Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Psalms, chapter 105. Psalm 105. I would like for us to consider
the first five verses of this precious psalm. This is a psalm
that sets forth some glorious, precious instruction to all men. No doubt about that. The scriptures command all men
to repent. But I know this and you do too.
that unless Almighty God gives a man, a woman, a heart, a heart
for Christ, they're not going to long after
Him. Oh, but if they do, if God gives
a man a heart, a woman a heart for the Lord Jesus Christ, they're
going to rejoice in what the Spirit of God has set forth in
these blessed passages of Scripture. I know that a believer desires
to be taught of God. They want to hear. They want
to learn. They want to know. And these
first five verses of Psalm 105 direct The one whose heart is made tender. New heart. Not a renovation of an old heart.
God Almighty doesn't take an old heart and renovate it. He makes a brand new heart. He
said, I'm going to give you a new heart, new spirit, new will,
new desire, new love. Verse 1, here's some instruction
for a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, give thanks unto
the Lord. Give thanks unto the Lord. Just hold your finger right there.
Let me just read in the New Testament, Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5.20. It says this, here's some instruction. Giving thanks always for all
things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. What are we to give thanks for? Here's the answer. All things. All things. 1 Thessalonians,
I'll read this to you. 1 Thessalonians 5.18 is what
Scripture says. In everything, give thanks for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Now, do
you know what it's going to take to do that? It's going to take
the grace of God. Because there's a lot of things
by nature that we're just not thankful for. I want to be well. I want to
be able to have plenty of money. I don't want any problems. I
want every time my kids call me, everything's fine. I don't
want any disruptions. But you know what? Man is a few
days and full of trouble. That's what this world holds.
Chastisement, tribulation, trials. This is what it's going to be,
Jim. What does Scripture say? In all things give thanks. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Knowing, and I know this, I know
it in my head for sure, oh, that the Lord would give me a heart
to believe this, that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. All things. The Lord Jehovah is the author. of all covenant mercy that we
enjoy. I know this. I know this. I know this. And I believe that
God's given me a heart to know this. He's everlastingly loved His
people. Now, I know that soul. The Lord
gave me a heart to believe it. I know. that He has chosen in
Christ. I know this. He's chosen a people
out of every nation and kindred and tribe and tongue. Why? Because
He was not going to allow the order of man to perish from this
earth. He was going to have, and He's
going to have, a representative of every family Every tongue. Every tribe. Every nation. Every
people. I know that. Lord, thank You
for that. Thank You that You're going to
have mercy on whom You're going to have mercy. Compassion. Thank You, Lord, that You placed
them in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Surety. That He's going
to answer. that He has everlastingly stood
as the safekeeper of all that the Father has loved and given
Him in grace. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that You
came into this world for the express purpose of saving Your
people. Call His name Jesus. Why? He shall save His people. from their sins. Absolutely. You just read that. Men are born
not by blood, not because my parents were believers, not because
I would desire their salvation, be able to talk them into it.
Not by my own will, how they're born. By the will of God. Thank
you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you
came into this world as the federal head of your people and lived
for them, establishing the righteousness that is imputed to everyone that
God calls out of darkness and gives them a heart to believe.
What's the evidence? What's the evidence? That the
righteousness of Christ, we're saved, not by our faith. We're saved by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved us, gave Himself for us. Almighty God
calls His people out of darkness and gives them a heart. And they
believe Him. What's the evidence of God's
grace? God's people believe Him. They trust Him and put no confidence
in their faith. in their trust. They put no confidence
in that. What's all their confidence?
What's all their confidence? God's Word. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
them. For all that the Father had given,
I lay down my life for the sheep. Made sin. Made what they are. And satisfied God's law. God's
law to the fullest extent of justice. Where sin was found. And it was found on Him. In Him. Made sin, the Scripture
says. That's Scripture. And the law
exacted justice. And He died. under the justice
and wrath of Almighty God. Why? Because God never looked
upon His people in wrath. He always looked at them in Christ,
who was their surety. Who's going to answer for this?
