Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Psalms, Psalms chapter 65. Psalm 65. I would like to read verses 1
to 4. Psalm 65, verses 1 to 4. says praise waiteth for thee,
O God, in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O
thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgressions, thou
shalt purge them away. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, and causeth to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts, we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,
even of thy holy temple." Let's pray together. Our Father, it is so good to
call upon You, and, Lord, to want to call on You. to need
to call on You. I pray this morning, Lord, would
You bless the gospel. Would You bless it to the salvation
of sinners. Lord, have mercy. Lord, save
Your people. Encourage us. Help us. We need
You this day for Christ's sake. Amen. There is no doubt that the Lord
of glory is worthy of praise. We talk about praise. Praise. I look that word up. It means
to boast, to have thanksgiving and adoration. Now Psalm 717 says, I will praise
the Lord according to His righteousness and will sing praise to the name
of the Lord Most High. Psalm 71 8, Let my mouth be filled
with thy praise and with thy honor all the day. But this passage of Scripture
deals with something that is wonderful. It deals with the
proper way and the proper time that we praise the Lord. We trust Almighty God. The Scripture sets forth in verse
1, when it says, You may have it in your margin there. It says, silent. Praise silent for Thee. Or one of the writers wrote this,
to Thee, silence is praise. O God, Lord, as Your servants,
according to Your Word. Lord, may we be in silence. Silence, peaceful, ready before
You in heart to know the beauty of praise. Silence. Now, I know by experience And
you do too. Those that know Him know by experience
something of the struggles of our flesh that wars against our
true desire. Now, there's two men. There's two natures. You know
this. There's two natures in a believer.
And in a believer, there's that new man that is given, that is
imparted, that is put within. It's a new mind, a new heart,
new spirit, born from above, a new nature. And that new nature,
created in righteousness, the Scripture says, does not sin. That new nature does not sin. And there's an old nature. Nature
that we were born with. Born in Adam. And as we go through
this world, regenerated by the grace of God, we war and strive
and struggle. That old nature, while the new
nature truly loves God. It's born of God. It seeks God. It praises God. It hears from
God. It sees God by faith. And that old nature is ever ready
to war against that new man, struggling against him, striving
against him, fighting against him. That new nature that says,
hey, by the way, hey, you remember when Oh, I'll tell you something
we hadn't thought about in a long time. That's the old nature. Forgetful. Forget about it. Struggling, striving. We know
by experience something, the struggles. In our new man against the old
man, you try and see how easy it is to pray without any obstructions. You just, you just, why am I
thus? As Newton said, why this dull
and lifeless frame? Striving against myself, struggling,
and the new man will pray for forgiveness. Remember this. It was that rebellion of the
old man that Christ died for. That old man, that rebel, that
almighty God everlastingly loved, put away the debt. And here's the new man. Forgive me. Forgive me. You talk about praying for your
enemies. Lord, help me. Lord, have mercy on me. Struggling. Striving. The highest praise
that can be put forth in our frailty because of the presence
of sin is so beneath that which is deserving to Him, it is as
if in ourselves we said nothing. Thanks be unto Him. Praise, the
Scripture says. Praise waiteth for thee. Praise is silent before thee. Praise is in the heart. Praise,
true praise, true adoration, How the believing struggles with
that. But here's what it says. Praise
waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion. Zion. The church. The bride. Zion. The blessed bride of the Lord
Jesus Christ as she's found in Him. We do praise. God's people praise Him, adore
Him, thank Him. Bless Him because they have a
heart to now. They want to. They long to. They wait for Him in silence. Silence. Not settledness. Settledness. A settled heart. Quiet. Looking unto Him who is
the glorious Head of Zion. the church. Hebrews 12.22 said,
But ye are come unto Mount Sion, unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels. You know, Babylon, mystery Babylon,
all false religion, what it adores, what it loves, what it seeks
for, is everything that is anti-Christ. Brother Henry, I heard Brother
Henry said, he said, false religion is not anti-morality. It's anti-Christ. It's anti-grace. It's anti-God's sovereignty. That's what it's anti. Anti against
Him, but in Zion. Praise is silence in the heart. Not outwardly. I know what people
set forth as being praise that I've said before. If you watch
television and if you try to assume what praise is, it's always
going to be loud. It's going to be self-seeking.
