Turn in your Bibles to Psalm
47, please. Psalm 47. In the Garden of Eden, the tree
of knowledge, of the knowledge of good and evil, it stood as
a testimony of our justification before our God in the Lord Jesus
Christ. But in Genesis 3, through Satan's
deception, we rejected grace, and law became the foundation
for our justifying of ourselves before God. Law became our way
of ascending to the throne of God, just like Satan in Isaiah
14. And from then on, law It became
our rule of life. It buttressed all our theories,
all our strategies. And because of our fall, our
walk in this world was now by sight. It was by trusting our
own wisdom and our own strength. And it also forms the basis of
all worldly religion. It's the ruling principle in
regard to all we think and all we do. So this knowledge of good
and evil, or law, was now constantly present in all of us and influencing
all that we do. But because all the law did was
expose and magnify our sin, It just condemned us continually. Ephesians 2 tells us that we
were dead. We walked according to Satan. We were children of wrath by
nature. Do you see the sins that we observe
around us? and they just need the right
circumstances to bring them to the surface, to bring them to
life. See, we tend to observe this
world and forget what we are by nature. We should see ourselves
as the chief of sinners, not those around us. I've had and
heard a great many conversations in this last year with all that's
going on in the world. I've heard them about conspiracies,
about prolific sin, about sin being embraced, magnified and
even worshipped in society. But what I've found and what
troubles me the most is that naturally, Having been distracted
by the circumstances that surround us, we so easily turn back to
that same fleshly thinking that we were rescued out of. And at
that point, we start to address these situations again by our
sight. by law, by our own wisdom and
strength. We very easily slip back into
thinking that if we can, as an individual or a church collectively,
can just show people how sinful they are before a holy God, if
we could just guide them into the right way to behave, If we
could just encourage them to change their ways, just motivate
them to act in a more acceptable way before God and before men,
then we can somehow reform this world and combat what appears
to us to be such chaos. Basically, we slip back into
that same legalistic thinking that we left the garden with. And whether we know it or not,
we preach law in one way or another. And at that point, you know what
James says? He says that we are greater sinners
at that point than the world that we're trying to reform. The church has been established
by God on this earth to preach the gospel. To preach the same
gospel that they received personally from God. To preach the same gospel that
continually sustains them in this world. The church is here to encourage
the saints to simply trust God and His promises and to do so by the preaching
of the gospel. In spite of what goes on around
them, we're here to proclaim the gospel and to wait and to
watch that we might see what God does with his gospel amongst
men. Paul tells us in Romans 1.16,
he says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation in regard to all our experiences, all our circumstances,
every single facet of salvation. You see, the gospel's the only
hope for men in this world. But it's only to them that believe.
Do you believe? Do we really believe the gospel
that we were saved in? Have we experienced this precious
truth firsthand? Do we remember how God freed
us from that old carnal way of thinking and transferred into
his kingdom of light? See, it's the gospel that sheds
the light on this world. And when it does, it turns everything
upside down. And this is why it's so important
that we continue to preach the gospel faithfully, as often and
as much as the Lord would allow. And this is why we ourselves
need to hear the gospel as much and as often as our God would
allow. Our time together in church,
it's so short compared to our weeks. What is it, about two
hours of our week? A week's 172 hours. It's not
long. And that 172 hours is filled
with distractions, constant distractions. It makes our time here together
precious, far more precious than our flesh would have us believe.
And Satan hasn't changed, has he? If he can diminish the preaching
of the gospel in this world, If he can divert the attention
of God's children from the assurance that only the gospel can give
us, if he can deceive us into a false confidence to think that
we can add something to God's work in our activities, then he's fulfilled his desire
to attack God all over again by buffeting the church. But thankfully Satan, the world
around us, and our own flesh are no match for our great God. Psalm 76 tells us that our God
restrains all sin that doesn't praise Him. Do you believe that? It means that the sin that we
observe in this world, The sin that, if we're honest, lies within
our own flesh, the sins of Satan and all those fallen followers
of Satan are all to the praise of God.
Now, we don't have to understand that, but we're called to trust
God because he said it. Brothers and sisters, we constantly
need our eyes set heavenward. We need our hearts set back to
the security that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ. And we
need our minds set back on the fact that it's the power of the
Holy Spirit that operates all things in this world. And he
does so for our good and for his glory. We don't have to see
it, but we are called to believe it. And how do we do this? We do it in church by proclaiming
the gospel. We have one mission. It's to proclaim the gospel.
