If you would turn with me this
morning first to the book of Psalms chapter 40, I wanna read
one verse here, and now I wanna take you to two other texts.
Psalm chapter 40, if you would. I'll be looking at verse five,
Psalm 40, verse five. We live in a day and a time where
negativity is so great, and it seems so easy anymore for our
child of God to forget all the great things that the Lord has
done for us. When believers should be saying,
the Lord has done great things for us, whereof we are glad,
many professing believers choose to dwell on the negative instead
of the positive. We fret over things that we cannot
change instead of rejoicing in the things that Christ has done
for us. David said, the Lord hath done. He hath done, past tense, great
things for us. He's already done them. And look
here at verse five in Psalm chapter 40. David says, many, O Lord
my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done. David speaks
here of the wonderful works that God had already done, the finished
and accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you
have a drinking glass that has water in the middle, do you consider
that glass half empty or half full? By nature, I lean towards
being a half-empty type person. I'm not proud of that fact, but
by nature, that's pretty much the way I am. My dad was just
the opposite. He always looked on the positive
side and was a half-fool type of man. I recently read a cute
story that serves really as a great illustration for what I'm endeavoring
to say. There was a young lady with cancer
who was undergoing treatment, and she woke up one morning to
discover that she had lost all her hair except for three, three
hairs on her head. And in an attempt to stay positive,
knowing that it was God who sent the cancer, with excitement,
she declared, I think I'll braid my hair today. The next morning,
she awoke to discover that she only had two hairs left. But
this time she joyfully proclaimed, today, I'm going to part my hair
down the middle. When she awoke the next morning,
she only had one hair left on her head. And looking again on
the positive side of things, she said, today, I'm going to
put my hair in a ponytail. But the next morning, she discovered
that every hair on her head was gone. Now, how would she spin
this into a positive reaction? Without hesitation, she said,
hooray, I don't have to do my hair today. You know, that should
be the attitude of every trusting child of God. No matter what
God sends our way, He's the one that sent it. And according to
the scriptures, He sent it for our good and for His glory. We
know that somehow, some way, God's gonna work that together
for our good. And therefore we can rejoice
and be positive. Oh Lord, help me to be more that
way. Many, oh Lord, my God, are thy
wonderful works, which thou hast done. And all of God's works
done for his elect are wonderful. They're all wonderful, every
single one. and not only his works, but also
his thoughts. David continues here in verse
five, and he says, and thy thoughts, which are to usward, they cannot
be reckoned up in order unto thee. Now, who are these usward
of whom David speaks? Who's David talking about here?
Well, he tells us who they are in verse four. He said, blessed
is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not
the proud, nor such as turn aside to lives. Usward are those who
make the Lord their trust. Now let me clarify what you already
know, that we don't make the Lord our trust, no more than
we make Him our Lord. That's something that God must
do for us. It's God who makes him our trust. It's God who makes him our Lord. Christ becomes the Lord that
we trust only when God is pleased to give a spiritually dead sinner
life. A dead man can't trust in anything.
A dead man can't make anything his. But God gives life and God
gives the ability along with the life. Christ becomes our
Lord and out of trust when God enables a sinner's heart to lean
and believe on Christ. And it's only then that a man
or a woman or a sinner makes the Lord their trust, not until. Have you made the Lord your trust?
Has the Lord enabled you to trust in him? Oh, many are His wonderful
works and His thoughts toward you, if that be the case. So
how does God do that? He reveals to us and He teaches
us that we cannot trust anyone or anything but Him and Him alone
to put away our sin. David says, God's wondrous works
and thoughts toward His people cannot be reckoned up. Well,
what does that mean? Well, it means that there's no
power, there's no ability in any man or woman or sinner to
bring about these wonderful works or thoughts of God toward themselves. Absolutely nothing. We are totally
dependent upon the mercy and the grace of God in every way.
