It's good to be back here again
with you. Worship God together. Preaching of his gospel. Take
your Bibles and turn with me to Psalm 93. Psalm 93. I've entitled this message, The
Reign of God. and the floods of men." The reign
of God and the floods of men. The scripture says, the Lord
reigneth. There is the reign of God that
I'm speaking of. The reign of God, the Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. The
Lord is clothed with strength wherewith he hath girded himself. The world also is established
that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of
old. Thou art from everlasting. Now
here are the floods. The floods have lifted up, O
Lord, The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift
up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier
than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of
the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure
holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever. reign of the Lord and the floods
of men. This psalm here is without title
or name of the author, but its subject, its subject is very
clear. It is unmistakable the subject
of this psalm, here it is, the Lord reigneth. There's the subject. There's the message of the psalm. It begins very clearly and it's
very plainly stated. This truth is self-evident to
every believer in Christ. You who believe in Christ, when
I say the Lord reigneth, you know that that is evident. You
know that very clear the Lord reigns. It's self-evident, it's
an obvious truth. It is one that is not up for
debate. Not for us. The Lord reigneth. It's a plain statement. The Lord
reigneth over what? All things. The Lord reigneth
over all things. The Lord Jehovah reigneth. And
from verse three, we see the occasion of this psalm. The occasion,
the need of this psalm arises. In verse three, it says, the
floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up, what,
their voice, and they lift up their waves. Now, the nation
of Israel obviously was in great danger from its enemies. It was
often the case with these people. They were in great danger quite
often. How often did they forsake God?
How often were they seduced by the religion of their neighbors?
How often were they prone to leave the worship of God for
the cares of this world. They did it over and over again
in Scripture. This phrase is used in the book
of Judges. Every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. This was often the occasion for
the God's people. And the Lord would, in His love,
chasten them and bring them back to Himself. This was the mode
of God throughout the Old Testament. Now, He would send their foes
in and He would send them in like a flood. He would allow
the gates to open and their enemies would come in. God would allow
His people to be taken captive. He would take away their possessions. And he did this for a purpose,
he did this for a reason, to show the vanity of the things
that they loved the most. They loved the things of the
world and forsook God, and God showed them the vanity of these
things. The fleetingness of their possessions
that they held so tightly. He showed them the vanity of
their other gods, and by his deliverance, what did he show?
He showed his love, his grace, and his supremacy. He showed
his power by delivering them. He allowed them to be held captive
so as he might display to them his strength, his mercy. And you know what they would
do in their captivity? They would always cry out to
him. And here they cried. They cried
this, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods have
lifted up their waves. But what else but this message
of God's reigning supremacy could give encouragement to the people? Those who were held captive,
those who were taken captive, those who had lost everything,
this was a message of comfort to them. Here it is. The Lord
reigneth. The Lord reigneth. This is the
message of comfort. The Lord on high is mightier
than the floods. He is mightier than the floods.
Now tonight, it is my heart's desire to speak to God's people.
It is my heart's desire to speak to the spiritual Israel, to you
who believe in Christ. You who now feel the danger of
your foes. You now feel the sorrow of the
crushing waves, either of sin or of providence. You who are
in despair, you who may have forsaken God, and now God comes
in like a flood with your sin or your conviction. You see, though we were chosen
of God, in grace, though we were redeemed by the blood of Christ,
though we, by the power of the Holy Spirit, have been quickened
to life and faith, though we've been given such faith as to believe
in Christ. We are given a new nature. We
are counted righteous before God. Even the very righteousness
of Christ belongs to us. Yet we must confess this truth,
that our old man of sin is still presently abiding in each one
of us. Just as our brother read just
a second ago in Galatians 5, the flesh lusteth against the
spirit and the spirit against the flesh. These two are contrary
one to another so that you cannot do what you would. The flesh
would leave Christ. The spirit would not see it.
