begin reading
in verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.
Father, I'm not praying just for these apostles, but I'm praying
for all that are going to believe on me. They're gonna put, hang
all the hopes of their salvation on me and my work of redemption. as a result of the testimony
that I'm going to give these men. You remember the difference
between inspiration and revelation? The apostles were inspired of
God with the word of God, and now the Lord takes that inspired
word and reveals the truth of Christ to his people. And he
says, Father, I'm praying not just for them, I'm praying for
all them that are going to believe on me by their word, that they
may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee, that they
also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou has
sent me. And does the world believe? We're going to see in Psalm 21,
the world doesn't believe it. This word world here is used
in the same sense that it's used in John 3, 16. It's talking about
those outside of national Israel. He's talking about those Gentiles,
talking about me and you. That's who he's talking about.
The Lord wasn't praying that the whole world would know and
be saved, but that those outside of Israel would hear the gospel
and everyone that he prayed for, everyone he prayed for is going
to hear and going to believe. And verse 22, here's his heart's
desire. We see most clearly a person's heart's desire in the content
of their prayer. When do you become most vulnerable?
When do you become most transparent? When is the real heart's desire
of your heart exposed the most? It's when you pray, isn't it?
There's no pretense in prayer. You can't go before God and talk
to God the way you talk to one another. We can't do that, can
we? We're most vulnerable. We're
most exposed. We're most transparent. Our heart's
desire is most revealed when we're praying. And so it is with
the Lord Jesus Christ. So here's his heart's desire.
These aren't just words that he's uttering. He's pouring out
his soul to his father. And he says in verse 22, and
the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them that they may
be one even as we are one. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that
thou has sent me and has loved me as thou has loved them as
thou has loved me. Father, demonstrate your love
to my people and make them one, unite them in Christ and in the
truth of the gospel and make them one together. Father, I
will that they also whom thou has given me be with me where
I am. Now Psalm 21 assures us that
God gave to his son his heart's desire. and withheld nothing
from his request. And here's his request. Here's
his request. Father, I'm praying for all those
out there in the world that are going to believe on me as a result
of the testimony of these men. And I pray that you would demonstrate
your love to them. I pray that you would give them
hope in knowing that they're Salvation is by virtue of their
union with me, that all their righteousness is my righteousness,
their sanctification is my sanctification, their faith is my faith. I will that they also whom thou
has given me, verse 24, be with me where I am that they may behold
my glory. And Father, I pray that you would
gather every one of them, not leave one of them behind. And
Psalm 21 is the church rejoicing that the father has heard the
heart's desire of his son and withheld nothing from him. Do
you believe that? Do you believe that God heard
everything the Lord Jesus Christ prayed to him? You do, if you
have faith. That's your only hope. I know
like me, you have moments where you wonder if it was for you.
But that's not faith, that's assurance. And thank God when
we have assurance. And might the Lord be pleased
to give us assurance more, but for thou lovest me before the
foundations of the world. Verse 25, oh, righteous father,
the world have not known thee, but I have known thee. These
have known that thou has sent me. That's what Psalm 20 and
21 is about. Psalm 20, praying to the Father,
every believer praying to the Father, look to Christ for me. Psalm 21, thank you God. Thank you for making him successful. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known
that thou sent me. I believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the anointed one, the one sent of God to successfully accomplish
the salvation of his people. And I have declared unto them
thy name and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them and I in them. Go back with me
now to our text. Verse 2, O father, thou hast given him
his heart's desire. This is my hope. The hope of
my salvation is that you've answered his prayer. You've withheld nothing
from him. Selah. And we often look over that word. It's a musical note in the original
text, which is a rest. It's a musical rest is what it
is. And it's appropriate in the Psalms because it says to us,
just stop right there for a moment and think about that. Just rest
in Christ for a moment. Selah. For thou preventest. Now, you can look that word up. It doesn't mean what we normally
mean when we say to prevent someone is to hold them back. It actually,
in fact, means just the opposite. you went before him and provided
him with everything he needed. That's exactly what this word
means. So the church is saying, for thou, Father, preventest
him with blessings of goodness. Thou settest a crown of pure
gold on his head. In redemption, Father, you purposed
the redemption of his people in the covenant of grace. Before
he ever came into this world, you went before him. You provided
for him everything that it was necessary. Everything was from
the father as a first cause and everything comes back to the
father as a final end. Turn with me to the book of Revelation
chapter 5 please, Revelation 5. This was all done to provide,
to go before, make sure the work of Christ was successful. In verse 1 of chapter 5, and
I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book
written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals. And