Verse five continues here. It says, they, speaking of these
wonderful works and these thoughts, they're more than can be numbered. Now, if we were to try to number
the wonderful works and thoughts that God has toward his people,
they are more than can be numbered. Now you think about that. They
are more than can be numbered. You know, there's no number in
our numerical system that would suffice. There's no number that
would be high enough to mark the wonderful works and thoughts
that God has toward His people. Maybe infinity, that might come
close, but they're more than can be numbered. God's wondrous
works and thoughts toward His people exceeds the highest number
we have as a number. And I think about what Paul said.
He said, oh, the depth of God's wisdom and knowledge. His wisdom
and knowledge is so vast, so deep. How unsearchable are his
judgments? God's ways are past finding now. When I think about that, my glass
is no longer half empty and it's no longer half full. It becomes
like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the
beard, even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his
garments. Thou nournest my head with oil,
David said. My cup runneth over. All my cup
is more than full when I think about what Christ has done for
me. Even a bucket full of holes.
can be filled with water when it's immersed in a river and
left there. And friends, Christ is that river
that fills us and that river that never ever runs dry. Many are God's wondrous works. They cannot be numbered. So I
won't even try to number them, but this morning I will give
you four things that are still the wondrous works and thoughts
of God done and accomplished for His people in the salvation
of their souls. And the first wondrous work is
this, the forgiveness of sin. You ever really stop and think
about that? Oh, if you're a sinner, if God
has revealed to you who and what you are, that sin's not only
what you do, but what you are. We sin because we're sinners. We're not sinners because we
sin, just the opposite. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speak. We say things because of what
we are and what's in the abundance of our hearts. God looked down
upon man. He saw that man's heart was only
evil continually. And God said, I'm going to destroy
the world and all in it. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Oh, that you might find grace
in the eyes of the Lord. Turn with me, if you would, to
Ephesians chapter one. Paul tells us some wonderful
things in these verses. Ephesians chapter one in verse
three, he tells us that it's God. It's God that has blessed
his people with all spiritual blessings. Every spiritual blessing
that you have, it's God that blessed you with it. And these
spiritual blessings are found in one place, Tom. in Christ,
nowhere else. In verse 4, Paul tells us that
God chose His people before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. But
as wonderful as that is, we must never ever look over the fact
that we were chosen in Him. chosen in Him before the foundation
of the world, before any of us had done any good or evil, that
the purpose of God according to election might stand. It's
not of Him that willeth, it's not of Him that runneth, but
it's of God that showeth mercy. We're chosen in Him. And if we
miss that, then we've missed the gospel. In verse 5, the believer
sees that they're predestinated. That's not a bad word. It simply
means predetermined to be adopted into the family and the kingdom
of God. How? How does that happen? By
Jesus Christ. And it was according to the good
pleasure of God's will. It's in verse six that we see
that it is to the praise of the glory of God's grace that God
hath, now look at this, made us accepted in the Beloved. You know who the Beloved is.
That again speaks of Christ. Verse seven, in whom? In Christ. We have redemption through His
blood. Speaking of Christ's blood, the
forgiveness of sins. Isn't that wonderful? And it's
according to the riches of God's grace. When that woman of the
city who is identified to us in the Scriptures only as a woman
who was a great sinner, you remember her? When she came into Simon
the Pharisee's house where the Lord Jesus was, she washed his
feet with her tears. I can just see her there. I've
pictured her so many times. She dries them with her hair.
She anoints them with a costly ointment. Do you remember what
Simon thought? He was so appalled at what was
going on. He thought if this Jesus really
is a prophet, he would have known who and what manner of woman
this is that touched him. Oh, he knew. You see, that's
who he came into the world to save. People just like her, people
just like you, people just like me. And the Lord said to Simon,
he said, there was a certain creditor which had two debtors.
The one owed, and we'll just use dollar amounts instead of
pences. I'm not sure what a pence is.
One owed $500 and the other one owed him $50. Big difference. Neither of them had anything
to pay. Boy, that's a picture of you and me, isn't it? We all
owe a debt that we cannot pay. But the creditor, God, forgave
them both their debt. And the Lord asked Simon, he
said, tell me, Simon, which of them will love him most? And
I can just hear the sarcasm in Simon's voice, can't you? Simon
said, well, I suppose it was the one to whom he forgave most. And the Lord said, you suppose
right, and you judge rightly. The one who will love Christ
the most is the one whom Christ forgave the most. Where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. Romans 5.20. And what a wonderful
thing grace is. Isn't it a wonderful thing? It's
unmerited favor. It's undeserved favor. It's something
that we cannot work for. It's something we cannot earn.
