Let us turn again to God and
to His Word in the portion that we read, Psalm 66. And I want
to direct you for a while this morning to the words that we
find here at verse 3. Psalm 66, 3. Say unto God, How terrible art
thou in thy works, Through the greatness of thy power shall
thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. Say unto God, How terrible art
thou in thy works! Through the greatness of thy
power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. Here then the psalmist is clearly
speaking of God, of His great power, and of his terrible works. But what are these works that
are being spoken of? Well, again, we're told at verse
5, Come and see the works of God. He is terrible in his doing
toward the children of men. He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the flood on
foot. There did we rejoice in Him. Clearly what is being spoken
of then, these terrible works, are those that God performed
in the deliverance of the children of Israel out of the bondage
that was Egypt. He made a way and brought them
through the Red Sea and it was clearly a most remarkable incident
as it was to be remembered. by the children of Israel in
the Song of Moses, as we see there back in Exodus chapters
14 and 15. We have the events recorded in
the 14th chapter there. Verse 21, Now Moses stretched
out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go
back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea
dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of
Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground,
and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and
on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and
went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's
horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass,
in the morning watch the Lord looked upon the host of the Egyptians
through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the
host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that
they drive them heavily. So the Egyptians said, let us
flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them
against the Egyptians. The incident then is described
historically, and then of course after that, as I said, we have
that remarkable song, one of the songs of Moses. Then sang
Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and
spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed
gloriously the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the
sea. The Lord is my strength and song
and he is become my salvation and so forth." Clearly, here
then, the Psalmist is very much aware of that event, that great
deliverance that God in his power granted to the children of Israel
he turned the sea into dry land they went through the flood on
foot there did we rejoice in him however we have to remember
that in many ways Moses as the mediator between God and Israel
is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ and certainly the people of Israel,
the children of Israel are a typical people and we have the authority
of what we read in the New Testament to establish that because the
Apostle when he writes there in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 speaks
of those very events and speaks of them in terms of the Lord
Jesus Christ, you know the passage there in the 10th chapter of
1st Corinthians verse 1, Moreover brethren, I would not that ye
should be ignorant, that all our fathers were under the cloud,
and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses
in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual
meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank
of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ."
He's addressing this church at Corinth, principally a Gentile
church, and yet he speaks of Moses, and as he addresses them
as brethren, so he speaks also of the fathers, and Moses among
them. Brethren, I would not think you
should be ignorant, and of all our fathers, were under the cloud
and all passed through the sea. All those events recorded back
in Exodus 14 and 15, they belong to these Christian believers. What does he go on to say? That all these things happened
unto them for examples. And they were written, he says,
for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.
the ends of the world referring to the gospel day. They're written
for us, all the Old Testament. And so what we read in Exodus,
what we read here in the psalm as a spiritual application, it
tells us something of the ways and the works of God even now
under the gospel in the day of grace. And so as we turn to consider
the words that I read as our text, verse 3, I want us to consider
something of God's works in the Lord Jesus Christ because that
is what is being spoken of. Christ is here in all the scriptures
and Christ is certainly here in this psalm. Say unto God how
terrible art thou in thy works, through the greatness of thy
power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto them." And as
we consider the words of the text, I divide the subject matter
that I want to deal with into two parts. First of all, thinking
of that work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that demonstration
of God's great power, to see how what Christ did with his
coming was to accomplish salvation. But there's not only that great
objective truth of the accomplishment of salvation, there must also
be the application of that salvation, the subjective aspect as it were,
how that salvation is made a reality in the souls of those who were
alienated, and enemies of God. So dividing the text into these
two parts. First of all, the accomplishing
of salvation. Say unto God, how terrible art
thou in thy works. Now, all of the works of God
are great works. We see God's greatness, of course,
in the work of creation. We see God's greatness in the