I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy
to open the book and to unlock its seals? Who's worthy? Who's
going to? And no man in heaven, nor in
the earth, neither under the earth was, notice the next word,
able, able. You see, the hope of salvation
is knowing that I'm not able. I'm not able. I'm not able to
save myself. I'm not able to present God with
anything that would, that would secure my salvation. And he is
able to do it all by himself. He's able. So no one could be
found that was able to open the seals. And I wept much. John
wept. He thought if this, if this book's
not open, no one's going to be saved. So I'm pouring out my
heart, but praying, you know, God, who's going to do it? Because
no man was found worthy to open and read the book, neither to
look therein. And one of the elders said to me, weep not,
behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David hath
prevailed. He hath prevailed to open the
book. He succeeded. Why? Because the father went before
him. The father provided everything that he needed in order for him
to be successful. And I beheld and low in the midst
of the throne, the four beasts in the midst of the elders stood
a lamb, a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and
seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into
all the earth. The door number seven is completion,
perfection. And here's the, the full power
of the Spirit of God and the full knowledge of God in the
Lamb slain. God will provide Himself a sacrifice. Isn't that what Adam said, what
Abraham said? And God the Father provided the Lord Jesus Christ
as the sacrifice. And He came and took the book
out of the right hand that's set upon Him on the throne. And
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and
20 elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them
harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers
of the saints. Now this is symbolic language. The 24 is the whole
church, the whole church. The 12 tribes of Israel and the
12 apostles, this is the, The Old Testament saints and New
Testament saints all combined to make the church and they sung
a new song. This is the verse I wanted you
to see. Thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof
for thou what slain and redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. Now go back with me to Psalm
21. It is unfortunate for us as Americans to not have the experience of
a monarch being coronated. But I'm confident that the Holy
Spirit is able to override our natural a rebellion and an independence
and rugged individualism who have never been under a king.
We despise the thought of an earthly king, but here we have
the coronation, the coronation of the Lord Jesus Christ and
God's people rejoice in crowning him as king, just as the father
has crowned him. Notice what he says here. For thou, and that word preventest
means provided, provided him with the blessings of goodness
and set us a crown of pure gold on his head. Father, you have
rewarded your son. We ask you to in Psalm 20, and
now we're confident that you have. and you've put a crown
of glory on his head. Turn back with me to Revelation
chapter four. Look at verse 10. The four and
20 elders fell down, that's the whole church. before him that
sat on the throne and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever
and cast their crowns before the throne saying, thou art worthy,
oh Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for thou has
created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created. So here's the scripture makes
it clear that God's people are kings and priests. We have royalty
as a result of our union with Christ in the kingdom of God. But what do we do with those
crowns of royalty that God's given us when we get to heaven? We cast them at the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We're coronating him. We're glorifying
him. We're saying to him, Lord, the
only reason I'm a part of the family of God, the only reason
I'm in the kingdom of God is because of what you did. What
you did, the work that you accomplished, the reward that the father gave
to you. I've not made any contribution
to it. You did it all. You did it all by yourself. And
the father's rewarded you for that. And there's my delight. And there's my hope. So the father
has coronated the Lord Jesus Christ by putting a crown of
pure gold on his head. And the saints who'd be given
crowns, they cast them at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we do that spiritually even
now, don't we? We coronate Him. Every time we come to worship,
we're declaring that He is the King of kings. He is the Lord
of lords. We bow in submission gladly and
willingly and lovingly to His authority. So regardless of what our political
experiences might be in this world, the spirit of God causes
his people in their hearts to worship him, to coronate him,
to do for him exactly what the father did. And there's an evidence
of faith. that we're in such agreement
with God that we're doing for the Lord Jesus Christ exactly
what the father did, placing a crown of pure gold upon his
head, saying that you're everything in my salvation. Go back with
me. Look at verse four. He asked
life of thee and thou gavest him even length of days forever
and ever." That's what the Lord Jesus Christ asked of his father,
life for himself and for his people. And that's why he said
in John Chapter 17, all that thou
has given me, I have the power to give unto them eternal life.
and this is life eternal that they might know thee the only
true God and Jesus Christ and thou has sent. How many times
the Lord talks about eternal life? That's what the gospel
is all about. He said, if you eat of my flesh
and you drink of my blood, you have eternal life. You have eternal
life and I will raise him up at the last day. I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. Why? Because I asked the Father
for length of days, forever and ever. He heard my prayer. He
rewarded me for my faithfulness. And that's for all my people.
