If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to Psalm 93. Psalm 93. We're looking at this
short Psalm here. Psalm 93 verses 1 through 5. Entitled this, the message, the
sovereign reign of Christ. The sovereign reign of Christ.
Now, the opening of this book here, we can see that it's speaking
of Christ. It says this, the Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength,
wherewith he hath girded himself. The world is also established
that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of
old. Thou art from everlasting. The
floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their
voice. The floods have lifted 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. The sovereign reign of Christ.
Here it is, the psalmist begins with this maxim, this theme that
runs throughout the psalm. This psalm is surely divided
here in these two parts, but the main hub of this whole psalm,
the main comfort of this whole psalm are these words, the Lord
reigneth. The Lord reigneth. Now this to every believer in
Christ who is born again of the Spirit of God, this truth is
evident. This saying is true. We understand this statement
to be absolutely true. We know that we may be uneducated,
we may not have our finger on the pulse of religion, we may
not be entangled with all the world affairs and politics of
this world, the current events of our day, but we know that
no matter what men say, no matter how men try to educate us or
try to move us from this, no matter how bad things get, this
is true, the Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. So then, you
who are believers in Christ, we know this is not a matter
of debate. We don't debate this. This is a solid truth, a self-evident
truth to us who have been born again. The Lord reigneth. The
Lord reigneth. It's not a matter to be decided
by intellectual decrees. I don't care how many people
write it down. It's just true. It doesn't matter
how men feel about it. It doesn't matter how men think
about it. It doesn't matter if they agree
with it or they don't agree with it. This is true. The Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. This truth
stands and cannot be moved, nor will it ever cease to be true. The Lord reigneth." And when
it says, the Lord reigneth, we all know this, that there is
one God that reigns. One God. Yet we know the true
and living God manifests Himself in Holy Scripture in three distinct
persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. John says
this in 1 John chapter 5 and verse 7, I believe. It says that
there are three that bear record in heaven. Three, who? The Father, the Word, Jesus Christ,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And what does he say of these
three? These three are one. One God manifests himself in
three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So when
we read the Lord reigneth, we read this, the Father reigneth. The Son reigneth. The Holy Spirit
reigneth. There is one Lord, one God, and
each of these persons are one in will, one in power, one in
authority, one in deity. They are all three God, not three
gods, one God, three distinct persons, and each one reigns. Consider in our matter of salvation,
we'll deal with this in a minute, but the father reigneth in election. It was the Father that chose
a people to save. The Son reigneth in redemption.
He has accomplished the redemption out of His own sovereign will
and work. And it is the Spirit of God that
reigneth, that calls the elect, quickens the elect, and keeps
the elect. So it is God that reigneth, the
Lord. But in this text, I want us to
see that this is speaking mainly of Christ. Mainly of Christ. Jesus our Lord. He is clothed,
look at what it says, he's clothed with majesty, he's clothed with
strength. Wherewith he hath girded himself.
And this is speaking obviously of his eternal deity of His eternal
strength, of His eternal Godhead. But yet, how is God manifest
except through Christ? When you put on clothes, you're
viewing something, you're seeing. God is an invisible God, but
yet when Christ came and put on flesh, what did we see? We
saw God manifest in the flesh. And so it is with Christ. He
put on majesty and strength when He became a man and accomplished
the will of God. He manifests his strength, he
put that on himself. And look at this next part, he
says, thy throne, thy throne is established of old. We know
this is speaking of Christ because God established his throne. God
established his throne. I believe it's in Psalm 40. 46 verse 6 says, Thy throne, O God,
is forever. That psalm is a messianic psalm. It's a speaking of Christ. So
this is speaking expressly of the Son of God in His kingly
and mediatorial office. You see, Christ was always the Lord that reigneth. He was
always the Lord that reigneth. And so it refers to the clothing
and the girding and the putting on. It speaks of Jesus Christ,
who is God-blessed forever, who was set up and adorned by His
majesty and strength and authority, the God-man mediator. Go to Proverbs
chapter 8. Proverbs chapter 8. And you see
Christ here in the person of wisdom speaking. Christ here
in verse 22. He says, the Lord possessed me
in the beginning of His way before His works of old. The word possessed,
it could mean begot. The Lord begot me. He is the
only eternal begotten Son of God. And not only was He the
eternally begotten Son of God, here it is in verse 23, I was
set up from everlasting, or beginning, from the beginning wherever the
earth was. He was set up to be the Messiah. He was set up to be clothed and
girded with majesty and strength, and he was set up to be king.