And yet these two are in constant warfare with one another, constantly. When we were born again, God
did give us a holy nature, a holy nature. But the scriptures are
very clear concerning the old man that still remains. Paul
said, in my flesh. Dwelleth no good thing. What
did Paul mean? Did Paul mean in this body? No, because in this body of flesh,
we do have something that's holy. We have a new nature that is
holy, created after God in true holiness. What he meant was his
nature, the old nature of his flesh. Dwelleth no good thing. When you were saved, God did
nothing to that old nature. Nothing. It is still just as
vile and corrupt as it was before the Spirit gave you a new one.
You still have that old nature, that which is born of flesh.
Jesus said that to Nicodemus. That which is born of flesh is
flesh. It will live flesh and it will
die flesh and we will not be free of it until it falls off
into the grave. That's what he said, oh wretched
man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God. I'm so glad that
doesn't end there. I thank God through Jesus Christ.
We have hope, but yet we still have this nature so prone to
sin, so prone to forsake our Lord. We are often made to feel
the floods and waves of our sin. We are often in trouble in this
life. And often we are afflicted by
our enemies. So the floods are very real. These floods are very real and
they are very present. Have you felt the floods of your
nature? Have you felt the floods of your
enemies coming in? First of all, the floods of our
sin. How often do we, like David, We, like David, desired to be
without sin. David desired it. In Psalm 39,
if you go over there, Psalm 39, listen to what David did. He
made a determination. He made a resolution, and it's
not a bad one. He said, I will take heed to
my ways, that I sin not with my tongue, I will keep my mouth
with a bridle while the wicked is before me." Listen, I was
done with silence. I held my peace even from good.
And my sorrow was stirred. Isn't that something? My sorrow
was stirred, troubled. My heart was hot within me while
I was musing with the fire burned. Then I spanked with my tongue,
Lord, make me to know my end and the measure of my days, what
it is that I may know how frail I am. When you determine not
to sin, don't you learn this, how frail you are? Isn't that
a lesson we learn? when we tried to keep sin at
bay using physical means. He was using a physical means.
He stapled his mouth shut. He thought that would do it.
But what happened in his heart? It welled up inside of him. It overflowed him. It burned
within him. You had that experience? Try
to keep from sin. I feel like the last state is
worse than the first when I try to do it by my own strength,
by my own abilities. I'm not capable. It overwhelms
us. It floods us. Lord, teach me
how frail I am. Secondly, the floods of God's
chastening hand. Who, as a believer in Christ,
has not felt the floods of God's chastening hand? First of all,
how about this chastisement when He hides His face from us? I do not believe there is a worse
chastisement for the believer in Christ as when God hides his
face. Scripture says the Lord loveth,
whom the Lord loveth, what does he do? He chasteneth. If you're without chastisement,
if you don't know what I'm talking about, you're a bastard. You
know that? If you're without chastisement,
then are you bastards and not sons. Whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth. Because of the floods of our
sin, the Lord chastens and scourges every son he receiveth. Do you
feel the chastening hand of God? Are his chastisements come in
like a flood upon you? But even then, how longsuffering
is he with our sin? How many times has the Lord just
allowed you to have what you wanted? Just give you what you
wanted. Have your own way. And in our
foolish wisdom, what do we do? We forsake God. We forsake God,
forsake His word, forsake the preaching of the gospel, forsake
our study, leave off prayer. We're like that Shulamite bride.
That Shulamite bride who was spiritually slumbering and sleeping. And the Lord came so gently to
her, didn't He? Came knocking. He didn't kick
down the door and say, you worthless woman. That's what we would have
done. No, He said, open to me, my love. My dove, my undefiled. He said, my head is filled with
the dew and my locks with the drops of the night." See how He comes so sweetly to
us even in our slumber? He chose us, He redeemed us,
He called us, He kept us, and He comes to us seeking to commune
with us. And listen at His word, He said,
My head is filled with the dew and my locks with the drops of
the night. Jesus said to His beloved, He
said, Open to me because I've endured the darkness for your
sins. He said, I have worked in the
night and satisfied the wrath of God in your stead. Open to
me. Is that not reason enough to
open? Is that not reason enough that
He was made sin for us who knew no sin? That you should be made
the righteousness of Him? Is that not reason enough to
commune with Him? And yet we like the Shulamite
bride often say, put our excuses. I've put off my shoes. How can
I put them on again? I'm comfortable. How in the world
could I give up my comfort? I have no time for him. The children
are just too much trouble. My job is just too demanding.