We have one objective. It's to worship our God by praising
him for his saving grace towards his chosen children. And if you
just look at the history of our church, 15 years or whatever
it's been, over and over again, our Lord has honoured his gospel. And he's done so as he provides our needs through
that gospel. So I just want to read Psalm
47 first and have a bit of a look at it because it's another great
declaration of the gospel. Psalm 47. Clap your hands all
you people. Shout unto God with the voice
of triumph. For the Lord Most High is terrible. He is a great King over all the
earth. He shall subdue people under
us and nations under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance
for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved. Sing on. God has gone up with a shout,
the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises. Sing praises unto our King. Sing
praises. For God is the King of all the
earth. Sing ye praises with understanding. God reigns over the heathen.
God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness. The princes of
the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of
Abraham. for the shields of the earth
belong unto God. He is greatly exalted. Now remember, this is just another
faithful gospel testimony from the experience of a child of
God. So let's have a closer look at
it. Verse one, clap your hands all you people, shout unto God
with the voice of triumph. Clap your hands represents outward
worship, but it also represents praise
manifested in action. Actions like meeting together,
singing, preaching, witnessing, encouraging, comforting, reminding
each other of the Ebeneezers of our own personal journeys. See, they're all outward expressions
of inner joy for God and for his salvation. And we do so in triumph. In a
sense, that triumph is past tense. We sing praises for our God in
faith, trusting him, trusting the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, trusting that all his promises are fulfilled in
that work. Even though we don't see often
this saving grace of God in things and the circumstances around
us, the Lord's people are caused to just trust them in faith.
And why do we shout unto God, Verse two, for the Lord most
high is terrible. He is a great king over all the
earth. See, he's most high. He's high,
he's the high and lofty one. He's above all others, he's above
all things. He's above every single circumstance
that has ever taken place in this world. He's completely sovereign. Do you believe that? The word terrible there is in
regard to his power. He's omnipotent. He's all-powerful. He's a God to be revered. A God
to be feared. He's a great king. He's awesome. He's strong. He's powerful. but he's also perfect. He's great
because he's perfect in all his judgments. And as a king, he
rules and reigns over everything in this earth. Verse three, he shall subdue
the people under us and the nations under our feet. See, to subdue
is to make subject, to make servants of. And it's not just individual
people, is it? It's nations, whole nations,
he says in Isaiah 43. Whole nations for us. And he subdues them so much so
that they're under our feet. He completely subdues them. Do we see it? Often we don't. But do we trust it? May he give
us the grace to trust it, even when we don't see it. And if you have a look there,
it's not just talking about nations and people subject to our God. Look at the words there, it's
our, it's us. These things are subject to us,
by the hand of God. And how? How does he do it here
in this world? He does it by the preaching of
the gospel. He does it when we look to him in faith, rather
than our own fleshly strength and wisdom. God does it in our
midst and he does it for the sake of his church. Just turn
in your Bibles, hold your finger there and just turn in your Bibles
to Matthew 24. Looking at the world and all
its troubling circumstances, it just takes our eyes off Christ.
that leads us away from our gospel security and of necessity that
leads us back to that worldly, carnal, legalistic way of thinking
that we were saved out of. It's the thinking where we begin
to rest on our own wisdom and strength. Brothers and sisters, that's
not the way to do in this world. We need to be reminded of the
gospel as often as possible. We need to have our eyes set
on the one that does sit above all of the circumstances of this
world. We need to have our eyes set
on the one who controls all things for our good and for his glory. In Matthew 24, the Lord's asked
for a sign in verse 3, and he does speak of particular things
that will be seen in this world as we approach the end. Things
that seem chaotic, things that trouble the saints. In verse
33 he uses an example of a fig tree and he says, So likewise
ye, when ye shall see these things, know that it is near, even at
the doors. But now look what he says in
verse 36, even though we know it's near. He says, But of that
day and hour knoweth no man, no. Not the angels of heaven,
but my father only. See, we can't possibly make sense
of what's going on around us. We can't possibly know the timing
of things. Things come in our lives left
field all the time. We can't be prepared, we can't
know. So what do we do? How do we fare
in the midst of such great uncertainty? Well, thankfully, the Lord gives
us the answer to that question if we read on. In verse 44, he
says, but know this, if the good man of the house had known what
watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would
not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore, be also
ready For in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man
cometh." The chaos of this world, it will
affect you. It will break up your house.
And that word house could mean you, your family, your own home.
