I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles, turn back to Psalm 145. Psalm 145. I'd like to look at a few more
verses, verses eight to 10 in this blessed Psalm. I've entitled
this message, The Lord is Gracious. The Lord is gracious. That's what the Spirit of God
moved David, moved his heart and his hand to pen these words,
verse 10. I'm sorry, verse eight. I'm gonna
do eight to 10, Lord willing. The Lord is gracious. Now, beloved, that truth right
there, that is, that's the very heart foundation of the gospel. That's the message that we preach.
That is the truth set forth by Almighty God in the face of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's only two messages being
preached, only two. One of them sets forth the untruth
that God saves men by their work and will. That's the untruth.
God saves men by man making a decision. God saves men by them being baptized,
by giving their heart to Jesus. That's works. That's works. They say God graciously offers
And all you have to do is appropriate. That's works. You can try to get around it
and you say, well, no, it's not works. Well, what is it then?
If all you have to do is, it's works. One message is works by
man and by the deeds of the law. shall no flesh be justified in
his sight, not by works of righteousness that we've done, but according
to his mercy. So there's only two messages.
One of them is a lie that says God will accept a man's works. And the other one is the message
of grace. God is gracious. God is pleasant, calm, and polite. That's what that means. But let
me ask you this. How can a just God, and God is
just, that's what he said, I'm a just God and a savior, how
can God be just in dealing with sin. God who will in no wise clear
the guilty. How can God who is just be polite
and calm, gracious to a sinner? How can God, who must punish
sin, be gracious? God is gracious. But how? You know this. You know what
I'm getting ready to say. Only in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's one mediator. Between God and men, it's the
man, Christ, Jesus. There's one Redeemer. There's
one Lord. There's one Savior. How can God
be gracious? God is gracious. How? And deal
with a sinner. How? God's gonna punish sin. How? One way. God in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, God who is the Lord Jesus, must take all of the guilt. He's
gonna take the guilt of his people. He said, I laid down my life,
John 10, 15. I laid down my life for the sheep. Let me just set forth this truth
right here. The scripture never says he died
everybody without distinction. It never says that. The Lord said in John 10, 15,
I laid down my life for these sheep. Husbands, love your wives
as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. For the church. No blood, no
blood shed in vain with the Lord. How can God be just and gracious
and justify us? That's what it says. Only in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ bore all the guilt of
all of his people, all of it, all of it, and he put it away. That's what 2 Corinthians 5.21
says. You've read it. Turn to 2 Corinthians
5.21 with me and look at it. Let's make sure we understand
what happened. Second Corinthians 521. For he hath made him sin. To be is in italics. He hath
made him sin for us who knew no sin. The holy, harmless lamb
of God. That we might be made the righteousness
of God. in Him. How can God be just and
deal with sin justly? Only in our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. This is what God's going to do.
It's what He says He's going to do. Turn back to Ezekiel.
We were just there. Ezekiel 36. I want you to look
at it again. Ezekiel 36. God dealt with our sin in the
person of our substitute. He bore all the guilt of His
people. He was made sin. He made what we are. But I tell you what else He did
for us. He created a new man. He made
a new man. Ezekiel 36, 26 and 27, we just
read it, a new heart. A new heart also will I give
you. A new spirit will I put within
you. I will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh and will give you a heart of flesh and I will
put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes
and you shall keep my judgments and do them. I'm gonna give you
new life. I'm gonna birth you from above.
I'm going to give you a new man, created in righteousness and
true holiness, that doesn't sin. That which is born of God doesn't
sin. I'm going to pay your debt. I'm going
to pay all your debt for you. And I'm going to cast your sin
as far as the east is from the west, behind the back, in the
depths of the sea. Where is that? I don't know.
But it's gone. It's gone. I'm going to make a new man.
I'm going to put a new spirit in you, a new heart in you. I'm
going to be your God, and you're going to be my people. Beloved,
now that's grace. That is grace. That's grace. That's not an offer. That's a
truth that God does. Almighty God, the scripture says
back in Psalm 145. The Lord is gracious. Moses. Moses had seen the glory
of God. Moses was on the backside of
a desert, tended some sheep with his father-in-law Jethro. And
he saw, he saw the glory of God. He saw it. There was a bush. A bush that was on fire. And he was looking at that. It was a bush. And it was burning.
