We'll just take this chapter
a verse at a time. Let's look at verse one. Praise
ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the heights. Praise
ye him all his angels. Praise ye him all his hosts. The thought occurred to me, the
question As I read that, this is David, a sinner, exhorting
the angels to praise the Lord. And I thought, what business
is it of ours what the angels do? We don't know a whole lot
about angels or their relationship with God. And so shouldn't we
just stay out of that? Are we speaking out of turn to
call upon the angels to praise God? They were praising God before
we were ever born. Do we have any business then
calling up on them this way? For one reason only. In Hebrews
chapter 1, I was going to read verses 1-6 to you, but I'm afraid
we'll go long tonight. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Paul is quoting the Old Testament there and he says, And it is
written, Let all the angels of heaven worship him. We wouldn't have any business,
I don't believe, addressing what goes on between the angels and
God, except that God said it. And we speak for God. Can you
imagine that? Do you realize what a thing that
is? That sinners are assigned by
God to speak for Him. What a weighty thing that is.
If God said, let the angels praise me, Praise the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we can say it. It's our business, isn't it?
We speak for Him, the gravity of that, we are ambassadors of
Jesus Christ. And as His ambassadors, we're
authorized by the King to say what He said, to bring His message. And that's part of it, that every
creature, let all the angels of heaven worship the Son of
God. And so we echo that exhortation. The angels have a lot for which
to praise God. Why didn't all of the angels
fall? We know from the scriptures that a third of the angels of
heaven fell. Lucifer among them, their leader
now, and are reprobate. They're banished
from the presence of God in hell. A third of the angels. Why didn't
all of them fall? There's only one answer for that,
the grace of God. He took not on him the nature
of angels, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man is God taking on
the nature of men in order to redeem them. It behooved him
to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. He didn't
do that for the angels that fell. None of them will be redeemed.
He didn't redeem and he will not redeem any of those that
did fall, but who kept the two-thirds from falling to begin with? If
not God. You reckon they're praising Him
for that tonight? I don't know if God ever promised
the elect angels that they never will fall. You reckon? You think
they ever will? Can they? If a third of them
did, Perhaps God has promised them that he'll keep them, that
they won't fall, and we just don't have that revealed to us.
I don't know. I don't know. But I know this. Those of us
who are chosen in Christ and redeemed by his precious blood
can never fall. Never. And though our Lord Jesus
Christ never took upon him their nature, the angels do worship
and adore him. You remember what happened in
Luke chapter 2? This shall be a sign unto you, you shall find
the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And
at that announcement that one angel gave, and just at the thought
of the promise of the Holy Son of God being born into this world,
it says in verse 13, suddenly there was with that angel a multitude
of the heavenly host praising God. What are the angels praising
God for? The Lord Jesus Christ. Same thing
we're praising Him for tonight. The same one. And they said this,
glory to God in the highest. What for? Because the Son of
God is born into this world. And on earth, peace and goodwill
toward men. Peace. That child, that baby
is going to make peace by the blood of his cross. For his people,
and he has done that. Verse 3 in our text, praise ye
him, sun and moon. Praise Him all ye stars of light. Now think about this. When we
realize that even the inanimate creations of God can praise God,
that teaches us something about what it means to praise Him.
Doesn't it? They show forth His glory. You
can look at them and learn something of the power and Godhead of God. Psalm 19, verse 1 says, The heavens
declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork.
Is that what praising Him is? I reckon it must be. If the sun
can praise Him and the moon can praise Him. Romans 1 20 Paul
said, The invisible things of Him, of God, of Christ, from
the creation of the world, are clearly seen being understood
by the things that are made. The sun, the moon, the stars,
this earth, the mountains, the clouds, the sky, even His eternal
power and Godhead, so that everyone is without excuse before God.
So even the sun and the moon. So if the sun can praise him,
how does that apply to me? Well, here's the simple standard.
Can anybody look at you? Can anybody listen to you? Can
anybody watch you and see something of how wonderful God is? Can
they do that? You can look at the moon and
see that. Our Lord Jesus Christ said in
Matthew 5, 16, let your light so shine before men. that they
may see your good work and glorify your father which is in heaven. The moon does that. It shines
its light for the glory of the one who created it. Do you? The
stars, they don't take any glory for themselves. Do you? Do I?