My spouse is no help. All kinds of excuses. In reality, we just enjoy our
sin too much to open, to open to him. And you know what he
did? He put his hand to the hole of
the door, and the perfume of his hand came to her nose. He puts his hand to the hole
of our hearts, and then we are aroused with conviction. We go
to the door, but what happens? In chastisement, he's not there. Oh, the sorrow that floods our
soul when we do not see him, when we cannot feel him. Have
you ever been flooded with that? Only to find him gone, he floods
our hearts with sorrow. We feel as though God has forsaken
us forever. In Lamentation 519, he says,
wherefore dost thou forget us forever? Have you felt that? As though
he is left and there is no one, there is no hope. That is a chastisement
of the Lord. That is a flood of sorrow and
pain. He also chastens us not just
internally but externally with outward troubles. The floods
of evil providence such as sickness, the hatred of men, the accusations
of our enemy flood our souls. These are the chastening things
of God. Oftentimes he sends the floods
of prosperity. What a horrible flood that is. He sends the world the chastisement
of prosperity. He gives us the things of the
world. And what does that do? But starve the word of God. How
often does prosperity cause us to starve the word of God? It
drowns out the word. Is this your plight? Are you
overwhelmed by the floods of sin, by the floods of providence,
a cold heart of indifference? Are you flooded by the sin of
neglect, neglecting the Word of God, neglecting prayer? Is this the flood of your foes
against you? What about the voice that is
lifted up, the voice of accusation, Satan accusing you, condemning you? Are the waves
of providence seem to crush you? Well, listen, if the floods have
come in, then I have a message for you. Here it is. The Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. Lift up your hands that hang
down. Strengthen your feeble knees. Here is the message of
consolation. The Lord reigneth in the midst
of the noise and of your grief and sorrow and the roars of Satan
and his accusation in the midst of the waves of your pain and
affliction. Listen, the Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. Behold, whatever
opposition arises, I want you to mark this, God's throne remains
unmoved. Whatever takes place in this
world, God's throne is not moved by it. Everything that takes place in
this world is moved by His throne. He reigns over all things. The Lord reigneth. I like this
word. Reigneth. E-T-H. Present perfect
tense. It means simply the Lord has
reigned The Lord is now reigning and the Lord shall forever reign. That's what it means. It is an
eternal, immutable, unchangeable reigning of God. He reigns forever. His sovereign
rule and dominion are over all things. That's what it means.
As we look upon the providence of this life, we see chaos. Turn on the news. What do you
see? Chaos. You see everything is upended.
Nothing makes sense. Isn't that right? I mean, you can't tell me how
in the world this country got where it's got in such a short
time. It seems chaotic. We see turmoil, like the waves
of the sea. We see the rebellion of men against
God. We see the suffering and grief. And we can't make sense of it.
We see the righteous suffer. You know what doesn't make sense?