And it wasn't consumed. And he said, I'm going to go
over and I'm going to examine this. I want to see about this. He saw in this burning bush He
saw the glorious deity of God in a little bush that wasn't
consumed. He saw the deity of God in the
humility of God's servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. God Almighty
in human flesh, Moses saw the glory of God. And God told him,
He said, you take your shoes off. where you're standing, this
is holy ground. I mean, just saying that to me
just makes... Moses saw the glory of God. God
rained down manna from heaven every day. They were out in the
wilderness, out in the desert. And Moses saw God, he saw his
faithfulness, he saw God rain Every morning, save one morning,
they could pick up two days worth. All the other days, you had to
get just that day's worth. You're going to believe God.
You're going to trust God. And he saw the glory of God.
He saw the glory of God in a rock, which was Christ that followed
them in water. He saw God. He saw God lead his
people The shoes didn't wear out, the clothes didn't wear
out. All the glory of God. When he was up on that mountain
meeting with God, it was 40 days he was in there. Moses asked
the Lord, show me your glory. You that have seen the glory
of God, you've seen God miraculously maintain this little building,
this little place, this assembly. He said, just a few of us left
here. What a miracle of God's grace. You've seen it. You've seen God
call you out of darkness. You've seen the glory of God.
You've seen God show you mercy. You've seen God sustain us. But you know what you want. Lord,
show me your glory. The more we see of the glory
of God, the more we want to see of the glory of God. Lord, show me your glory. And that question that Moses
asked was answered by the Lord, who was pleased to reveal to
Moses his glory. Moses didn't say any
glory, but God said, I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna show you
my glory. What'd he say? In Ezekiel 33, 19. I'm gonna
make all my goodness pass before thee. You're gonna behold my
goodness. You're gonna behold my son. You're
gonna behold me. My goodness. And I will proclaim
the name of the Lord before thee, Here's my glory. I will be gracious to whom I'll
be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I'll show mercy. God Almighty, His graciousness,
according to His Word. That's what I want to say. Let's
do it. Let's don't ever go beyond what God reveals. Let's just
stay right there. That's safe. God's graciousness is His attitude
of kindness and favor and courtesy and pity. I'll look the word
up again. Toward a people of His choosing.
That is His graciousness. If you want to know what God's
graciousness is, listen to what the Lord has to say. There's
nothing to be questioned about that, nothing to be doubted about
that concerning His graciousness. Here's what the scripture says.
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He's full of tender
mercy and love toward those who in themselves are wretched sinners,
but wretched sinners born in Adam, but everlastingly loved
of God. He's completely aware of man's
self-destruction in the garden because he's full of compassion. He is tender. Tender, that's
the word, tender. Tender to the need of his people. He's gracious and full of compassion,
slow to anger. It's from a word which means
he lengthens, he draws out, defers and tarries the rapid breathing
of his passion. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? I hate to keep using myself as
an example, but I will. I'm about the best example I
can tell you of somebody that is thankful. Almighty God is
slow to anger. I mean, all the way up until
right now. Slow to anger, full of mercy. It's his pleasure toward his
people. We have great mercy. Great is
our sin. greater is His mercy. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Oh, how merciful. Look at verse 10. All thy works,
I'm sorry, verse nine. I'm doing eight, nine, and 10.
The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all
his works. Now, the Lord is good to all. Now, that's a fact because God
said it. He's good to all. He's kind to
all his creation. There's not one. There's not
one. He is not one. who fails to take
care of that which he's made. He doesn't leave that which he's
brought into existence to itself. I know you're sitting there thinking,
okay Marvin, I know what you believe concerning God's sovereign
grace, you better explain it. Lord willing, I plan to. He allows
even those who despise his goodness and despise his gospel and hate
his people. Hate him. The Lord said, they
hated me before they hated you. He allows even those that he's
gonna deal with in absolute wrath. Day of judgment. There's gonna
be some that's gonna stand there and try to Try to justify themselves
before God. Lord, Lord, hadn't we prophesied
in your name and we cast out devils in your name? I never
knew you. But I'm going to tell you something
right now. Almighty God, even for those that despise his name. Now let me just set forth that
the Lord is good to all. My friend, if you're sitting
here in rebellion, against God and His gospel. You owe God thanks that you just
took a breath of air. That was God's air. Almighty God gives even those
that despise His name. He's allowed those to live out
an allotted time in this world. He's given you food and sunshine
and rain, everything that you needed for life. He permitted your heart to beat
one more time. The Lord is good to all. He's good to all. Man, four-footed
beast, birds of the air, fish of the sea, creeping things of
the ground, Who or what has God created that God has failed to
be good to? We have nothing to say but that
the Lord is good to all. God has never been mean to any
of his creation. We've despised him, we've rejected
him. The scripture declares The Lord
is good to all. Is he just? Absolutely he's just.
