We won't get far into this psalm
tonight. I pray the Lord will bless just
these first couple of verses. They're so full of teaching and
glorious, glorious truth. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Not
unto us, but all glory unto thy name. When I read this verse,
I thought of John the Baptist saying in John 3 29, he said, he must increase, but
I must decrease. But listen to what he said in
that context. He said, he that hath the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom,
which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of
the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that
cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly,
and speaketh of the earth, He that cometh from heaven is above
all. I don't believe I've ever read
that and seen it like I did this week and just now. He's
above all, not unto us, O Lord. This ought to be our attitude
in prayer every day, and I mean we need to be conscious of it.
As I work on my job, Whatever that is, not unto me.
Not unto me, O Lord. May I do all that I do. May it
be for your glory and not mine. For the promotion of your work,
not my life goals, you know. We think we're on this earth
to make our dreams come true. No. May this be our prayer and heart's
desire when others are blaspheming our God. And that happens quite
a bit, doesn't it? What are you going to do when
somebody blasphemes your God? Will you say anything? If this
is your desire, you will. I may come out of this being
despised. I may lose a friend. But the
record will be set straight about my God one way or the other.
If I must be defamed for him to be glorified, so be it. You
see what I'm saying? How this applies to so many things.
Not unto me, Lord. It doesn't matter if I come out
of this conversation with people having a high opinion of me or
not. They're gonna have a high opinion of you. They're gonna
know at least who you are. May that be our desire. May this
be our prayer when we're preaching or testifying of him under any
circumstances. And not just not unto me, but
not unto us. That's what he said, not unto
us, not unto anybody. May no flesh get any glory when
we preach. May our God get all the glory
under his great name. Whenever this book is open and
we speak, whenever you testify to your loved ones, to your family,
to your friends, May He get all the glory. And
it must be that way if we preach in the gospel. If we're preaching
the gospel. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
1 with me. If we're preaching God's gospel,
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, He's going to get the
glory. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen. Now this is wonderful, this is
beautiful, isn't it? You might think, oh boy, if you
think this is a negative verse, you're not looking at it right.
Oh, he's calling us base and fool. No, that's not what happened.
We already know that. We should know that. The beauty
of this verse is he chose us. It's a very positive verse, isn't
it? Don't get to, you know, feeling
bad about the fact that you're a fool. Just be thankful that
God chooses fools like you and like me. But God hath chosen,
yea, in the things which are not, to bring to naught things
that are, that, why not? Because not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, O Lord. That's why
God saves sinners the way he does. That's why the gospel is
what it is, because God's gonna get all the glory, And he has
arranged it the way he has to that end Ephesians 2 8 for by
grace are you saved through faith? I'd say that's the gospel when
you the good news is God saves sinners by grace The good news
is he'll save you based on what you are what you've done. That's
good news if you're a sinner By grace, are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves? It's the gift of God Faith is
the fruit of His Spirit. Christ is the author of faith
and the finisher of it. Not of works, because not unto
us, lest any man should glory. Not unto us, O Lord. Not only
is it this way, lest any man should glory, but we must preach
it this way, lest any man should glory. While we call on sinners,
to come to Christ. And we do, we do. The Spirit
and the bride say come, don't we? While we call on sinners,
come to Christ, you must flee to Christ. We must also declare
to them that no man can come unless God the Father do something
for you. Why is that so important? Because
not under us, that's why. But under his name must be all
glory. While we beseech sinners, be
ye reconciled unto God. We must impress upon them also
that it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
it's of God that showeth mercy. Why? Not unto us, that's why. And while we declare with boldness
like the Apostle Paul, and we do, if any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. Let him be accursed
when Christ comes back. If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, and we preach that he's altogether lovely so that
sinners might fall in love with him. But while we do, we must
also confess that the only reason that we love him is because he
first loved us. And while we preach with the
Apostle Paul, and we should and we must preach, be careful to
maintain good works. While we preach that, while we
preach and say, I beseech you that you walk worthy of the calling
wherewith you call, it would be blasphemous for us to preach
that and not acknowledge that it is God which worketh in you,
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2.13. So with regard to the preaching
of the gospel and God's ministry in this world, it must always
be not unto us, but unto God's name. We must give glory. With regard to the preaching
of the gospel and God's ministry in this world, the Apostle Paul
made this all-inclusive and grand statement and prayer, really,
in Galatians chapter 6. Turn to Galatians 6 with me.