I heard someone say one time there was somebody that was visiting
in their congregation. And for a while, he tried to
tolerate it, you know, but somebody would say something or he'd say
something from the pulpit. He finally went and he said,
listen, would you not do that? Well, I'm just praising the Lord. He said, no, no, no, you're drawing
attention to yourself. That's what you're doing. You
want everybody to look at you and talk about how spiritual
you are. Oh, look how. Wonderful. Praise is silent before
God in the church, in the heart, blessing Him. In Mount Sion,
there we speak of Mount Sion, and we speak of the exact opposite
of Mount Sinai. Sinai speaks of the law, the
covenant of works. Sion speaks of the covenant of
grace. Mount Sinai speaks of trying
to approach God based upon my ability, my works of self-righteousness,
my will, my decision. Mount Sinai is the blessed bride
of the Lord Jesus Christ who approaches Almighty God and accepted
in the Beloved. And she approaches waiting on
Him, silent before Him. Waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion."
That's the only place praise is found. Quietly. Silently. Waiting. I have no idea. I can't see what goes on in that
new heart. I can't see what's going on.
But Almighty God does. And the Scripture says, waited,
is silent, is settled, is quiet, is not self-seeking for thee,
O God, in Zion. And unto thee shall the vow be
performed." Unto thee. I looked up, got to thinking
about that vow. Unto thee. Vows were something
that were made back in the Old Testament. People would make
a vow before the Lord. It was a vow. It was a promise.
Lord, you do this, I'll do this. Lord, I promise this if you'll
do this. Lord, you get me out of this, I promise, I'll do a
vow. And when these vows were made, they were obligated. It didn't take that lightly.
But let me ask you this, what creature can claim to have, and
here's the word where it says, unto thee shall the vow be performed? The word is completed. What creature? What created one can perform
a vow, complete a vow, a vow that promises God something?
The Scripture says, Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion, and
unto thee shall the vow be performed. I can think of one vow that was
made before Almighty God by man. I can think of one vow that was
made that I'd say, yep, That would be a vow that a man made
and say, that's true. That's true. One vow. It was
Jonah. Jonah. But listen to what he
said. Jonah 2, 9 to 10, he said, I
will sacrifice unto Thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I
will pay. that I have vowed, and here is
what his vow was, salvations of the Lord. And the Scripture
says, And the Lord spake unto the fish that wail, and it vomited
out Jonah upon the dry land. Yes, here is a vow that is absolutely
true. One that in myself or Jonah or
anybody else, could never in ourselves perform. Here's what
it is. Salvation's all of grace. Salvation's
of the Lord. This is what I've vowed before
Him. Lord, if You don't save me, I'm
doomed. I'm lost. I'm gone. Salvation's
not in a church. Salvation's not in Your ability,
Your decision. Here's the vow. I'm going to
pay this. Lord, salvation's of You. Delivered. All of grace. But I'll tell you this. Let me
tell you of the one who absolutely, it says, unto thee shall the
vow be performed. Absolutely. Ultimately. Completely. It speaks of our
blessed Savior. Him. The vow promised and performed
can be no other than the vow of the Lord Jesus Christ as the
everlasting surety of God's sheep, the one in whom all of God's
people were chosen, placed the responsibility of their redemption
and salvation and final deliverance unto Almighty God. That was His
work. That was God's command. That
was God's desire. John 4, 34, Jesus saith unto
them, My meat, My food, My desire, My want is to do the will of
Him that sent Me and to finish His work. Paul the Apostle says,
The desire is present with me. I'll be honest with you. in my new man and yours too."
Paul says, to will is present with me. To will is present with
me. I desire, I desire, I would long
to walk after Him. I would. I would. Oh, but I see
in me that is in my flesh there dwells no good thing. The desire
is present with me, but how to perform that which I would? I find not. I cannot, I cannot not sin. I don't like it. I don't like it. My new man,
old wretched man, Paul says that I am. Here he is, the two men.
Here's a man that loves, desires, and seeks after God's honor.