Do we? Verse four, praise him ye heavens
of heavens. Even the heavens have heavens
above them, don't they? How far? And you waters that
be above the heavens, the vastness of God's universe shows us something
of his power and glory and the fact that he's God and the waters
that he put above the heavens. He himself, God Almighty, used
the waters to tell forth the effectual nature of his word.
In the book of Jeremiah, we quote it often. The power of his word and the
ability of his word to accomplish what he sends it to do is shown
forth in all that he does. If he sends some of his water
to this earth, he does it, he said, to accomplish a specific
purpose. That the tender herb might spring up, that the plants
might grow, that there might be life upon this earth. And
if he sheds forth the light of his gospel in this place tonight,
you know he'll do it for a specific reason. He declares that whatever that
reason is, it'll be done. Whatever He sends it for, He'll
accomplish it. He don't try. Our God don't try. He don't wait on us. He speaks
and it's done. How do the waters praise Him?
We look at them now and we see the life that He gives. In that
water we see the rainfall and my grass grew. Two or three inches
the other day when it rained on Sunday, just the first rain
we've seen in a while. We see that spiritual life is
dispensed by use of His Word, the way that physical life is
bestowed by the gracious sprinkling of those waters on the earth.
Even just the water falling down praises Him, doesn't it? It causes
us to think of His purposes and how He accomplishes them by the
means of his reign and his word. He gives life. He gives different
kinds of life to whomever he pleases. Verse five, let them
praise the name of the Lord. Now look at this last part. This is key now. Let them praise
the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created. The heavens,
the waters, the moon, the stars, the sun. What are they doing
up there where they are? Exactly what He said to do. Why
are they there? Because He put them there. He spoke. He commanded it. And it was done. Now here is the simplest way
in which all things created, praise God, simply in that He
created them. Everything you look at, you think
about how God made that. He spoke, and it was done. Just that truth right there ought
to shut down all of the false free will religion of this world.
God don't ever try. When he speaks, it's done. The
religion of this world has no idea who we're dealing with.
This is what Paul said in 2 Timothy 3, 5. They have a form of godliness,
but deny the power thereof. They deny that he's the God that
commands, and it's done. How do they deny that power of
God in their preaching? Well, they say God wants to if
you'll let Him. God didn't ask you for permission to create
the universe, did He? And He don't need it tonight.
To create a new heart and so on. He don't need your permission
for that. Paul said that God saves sinners
exactly the same way He created the universe. Listen to it 2nd
Corinthians 4 6 for God who commanded What did David say he commanded
and they were created that praises him? Paul said he commanded the
light that God who said let there be light and there was light
and shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge he
gives different kinds of light that he does it the same way
and Why do you think Paul characterized him that way? The God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, shined in my heart. Because that's
the way he saves a sinner. He commands it and they're created. Created new in Christ. To give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. David said in our text here,
he commanded and it was done. And the Apostle Paul said, just
like that. He said, let there be light in our hearts. And we
saw the glory of God. in the face of Jesus Christ.
That's what happened, wasn't it? You hadn't always seen God's
glory there. You saw an enemy there before,
when you were defying God and wanting to do what your fleshly
heart, Paul said, blinded by the God of this world and by
nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, but
God, He said to Doubting Thomas, be not faithless, but believing. And Doubting Thomas went from
I will not believe to my Lord and my God. He commanded it and
it was done. Be not faithless, believe on
me. And Thomas did. He that said Lazarus come forth
and that four days dead stinking sinner Walked out of the grave
that same Christ said in John 5 25 barely barely I say unto
you the hour is coming and now is When the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God and they that hear him shall live You
reckon that'll happen tonight If he wants it to it will He
commands and He creates by the power of His gospel. Believers
are called a new creation in Christ Jesus. He commands it. And it's done. 2 Corinthians
5.17 He said to one, your sins are forgiven. And they were.
That's who we're talking about. This is not little Jesus over
in the corner waiting on you to do something for Him. We're
here tonight to see if God Almighty will do something for us. Pray
he'll do something for us for every one of us He speaks in power to a dead
sinner and makes a new creation created in the words of Ephesians
424 created in righteousness and true holiness a Person that
never existed before came into being when God spoke to my heart And I'll tell you this too Don't
miss this. The sun, the moon, the stars,
they praise God in that He spoke and made them what they are.