I want us to look at it together. Think about our text as we read
this. Not unto us, O Lord. Galatians chapter 6 verse 12. As many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh. In other words, they want to
glorify the flesh. They want to make the flesh look
good. They constrain you to be circumcised. That's what religion
is all about. You know why they post the numbers
up here? We had this many last week, but boy, we got this many
this week. And look how many people we baptize. Because they're
glorying in the flesh. They're making a fair show in
the flesh. And they constrain you to be circumcised. That's
why they want to get people saved, so they can look good. So they
can look like, you know, the Lord's blessed our ministry.
They constrain you to do something outward in the flesh that makes
them look good. Only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. If they don't do that,
if they actually preach the gospel, everybody would leave. And so they say what people want
to say. They brag on the flesh. They say, look how good we're
doing. Look how good you are for being
here. Look how much money we raised. You're all going to heaven
because you gave so much money. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law. but desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh. They say we're circumcised because
God said to. We do what God said. No you don't.
That's what Paul said. No you don't. You're not keeping
the law. Don't pretend because you did some outward thing that
you think makes God happy with you. Don't pretend you keep the
law of God. You don't. They're glorying in your flesh
and theirs. But God forbid that I should
glory. We point out what they're doing. And let's not worry too
much about what they're doing. Let's worry about right here.
God forbid that I should glory. Except in one thing. The crucified
Son of God. One thing is needful. God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
by whom the world is dead to me And I am to the world in this
context is important now because what this really boils down to
is who will you glory in When David said not unto us O Lord
not unto us but unto thy name give glory The angels aren't
going to give you any glory. I guarantee you that And devils,
we know who they're going to glory. They're going to glorify
themselves. They're going to glory in their
rebellion, in their own will. But here's the question, who
are you going to glory in? You see what Paul is saying? God
forbid that I should glory. May I, with David and with Paul,
say not unto me, not unto me. Who will we glory in? The flesh,
as Paul said, religion does and shall, always have, always will. They're going to make a fair
show in the flesh. They're going to glorify the
flesh. They're going to glory in the
flesh. Or will we glory in the Lord
Jesus Christ and what he did on Calvary? Not unto us, O Lord. God forbid. that we glory in
us or anything or anybody else save Jesus Christ and him crucified
not unto the sinner but unto the Savior give glory not unto
him that chooses the reproach of Christ over the treasures
of Egypt but unto him who hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the
truth you see Moses chose Christ you can read it in Hebrews 11
25 and 26 He chose the reproach of Christ over all the treasures
of Egypt. But Paul said in Hebrews 3 that
the Lord Jesus Christ was counted worthy of more glory than Moses
inasmuch as he who hath built the house hath more honor than
the house. Long before Moses ever chose
Christ, Christ chose Moses. The house is what it is because
of the one that built it. If it's a house that chooses,
it's because it's a house that's chosen. He is the potter, we are the
clay. There's so many pictures of this
in the scripture. The Lord sent a prophet down
to the potter's house and he came back knowing and probably
saying in his heart, not unto us, oh Lord, not unto us. Will you glorify the vessel or
the one who at his own discretion makes one vessel under honor
and another under dishonor. David said, for thy mercy and
for thy truth's sake, we want all glory to be under your name. You see that? Well, we just saw
recently there's only one place where mercy and truth are even
met together. You can't even say mercy and
truth together with any sense of reality, with any sense of Of them being reconciled to one
another of being able to say both with regard to yourself
If God's gonna be true to himself. He got to put you in hell unless How can he be merciful and truthful
There's only one place where mercy and truth are met where
righteousness and peace can kiss one another and that's in Christ
crucified Oh, that's why Paul said look we can't glory in anything
else God can't be true to himself and merciful to you unless Christ
is crucified for you. That's why the publican said,
Lord be propitious to me. If that blood that was shed,
if that blood that's on the mercy seat, if the blood of the lamb
was shed for me, mercy. Verse two, wherefore should the
heathen say, where is now their God? What a question, and what an
answer. But our God is in the heavens, and he hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased. You remember what Job learned
on the ash heap? Through all of the misery, all of the sorrow,
all of the trouble, he learned two things. Thou canst do anything,
and nobody can stop you. It's no new thing, and it's not
just an old thing. For religious sinners to mock
God and his people. They always have and they always
will. Where is your God? Where is your God? I've been
asked that very question before, have you? The Apostle Peter said, turn
to 2 Peter 3, 2 Peter chapter 3, while we're over here in the
New Testament. 2 Peter 3.3 Where is your God? 3.3 Knowing this first, that
there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their
own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming? Where
is your God? Where is he? How come he hasn't come back
yet? How come he hasn't come back? Where is he? Where's the promise
of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things
continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For
this they willingly are ignorant of. Here's what, here's your
problem. Here, if you say that, you say,
where is your God? Where is God? Why, why ain't
he come back? Why, why didn't he solve all
these problems? You know, I saw recently where
a lot, a bunch of celebrities were, were quoted, they were
asked if they believed in God and quite a few made blasphemous
denials of God and called themselves atheists, which is not true.