Thy throne, O God, is forever. And we know in Psalm 110, it
says, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy
footstool. He's talking about his throne again. He is the king,
the majesty, he has a people. And God gave him that people
and he was set up to be their mediator, to be our representative. He was set up to be our king.
Isn't that what a king does, is reign? What good is a king
that doesn't reign? What good is a king that must
be in subjection to his people? That's no king. A king reigns,
a king rules. Christ reigns, Christ rules.
He is clothed with majesty and with strength. And listen, nobody
gave it to him. He girded it himself. He's worthy
of it. He's worthy of it. This is the
eternal son of God. And now then, as a king, as one
that reigns, I want us to see, we know this, any king that reigns
has to be sovereign. You can't reign unless you're
sovereign. If you're dependent on something
else, then you're not reigning, that something else is. Your
reign depends on something else. Christ's reign depends on nothing
else but Himself. He reigns. First of all, see
this. He reigns over creation. Over
all creation. What did it say in John 1? It
says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. And not anything without Him
was made that was made. He made all things. He is the
Creator. of all things. Over in Colossians, Colossians chapter one, listen what the
apostle says, who Christ being the image of the invisible God.
See, you can't know God except you see him. He's the image of
the invisible God. The firstborn of every creature.
for by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him,
and listen, for Him, and He is before all things and by Him
all things consist. He is the creator of everything. He is the creator of everything.
He reigneth over creation because He is the maker of everything. You go out and look around and
see trees. Who made that? He did. He made you. He made me. He made everything that is made
in this world. He made it. He made it for one
purpose. For Himself. For His own glory. He's the creator of all things. If it exists, Christ made it. I don't care what it is. Good,
bad, indifferent, doesn't matter. He made it. He made it. He made it all. He made it for
his own worship, for his own glory. Therefore, as our maker,
our creator, and God, what is it? He does whatsoever He wills
with it. Isn't that right? You own something
and let somebody come and take it from you and say, well, you
don't, that's not yours. You'd be upset. Why? You own
it. It's yours. You paid for it, you bought it,
you made it, whatever it was, it's yours. Well, listen, whatever
you bought, whatever you made, whatever you own, it's God's
because He gave it to you if you own it. And what do you do
with your stuff? You do whatever you please with
your stuff. That's what Peter said to those two who wanted
to deceive and lie to the Holy Spirit. They said, well, we gave,
we sold all our property, we gave it all to the Lord. He said,
you liar. Look, it was yours. You didn't have to give any of
it. But listen, all things belong
to God. Therefore, He does with His own
whatsoever He will. He reigns. He reigns over all
creation. Now consider all this chaos that's
consuming our country. Consider it. All the evil that
men are committing, all the violence and rioting and revolting and
all the unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, murder,
drunkenness, debate, deceit. All those who hate God, all those
who are haters of His gospel, Now you listen to this. They
all belong to Him. And you pay attention. They're
doing exactly what He determined to be done. They're His. He will do with
His own what He wills. What He wills. You know, in Romans,
He talks about these type of people murders and fornicators
and those who have committed such violence and haters of God. You know what? You know who gave
them over to that? God did. The scripture says God
gave them over to a reprobate mind. Why? They were His. He
can do with them as He pleases. But in this chaos, believers
might find comfort in this. You listen. Christ made it. He
rules over all flesh. He rules over all flesh. Isn't that what He said? He said,
All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth to do one
thing, for this purpose, that He should save His people from
their sin. That's what He's called to do.
That's His purpose. He said, I've done the work,
Father. All power is given unto Me in heaven and earth that I
might give unto your people eternal life. And so whatever is happening,
I want you to see this, whatever is happening in creation, you
know it, God's doing it. God's working it for His own
glory, for Himself. God never asks us to understand
it. You find in this book anywhere He asks you to understand it?