And I'll tell you this, every sinner born of God will praise
Him for what they are. They'll say with Paul, I am what
I am by the grace of God. They're not going to say I made
a decision for Jesus. I walked in and out. I decided
to follow. They're going to say salvation
is of the Lord. That's what they'll say. Verse six, he hath also established
them forever and ever. He hath made a decree which shall
not pass. When the Lord does something,
it's done. He does whatever he wants to
do, and when he does it, nobody can annul it, can disannul it.
Nobody can stay his hand or question him, saying to him, what doest
thou? When He says it's finished, it's finished. The gifts and calling of God
are without repentance. It's all through this book. When
He saves, you're saved. If the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed, He said. Verse 7. Praise the Lord from
the earth, you dragons. Let's read several verses together
here. And all deeps, fire and hail, snow and vapor, Stormy
wind fulfilling his word. Do you think of some scripture
as we're reading through this? Can you think of a place in the
Word of God where the stormy wind praised the name of the
Lord? When the disciples were in that little ship and he brought
that storm and the Lord Jesus was asleep in the bottom of that
ship and they were panicking. These experienced sailors were
taught that they were going to die in such a storm. And they
go down to him and they say, Lord, don't you care that we
perish? What are you doing sleeping down here? And he said, why is
it that you have no faith? And he spoke and said, peace
be still. Even the winds, he brought the
wind and he laid them down. And that praises his holy name. It exalts him in his power. The
mountains, verse 9, and all hills, fruitful trees, and all cedars. Beasts and all cattle. Can you
think of some beasts? The flying fowl. Creeping things
and flying fowl. That raven that he sent to feed
his prophet Elijah. The raven does what he says.
How about you? I wish I had the sense of a raven.
Don't you? The ox knows his master's crib.
Do we? Or do we start thinking? like
Nebuchadnezzar did at the beginning of his story in the world. Look
at what I've done. Look at what I've done. Why does
a hurricane, it talks about the wind, a hurricane comes through
in Texas and Louisiana recently and destroys entire cities and
kills people. Why does it do that? Because
he said so. Because he said so. The word
dragon is serpent. Even that old serpent, the devil,
what's he doing? God says he's on my chain, and
he does only what I let him do. He's doing the will of God, not
in his sinfulness and defiance of God, although God uses that.
God's not the author of that, but he uses that for his glory.
He controls even that old serpent. Did the fall of man in the garden
take God by surprise? Of course not. He caused that
for the glory of his son. Sinners can't be redeemed if
they're not fallen. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
very glory of God is revealed in his redemption of sinners
on Calvary. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What
are we going to glory in if there's no fall? And no redeeming precious
blood of God's Son. The fruitful trees He mentions the fruitful trees
and the cedars. The ones that don't bear any
fruit. The fruitful trees. When we eat a peach pie, can
we at least give God as much glory as that tree that bore
that fruit, those peaches did? Can we praise Him when we're
eating that pie? The cedars don't bear any fruit,
but they were used to build things with. When you hunker down in
your warm house tonight, your house is probably not made out
of cedar, but it's made out of pie. He made that too. that pine timber that your house
is made out of David said it praises the Lord it praised him
when it was standing up in the woods tall somewhere it praises
him now as it keeps out the cold wind from the houses of his sheep
when we go to bed tonight it praises him will we? verse 11
kings of the earth and all the people princes And all the judges
of the earth, both young men and maidens, old men and children.