The Lord said, I will. I'll answer. I'll stand. Buried because He died. They were buried with Him. They rose with Him. He was raised for, or the word
is, because of our justification. God raised Him because God justified
us eternally in Christ. Send it. Now intercedes as our
great high priest, every living, to answer Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Call upon His
name. Actually, the literal, I tried
to check this out as extensively as I could, and it seems like
consistently this is the literal. It says, call upon His name,
and God's people do. They do that. But the literal
of that is, call Him by His name. Call Him by His name. Lord, You are Jehovah-Jireh. Whenever Abraham and Isaac was
going up on that hill, and Isaac had that wood, here's the wood, here's the fire, Where is the Lamb? And Abraham
said, Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide himself
the Lamb. The Lord will give himself as
the Lamb. Call his name Jehovah-Nissi. The Lord is my banner whenever
Joshua was fighting with Amalek. And Moses was instructed by the
Lord, you take the rod that I've given you, and you hold that
rod up. And you hold it up while Joshua
and Amalek battle. And it says, as long as Moses
held the rod up, Joshua prevailed. But when his arm began to be
heavy, he couldn't hold it up. He dropped down. Amalek prevailed. And the Scripture sets forth
that Aaron and Hur took a stone and set Moses on that stone. and Aaron on one side and her
on the other, and held his arms up. And the Scripture says that
Joshua, the glorious picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, was
victorious. Jehovah-nithi means that we praise
the Lord for our victory in Him from generation to generation. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. Call Him by His name. He is Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide. What is
all your hope and all your peace and all your comfort? Wherein
lies your salvation before God? The Lord will provide. The Lord
will not look to me. What am I going to do? The Lord
will provide. That's comfort. The Lord is the
banner under which I fight war and be victorious in Him. Jehovah-Nissi. Call His name
Jehovah-Shalom. The Lord is peace. This name was recorded by Gideon. We looked at Gideon. Remember
going through on Wednesday nights, we've been going through Hebrews.
11, and we were looking at those judges. And there was Gideon. And he was hiding. He was hiding. The Lord came
to him and called him. He said, Hey, thou mighty man
of valor. And he was hiding. And Almighty
God called that man, Gideon, by grace and told him, gave him
this, this word of comfort, peace be unto thee. Fear not, thou
shalt not die. Gideon built an altar and he
named it Jehovah Shalom. The Lord is my peace. Every believer declares the Lord
Jesus Christ to be his peace before God, having made peace
through the blood of his cross. For a believer, peace before
God is here. Here's my peace. Here's all my
comfort. I've got His Word. And He said,
when I see the blood, I'm going to pass over you. Lord, see the
blood for me. Lord, look upon me in peace. Look upon me in Christ who has
made peace by His blood. Call Him by His name, Jehovah
Shammah. The Lord is there. Now let me
tell you where that name came from. When Ezekiel, Lord willing,
We're getting ready to look at the faith of Ezekiel. When Ezekiel
in a vision was given the responsibility to measure a heavenly Jerusalem,
in the last few chapters of the book of Ezekiel, he's measuring
this heavenly Jerusalem, the Church, the Bride of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is also recorded in Revelation. We dealt with that when we were
going through that book. But he measured the heavenly
Jerusalem, the Church, the Bride of Christ, and he said this concerning
that glorious heavenly Jerusalem, the Church, You said this is
it. This is that glory. This is the
glory of that place. The glory of that establishment. The glory of that people. The
glory of that bride. The glory of that church. This
is all of her glory. This is all of it right here.
Not that she did this or she did that. This is all of it.
Jehovah Shema. The Lord's there. The Lord is there. Now you think
about this. The Lord has raised up this place,
raised up places where God Almighty was pleased to have the candlestick
of free grace in Cottesfield. Different places that we know.
Some we know, some we may not know. 50 plus years, 55, 58 years, God's
allowed the gospel to be preached in this place. Now let me ask
you this. What is the glory? The Lord's
there. God has allowed Christ to be
magnified and honored. Call Him by His name. Call him
Jehovah Sidkenu. That's out of Jeremiah 23.6.