It could mean your church. And it will affect you if you
don't watch and if you're not ready. So what is it to watch
and to be ready? Look at verse 45. Who then is
a faithful and wise servant, whom his law hath made ruler
over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom
his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you that he
shall make him ruler over all his goods. A faithful and wise servant is
one who, even in the midst of the trials and troubles that
surround us, feeds the Lord's household. He's someone, just
like Paul encourages Timothy to be in 2 Timothy 4, that declares
the gospel to the saints in season and out of season. It's someone
who reminds them of the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 48, but if that evil servant
shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming, and shall
begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the
drunken, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh
not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware. That's a time
when he's distracted by this world. and shall cut him asunder
and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth." We get tired, and at times we're
overwhelmed by the circumstances of our lives. We're just sheep. And we go astray, we're easily
turned back to that calm thinking all the time. But you know, before we know
it, we begin to influence our brethren with that same thinking. And that's what it is to smite
your fellow servants. It's to lead them back into the
bondage of that legalistic thinking. It's like yeast. And in turning to that legalistic
thinking, we ourselves are drinking again of the wine of Babylon,
and it's called religion. Now that's spiritual drunkenness.
That's what that passage is implying there. Thankfully for the Lord's elect
children, he hedges our ways. and he guides us back into the
paths of righteousness. So turn back to Psalm 47, four,
and we'll just keep looking how he turns us back. Psalm 47, verse four. He shall
choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom
he loved. Now that's an inheritance. It's
not just a spiritual inheritance. That's regarding our whole lives. It's physical just as much as
it's spiritual. And He chooses. We pray that
His will is done because we trust Him with our lives, our circumstances,
with the timing of all things, with our trials, and our successors,
because we know they're all perfectly ordered. And again, no matter
what it looks like, no matter how inconvenient it is to our
flesh, we trust Him. And we trust Him because we're
loved by him. His love is perfect, everlasting
love. It's the love of a sovereign
God toward a fallen, frail sinner, towards his Jacobs, that's what
we are, his Jacobs. And then we have that word selah,
and we do explain it quite often here, that it means to pause
and contemplate. So let's just do that. Let's
pause and contemplate what's just been said. We've just been
told that our God sits in heaven, ruling every atom, every circumstance,
every nation, and every individual. Just soak that in for a moment. We've just been told that he's
done it all for our sake. Just think about that. And we've just been told that
he's done it because of his perfect, eternal love for us. For those who truly have met
God in saving grace, those that really do know Him intimately,
that's gotta be good news, doesn't it? Good news in regard to every
single circumstance of their life, good or bad. Surely that should influence
how we view this world. Let's go on. Verse 5, God is
gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
This gone up is, it's obviously a reference to our Lord triumphing
over Satan and over our sin. and ascending to the throne of
God where he sat down, but he's also raised up in this earth
when the gospels preached. That shout, that trumpet, it's
a reference to the gospel proclamation as well, both individually and
collectively as the church. It's the sound of jubilee. It's
not just a dry theory. It's not a regurgitated collection
of words that makes logical sense to the natural mind and yet leaves
people empty and unmoved. Look at verse six. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises unto
our King. Sing praises. Our God is the sovereign creator
of all things. But he's not just sitting above
everything aloof. He's not uncaring. He's not uninvolved. He's also a king. He's a ruler. He reigns actively. He disposes all things according
to his perfect, eternal design. And again, he does it all for
the good of his people. every time, every single moment,
in every single circumstance. Do you believe that? It's no
wonder that His people praise Him. In fact, that's all we have
left to do. And even that is His doing through
the circumstances that we experience His grace through. That's what
he means in Isaiah 57 when he says, I create the fruit of the
lips. It's his work, even our praise. And that's why we're told again
to praise him. It's repeated, isn't it? Praise
him, praise him, praise him. This is what the gathering of
the saints is all about. This is what church is really
about. It's about praising our God.
It's about lifting him up in worship. It's about declaring
his greatness amongst us. And it's about doing it as often
as he will give us the grace to do. Verse seven, for or because.
God is the King of all the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding. See, that for means because,
it's the reason, this is the reason that we praise him. It's not just theoretical praise. It's not empty, it's not hypocritical,
it's not a misguided acknowledgement of some God, like the natural
religion of man. experience. These are praises
that come having been seen and being convicted of something
of the grace of God. This is what it means to sing
these praises with understanding. See, it's a It's praise that is the outworking
of a saving experience. And our God promises to inhabit
the praises of His people in Psalm 22. So when we witness
the Gospel faithfully, having experienced something of His
saving grace, He actually manifests himself in that faithful witness,
and people then meet him personally, either in judgment or in grace. Now, they're not my words. He
says that his gospel is a sort of division. This is how the gospel witness
continues to be perpetuated throughout this earth. Verse 8, God reigneth over the
heathen. God sitteth upon the throne of
his holiness. See, he's reigning, he's ruling. There's no chaos in the world.