It's something that we do not deserve. And that makes it wonderful,
a wonderful thing. What a wonderful thing forgiveness
is. What does sin bring? Well, it
brings about death. It brings about judgment. It
brings about condemnation. It brings disease. It brings
sickness. It brings about separation from
God. Sin is not a wonderful thing.
Sin ousted you and I out of communion and fellowship with God. It was
sin that did that. It did so now, but it will eternally
do so if we're not reconciled to God and redeemed. And the
price of redemption is great. The cost of something denotes
the value of it. If you buy a home and you get
a mortgage, the first thing the bank wants to do is to get that
property appraised. Why? They want to know if the
value of your home is greater than the cost. They desire to
know if there is equity in the property. And the putting away
of sin is a great value. Do you know how I know that?
Because of what it costs. Because of what it costs to put
it away. It costs God his only begotten son. You know, the whole
world together cannot pay the cost. If you could put us all
together and take any goodness or righteousness in any of it,
you wouldn't have much. And it would fall way short. Even combined together, it would
fall way short and not pay one sin of sin's debt. Not even one. There's only one who can pay
sin's debt. Only Christ can pay the debt
of sin. How do we buy without money and
without price? It's charged to the account of
another. If you compare a stainless steel
ring with a 24 karat gold ring of the same shape and size and
weight, the gold ring would be a far greater value. Why? Because the value lies in
the quality of the metal. Stainless steel is not worth
near what 24 karat gold is worth. And friends, the forgiveness
of sin is of great value because of the quality of the one who
paid sin's wages. It took the precious blood of
Christ, precious blood of God, to put away the sinner's sin.
Forgiveness is not accomplished because a man died. Forgiveness
is accomplished because the God-man died. Forgiveness is not granted
because blood was shed. The blood of bulls and goats
could never put away sin, and neither could the blood of a
fallen man. Wherefore, when Christ came into
the world, He came in a body of flesh and blood, and God prepared
Him a body. God said, sacrifice and offering
I won't have, but a body I have prepared. And after Christ in
that body had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, oh, what value
is found in the shedding of God's blood, neither by the blood of
bulls and goats and calves, but by His own blood, the scripture
says. He entered Him once into the
holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. The blood
of Christ, His own blood is of infinite value. How much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
Himself without spot to God, this was sinless, spotless, unblameable,
unreprovable blood. How much more? through the eternal
spirit, so the blood of Christ, who offered himself without spot,
purged your conscience from dead works, meaning the works of sin,
to serve the living God. You know, to realize the value
of one year, time is so precious. I see that the older that we
get, the older that I get, but to realize the value of one year,
ask a student who failed a grade. To realize the value of one month,
ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby. To realize
the value of one week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper
who missed the big story. To realize the value of one hour,
ask a loving parent who hasn't seen their child in several years. To realize the value of one minute,
ask a person who missed their flight. To realize the value
of one second, ask a person who just avoided an accident. To
realize the value of a millisecond, ask the runner who won a silver
medal in the 100-yard dash at the Olympics. But friends, to
realize the value of the one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus, ask the man in heaven's glory, or ask
the man in hell's fire. And they'll both tell you the
same thing. Christ is of infinite value. The second wondrous work,
I believe we see very clearly here in verse six. We've already
spoke about it some. That's to be accepted in the
beloved. Isn't it a wonderful thing to
be accepted in the Lord Jesus Christ? That God would accept
me? What a wondrous thing. Christ
is the beloved of God. We are accepted in Him. God has
brought us into His favor. That's what that means. brought
into his favor. Enemies, those who hated him
without a cause, have been reconciled to him. Traitors have been forgiven. The wandering son has returned
home to his father. Lepers have been cleansed. He
has made us accepted. Christ has made us highly favored. Christ has given us a special
honor. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
Well, of course it is, because many wonderful things have the
Lord done for us. The Lord Jesus Christ is accepted
because He's holy. and He's perfect, and He's perfectly
righteous, and we are accepted in Him. No other way. We can't
provide what God requires. Christ did it for us, and we
are accepted in Him. God requires perfection, perfect
holiness, perfect righteousness, the perfect keeping of the law.