You can't hate somebody that you don't believe exists. You
can't hate somebody that don't exist, can you? They wouldn't
hate God so much if he if he didn't exist so there's
no such thing as an atheist but they blaspheme God and most of
the comments had something to do with if there was a God then
all this wouldn't be happening you know well here's your problem
here's what you're willingly ignorant of that by the word
of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of
the water and in the water whereby the world that then was being
overflowed with water perished But the heavens and the earth
which are now by the same word are kept in store. You remember
why they perished? God saw that the imagination
of the heart of man was only evil continually. And he destroyed
it, didn't he? He destroyed every one of them
except just a few, just a handful in the ark. By the same word, verse 7, but
the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word, are
kept in store, reserved unto fire, not water this time. Every
time you see a rainbow, you remember God's promise, don't you? That's
the gospel. Not going to destroy it. Reserved unto fire against the
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. There's why things are happening
the way they are in this world that is evil. Why there's evil in this world.
It's not a surprise to God and it's not beyond his control but
it's our evil. It's our evil and it was our
evil was the cause of the world being destroyed before and right
now the Apostle Peter is saying exactly the same thing is happening.
The world went on and on in their wickedness and evil and hatred
of God and making stupid statements like God doesn't exist. If He
did, these bad things wouldn't have to be happening. And God
got enough of it one day and He washed them all away. And that's exactly what's going
to happen again. But beloved, verse 8, be not ignorant of this
one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,
a thousand years. is as a day. Where is the promise
of his coming? He ain't been gone but a few
days. Where is your God? He's right
where he was the day before and the day after he destroyed this
earth before. He's on his throne. That's what
David said. He's in the heavens doing what
he wants to do. And the Lord is not slack, verse
9, concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but
is longsuffering to us. Why hadn't God wiped this earth
clean again, killed everybody on it, destroyed everybody on
it? Because we're still here. First he's going to save his
last sheep, and he's taking us out of here. And then comes the
fire. Not willing that any He's long-suffering
to usward, not willing that any of us should perish, but that
all should come to repentance. And we will. All that the Father
giveth me, he said, shall come to me. And when the last one
does, God's done with this earth as it stands now. Where is your
God? That's where our God is, right
there. He's on His throne, saving His people. And you're not going
to see him come back and destroy this earth like he did before
until he has called in his last sheep. He doesn't do things on
your timetable, he does as he pleases. Where is your God? I had a man
ask me to my face one time, where was your God when my son died?
And I don't remember now what I said to him, but I know the
answer to that, don't you? He was in the heavens. Same place
he was when David was asked the same question. He was high and
lifted up on his throne doing exactly what he pleased to do.
The God who says, I kill and I make alive was on his throne
the day your son died. Killing and making alive. And he didn't just allow your
son to die, he killed him. That's what he said, I killed.