work of providence. And you know how on occasions
the psalmist speaks of these things. by the word of the Lord
were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath
of his mouth, we're told. He spake and it was done. He
commanded and it stood fast. God is that one then who is the
maker of all things and made all things out of nothing and
simply created by the word of his mouth. He spake and it was
done. says the Psalmist. He commanded
and it stood fast. And so God's creation speak to
us something of the glory that belongs unto Him. Again the Psalmist
says the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament
showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth voice and
night unto night showeth knowledge. All that work that we see them
when we think of the way in which God has made everything, and
the way in which God preserves all his creatures. And it's celebrated
there in the previous psalm that we read, Now God in His sovereign providence
governs all of creation. Verse 7 of Psalm 65, He's the
one that stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their
waves, the tumults of the people. Then He goes on to speak of that
provision that God's making constantly for men. In His providence He
visits the earth, He waters it, He enriches it, He prepare us
corn, Thou water us the ridges thereof, verse 10, Thou settle
us the furrows thereof, Thou make us eat soft with showers,
Thou bless us the springing thereof, Thou crown us the year with Thy
goodness. All these are the great works of God and men of course
deny these things, the fool said in his heart that there's no
God and we see it all the time and men have their theories And
men deny a God of providence, and they speak of global warming
and all this nonsense. We're all, I'm sure, well familiar
with the ways of the world. But what are we to do as the
children of God? Well, the psalmist instructs
us, say unto God, how terrible art thou in thy works, all the
great works of God, in creation and in Providence. Remarkable
works, but what are all these works compared with that greatest
of all that God has done? William Gadsby in the hymn says,
in his highest work, redemption, see his glory in a blaze, nor
can angels ever mention ought that more of God's displays. We find the hymn writers time
and again reminding us of that work that was wrought with the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, with Gadsby, Joseph Hart
says something very similar. There in the 88th hymn, how wondrous
are the works of God. All those wondrous works, we're
going to sing that 88th hymn just now as our concluding praise. But look at the language that
the hymn writer uses as he speaks of the great work of God. How
wondrous are the works of God displays to all the world abroad,
he says. Immensely great, immensely small,
yet one strange work exceeds them all. Almighty God, side
human breath, the Lord of life experienced death. How it was
done we can't discuss, but this we know. It was done for us. Or do we know that? Are we assured
of that? It was done for us. this terrible
work that God accomplished in the person of his only begotten
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The hymn writers, time and again,
they speak of these things, they celebrate these things, they
glory in all that God is, and all that God has done. But the mightiest, the most glorious
of God's works is that work of redemption and we see it of course
even with the incarnation that great mystery of godliness that
God was manifest in the flesh oh what a work is that that was
wrought with the coming of his only begotten son our God contracted
to a span, incomprehensibly made man. We cannot begin to understand,
let alone in any way to explain these things. It is by faith
that we come to see that mystery in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that one who is truly the eternal Son of God and yet
in the fullness of the time He is manifested in the flesh, He's
a real man. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son made of a woman made under
the law, that which was conceived by the Holy Ghost there in the
womb of the Virgin Mary And that holy thing, that human nature,
that human body, that human soul was to be joined onto the very
person of the Son of God. For he was to be called the Son
of God. He was never anything less than the Son of God. Very
God of very God, even in the days of all his humiliation here
upon the earth. Isn't this the most glorious
of all God's works? That He has manifested Himself
here upon the earth in the fullness of the time. Not only the birth,
but the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now God has granted in
His goodness that we should have a fourfold gospel that these
things should be told and retold and we need that instruction
line upon line, and line upon line, and precept upon precept,
and precept upon precept, and here a little, and there a little,
how God is so patient with us, understanding of us, and He instructs
us so carefully. But all these things written
for our learning, all that the Lord Jesus Christ began both
to do and to teach, and all leading up to that awful conclusion when
he makes the great sacrifice for sins. And how it's described
again, how all creation is affected, there as Christ offers himself
upon the cross, the great sin-atoning sacrifice. Remember the language
that we have in Matthew's account, for example, we're told that
from the sixth hour to the ninth hour there was darkness over
the face of the whole earth. And then in the ninth hour, Christ
cries with a loud voice, Ila ila lama sabachthanah. And we
have the interpretation in Psalm 22, My God, My God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Oh, what a mystery. There's a
mystery in the Incarnation, there's a mystery in the Crucifixion.