No. He tells you, believe it. Believe. Trust in Him. Are we in trouble? Yes, you bet we are. I'll tell
you, the time is coming in our country when the gospel will
be persecuted as it has in centuries before. Do you think we're special? Do you think that we're going
to be exempt from this? God's people have been persecuted
throughout the centuries. Jesus said, the world will hate
you as it hated me. It will hate you. It will persecute
you. What do you say, blessed are
those who are persecuted for my name's sake. Blessed, happy
are you when you're persecuted for my name's sake. We will be
persecuted. And in the midst of this, if
we understand that our Lord reigns, let us then hold fast without
compromise the gospel of Christ. We should hold fast this gospel.
No matter what happens, we may know this, the Lord reigneth.
The Lord reigneth. And whatever is happening to
us, I want you to know this, it's by His hand. It's by His hand. This should not trouble us. We
have no cause for fear because no power can touch us unless
it is given of God. Remember what happened to Job.
There Job was worshiping and the sons of men came together
to worship God and Satan came also. And you know what God did?
He picked a fight. He did. He said, have you noticed
my servant Job? Satan said, yeah, I noticed him. But I'll tell you this, if you
just take away that stuff, you put a hedge over all he's got.
And I can't touch it. And what did God do? He says,
go ahead, touch it. Take all that he had, but what?
Don't touch him. Took all he had, didn't touch
him. Why? He couldn't touch him until God
gave him leave. And he said that next time, yeah,
skin for skin, you take his health and he'll curse you. And he said,
okay, you can touch his skin, you touch his health, but you
don't take his life. You see, God is in control. The
Lord reigneth. So whatever is happening to us,
it is happening by the divine will of God who made all things
and is moving all things by His own will and decree. It is God
who moves all things. The Lord is sovereign. And you
know what His heart is for you, believer? It's to do you good.
Go to Jeremiah chapter 32. Look at this with me. Jeremiah
chapter 32. Look at verse 40. God says this, I will make an
everlasting covenant with them. You know, is that, does that,
that sounds sovereign, doesn't it? It is, I will. I will, and
this is what he's gonna do, I will make a covenant with them. And
this is the covenant, that I will not turn away from them to do
them good. I will put my fear in their hearts
and they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over
them to do them good. I will plant them in the land
assuredly with my whole heart and my whole soul. For thus saith
the Lord, like I have brought all this great evil upon this
people, so will I also upon them bring all the good that I have
promised. You see this? God says, I will
do you good. It's a covenant. God made. Really, it's just a one-sided
covenant, isn't it? God did it. He made it with Himself
for you. And so then the covenant is not
dependent upon us. He's going to do us good irrespective of us. It's just
independent of us. I'm going to do you good. I brought
this evil upon you because of your sin, but I have covenanted
to do you good. I will do you good, not just
little good. He said, I'm going to bring all
the good, all the good. So what is he doing? He's bringing
all the good. He's bringing all the good. Therefore,
seeing the Lord rules over all things. And know this, because
He has promised to do you good, believer, this is the truth.
In Psalm 121, He said, I will not suffer thy foot to be moved.
So whatever God is doing, we shall not be moved from Christ. How can you be so sure? Because
the Lord reigneth. What in the earth can touch you? God made it all. God rules over
it all. So Jesus, of His own will, according
to His grace, He represented all that the Father gave Him,
and provide what they could never provide for themselves, He provided
payment for our sins. He provided payment for our sins.
Jesus Christ is the only God-man mediator who provided righteousness
and accomplished redemption for all his people. Behold, in the
sovereignty of God, even the death of Christ was foreordained. So when you're in trouble, you
think about trouble, you think about evil men, you think about
how they're working evil in the world. And you say, how can that
be ordained of God? Well, think of the cross. It's
the ultimate example of evil. These men desired nothing but
to kill and crucify the Son of God. And what does the scripture
say? He said, who God hath determined and delivered by his counsel
and will. I'll read it together in Acts.