I don't allow people to die, I kill and I give life. And you're going to have to do
business with the God who killed your son. If I could talk to
that man tonight, that's what I'd say to him. If I could speak
to him today, I would tell him God didn't just kill your son
because of sin, he killed his own son because of sin. Christ died for our sins. According
to the scriptures and it pleased the Lord to bruise him So what
you need to understand is that God killed sinners, but he also
killed his son And it pleased the Lord to bruise
his son that that word means to crush in Isaiah 53 the word
bruise if you look it up It means he crushed it And he did so that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ that we might
be sinless, perfect, holy. That's why we say glory unto
him, glory. God forbid that we should glory
except in the one who did that, who died for our sins according
to the scripture. There are two reactions you see
to God killing your son or something like that. You can bow up and you can stiffen
your neck and you can refuse to give him glory You can question
God's goodness as that man did that day or even his very existence Or you could be like Eli in 1st
Samuel 3 Verses 10 through 18 we won't turn there tonight,
but jot that down if you'd like to read that 1st Samuel 10 3
1st Samuel 3 10 through 18 God revealed to Eli through his prophet
Samuel And the Lord revealed this to Samuel, and Samuel didn't
want to tell Eli about it. Would you want to deliver that
news? Here's what God said to him. Because Eli's sons have
made themselves vile, and he didn't do anything to restrain
them, my judgment is upon them, and I'm not going to accept any
offering on their behalf. There won't be any propitiation.
There won't be any forgiveness for their sin. Because of their
wretchedness before me that he didn't do anything about. He
didn't restrain them at all. And God revealed that to his
prophet Samuel. And Samuel didn't want to tell
Eli about it. But when Eli saw Samuel, he could
tell something was bothering Samuel. And Eli said, the Lord's
given you a message, hadn't he? Samuel didn't want to tell him.
He said, you tell me what God said. And he said, God told me he's
going to put your sons in hell, where they belong. And Eli said,
it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. There are two reactions to God
killing your sons. There are two reactions to everything
he does, whatever he does. Our God is in the heavens, and
he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased, and by his grace we
bow to his sovereign pleasure, whatever that is. Where's your
God? Where is your God? Where is your God when a tsunami,
for example, hits a country, hits a shoreline, and kills thousands
of people? Just wipes them out. You know,
a lot of people say that there can't be a God at all or things
like that wouldn't happen. Others say that their God doesn't
do anything like that. That's the devil doing that.
Well, I got a question for you then. Where is your God? If God didn't do it, where was
he when it happened? God's son said this about catastrophes
like that in Luke 13 verses 4 and 5. The Lord was speaking to a
group of people and he referred to an incident that had happened
apparently in current times, not very long
previous to him talking to them. He said that tower of Siloam
that fell on those 18 people, they knew what he was talking
about. There was a great tower of some type that fell and killed
18 people. And you know what the Lord said
about that? He said that God dropped that tower on them because
of their sin. And he asked them this, do you
think that they were greater sinners than you are? And then he told them this, except
you repent of your sin. You're all going to perish just
like that. Suddenly, violently, at the hand of God Almighty because
of your sin. Repent. That's where our God is when
things like that happen. When towers fall or tsunamis
come, hurricanes. Where is your God when sinners
go to hell? Religion says the same thing
about this. They say, well, my God doesn't
put sinners in hell. Well, where is he then? I appreciate
your honesty, but my God does. My God does. My Lord Jesus Christ
said in Revelation 118, I am he that liveth and was dead,
and behold, I am alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell
and of death. But I must say this too. When a sinner goes to hell, my
God is on the throne doing as he pleases, but also when a sinner
is saved. You know why he's saved? Because
God is on the throne doing what he pleases. That's why that sinner
is saved. It's because of him being sovereign. If he can't save who he wants
to save, then nobody is going to be saved. He does as he pleases. He saves
who he will. The Son of God said, I give life
to whomsoever I will. If God left it up to us and our
will, we would all likewise perish. But He gives repentance to some
to the acknowledging of the truth, 2 Timothy 2.25. Where does repentance
come from? Turn us, O Lord, and we'll be
turned. God grants it. It's His gift, just like faith.
2 Timothy 2.25. And according to that same verse,
In 2 Timothy 2, where and when the gospel is preached, God might,
just per adventure, give repentance to you. When the gospel is preached,
He's pleased sometimes to give sinners repentance, that they
might acknowledge that that gospel is the truth of God. That's a
remarkable verse of scripture right there. Sinners are saved
because God from the beginning was on his throne doing what
he pleased. And what he was pleased to do
then was to choose a people and make with them an everlasting
covenant of grace in which Christ the Son of God agreed to be their
surety. His precious blood is the blood
of that everlasting covenant. Sinners are saved because the
one who does all of his good pleasure Was pleased to bruise
his son Where was your God on the day of all days When our
Lord Jesus Christ said the hour is come that is the hour Around
which every other hour every other moment in time revolves
around which this whole world this whole universe Revolves
around Christ crucified God has a universe because he has a people.