Because as I said, He was never anything less than the Eternal
Son of God. and God is one and God is undivided
and God is indivisible no separation between Father, Son and Holy
Ghost and yet how real was that cry how he felt it there as he
was made the great sacrifice for sins all we read of God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sins and
there were those there at the crucifixion who as they witnessed
it were made to confess who it was that died there the Roman
centurion again in Matthew's account Matthew 27.50 Jesus when he had
cried again with a loud voice yielded up the ghost and behold
the veil of the temple was rent entwined from the top to the
bottom and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves
were opened. And many bodies of the saints
which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection,
and went into the holy city, and appeared unto men. What remarkable
things these are! How do we explain them? Now when
the centurion, and they that were with him watching Jesus,
saw the earthquake, and these things that were done, they feared
greatly, saying truly, This was the Son of God. Truly this was
the Son of God. Even the Roman centurion acknowledges
that He is the very Son of God, God manifest in the flesh. What a great work is this, what
a terrible work. Say unto God, how terrible art
thou in thy work And what is God doing? He is sending His
own Son to be the Saviour of sinners. Here in His love, not
that we love God, says John, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And what does that
mean, propitiation? It means that He endured the
very wrath of God in His own person. Hence that cry, My God,
My God, why? as thou forsaken me. He is the
propitiation. Oh, let us not shy away from
these terms, these theological words. They do explain to us
something of what was being accomplished. It's not just the manward aspect
of the salvation that Christ came to accomplish, to reconcile
the sinner. But He came also to bear the
wrath of God, because God is angry with the wicked. And God
will punish their sin and He punishes it in the person of
His only begotten Son. All the works of God. This is
how salvation is accomplished. It's accomplished in the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus. But then, in the second part
of the verse, we see how that salvation must also be applied,
it must become real in the souls and in the lives of those that
Christ has died for say unto God how terrible art
thou in thy works through the greatness of thy power shall
thine enemies submit themselves unto thee now what we have here
at the end of this verse is interesting the word submit for example enemies submitting themselves
onto God you might observe in the margin that submit it says
literally means yield, bind, obedience not a willing obedience
then in that sense but a fine obedience in fact It's the Hebrew
word to lie, as the Margin says. And surely, therefore, here there
is some reference to the fact that all must eventually submit
to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're told
that in Philippians, aren't we? Philippians chapter 2. Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow,
and every tongue confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father." Every tongue, in the heavens, in the earth, under
the earth, all are to make that confession in that great day. Verse 4, all the earth shall
worship thee and shall sing unto thee they shall sing to thy name even those who die in that state
of alienation and enmity there will be a general resurrection
and the father has committed all judgment into the hands of
his son and all must acknowledge him and some alas to their everlasting
confusion It will be, in that sense of things, submission. But this psalm, surely it's a
psalm that speaks principally of what God is doing for his
own people. As we see at verse 16, the psalm
says, "...Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will
declare what he hath done for my soul." This psalm is concerned
primarily, well it's primarily concerned with the Lord Jesus
Christ, but it's also concerned for those who are Christ's. And so when we come to the words
of the text again, at the end of this third verse, Dr. Gill comments concerning believers
that they shall confess their lies, their transgressions, all
that they have committed, spiritual sins, And spiritual sins are
much worse than fleshly sins. We must remember that. What are
our sins before God? How awful are spiritual sins? Remember a guy in the language
of the Psalmist in Psalm 19? He says, who can understand his
errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults,
keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins, let them not
have dominion over me, then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent
from the great transgression." Or the great transgression. How
awful it is where there's pretense in our religion when it's not
real. when we're guilty of any hypocrisy when we're guilty of
any formality having that form of godliness and yet denying
the very power thereof this is the heart you see of man that
heart of man and it's in us all that is deceitful above all things
it says and desperately wicked who can know it? I the Lord know
the heart, I try the rage The Lord knows us better than
we know ourselves. And we remember that that law
that God has given to us is very much a spiritual law. That's
what that proud man, Saul of Tarsus, had to learn. He was
a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
Touching the righteousness of the Lord, he said he was blameless
and he really thought it. And then he has to learn the
truth of that Lord that he was so ignorant of. We know that
the Lord is spiritual, he confesses. We know that the Lord is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold unto sin. We have to learn that lesson,
this man who is a patent to them that should believe. And we have
to, in measure, learn the same lesson that he learned. We have
to learn what we are by our very nature. When the Lord comes, you see,
to apply this great salvation that he has accomplished, his
terrible work, all that was visited upon the person of his only begotten
Son in order to the salvation of those that the Father had
given to him. Well, we need to learn the lesson
when the Lord comes and makes that blessed application to our
soul. Say unto God, how terrible art
thou in thy works. Through the greatness of thy
power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto them. Oh, we are those who feel we
need to know the greatness of God's power for our salvation. We can only know that as we know
what we are, as sinners. And David certainly knew that.