Let's talk about these different people for a minute. In verse 11 here and 12. The
kings of the earth, let the kings of the earth praise Him. You know, the kings of the earth
stood up. It says in Acts 4.26, the kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord. They
weren't praising the Lord that day. They were cursing Him and
against His Christ. But I can think of a few kings
that praised the Lord in the Word of God. King David said
in Psalm 9.1, I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. We had never yet done that one
time yet, have we? But David said, I will. I want
to. I want to. With my whole heart,
I will show forth all thy marvelous works. King Nebuchadnezzar, after the
Lord brought him low for a while, at first he was saying, look
at the kingdom that I've established. Look at all of my beautiful palaces
in this great kingdom that I've raised up. And the Lord had to
bring him low, didn't he? Turned him into an animal. Really
just showed him what he was already. And then he said, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up mine eyes unto heaven and mine understanding returned
unto me. And I blessed the Most High and I praised and honored
him. that liveth forever. That's what David's saying. All
the kings praise him. Will he have to bring us low
like that? One way or another he will, won't
he? Before he'll give us our understanding
and cause us to praise and honor him that liveth forever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion in his kingdom. It's from generation
to generation. Kings, true kings praise the
king, don't they? Just like that centurion, he
said, I know what it is to have a boss, and I know what it is
to be a boss, and I know this, you're the boss. If you're a king, you know what
it is to rule, to reign. The judges of the earth, he said,
you know who that is? You know what judges do? They
make decisions. They decide things. Those with any decision-making
authority could fall under this heading. Praise the Lord in that
capacity. You remember what our Lord said
to the Pharisees in John 7, 24? He said, Judge not according
to the appearance. That's what we tend to do. That's
why he tells us, you know, don't tear up, don't pull up the tears
now. The Lord will handle that. Just
preach to all of them. Tell everybody they'll listen
to you, the glories of Christ. Don't try to separate the tares
from the wheat, you'll pull up some wheat. Because we judge
by the appearance too much. The Lord looketh not on the outward
appearance. It said that when he chose David
to be his prophet and his king, he was the last one that his
own family had any thought for. But God looketh not on the outward
appearance, the Lord looketh on the heart. And he is the judge of all the
earth. He's the one who decides. He
decided, David's my prophet, David's my king. Not all these
other men that are taller and stronger and faster and can fight
better and all that. David is my, that's the judge. Don't judge according to the
appearance, he said to those religious Jews, but judge righteous
judgment. How are we going to do that?
How is a sinner going to judge righteous judgment? Well, the
only way to do that is to reckon things according to the word
and truth of the Lord. And reckon things... Listen,
remember what Paul said, I reckon... I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us because of Christ. And he said, we reckon things
this way. If he died for us that we might
live, then we ought not live henceforth unto ourselves. Do
you reckon things that way? Why? Because of his word. Because of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We see in his word what he did
for us and we say, we reckon with Paul the way Paul does.
I reckon we ought to live for him, don't you? That died for
us and lives. That lives to ever intercede
for us. So the judges, the decisions
that we make, may they praise Him. You going to decide anything
tomorrow? Tonight maybe? Before you go
to bed? Whatever it is, decide it in
such a way that it will give glory unto Him. Young men and
maidens. Solomon, the man to whom the
Lord gave more wisdom than any other created man. Said in Ecclesiastes
12, 1, Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not,
nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure
in them. Remember him now. Acknowledge
him in all things now. Praise him now. Be thankful unto
him right now while you're young. And those of you who have young
men and maidens under your parental authority now, remember God's
promise in Proverbs 22.6, train up a child in the way that he
should go. And when he's old, he will not depart from it. Old men, he mentions old, let
the old men praise him. You know, I don't know if that's
me yet or not. But I know this, he mentions young men and old
men here. Young men ain't me. I know that
much. So I guess I'm an old man. Oh God, help those of us who
have lived a while. We've seen some things and I
pray have grown in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Help us, Lord, to praise You
in all things. All that we do and all that we
say, can we learn that if we live long enough? He said, Philip,
have I been so long with you and you don't know me? Is He
saying that to us? How long has He been with us,
us old men? And do we not know Him? Can we
not praise Him? When the young men and maidens
are enamored by the vanities of this world. Do we have anything
to say about that, old men and women? When they are distracted and
they neglect the things of God and they do forget God in their
youth. And listen, young people, there's nothing wrong with following
your dreams and enjoying the good things in this life and
being young. Live while you can. While you're young, enjoy being
young. but live for His glory. There's
no life apart from that. Nothing else is life but that.
It may seem like it for a little while, but to live is Christ,
and to die is more Christ. And if you have not Him, you're
dead while you live. You'll never know what life is
until this world is crucified unto you, and you unto it, and
you saying with Paul, Oh, I don't want to glory. God, don't even
let me glory in anything else but Christ. Do we old men have anything to
say about that? And then children, even when
they're little bitty toddlers. You parents now who are responsible
for the little bitty children, don't let them be a disgrace.
The psalmist calls upon here that they might praise the Lord.
You know who that's up to? A lot of that rests on you parents,
doesn't it? We parents. Teach them early the ways of
the Lord. When David says here, let the children praise the Lord,
that's on mama and daddy to a great extent, isn't it? If Christ truly is all, if He
is all, Paul said Christ is all and in all. of Him and through
Him and to Him are all things. If that's true, does that have
anything to do with your children and the way they behave themselves?