And he has a people because Christ redeemed them at Calvary. Where
was your God on that day? Where was your God on the day
that both Herod and Pontius Pilate, when the kings of the earth stood
up and all of the rulers were gathered together against the
Lord and against His Christ, with all of the Gentiles and
all of the people of Israel, when they all rose up and falsely
accused Him and tortured Him and nailed the Son of God to
a cross? Where was your God that day? When they represented all
of mankind in committing the blackest, most horrible evil
that humankind ever committed, where was your God then? Well,
the scriptures say that on that day and that very hour, in all
that took place there on Calvary, that God was in the heavens doing
everything that His hand and His counsel had determined before
to be done. It pleased him who doeth all
his pleasure to crush his son. And that's what happened that
day. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and he hath carried our
sorrows. He, the father, hath put him,
the son, to grief. That's why he bore our griefs,
because the Father put him to grief. But he was wounded for
our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And because all that was true,
we are healed. With his stripes, we are healed. That's why sinners are saved.
because God does whatever he pleases and he was pleased to
put his son to grief for my sin. Sinners are saved because it
pleased God, the God who is on the throne, who does all he pleases. It pleased him by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. It didn't please him to try.
It pleased him to save them. by the preaching of the gospel
of Christ. You see, the gospel is not God's
best effort. It is the power of God unto salvation. Where is your God when his people
are gathered to worship like we are tonight? When God's people gathered to
worship in John chapter 20, the Lord Jesus came in to meet with
them, the door being shut. You know, I believe I've said
this before more than once, but religion likes to picture the
Lord Jesus Christ standing at the door and knocking, waiting,
you know, look at the context of that. He doesn't stand outside
of the sinners, the door of their heart, you know, wanting to get
in, you know, hoping that they'll let him in. In John chapter 20,
they gathered to worship. The door was shut. He still came
in. Before they even knew he was there. He was in. He was
there. He was in. He was with them. He was in their
midst. That's how the Lord does things. Whether you let him in
or not. He came to meet with them. They'd
gathered to worship there. And as he promised in Matthew
18 20, that he'd be there. I've never seen that before either.
I've seen that scripture in Matthew 18 20. But there it is. He said, where two or three are
gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of you. And then
when they gathered in his name, in John chapter 20, there he
was in the midst. Well, that's not gonna happen
tonight, Chris. Are you sure? Are you sure? I don't expect
to see him. I expect him to be here, though. Don't you? I expect
him to be here. I expect he's here. And one of the men that was there
that day, when they had gathered to worship the Lord, one who had sworn that he would
not believe, he saw the Lord. The Lord met with him. You know
why he saw him? Because the Lord was in their
midst. You know why you'll see him tonight if you see him? Because
he's in your midst. He's right here. If you just
hear me, you're not going to see him. But if he meets with
us, you might just see God's Son. And that man who said, I
will not believe, he saw the Son of God in their midst. And
think about what happened now. Think about what happened. He
saw the Lord and saw by his hands and by his side that he'd been
crucified. God's people are gathered to
worship him and one of them saw Christ crucified. Where is your God? Thomas said,
there he is right there. There he is right there. My Lord
and my God. The crucified Son of God. And
our God is right here. Christ crucified. And he has
done everything that he's been pleased to do. And he does all
things well. Do you see? Do you see? You hear his voice say to you,
be not faithless, but believe him. Where is your God? The one
John the Baptist pointed at and said, there's God's lamb right
there. He takes sins away. That's my
God. The one who hung on the cross
with that thief, after he had been railing on him with the
other thief for a time, God turned a little out of him. He found out who Christ was,
same way you do, by the grace of God, by the enlightening power
of the Holy Spirit of God. And he looked at a broken, bruised,
bloody, in the eyes of this world, defeated failure. And said, there's
my God right there. Lord, remember me when you come
in your kingdom. Where's your God? Spray together.