That can only be accomplished by being in the Lord Jesus Christ. No other way. No other way. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. God is no longer angry with me
every day as he was. Why? Because now when he looks
upon me, he sees his beloved son. And isn't that a wonderful
thing? Oh, many are His wonderful works
and His thoughts toward His people. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's leg? I love to ask that question.
It's God that justifies. If God justifies me, I'm justified. Who is He that condemns? Why,
it's Christ that died. If Christ died for me, then no
one can condemn me. It's Christ that is risen. He's
at the right hand of God. And what is he doing? He's making
intercession for us. He's pleading our cause to God
Almighty. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
Oh, many are his wonderful work and thoughts toward us. Who shall
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus? Well, he answered that in the
question, didn't he? I'm accepted in Christ Jesus,
God's beloved. My sins are forgiven, and I've
been brought into God's favor, accepted in Christ. And thirdly,
the believer is made free. Free. By nature, we're the servants
of sin. In our fallen condition, we are
the servants of sin. Turn with me now to John chapter
eight, if you would. John chapter eight. I want you
to look at verse 34. John chapter 8 verse 34. Here in John chapter 8 verse
34, Jesus answered them. Verily, verily, truly, truly,
I say unto you, whosoever committed sin is the servant of sin. We are in bondage because we're
sinners. Whosoever commits sin is the
servant of sin. We're slaves to the lust of the
flesh. We're servants to the lust of
the eyes. We're in bondage to the pride
of life. We are in bondage under the weak
and beggarly elements of this world. But look at verse 36 here
in John chapter eight. It says, if the Son therefore
shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Who makes us
free? who makes us free indeed, God
the Son. On June the 19th, 1865, now we
call it Juneteenth, two years after President Lincoln signed
the Emancipation Proclamation, General Gordon Granger rode into
Galveston, Texas, and he read the general order called Number
Three, and it read like this. The people of Texas are informed
that in accordance with a proclamation from the executive of the United
States, all slaves are free. And do you know that for the
first time, many of the slaves in Texas learned that they were
already free? Two years had passed. They didn't
know they were free, but they were. And is it not the same
with the child of God? After God emancipates, He frees
us, we continue to live under the rudiments of this world,
subject unto the ordinances of the law, touch not, taste not,
and handle not, which are all to the perishing, the scripture
says, with the using after the commandments and doctrines of
men. Only later it's revealed to us,
in mercy and in grace, what a wonderful thing that is, that we were and
are free indeed. But we have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but you've received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. We have been delivered
from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty, freedom
of the children of God. Romans 8 21. A rich man's heir
is as long as he's a child. He differs nothing from a servant,
though he be Lord of all. One day he's going to inherit
all that belongs to his father. This child, until then, is under
tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Child of God, even so we, when we were children, were in bondage
under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the
time was come, when God's appointed time came, God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons
and of daughters. No longer a servant, free indeed,
now a child of the living God. And because you are sons, because
you are daughters, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into
your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. It's like saying daddy. Isn't
that such an endearing word, daddy? Oh, it used to melt this
old heart of mine when my children would look at me and bat those
little eyes and say daddy. Free indeed. Now that word indeed
in the original language means certainly. It means emphatically. It means absolutely. It means
definitely. It means without question we
are free. Free indeed. No question about
it. If you're in Christ, God's Son
has made you free indeed. Free in Christ. If the Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, therefore shall make you free, you shall
be free indeed. No ifs, ands, buts, or doubts
about it. bound in fetters, bound in chains,
without ability, unable to free ourselves. God the Son makes
us completely, definitely, emphatically, and without question, free. Ah, that's a word that we take
for granted in this country. But I can assure you, in many
countries, it's not something that's taken for granted. Oh,
to be free, to be free from sin. to be free from the penalty of
sin, to be free from the power of sin. Your freedom is not based
on your heritage. It's not based on your works.