and he confesses, not just his sins, but his very nature, he
has a sinful nature, that's what grieves David so much. Behold,
I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. Now he's not saying, well, I have a sinful nature, I can't
help what I am and what I do. He's not excusing himself, he's
just grieving over what he is, he feels it. It's the same as
Paul really. All wretched man that I am, cries
the Apostle, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
To feel what we are as sinners before God. And how the language
of the Apostle is strong, you know these passages. Think of
the words that we have there in Ephesians chapter 2 for example. Speaking to these believers,
he says, you hath he quickened who were dead. in trespasses
and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. But God oh what a word is this
but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us
together with Christ by grace you are saved debtors always and only to that
grace of God how he goes on later in chapter 4 to remind them of
what they were, these Ephesian believers. They were Gentile
sinners. He says, having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them, because of the blindness, the margin says the
hardness, because of the hardness of their hearts, who being past
feeling. have given themselves over unto
lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness, but ye have
not so learned Christ." Lord, do these words mean anything
to us? When we read them, we can read
them, but do we feel them? Do we feel what we are? The carnal
mind enmity against God, says Paul, not subject to the Lord
of God. Neither indeed can be, he says. That's our fallen nature. That
that is born of the flesh is flesh. That that is born of the
spirit is spirit. Oh, but there is in the child
of God that seed. That new nature, that divine
nature. And that nature never ceases.
But the conflict, all the awful conflict between those two natures
the old nature the old man the new nature the new man the man
of grace now we have to have some experience of these things
if they're going to be meaningful to us and this is what he is
speaking of here you see the application of that terrible
that great work that God did in the salvation of sinners it
has to be brought home we have to see what sin is and feel it
through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit
themselves unto them God's power must be known and experienced
in conversion in converting the sinner to himself what does God
do? He exerts power Isn't conversion really a miracle?
It's a miracle of great grace. It's a mighty work of God. It's
the exceeding greatness, says Paul, of his power towards us
that believe. And it's according to the working
of that mighty power that was wrought in Christ when he raised
him from the dead. The same power that's there in
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is that that has
to come into the soul of the sinner. One of the church fathers,
Ignatius, says this of the Christian. The Christian, he says, is a
work not of persuasion but of majesty. Men vainly think that
they can persuade others to believe. They can reason them into the
kingdom, as he would. I think Ignatius is right. It's not persuasion,
it's power. It's divine majesty. Through
the greatness of thy power. It's the only way that salvation
can ever come to the sinner. Or does the Lord bring us to
that? We feel it. We feel it. Verily, verily, verily
says the Lord Jesus Christ himself, except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. except a man is born again. The margin there in John 3 says
except a man is born from above. Born from above, it's the work
of the Spirit. What does John the Baptist go
on to say later in that chapter? A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from heaven. It all comes from heaven. It's
all the work of God. It's a new creation. If any man
Being Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation. All things are
passed away. All things are become new. There's
a change. There's a change, we know it,
we feel it. That's conversion, that's the
work of God. It's the power of God. And all
that power, all that authority is vested in the Lord Jesus Christ. or the one who accomplished salvation
is that one who is able now to save to the uttermost he saves
to the uttermost all that come to God by him or the wonder, you see, the miracle
of conversion the mighty power of God and how God is ever and
always teaching us these lessons, is he not? There's not only conversion. God teaches us in our experiences. He speaks there in the psalm
of God's chastenings. Look at verse 10. Thou, O God,
hast proved us, thou hast tried us as silver is tried, thou broughtest
us into the net, thou layest affliction upon our loins, Thou
hast caused men to ride over our heads, we went through fire
and through water, but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. Oh, I like the words of that
hymn that we often sing. Afflictions make us see what
else would escape our sight, how very foul and dim are we,
and God how pure and bright. That's experience, isn't it?