Here's what that means. Call him by the Lord our righteousness. The Lord our righteousness. A believer lays no claim to possess
any righteousness accepted by Almighty God except the righteousness
of Christ. Imputed to me. Does that not
settle your heart? That God Almighty would not look
upon me and count my righteousness? The thing that men don't understand
is that Almighty God is going to be approached in absolute
holiness. He will not look upon iniquity
without judgment. If He sees us not in Christ,
perfect people that count are hoped to have righteousness before
God by their works. You must understand this. Whatever
you're standing on, whatever you're resting in, it better
be perfect. It better have never deviated. Never! You better have never
deviated in prayer, in walk, in sight, in hearing. If you
ever deviated in the way you've listened to the gospel preached,
and you're resting in what you did. Filthy rags. Filthy rags. Call Him by His name. Call Him the Lord our righteousness. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Call Him by His name. Make known
His deeds among the people. We do what we can. We do what we're instructed to
do. We preach the gospel. We're not here to play games. It's not a time for frivolous
activity. We've come here this morning
to preach the gospel. If I write an article for the
newspaper, that article better be just exactly what I've preached
in this pulpit. In that bulletin, if I stand
performing a wedding, It better be just exactly. Make known His
deeds among the people. Let the nations hear the God
you love and serve and pray for the work here. Support the work
here. Support it by prayer. Support
it by presence. Support it financially. Almighty
God has raised up A place where His Son is honored. Take that
seriously. Verse 2, Sing unto Him, sing
psalms unto Him, talk ye of all His wondrous works. Sing unto the Lord, this right
here, in a few minutes we're going to sing some psalms. Brother
Gary picks songs out. He picks them out. He's looking
for the message of the gospel. We don't sing songs that are
honoring to men. We don't sing songs that are
not honoring to Christ. We sing songs that exalt Him.
But this second verse right here is actually giving instruction
to a believer to himself. Sing unto him, sing songs unto
him in your heart. In your heart. Let me show you
this. Ephesians 5.19. Ephesians 5.19. This is the instruction. Speaking
to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing
and making melody in your heart. to the Lord. Anybody can sing a song if they
know the words, know the melody. A lot of folks sing songs that
are good songs, but have no heart for it. This is instruction. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto
Him, talk ye of all His wondrous works. Muse upon these things
that He's done for you. You that know Him, talk to yourself. Psalm 77, 12, I will meditate
also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings to myself. Musing upon, pondering, conversing
with myself, meditating upon His gracious work toward me. Verse 3, Glory ye in His holy
name, and let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Make it a matter of joy that
you have a heart. that loves and longs for the
God of sovereign grace. Be thankful. Lord, thank You
that I have a heart to be here. Lord, that I have a desire that
You've given me a knowledge of these glorious truths. Thank
You, Lord, that You've made Yourself known to me. His character. His attributes. We boast in Him. That's who we
want to talk about. I want to talk about Him. I want
to honor Him. I want to lift up Him. I don't
want to talk about myself. I don't want to lift you up unnecessarily
in a prideful way. Thank God for you. Thank God
that God Almighty would put me in Katy, West Virginia. I've
said before, where's that? That's a spot in the road that
God raised up the Gospel and kept it here. I mean, I'm telling
you, people ask me, used to, well, they know by now, but they'd
ask me, say, well, tell me about Katy. Tell me, I said, well, there's just a few houses here
Stretch a road. But God's raised up the gospel
there and kept it there. Established. Called some folks
out of darkness. Gave them a heart for Christ.
And kept them by grace and power. Glory ye in His holy name. Let
the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek Him. Seek Him. He who is not going to let them
perish. God's people, they love the truth
of sovereign grace that God Almighty saves according to His good pleasure
and that He doesn't impute sin because Christ was made sin.