It's not based on your experiences. And it's certainly not based
on your righteousness because we don't have any. But your freedom
is found at Calvary where God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto Himself, not imputing. Did you hear that? not imputing
their trespasses unto them. And friends, though we face death,
we don't fear death. And though we face judgment,
we don't fear judgment. And though we face condemnation,
you can be assured that in Christ there is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. And that's the most wonderful
thing I've ever heard. Many are the wonderful works
and thoughts of God toward us, His people. If the Son made you
free, you're free indeed. Free indeed. And then the fourth
and last wonderful work that I would have you consider this
morning, that wonderful thought our Lord has toward us, is to
bring us to God. Bring us to God. Being brought
to God, even now. Peter wrote, for Christ also
hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, he being
the just, us being the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened or made alive by
the Spirit, 1 Peter 3.18. Before a sinner can be brought,
that word means reconciled or redeemed to God, Someone has
to do for them what they cannot do for themselves. The law of
God has to be kept perfectly. Only perfect obedience to the
law will suffice. If you offend in one, but you
keep all the law, and then you just mess up on one little point,
you're guilty of the whole thing. It's gotta all be kept, and it
all has to be kept perfectly. Only when the law is kept perfectly
can the justice of God be satisfied. The just one, now hear me, the
just one, Christ Jesus, the Son of God and God the Son, He suffered
the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God. How? By being put to death in
the flesh. He, the perfect man, must pay
sin's wages. What are the wages of sin? Debt. He paid them. Only a perfect
man can keep the law. Only a perfect man can satisfy
God's justice. Only a perfect man can bring
us to God. And Jesus Christ is that man. Isn't that the most wonderful
thing you've ever heard? Only one mediator between God
and sinners. Only one substitute that God
will accept. Only one great high priest to
offer his own blood for the sins of his people. And that man was
Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. Christ the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. God the Son was numbered with
us, the transgressors. And many are his wonderful works
and thoughts to us. Only Christ could bear the sin
of many. He prayed not for the world,
He prayed for them that God gave him, the just for the unjust. Christ died for them. That's
who he died for. Christ died for us who believe.
Now, if we have been brought to God, that means that we weren't
there. Scripture says we're far off,
dead in sin. We had to be brought. Isn't that
a wonderful thing? He brought us. And if we've been
brought, then that means that we cannot in and of ourselves
come. We had to be brought. We have
no ability to come in and of ourselves. No man can come to
me that he might have life, and no man will come that they might
have life. The difference between our ability
and our calling is the grace of God. God's grace enables us
to be someone we're not and to do something that we can't, and
that's to come to God. It's God's grace in Christ that
brings us to Him. It's Christ who presents us faultless
before the throne of His mercy and grace. Well, that's another
wonderful word, isn't it? Faultless, without blame, unblameable,
unreprovable, above reproof in His sight. And that's all that
matters. Many, O Lord, my God, are the
wonderful works which Thou hast done and thy thoughts which are
to usward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, they are more that can be numbered." Amen. Heavenly Father, again, we bow,
Lord, before your throne of grace. And at the same time, come boldly
into it to find help in time. of need. We are so needy, Lord. We constantly need your help
because our hearts are continually on evil by nature. Lord, thank
you for sending your gospel to us, for sending us your Son,
who is the gospel. We thank you, Lord, that you
sent him into the world to save sinners in whom your people will
confess that they are Lord, we ask for the grace and mercy to
thank you as we ought and to worship you as we should, knowing
these wonderful things that you've done for us. Oh, we can't number
them, Lord. They're just too great and too
many. But enable us to get a glimpse
of these things that we've seen this morning and enable us, Lord,
to rejoice in what you've done for us, not what we do for you,
but what you've done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. make it
effectual to our hearts, Lord, cause us to forever rejoice in
His precious works of righteousness for us. And it's in His name
that we ask these things, and it's for His sake that we ask
them. Amen.