And the example that you set for them and your family? If
Christ is all? Does that have anything to do
with that? David said it does. Let even the little bitty ones
praise Him. And they're not just going to do that naturally. They're
not, are they? God help us. You know God's word says that
if you discipline your children, and it says do it with the rod,
not grounding them, it says you're saving their soul.
You think I made that up, don't you? Proverbs 23 13 withhold not correction
from the child for if thou beatest him with the rod he shall not
die. Now I don't reckon that's beating
them bloody blue to a pulp with a big stick. You reckon? But
I tell you what it's also not. It's not time out in the corner
either. It's a whooping. That's what it is. Now we can
listen to God or we can listen to the parental counselors or
whatever they are. I'll let you be the judge of
that, whether you should listen to God or men. It's not talking about abuse,
and it doesn't mean that we have the power of saving them. We
know that. That's in the hands of the Lord.
But I'll tell you one thing it does mean. Let Scripture shed
light on Scripture. Let me tell you one thing it
does mean. Proverbs 13, 24. He that spareth his rod, hateth
his son. You're not loving him by letting
him get away with it. That's not love. Love is taking the
time and the effort to discipline them, and to show them that there's
accountability, and to make sure that they honor the Lord, even
when they're little now. They honor His authority, which
is you, and your mama and daddy. That's God's established authority
in the home. He that spareth his rod hateth
his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him the times. How
many times? However many times it takes.
That's how many. Well, verse 13. Let them praise
the name of the Lord. For his name alone is excellent. His glory is above the earth
and heaven. Let all of these people and things
that are mentioned here continue to praise Him. Why? Simply because
He deserves it. Because His name is excellent. That word means high. His name
is high. His name is exalted. And notice
the word alone. Oh, now listen to me. You know, the book of God says
to give honor to where honor is due, even in this world. To
give the respect to other men to whom it's due. But the reason
that we honor those with authority in this world is because he gave
it to them. We honor our boss with a hard
day's work. That's how you honor your boss,
by doing what he tells you to do. And do it with all your heart.
Do a good job. An honest day's work for an honest
day's pay. What are you doing when you do
that? Colossians 3.22 Servants obey in all things your masters
according to the flesh, not with eye service as men, not just
when they're looking as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing
God. And whatsoever you do, do it
heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of
the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For
you serve the Lord Christ. And so what am I saying? Even
the honor that you give to other people in this world ultimately
redounds to Him. His name alone is excellent.
Even what you do for others in this world, you're doing it for
Him. He said, if you've done it to the least of one of these,
my brethren, you've done it unto me. You're really doing it to Him
and that's not a slight to others. The very best way that I could
possibly treat you is to deal with you as though I was dealing
directly with the Lord Himself. I'm not slighting you by honoring
Him. See that? And so let's honor Him in all
things and in every way we possibly can. His name alone is exalted
and high. God the Father gave his Son a
name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, things in heaven and things in the earth, and
things above the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's what
this whole chapter is about, His glory. That's what the last
part of the verse says, His glory is above We have a lot of business in
this world, don't we? We do things to see some results
in this world. His glory is bigger than that.
Whether the result is what you wanted it to be, not what you
wanted it to be, whether you're successful or you're a failure,
His glory is above all of that. If he is glorified in us falling
flat on our faces in everything we did, then let it be. Can we
say that honestly? You see what that means? His
glory is above all of this stuff. It doesn't matter whether he
heals us of that cancer or lets it eat us up and take us. His
glory is above all that. and every other thing you can
mention, his glory. Verse 14, he also exalteth the
horn of his people. The praise of all his saints,
even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him, praise
you the Lord. The word horn there, all through
scripture it means power and strength. The horn of his people. He exalted the strength, the
power of his people. That's Christ. That's not he
makes you stronger. What is our strength? I can do
all things through Christ which strengthens me. He said, I'm
the vine, you're the branches. Except you abide in me, you can
do nothing. Without me, you can do nothing. He is our strength.
When we were yet without strength in due time, Christ! I didn't
have any strength to do anything for God. Religion talks about
you taking the first step, you know, and God will meet you halfway.
You have no strength. You're dead in trespasses and
sin. But when we were that way in
due time, Christ did something. When you couldn't do something,
when you couldn't do what religion calls upon you to do, which is
meet God halfway. Could Lazarus meet him halfway
from the grave? Did the good Samaritan wait for
the man bleeding out in the ditch to meet him halfway? No, he went
where he was. That's what God does. When you
were yet without strength, Christ did something. What did he do?