Is he gonna deal with rebels against him? Absolutely. Is he gonna put men and women
in hell that reject his gospel, his son? Absolutely. I'm telling you, God's good to
all. He's good. Everything has its existence
and its maintenance in the Lord who is good to all
in his tender mercies over all of his works. I'm thinking about,
I don't care if it's a worm on the ground, a little old whatever,
whatever it is, God's good. He's good to all. And verse 10
says, all thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, All thy works, all your labor,
all your achievement, all your products shall praise. That word praise there means
worship. All thy works shall praise thee,
O Lord. All his works? I mean, you mean
all his works? You mean I'm talking about the
heavens Let me see if I read that correctly. All thy works
shall praise thee, O Lord. Everything, everything, created
of Almighty God, which is everything, gives testimony to His power,
praises, even though there may not be a word spoken. I'm thinking about In my mind
right now, I'm thinking about the Rocky Mountains. We were flying out to Montana
a year or so ago whenever I was there. Brian, y'all were out
there. We stayed with Brian and Chesney. We were flying over
the Rocky Mountains. And I thought to myself, thinking
right now, those mountains render praise unto the Lord and God
maintains them exactly where they are. They don't sink into
the earth. God Almighty has laid a foundation. I wonder how much
those mountains weigh. I'd say a bunch. That'd be my
guess. A bunch. All of that, they render
praise unto the glory and power of Almighty God to keep them
right where they are. The oceans, the seas, Praise
the Lord. Obediently staying within the
bounds of His command. The heavens, the stars, they
all stay exactly where God put them and they praise the Lord
and the power to keep them in their appointed place. So praise
is given by everything. Worship, the word's worship.
Everything. All thy works shall praise thee. God's people praise the Lord,
but they render something else. And only God's people do this.
That's part of verse 10. And thy saints shall bless thee. Now, it's two different words
here. Praise is to give testimony of
His power. I'm telling you, a little flower,
a little old flower just comes up. It praises the Lord. Never says a word, but it praises
the Lord for its beauty, for its existence. God raised it
up. A little old bird, A little bird
will fly from place to place, just here, there, and it praises
the Lord. I knew I was gonna preach this
this morning. I was driving over from the house,
saw a little squirrel run in front of me. And knowing that
I was gonna be preaching this, I thought to myself then, I said,
little old squirrel, it knew there was gonna, it had to have
something to eat, and it ran across the road. I'm glad it
ran up far enough in front of me. It didn't stop right in front
of me and run over it. But it praised the Lord. It was
alive. It had something to eat. It had
some shelter to go to wherever it was going. It praises the
Lord and never says a word. That's what praise is. It praises Him. Worship. But
only the saints of God bless Him. Bless Him. Here's what it means. Bless.
Adore with bended knees. Only the saints bless the Lord,
thankful to the Lord for the benefits that He's rendered unto
them. Only the saints of God have a
heart to thank Him. Thank Him. That's what we just
sang. Thank You, Lord. Thank You. Thank You for saving
my soul. Thank You for making me whole.
Thank You for giving unto me life, joy, peace. Thank you for
showing me what I am. Thank you. Only God's people. And bless the Lord. The saints
bless, they adore, they love the one who alone has been pleased. and not leave them to die in
their trespasses. Everything praises the Lord.
Everything. That's what the scripture says.
All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord. All of them. All of them.
Oh, and thy saints. Thank you. I can't read this scripture. I'm going to. Psalm 103, verses
1 and 2, without thinking about Brother Scott. When I hear this
scripture, I think about him. I heard him quoted, bless the
Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy
name, bless the Lord, oh my soul. And forget not, forget not, forget
not, all of his benefits. I pray God bless this to our
hearts for Christ's sake.