So eternal life belongs to me, and I give it to whomsoever the
Father has given unto me. That's why the Lord said to the
rich young ruler who asked him, Master, what good work? Good Master, what work can I
do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord began by asking
him, why callest thou me good? There's none good but God. And
then he said, you know the commandments? And he listed the commandments.
He said, keep those and you'll live. And that's true. You keep the commandments and
you can earn eternal life. How's that working out for you?
The Lord Jesus Christ, the only one that kept the law of God.
He kept all the commandments of God. The Lord told that rich
young ruler, do that and you shall live. He asked him, what
can I do to inherit eternal life? He said, you do that, you'll
live. I've been doing those things
since my childhood. I've been, since I was a little
boy, I've done, I've been faithful to the law. Oh, no, you haven't. No, you haven't. He went away
sad, didn't he? The Lord looked at the disciples
and said, it's hard for rich men to enter into the kingdom
of heaven. And the disciples said, who then, Lord, can be saved?
And the Lord said, with man, that is impossible. It's impossible. They're not able. And he's not
talking about just material wealth. The church at Laodicea is an
example of every person outside of Christ. You thought that you
were rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing.
But I say unto you, you're poor and miserable and naked and wretched,
come and buy of me. So, how can we have eternal life? God gave it to Christ. I didn't
quote John 17, the first couple of verses of John 17 accurately
a moment ago. So let me go back and do that
quickly because this is so. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son. that Thy Son also may glorify
Thee, for Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He
should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given unto
Him." So how did the Father prevent the Son? How is it that the Father
went before the Son? In election, the Father went
before the Son. He chose those who Christ would
die for. And now the Lord's pleading with
the Father, and the Father says, I've heard the desire of your
heart. I've withheld nothing from you. I'm going to reward
you. With everything you've asked
for. Verse 4 of our text Psalm 21. He asked life of thee and thou
gave us to him even length of days forever and ever. His glory
is great in thy salvation honor and majesty hast thou laid upon
him. He's made the law of God honorable. Men dishonor God in their prideful
profession of doing good and keeping God's law. They dishonor
God. The Lord Jesus Christ honored
the law of God. He made it honorable. And God
has given him, he made himself of no reputation. And you know
that Philippians chapter two, where the Lord said that, let
this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. And he
goes on to say, he became a servant and made himself of no reputation.
And God gave him a name, which is above every name that at the
name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess.
God honored him because he, that no reputation, turn me there,
Philippians chapter 2. Verse 6, who being in the form
of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He knew
that he was the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He knew that
he was God incarnate, but he made himself of no reputation. Now that means he emptied himself. That means the same as the word
vanity or vain. And the scripture says, man at
his very best state, is altogether vanity and we often think of
that applying to ourselves. The best thing about us is empty.
But here is the best man that ever lived who emptied himself
on Calvary's cross and became and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found
in the fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore
God had highly exalted him. God set him on the throne. He
rules and reigns in heaven. God has exalted him, rewarded
him and given him a name that is above every name that at the
name of Jesus, every knee should bow. and things of heaven and
things in earth and things under the earth, every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. All right, go back with me to
Psalm 21, verse five. His glory is great in thy salvation. The Father saved him for his
faithfulness. honor, and majesty hast thou
laid upon him. You've given him a name. You've
raised him from the dead and set him in a high place, the
highest place. His glory is great. For thou
hast made him, verse six, most blessed forever. Thou hast made
him exceeding glad with thy glory. countenance, we cannot even begin
to imagine the mutual love and affection that God the Father
and God the Son have for each other. But here's a demonstration
of it. The Father has given the Lord
Jesus Christ all the blessings and made Him, made Him exceedingly
glad with the countenance of His Father. Now, the father forsook
the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross when he became sin. But
even in that, the Lord was faithful to believe that God was going
to reward him and raise him. He's not going to allow his holy
one to see corruption. Verse 7, for the king trusteth
in the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ trusted
in his father and through the mercy of the most high, he shall
not be moved." Everything else is moved, isn't it? You're moved,
I'm moved. Somebody cuts us off in traffic
and we get moved, don't we? It doesn't take much to disrupt
our peace, does it? The least little thing, something
doesn't go right, and all of a sudden we get moved. The Lord
Jesus Christ is never moved. He's never moved. Everything
else is gonna be shaken so that that which cannot be shaken will
remain, will remain. And so that's why the Lord said
he was the rock. Build your house on this rock.