Is that, why aren't God's churches full? I just don't understand
that. This is the gospel of God's sovereign
grace in Christ is the best thing in the world. And yet it is the
most hated thing among men. You're not going to make sense
of that. God's people suffer and the wicked prosper, the wicked
prosper. Yet let this let us behold, the
Lord is above and untouched and unmoved. by all of these things. His dominion is over all these
things. Our God rules unopposed. He is supreme. And all things are done according
to His sovereign will and decree. You know what, we don't have
to make sense of it. God never asked you to make sense
of it. I always like that, I know it was a message Don preached
a long time ago. The wheel within the wheel. You
ever take a bicycle wheel and spin it? If you try to look at
the spokes, you're going to get dizzy. You have to look at the
hub. The hub, it spins around, but
you don't get dizzy because everything comes out from the hub. Don't look at providence trying
to make sense of things. Look at God from whence all providence
flows. He doesn't move. He doesn't move. He reigns supreme. And yet, get
this, even the rebellion of men is ordained and ordered of God
according to His own eternal purpose. And be sure that all
His will is being accomplished. You can see a couple of places
here. I'll take you because this is important for you to read.
Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 46. Isaiah chapter 46, and look at verse 9, he said,
remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is
none else. Nobody else is reigning but me.
I'm God and there's none like me, declaring the end, when?
From the beginning, from ancient times of things that were not
yet done, saying this, my counsel shall stand I will do all my
pleasure. So all of this chaos is what?
All His pleasure. He is doing His will. Psalm 115 says, Our God is in
the heavens and hath done what? Whatsoever He pleased. That's
God, friends. The Lord reigneth. He said, I,
let me see, Isaiah 45, Isaiah 45, and just page over and look
at verse seven. He said, I form the light and
create darkness. I make peace and what? Create
evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Is there not evil in the city
and hath not the Lord done it? So all this stuff that's taking
place, why are you worried? Who's doing it? Really? Who's
in control? Who's ruling? The Lord reigneth! The Lord reigneth. Is this not what the wicked and
mighty King Nebuchadnezzar found out after he ate grass for seven
years? Lord made the... I mean, you
want to talk about somebody who ruled, that man was the despot
of despots. You know, his kingdom was said
to be the head, the highest of earthly kingdoms. This man was
the top of all other kings that ever came after him. This guy
was it. And God made him eat grass for
seven years. And when he got up, when he got
up, he said, I lifted up mine eyes to heaven. and mine understanding
returned, and I blessed," what? The most high. I praised and
honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion and kingdom is
from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the armies of heaven and among the habitants of the
earth and none. You got that? None can stay his
hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Behold, such deity and sovereignty
was not given to God. I want you to know that. It was
not given to Him. That's what religion says, isn't
it? They allow God. Let God. Why? Because religion believes you
reign. What does my text say? The Lord reigneth! The Lord reigneth. No, this is not what the text.
Go back to your text. Look at this. Look at this. The
Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed
with strength. And who gave that to him? He
said, wherewith he had girded himself. You got that? Who gave strength to God? God
gave strength to himself. God gave majesty to himself.
It's his. It belongs to him. He reigneth. and he is full of strength and
majesty in his very nature. Believer, behold, in the midst
of your floods, in the midst of your greatest trials and afflictions,
I want you to understand this. The Lord reigneth in majesty
and strength that is all his own and dependent upon no one. I tell you what, that just is
above my pay grade to think about. I just can't get, I can't, I'm
dependent, we are just so dependent, aren't we? We want to talk about
being independent. We're not independent of anything.