And here's the same me. Here I am, old wretched man.
I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Well, you know, He will. He will. And in that day when we are gloriously
separated from the presence of sin, But I know this, praise
waiteth for thee, silent before thee, O God in Zion, and unto
thee shall the vow be performed. And I'll tell you at Calvary,
when our blessed Savior cried forth, it is finished. What, Lord? The vow. I will deliver. I will make good. I and the children
that thou hast given me." Sin was put away. The law was honored. The Father satisfied with the
vow of the Lord Jesus Christ being performed with His blessed
righteousness, His obedience imputed to us. Three things I'd
like to say in closing, three things concerning Salvation by grace. The reason of our praise. The
reason of our thanksgiving. The reason of our boasting in
Him. Not in ourselves. Praise. Man by nature is going to praise
himself. This is what I've done. This
is why I'm saved. Jonah. Oh, salvation of the Lord. Praise. Here's the three things
in these last three verses, 2, 3, 4. Here's the first one. We praise him that his ears are
open unto the cry of his people. Verse 2 says, O thou that hearest
prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Lord, we praise and bless
your holy name that you hear prayer. A believer. feeling the weight
of Himself. Feeling the weight, the presence
of sin. Feeling the weight of that body
of death. How He praises, thanks, honors,
and boasts in the Lord of glory because He will here. You know, You've got somebody
and they just don't want to listen to you. You'd like to make reconciliation. Somebody's been offended. I'd
like to make good on this. I'm sorry. I just want them to
hear me. If I've got to apologize, man,
during the night I'll think of something and I think, Man, I'll
be glad when 9 o'clock gets here in the morning, 8 o'clock. I
just want to call them. I just want them to hear me.
But with Him, oh, while I'm on my bed, while I'm in the study,
while I'm on the road, oh, thou that hearest prayer, Lord, that
I can speak to you right now in heart, outwardly, by myself,
Lord, You that hear, You who never changes, You who ever hears
the prayers of needy sinners. Daniel said, Daniel 9.18, O my
God, incline Thine ear and hear. Open Thine eyes and behold our
desolations and the city which is called by Thy name. For we
do not present our supplications before Thee for our righteousnesses,
but for Thy great mercies. O thou that hearest prayer, Lord,
thank you. Thank you that you would hear
this needy sinner. Thank you. Thank you. Unto thee
shall all flesh come. Now you know, you know, that
that is not setting forth that every individual, every, without
distinction, every individual is going to come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, you know that because Scripture
does not bear that out. You can't prove that by Scripture. But all those that are weak,
flesh, all that the Father hath given me shall come. All flesh, every kindred and
tongue and people and nation He's the only one that flesh
can come to. What else is a needy sinner going
to approach except God's Lamb? Unto Thee. I say, coming to rituals,
coming to ordinances, coming to unto Thee, unto Thee, unto
Thee, shall." Oh, the settledness of God's worth, God's salvation. Lord, I praise You. Thank You.