It just appears that way to us. He's directing everything perfectly. Everything is in complete order
according to the will of our holy God, who sits. It depicts a finished work, Hebrews
1. And what's amazing is that we
actually sit in him, Ephesians 2. And we will sit with him,
in him, in eternity, Revelation 3. And remember, this is a throne
of holiness. Our God is perfectly righteous
in every single thing he does, everything he commands. There
is no chaos. In fact, to say there is, is to criticize
him. Because everything is working
perfectly according to our God, or He's not sovereign. And we need to remember in regard
to this throne of holiness is that we are sitting there with
Him. As much as our flesh is filled with opposition to God,
and as much as we know how great a sinners we are. In
our God's eyes, because of the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, He sees no guile in us. We're cleansed by the blood of
the Lamb and we're robed in His righteousness. We're perfectly
qualified to sit on that throne in Him and with Him. Do you believe
it? It's hard to believe, but may
God give us the grace to believe. Verse nine, the princes of the
people are gathered together, even the people of the God of
Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong unto God. He is greatly exalted. Now, this isn't speaking of a
gathering in opposition to our God, and we'll see why. But when
he mentions princes, it depicts leaders, rulers, the strength
of the people. But in Israel, the princes were
actually the spiritual leaders. It was a reference to spiritual
leaders. The saints of God are all princes of our most high
God. We're kings and we're priests
before Him. And in our great Saviour, we sit
in heavenly places, whether we see it or not, and this world
serves us just the way it is. He talks about a gathering, and
it's God who gathers his people together. He gathers them to
worship him. That's what church is. That's
what the assembly of the saints is. He will gather his own people
out of this world, and he'll do it by the preaching of the
gospel. and all the strength of the world,
all the shields of the earth, they're all completely subject
to him. And that's why what seems to
be such chaos to us all seems to trouble us so deeply. Brothers and sisters, every element
of this world has been set, you can read it in Genesis 3, it's
been set by God himself to frustrate our endeavours, to care for ourselves
in our own wisdom and strength. And much like that crowd that
we've just seen in John 8, every single element of this world
has a stone in its hand and is ready to do us harm. But just as we saw our Lord pass
safely through the crowd, we too, by His grace in the power
of the gospel, pass through the trials and troubles that surround
us. And we pass through spiritually
unharmed. Now the gospel declares that.
Do you believe it? We just need our eyes set on
things above. In Colossians 3, 1 and 2, he
says, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set
your affections, set your attention on the things above, not on things
of the earth. See, it's only by changing the
way we view this world that we grow spiritually. Romans 12.2
says, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1 to
gird up the loins of our mind. It's to shield our minds from
that natural view that we run to so quickly and to think spiritually,
to see this world through the light of the gospel. We need
to be looking away from this world and need to be looking
to Christ. Hebrews 12, one to three says,
we're foreseeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses. We've just read one of those
witnesses, haven't we? And it's in Psalm 47. Let us
lay aside every weight and the sin which doth easily be seen. It's unbelief. It's unbelief. And let us run with patience
the race that is set before us. How? Looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher or perfecter of our faith. Who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross. despising the shame
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For
consider him, focus on him, meditate on him, consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself. Now listen to
this, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. This race that we run, you can
read more about it in 1 Corinthians 9, the fight that we fight, and
the war that we wage, you can read more about that in 2 Timothy,
they're all referring to trusting God in a world that appears to
us to be totally out of control. See, this is the great battleground
between Satan and ourselves. It's our faith in the gospel. Every single element of the whole
armor of God in Ephesians 6 is a reference in some way to the
precious gospel truths that we embrace by faith. Only the gospel
can bring reform to this world. In Colossians 1-6, it's only
the gospel So I've talked a lot about it.
What is it to proclaim the gospel? I just want to finish with this.
It's to declare that our God reigns. It's to declare that
the only salvation in this world is of the Lord. It's to declare
that God, by the perfect life and sin atoning death of his
precious son, Christ, that God by that has provided all things
necessary for this life and for our life to come. And it's as
we saw in Psalm 47, it's to simply praise our God for the saving
grace that we've received at his gracious hand. So I pray,
I really pray that our great God would continue to give us
reason to praise him in this world. I pray that he will cause
us to appreciate how valuable, how precious it is to be gathered
together to hear his gospel proclaimed. And I pray that he would, by
the power of that gospel, Comfort our souls and continually set
our eyes on heaven where he rules and reigns over all things. Let's pray.