We can't breathe without him. We can't, in him we live and
move and have our being. We are dependent creatures. He
is totally independent of all his creatures. There is none beside him. There
is no God. There is no savior. There is
no deliverer from the floods except him. That's what this
text is telling you. The floods have lifted up. They've
lifted up their voice. What are we gonna do? Don't worry. The Lord reigneth. He alone is
strength. He alone has strength to deliver
you. All things, all people, all providence,
all angels, all demons, all nations, natural and supernatural events
are only and always done according to His sovereign will and power. You in your floods, you in your
griefs and your sorrows and in your troubles, you who are clothed
in the rags of sin, you who are without strength, who cannot
come, overcome the floods. Behold, Jehovah reigneth. He
is clothed in majesty and strength. He rules over your floods. You know, when the disciples
were in that boat and they said, Lord, carest thou not? And we
perished. He was asleep. You know why he
was asleep? Because he was ruling over the waves. That boat had
zero chance of sinking. And when he came out, he spoke and
he said, peace, be still. Why? He was the Lord of the flood. You remember when the disciples
were in that ship by themselves and the Lord came walking on
the water. He was walking on the very thing
that troubled them. Consider that. The very thing
that troubles you, the Lord walks on it. Matter of fact, He ordained it,
whatever it is. He ordained it. Why? He reigns. He rules. Therefore, you who
have experienced the grace of God, you have seen His majesty
in the plan of salvation. Haven't you seen His majesty
in that? the sovereignty of God. Have you by faith seen his strength
in the suffering of Christ? Is there anything stronger than
seeing Christ bear our sins in his own body, enduring the justice
of God for all the elect? Can you imagine such strength? He endured the wrath of God for
our sins. You know the power of God in
the resurrection, in the new birth. Remember, He who from eternity
loved you, chose you. He who redeemed you from your
sins by His blood. He who quickened you by the power
of His Spirit. Do you suppose He is now intending
to destroy you by these floods? Now listen, I'm not ignorant. I know it feels like He's going
to destroy you. It does. The pain is surely great. The floods surely are grievous
to us. But do you suppose that God is
going to destroy you by these things? Do you think that was
his intent? It is your father's purpose to
chasten you, not to kill you, not to destroy you, You suppose
he desires to drive you from his presence? Is he so cruel
to bring you to yourself and then leave you to die in your
sins? Oh no, that's not his purpose. Behold, the will of God is that
none of his elect be lost. Jesus said, none that the Father
had given me. I should lose nothing, but raise
it up again at the last day. He said in John chapter 10, I
give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Consider this truth, that he
who sent the floods intended them for your good. We know. What did Paul say? We know that all things work
together for good. Not all things individually,
but all things working together work for your good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
You know, Newton wrote that hymn. He said, I prayed for grace and
faith. Anybody pray for grace and faith? Anybody want more
faith? Anybody want more grace? More
of His love? More of His mercy? More of His
kindness? You want those things? And Newton
said, I thought in some blessed hour I would receive these things. It would just come out of heaven
and I would be so happy and everything would be well. But wasn't he
right? He said, no, but the Lord made me feel the hidden evils
of my heart. He let the angry powers of hell
assault my soul in every part. Yea, more, his own hands seemed
intent to aggravate my woe. He crossed all my fair designs
I schemed, cast me out and laid me low. Friends, that's a flood. What for? He said, will you pursue
your worm to death? And what did the Lord reply?
He said, no, this is how I answer prayer for grace and faith. You
want grace and faith? You want a flood. You want a
flood. But the flood is not intended
for your harm, but for your growth. It is intended to draw you closer
to Him. He removes by these floods these
fleshly dependencies, so then we are more dependent upon Him. So our affections are removed from
the things of earth and set on the things of heaven. These are
what the purposes of these floods for His people. Behold, these
things are for your good. So then in the midst of your
flood, take comfort, the Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth.
And behold, his throne, the scripture here says his throne is established. His throne is established. Look
at that in verse two, thy throne is established of old. Thou art
from everlasting. The throne of Christ is established
forever. This should comfort your heart,
that the throne of Christ is established. Now then look, if
we were able to look into heaven, you know what we would see? We
would see a man sitting on the throne of God. We would see Christ
seated. You know why he's sitting down?
Because it's done. It's finished. Our high priest
did something no other priest could do. When he finished the
work, he sat down. He sat down expecting, till his
enemies be made his footstool, why he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. And because he had perfected
forever, because our high priest had accomplished, God established
his throne as king forever. Look in the midst of thy floods
and see thy surety, thy surety, that God had set him to be king. He said, thy throne, O God, is
forever. And this is vital. This establishment
of Christ's throne is vital to our comfort. You wanna know why?