Bless You. That all flesh, Jew, Gentile,
male, female, bond-free, all that Almighty God has everlastingly
loved, all needy. Let me ask you this. Do you need to come? Do you desire
to come? If you desire to come, I'll tell
you why. Because He made you willing in
the day of His power. I've said before, you know why
men don't come? They don't want to. They don't
want to. I just don't want to come. We
praise Him, bless Him, wait for Him. I know this, He hears prayer. Secondly, we praise Him and bless
Him that He's redeemed us particularly by grace. Verse 3, Iniquities prevail against
me. Words. Iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgression, thou
shalt purge them away. words when confronted with sin
in the Garden of Eden. Man fell. Satan's words, iniquitous,
prevailed. The Lord had told Adam, in the
day that you eat, and you will, in the day you eat, you're going
to surely die. The words of Satan in the garden
prevailed against mankind. Man fell. My own sins, my own
words prevail, rise up in accusation and cause me great grief. I said
a while ago when I would praise Him, I find myself so beaten
down because of my frailty. But if it was not for the remembrance
of the atonement which covers all of my iniquities, what would
I do? Iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgressions, thou
shalt purge them away. Thou shalt. There's that. The subtleness. The surety. Oh, that sweet remembrance. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." And remember
this, walking after the Spirit. Here's what, here's what, here
it is. You believe God. Walking after the Spirit. You
believe God. I believe God. Do I see in me,
that is in my flesh, any good thing? No. No. But I know this,
by the grace of God, our transgressions, thou shalt purge them." All of
them. Purge them. Put them away. That
you'll never bring them up again in judgment. Cast them as far
as the east is from the west. Praise waits for thee. And lastly,
we praise Him for electing grace. preserving grace, sure grace. Verse 4, Blessed is the man whom
thou choosest, causeth to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Here, no doubt. It is just not up for debate. No question. Now, does God Almighty
choose to show mercy to whomsoever He would? Does He? Blessed. Lord, we thank You and praise
You and bless You. If left to ourselves, what would
we do? What could we do? Blessed is
the man whom Thou choosest. Elects. Accepted in Christ. and causeth to approach unto
thee." Giving a man a new heart, a new desire, a new longing. I want to. Lord, I want to hear. Lord, I want to pray. I want
to seek You in Your Scriptures. I desire, Lord, causeth to approach
unto Him. with full assurance that we're accepted in the Beloved. Lord, I believe this. Oh, help
me to believe this. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.
Lord, that I would thank You and praise You that You chose
to show mercy. Lord, I know. I know. There's
no doubt, Lord, that you chose a people. What will you do? Lord, you're
going to cause them to approach unto you. How? How is that? Well, I know this. He's going
to put them under the sound of the gospel. I know that. I know
that. I know that. Does it matter?
What does it matter what a man hears? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I wrote an article. It was in the paper I heard yesterday. I started the article off and
I said, Would you go get your Bible before you read any more
of this article? And I just asked about five questions.
Look in the Scriptures. What does the Scripture say?
Cause him, day of his power, cause him to approach unto him. Why? That he may dwell in thy
courts, satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy
temple. Almighty God works affectionately
in his people. causing us to come unto Him in
the day of His power and accept Him upon the merit of the Lord
Jesus Christ, not because of their righteousnesses? Do you
think that Almighty God is going to accept a man or a woman because
they decided to join a church or they decided to walk it out? You remember this. Anything that
you think you started to merit salvation, you better finish
it. And you better never deviate
from it. You do and you'll live, but you can't. Man approaching Almighty God,
accepted in the Beloved. Unto Thee we give all honor and
glory and praise, Lord, that You called us, You chose us,
You drew us, You accepted us. How in Christ? Cause us to be
satisfied with the goodness of Thy house. I don't even know what that is.
The goodness of Thy house. I can tell you this. I know that
it's all in Christ. the goodness of His house, even
in Thy holy temple, found in Him, all that's His is ours,
being chosen in Him, placed in Him, accepted in Him, that we
shall be satisfied. Oh, I think about how satisfied
we are, really, right now, believers. Believers truly are satisfied
as we're able to hear the Gospel right now. We're thankful. Lord,
it's so good. It's so good just to hear You.
It's so good. It's good to not have to listen
to something that gives man glory. Lord, that we can bask in the
wonder of Your grace. It's good to hear that we're
able to eat and drink of Christ's body and His blood, His life
and His death. Lord, we enjoy the fellowship
of God's people. It's wonderful to be where God
has raised up the Gospel and given a heart that's settled
and thankful. I'm glad I can be here with you.
I'm glad that Almighty God gave me a heart to want to be where
He's honored. But in that day, for we shall
be satisfied with the goodness of thy heart." All that Almighty
God has prepared for those that love Him. Those things that eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the
heart of man that which God has prepared. What shall it be like? I'll tell
you this. more than you ever thought of,
more than I ever thought of. Lord, help me today. Lord, as
I praise and honor and bless Your holy name, struggling, Lord,
against the presence of sin, my old flesh, but Lord, I praise
You and thank You, not wanting to draw any attention to myself.
And my flesh does. It does. My flesh does. Even right now, trying to find
something to boast in. Well, at least I'm here. At least
I showed up. By the grace of God, you did.
Lord, help us today. For Christ's sake, Amen.