They love that message. Verse 4, Seek the Lord and His
strength. Seek His face forevermore. Let me tell you what I thank
the Lord for. That He's not an impotent God. He's not a God that's done all
He can do. Men say, well, you know, the Lord's
done all He can do. Well, buddy, we've got problems.
We've got problems now. God's done all He can do. It's
left up to you. Our God is God-omnipotent. All power in heaven and earth
is given unto the Son. Why? That He should give eternal
life to as many as the Father has given Him. That's power. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. That's power. He speaks and it
is. That's power. Seek the Lord and His strength. Lord, you're able. You're able. Lord, you're able. And I love
that. Because I know this, I'm not.
I need a Savior. Because this sinner cannot help
himself. Seek Him who alone. is the supreme
God. Seek Him. Seek His face. How long? Forevermore. Seek. Seek. Seek. Because we never exhaust
the performance of that blessed duty. How long does a man come
to Christ? He that cometh. And cometh. And cometh. As you've received
Christ Jesus. How did you receive Him? As a
needy sinner. As one that couldn't help himself.
Now I'll tell you this. I'm convinced that God teaches
His people more and more of that truth. When they first came,
they came Helpless sinners. But the more
they've walked, been taught, the more they know of that. Somebody
asked me one time, do you believe in love at first sight? And I
said, no. No. Love is taught. I'm going to tell you something.
The love that Almighty God gives His people, The first time they
looked at Him in themselves, they didn't love Him. He had
to give them a new heart. Now I will say this, the first
look with new eyes, yeah. But you've grown in grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. And you come to Him
heartily every day. The more He's taught you of yourself,
the more you desire to come to Him. God's people, they come,
and seek, and come, and ask, and knock, and seek, and come,
and see more and more of their need of Him. Listen to Jeremiah
29, 13. You shall seek Me, and find Me. when you shall search for me
with all of your heart." Lord, I know this. You're going to
have to give me a heart for that. Because I know just enough of
myself to know this. I've got an old man in me that
doesn't love you. I've got an old man that's never
been changed. I know that in me, that is in
my flesh, I know that there dwells no good thing. I know that. I
know the first time I was crossed with this gospel, I didn't love
it. I didn't love Him. I didn't long
for Him. Whenever Paul the Apostle, who
was Saul of Tarsus, Scripture says he sat there and he held
the coats of those men that stoned Stephen. And Stephen, Scripture says,
looked and heavens were opened. And he said, I see the Son of
Man standing at the right hand of God. And those men heard him say that
and they hated him and they ran on him and gaped on him with
their teeth and just bashed his brains out. And the Scripture
says Paul consented to that. He heard what Stephen said. But I'll tell you what happened.
On the road to Damascus, the Lord Jesus Christ called to that
man, Saul of Tarsus, and said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? That was Stephen they stoned.
You were persecuting me. He's mine. That's my body. Right there. Lord, what would
you have him to do? That's when he sought Him. Almighty
God gave that man a heart. And then lastly, verse 5. Remember. Remember His marvelous works
that He hath done. His wonders and the judgments
of His mouth. We give thanks unto the Lord.
We call Him by His name. We sing unto Him and speak of
Him to others, but especially, I want to muse upon Him for myself.
Glorying in His holy name and character. Rejoicing in my heart. Seeking Him continuously in His
strength. Listen to this last word. Remember. Remember. Remember his marvelous
works. Memory is never better employed
than remembering the God of his Bible. Memory is never better
made use of. You know, by nature, I can recollect
some of the most foolish and evil things that you or I would
ever imagine. Fleeting things. My memory can
just come back to things that just don't matter. But to remember
His marvelous works. There's no time that I feel more
guilty than when I remember my ingratitude. I've just preached. The glorious
gospel that exalts Christ and Christ alone. Oh, that the Lord
would give me a heart to rejoice in this. Lord, I believe it. Help my unbelief. Help me, keep
me. Remember His marvelous works
that He's done. He saved you. He's taught you. He's kept you until this moment. Lord bring that back to my memory
for Christ's sake.