Because your salvation is tied to his throne. As long as he
is king, you're saved. If he ever ceases to be king,
you cease to be saved. We are tied to Him vitally. And this is the comfort. I'm
mutable. Everything in this world is changeable. It's like a flood. What's not
mutable is my salvation. Why? Thy throne is established
of old forever. Christ's throne is established
forever. Our salvation is vitally linked
to Him. In Isaiah chapter 9 and verse
6, you know that verse well. It says, unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. The Son of God was given. The
child was born. And what? The government shall
be upon His shoulders. You know what that means? The
kingdom is upon his shoulders. He is responsible. That's what it means. He's responsible
for the establishment of the kingdom. He is the surety of our salvation. Just like Judah said, if I bring
not the lad again today, let me bear the blame. Even so Christ,
our surety, said the same thing. If I bring not all the elect
today, let me bear the blame. The salvation of our souls is
dependent upon the success of Christ. This is why free will works religion
is abominable. Because it says he failed. My scripture says, thy throne
is established of old, thou art from everlasting. Christ was
victorious. How do we know? Because God raised
him from the dead. That's how we know. He is risen
from the dead. Our sins have been forever put
away by his one offering. And then what did God do when
he raised him? He sat him down on his right
hand. His throne is established forever. After He was made sin and punished
sin in His flesh, God raised Him from the dead. Therefore,
I know this in the midst of all my floods, the Lord Jesus Christ,
my Savior, reigns. He reigns. His throne is established. And you know what? So is my salvation. It's established. Forever. How long? Forever. And so then, in the midst of
your floods, read verse four. In the midst of your floods,
the Lord who reigns, the Lord who girds himself with strength,
the Lord whose throne's established, whose salvation has been accomplished,
he says this, the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of
many waters, yea, than the mighty waves, of the sea. He is not just Lord over noise. How many of our fears are just
noise? How many things we fear that never come to pass? Lord's
mightier than that, but he's also mightier than the things
that do come, the waves that do come. He is mightier than
the waves. What wave does he not control?
What providence is outside of his divine hand? Loud the stormy billows speak. Loud the billows raise their
cry. Fierce the stormy billows broke,
sounding with an echoing sky. Strong the breakers tossing high. But stronger is Jehovah's might. Stronger is Jehovah's might.
True thy words and sanctity well becomes the temple bright. As in Providence, the throne
of God is fixed beyond all risk, and listen to this, His word
is beyond all question. Look at this, thy testimonies
are very sure. Because His throne is established,
what can we trust? What can you trust? Because the
Lord reigns, because His throne's established, because your salvation's
accomplished, what can you trust? You can trust His word. Why? All that he has ever said
would come to pass, has it not come to pass? Has there failed ought of anything
God has said should come? Nothing. His word is sure. we may be confident in his word. Thy testimonies are sure. The
wisdom of men will fail. The religion of man will fail.
But God's word will always stand the test of time. Why? The Lord reigneth. And what is
his word? His word is Christ. His word
is Christ. And it is upon Christ His church
is built. I lay in Zion a stone, a tried
stone, a precious cornerstone. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Do you desire to be off of Christ? You that believe, is there any
other place that you want to be? No. We desire to be on Christ because
His word is sure. He is our foundation. We're built upon Him. And so
what is our comfort in the midst of our floods? My comfort is
this, I'm in Him. He is my refuge. He is my strength. David said, therefore, I shall
not be moved. I shall not be moved. Why? The Lord reigneth. The floods
you feel are sent by him. For your destruction? No. For
your good. And what do you learn? When the
flood has passed, what do you learn? You learn this. The Lord
reigneth. The Lord reigneth. Lord, teach
us this. And I'll tell you this, we wouldn't
be as skittish if we could learn that. We wouldn't be as fearful
if we could really believe our God is in control of all things. And listen, what does he do all
things for? For your good, for your good. He said, I know my
thoughts towards you, thoughts of peace, not of evil. That's what the Lord that reigns
says. We can trust his word. I pray God give us grace to do
it. Our gracious father, I pray you'd bless.