I'm gonna look at it, make sure I get it right. Acts chapter
two and verse 23. Him being delivered by the determined
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken him by wicked
hands, crucified and slain the Lord of glory. That's not the
only place. In chapter four of Acts in verse
25, it said, who by the mouth of thy servant David said, why
do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings
of the earth stood up, and the rulers gathered together against
the Lord and against His Christ. For of a truth against Thy holy
child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
and the Gentiles and the people of Israel gathered together."
Now see, that's evil. That's evil men doing exactly
what evil men wanted to do. But what were evil men doing
when they were doing what they wanted to do? Listen to this,
for to do whatsoever the hand and counsel determined for to
be done. Don't you see that all this is
happening according to the will of God for the glory of Christ
and for the good of His people? This is what God is doing. This
is why Christ is reigning. Behold, the sovereign purpose
of God was to accomplish in the life and death and resurrection
of Christ the salvation of His people. So now Jesus has ascended
to the right hand of the throne of God. He has been given power
and authority to reign as the God-man. For what purpose? To bring every son to glory. He has a purpose and whatever
is taking place, think of this not just in a broad scale and
what's happening, what is happening specifically in your life? Because
that's included. Everything is included. Don't
you know that not one drop of rain falls from heaven without
His permission? Without His decree? You see a
leaf tumbling in the wind. Decree. You see a worm crawling
on the ground and a bird coming and eating. Decreed. So you see
what's happening in your life and mine is decreed by God. Now
evil men will be responsible for their evil actions, but yet
they are fulfilling the will of God. They're fulfilling the
will of God. And that is this, that the Holy
Spirit come and save His people. He is moving every situation,
every providence, everything He's moving to save His people. He is sovereign in creation.
He is sovereign in providence. He is sovereign in providence. This is amazing. Go to Isaiah
chapter 46. You know here in Isaiah chapter
46 is a really wonderful chapter because God is expressing the
difference between a false God and the true God. By Himself,
He's distinguishing between all false deities and the true and
living God Himself. You see, He says in the first
part of this that the false gods need to be carried. He says,
Baal and Nebo, they got to be carried by oxen. They're so heavy
that the ox is laid down. He said, you got to pay somebody.
You got to take silver and gold out of a bag. You got to pay
somebody to make your God. And wherever you put your God,
he's got to stay. He can't move. He's got legs
and feet, but he can't walk. He's got arms, but he can't reach.
He's got lift, but he can't talk. He is a false God. If you've
got to carry your God or your God is dependent on you, then
your God is not God. But what does He say about Himself?
He says this in verse 9, He said, Remember the former things of
old. You go all the way back. You
go all the way back and you remember them. I'm going to tell you what
happened. He said this, You remember the former things of old because
I'm God and there is no other God but Me. I'm God and there's
none like Me. Here's Me declaring the end of
all things. When? When did God declare the
end of all things? From the beginning. From the
beginning. From ancient times, the things
that were not yet done, saying this, my counsel shall stand
and I will do all my pleasure. And he gives that example here,
this ravenous bird. He uses a man that didn't know
God, that didn't love God as Cyrus. He uses that evil king,
that evil emperor. And he said, I'm going to use
this ravenous bird. I'm going to call him from the
east. And you know what he's going to do? He's going to deliver
Israel. That's exactly what happened. That's exactly what happened. But that's a picture of something
greater than that, and that's a picture of Christ. He says
this in verse 12, Hearken to me, you stout-hearted that are
far from righteousness. Listen to this. This is the sovereign
will and decree of God from the beginning. I bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off, and
my salvation shall not tarry. I will place salvation in Zion
for Israel, my glory." Who is that? Speaking of Christ, He
says, I'm bringing my righteousness near to you. I'm going to make
my Son to be a man and my righteousness is going to dwell in Zion. My
righteousness is going to come, my salvation is going to come
and Christ came. Christ died according to the
Scriptures. Christ rose again according to
the Scriptures and is now in heaven doing what? Reigning over
all things. Thy throne, O God, is forever. That's it. His throne is forever. And his purpose, his will, is
to bring salvation near to his people and save them, to cause
them to be born again. Now what he said, you must be
born again. Are you born again this morning? If you are, you
know it was by sovereign decree. You know it by sovereign will
and sovereign power. It was not by the will of man,
nor the will of flesh, but the will of God. That's what I know. I know this. I believe on Christ
by the sovereign decree of God. If you ever are gonna believe
on Jesus Christ, it will be by sovereign will, not yours, His. And when He comes in that sovereign
will, you will be willing. Thy people shall be willing,
when? In the day of His power. He's coming and He's going to
give life to all His creatures. The Holy Sovereign Spirit of
God will come to every chosen sinner at the appointed time
of grace and He will move on all His people. He will move
all their circumstances, all their troubles, all their joys,
all their sorrows for the purpose of bringing His chosen children
to hear the gospel and to believe on Christ alone. And these believers
are given a new heart and a new nature, not by the letter of
the law. You see, we as believers understand
this. We are free from the law. We're free from the law. Why? Christ has made us righteous.