He died for the ungodly. Christ crucified is our strength.
He is the power of God unto salvation. And the Lord exalts him. I'm
telling you now, whether we live or die, His Son
is going to be exalted with us or without us. We're going to
be in on it or we're going to be out of it, but He's going
to be exalted. When God exalts His Son, you
know He's exalting His people too. We are joint heirs with
Christ and glorified together with Him, Romans 8, 17. We shall reign with Him, not
as rivals, but in Him. 2 Timothy 2. We shall reign with
Christ. We're seated in heavenly places
in Christ. Ephesians 2. Listen to this.
He hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. He's exalting our strength, our
power, the praise of all of us. He's our praise. And us in Him
and with Him. The next phrase there in our
text, the praise of all His saints. That's the Lord Jesus too. What
that says is the glory of all of the saints. That's our Lord
Jesus Christ. And we like it that way, don't
we? We like it for Him to be sovereign. We like looking at the throne
and seeing the one sitting there, and it ain't me, and it ain't
you. It's the Lamb of God. God's people are described four
ways in this last verse. His people, His saints, the children
of Israel, and oh I love this one, the people near the hill. A people near unto Him. And notice His, His people, His
saints. That's what primarily defines
who we are. One word. Who are you? His. His. Well, you're just a worm. Yeah, but I'm His worm. You're
just an old wretched sinner. Yeah, but I'm His sinner. You're nothing, amen, but I'm
his nothing. And this thing of the people
near him, you remember when Moses said to God in the book of Exodus
chapter 33, oh Lord show me your glory. Think of all that God
had already showed Moses. He met with him face to face
as a friend meets with his friend, the scripture says, met with
Moses. Called him the friend of God. And Moses said to God, show me
your glory. And God said to Moses in verse
21 of Exodus 33, behold, there is a place by me. If you're going to see my glory,
you've got to be right here. You've got to be near me. You've
got to be in this place by me. What is that place? Thou shalt
stand upon a rock. That rock was Christ. That rock
smitten in the wilderness was Christ. And I'm telling you tonight,
this rock is Christ too. You're going to have to stand
on Christ. And he said, it shall come to
pass while my glory passeth by, I will put thee at a cleft of
the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. You've got to be standing on
Christ and you've got to be hidden in Christ if you're ever going
to see the glory of God. I'll cover you with my hand while
I pass by and I'll take away mine hand and you'll see my back
parts but my face shall not be seen. As much of God's glory
as can be seen in these wretched bodies of this death you're going
to see in Christ. God commanded the light to shine
out of darkness and he shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of his son. I don't know when Moses saw specifically
what it looked like that day, but I know this, God's glory
is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. And you've got to be
standing on Christ, believing on Him, resting on Him, trusting
in Him, and hidden in Him. Our life is hid with Christ in
God. And from there we see His glory
now. And if you do, a people near unto God, a people in Christ,
a people on the rock, in the rock, beholding the glory of
God in Him. God forbid that I should glory,
save and Christ crucify. We're near God if we're in Christ,
whether or not we feel near Him or not. Do you feel near to God
tonight? Sometimes I do and sometimes
I don't. I'll tell you this, if you're in Him, you're near
Him. You're near God whether you feel like it or not. But
you know what? I want to feel like it. Don't
you? I want to know in my heart, I want
to experience it. I want to know in my heart that I'm safe and secure under
that precious blood. Resting in His mighty arms. And
you know how that happens? This gospel that we preach, as
the gospel is preached, we experience that nearness, that oneness,
that unity with Christ and that nearness to God in the preaching
of the gospel and the believing on the gospel. If I never hear
the gospel again in this world, and I live a good while on this
earth and never hear the gospel again, If I'm in Christ right
now, I'll still be in Him forever. But I sure do want to hear about
it, don't you? I want to hear about Him. Thank God for His
gospel. It is by the power of the gospel
we're saved now in our experience of it. We're saved in eternity.
God chose, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world,
but listen to this in the experience of it How do you know you say
how you know you chosen in Christ? How do you know you're secure?
How do you know that the precious blood has washed you? Paul said
in Romans 1 16 I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it
is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe And that same gospel keeps me
Miriam in my experience in my experience. I'm thankful for
that. Aren't you? I'm thankful for that Praise
you Let's pray