Then the Lord brings us into paths that we don't like, unpleasant,
trying, difficult, and we don't know what to do. We're at the
end of ourselves, at which end corner as we see in Psalm 107. Ah, but there's profit in these
things. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth, if he endure chastity. It's not
just a chastening, is it? If ye endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons. What son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? Or the Lord's blessed ones are
those who do experience something of the Lord's chastening. Psalm
94. Blessed is the man whom thou
chastenest and teachest him out of thy law. The Lord is teaching us. And
what is he teaching us? He's teaching us the truth about
ourselves, and what we are as sinners by nature, and the truth
about that great salvation that is there in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And John the Baptist again says, I must decrease, he must increase.
Isn't that our life? All to live is Christ. says Paul,
to die is gain. And you see these trials, these
troubles wherein the Lord is teaching His people, doesn't
that make us and move us to prayer? We're brought to see the real
value of what prayer is. And we have it again in that
65th Psalm, that we read together with Psalm
66 there in the fourth verse of Psalm 65 Blessed is the man
whom thou choosest and calls us to approach unto him that
he may dwell in thy courts we shall be satisfied with the goodness
of thy house even of thy holy temple by terrible things in
righteousness wilt thou answer us O God of our salvation who
art the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of them
that are afar off upon the sea. All God hears, God answers terrible
things. Terrible things in righteousness. Verse 5, Come and see the works
of God. He is terrible in his doing toward
the children of men. But then how does the psalm conclude? Verse 17, I cried unto him with
my mouth And he was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity
in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But verily God hath
heard me. He hath attended to the voice
of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not
turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me. Or maybe sometimes
we do fear that we regard iniquity too much in our hearts. Will
the Lord really hear us? Oh well, we have to turn away
from ourselves. O look not on thyself too long,
lest it sink thee lower, look to Jesus, kind and strong, mercy
joined with power. You see God has many lessons
to teach us and He is continually teaching us if we are those who
are His children and He is determined to humble us and to humble us because He saves
us and to make the Lord Jesus Christ ever and ever more precious
to us. And so the words of the text,
say unto God or to address it unto God himself, how terrible
art thou in thy work through the greatness of thy power shall
thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. Think of the counsel
that Elihu gives to Job There, at the end of the book, in Job
37.14, Elihu says to Job, stand still and consider the wondrous
works of God. Poor Job. Oh, poor Job. All that God brought upon him.
God was sovereign in all that happened to Job. Satan was no
free agent, but God is not the author of any sin. But that is
good counsel that Elihu gives. Stand still consider the wondrous
works of God and that's what we need to do surely even in
our day and generation to be still and to know that he is
God. Think again of the experience
of the parents of Samson there in in Judges chapter 13 when
the angel of the Lord appears first to Manoah's wife to tell
that she's going to conceive this son. Samson is going to
be a great judge and a deliverer in Israel and the husband can
hardly believe it. But then the angel appears again
to Manoah as well as to his wife. And we're told there, Judges
13, 9, how the angel did wondrously. And Manoah and his wife looked
on. They looked on. It's a work of
God. It's all the work of God. Oh,
thank God he is a mighty God. But thank God he's also a merciful
God. He's a great God. But he's a
gracious God. Say unto God, how terrible art
thou in thy works. Through the greatness of thy
power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. Oh, the Lord bless his word to
us. Amen.