It's not gonna be moved. All the troubles that come, and
the judgment of God that is going to come against this world, that
rock is not going to be moved and everything on it is going
to survive. Verse 8, thine hand shall find out all
thine enemies, thy right hand shall find out those that hate
thee. It is becoming more and more clear to me that those outside
of Christ truly, truly do hate Him. They despise Him. Sometimes they veil their hatred,
but you listen to what they say about Him, and it's clear that
they have no love for Him. And if you confront them with
the truth of the Gospel, the venom will quickly come, won't
it? The Lord knows who hates him.
And we're all in that state prior to regeneration, and that's why
the Lord said, I'm going to make my enemies to be my footstool.
Those who are enmity with me by nature, I'm going to win them
to myself, and I'm going to make them love me and bow before me. There's only two kinds of people
in this world, those who love Christ and those who don't, those
who hate him, those who hate him. And God's going to find
out all his enemies and his right hand shall find those out that
hate thee and thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time
of thine anger. The Lord shall swallow them up
in his wrath and fire shall devour them. Their fruit shall be destroyed
from the earth. All those things they brag on
that they've done for God is going to be destroyed. and their
seed from among the children of men, all those converts that
they have, the millions and millions of people who make decisions
and come to Jesus, they're all going to suffer the full wrath
of God's judgment, for they intended evil against thee. They imagined
a mischievous device which they were not able to perform. They thought What does the Lord
say to them? Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. But Lord, we've cast out demons
in your name. We've done many wonderful works
in your name. We went down to the soup kitchen twice a week.
We fasted, we gave to the church. We were good folks. Depart from
me. You've thought a mischievous device. Why? Because you didn't give me all
the glory for your salvation. You robbed from me my glory. You took it to yourself. And
you weren't able to perform that which you said you did. You said
that you did something in order to make what I did work for you.
You said that you did something in order to win favor with God. But you imagined a mischievous
thing. You robbed me of my glory. I'm
the only one that can make you acceptable to God. And so the
Lord says, depart from me, you workers of iniquity. And when
he says you workers of iniquity, he's not talking about people
who've done shameful, embarrassing things that they don't want to
discover. He's talking about those folks that were doing all
that good stuff. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. I never knew you. You hated me. You hated me. The religious and those who talk
about Jesus, they hate him. They hate him. Only God's people
love Christ. Therefore, shalt thou make them
turn their back when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon
thy string against the face of them. I thought about, I read
that verse and I thought about what those Philistines did when
David killed Goliath and cut off his head. And all the Philistines,
they turned their backs and ran and the children of Israel went
after them, didn't they? And routed them and slaughtered them. What gave the children of Israel
that courage? David's success. David's success. And so the child of God, the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ says, be thou exalted, oh Lord. Not unto us, Lord, I don't want
any credit. Lord, you did it all, all by
yourself. And the hope that I have to be,
to ever be in the presence of a holy God is wholly dependent
upon the work that you accomplished. Wholly dependent upon it. And
if I'm not accepted before God, it won't be because you failed. Be thou exalted, O Lord, in thine
own strength. In thine own strength. In thine
own strength. Not some strength that I gave
you. You know, the Jesus of modern religion is an impotent, powerless
God who has no strength of his own. He's waiting on us to make
his strength work. And so what's the child of God
say? Oh Lord, be thou exalted, be thou exalted. I cast my crown
at thy feet in thine own strength. So will we sing and praise thy
power. crown him with many crowns. Bert, come lead us in that hymn,
please. What's the number? Number 62, 62. Let's stand together. you Crown Him with many crowns, the
Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthems
drown, all music but its own. Awake my soul and sing, of Him
who died for thee, and hail Him as thy matchless King through
all eternity. ? Crown him the Lord of love ?
Behold his hands and side ? Rich wounds yet visible above ? In
beauty glorified No angel in the sky Can fully bear that sight
But downward bends his wandering eye At mysteries so bright ? Crown Him the Lord of life ?
? Who triumphed over the grave ? ? Who rose victorious to the
strife ? ? For those he came to save ? ? His glory now we
sing ? ? Who died and rose on high ? ? Who died eternal life
to bring ? ? And lives that death may die ? Crown Him the Lord
of Heav'n, One with the Father known. one with the Spirit through
Him given from yonder glorious throne. To Thee be endless praise,
for Thou for us has died, Be Thou, O Lord, through endless
days Adored and magnified. Let's see.