Scripture says that Christ is the end of the law to everyone
that believeth. You see, Christ didn't save us
and then put us under bondage. This is the sovereign will of
Christ that you should be free from the law. Not free from all law. What is
the law of our King? Our King has a law. And we obey
His law. It is a law of faith and love.
Faith in Christ and love for Him and His brethren, His people. This is our law. And I'll tell
you, it's not grievous, is it? You go try to obey that law of
Moses and tell me it's not grievous. That's grievous! I look at some
of that stuff and I still don't quite understand every bit of
it, how everything was actually done. That's why the Scripture says,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law. But Christ was made a curse for us, so that
we might be free from the law. Free from the law. So therefore
our sovereign King, who rules all creation, who rules all providence,
is moving all things for the salvation of His elect. Believer
in Christ, our Lord reigneth. He is sovereign over all things.
created all things, predestined all things, and His provident
directs all things. He rules over all men and all
that would oppose Him, and our God is sovereign in this matter
of salvation. He is sovereign. So when I say the Lord reigneth,
you bet this, He reigneth in salvation. What does that mean? It means simply this, God will
save whomsoever He will. We got that in Romans chapter
nine, go back over there. Romans chapter nine. Look at
this act of sovereign salvation. This is a picture of all men.
These two men, Jacob and Esau. The scripture says in Romans
9, it says in verse 11, the children not yet being born, neither having
done good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Not of works, but of him that
calleth. It is said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger
as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What is this? Before they were
born, they were chosen. One was chosen and predestinated
to eternal life and one was reprobate. One was determined by God to
be reprobate. So then the question comes, what
shall we say? Is that unrighteousness? Would God do that? God forbid. Why? He told Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then salvation is what? Of
a sovereign act of God. It is not of him that willeth
nor him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy. It's not
him that merits it. It's not him that earns it. It's
not him that works for it. It's of sovereign mercy. In verse 21, he says this, Hath
not the potter power of the clay to make of the same lump one
vessel of honor and another of dishonor? Is it wrong for God
to do this? No. Why? Because He takes from the same
lump. You see, if He makes one to mercy, He's manifesting something
that is His own mercy. You know, if mercy is earned,
it's not what? It's not mercy. Yet God, willing to display His
mercy, takes of this fallen lump of humanity and He, in grace
and power, makes them vessels of honor prepared for glory. He makes us that way. Then He
takes another man of that same lump and He makes that vessel
of dishonor. Now has he done anything unjust?
No. He molds that clay and shapes
that clay however he wants to, make it a vessel of dishonor,
and he uses it. He's done no injustice. He's
done what was his right to do. So consider this you who believe. that it was our Lord Jesus Christ
in sovereign mercy agreed to be your surety. In a covenant
of free grace, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself took upon Himself
the responsibility to save His people from their sins. He was
made a surety of a better covenant. That old covenant was a covenant
Obey the law and live. None of us could do that. None
of us did that. But a new covenant, a better covenant, Jesus was
made surety. What does that mean? Responsible.
He was made responsible. I believe it's in Hebrews chapter... Hebrews chapter 7. That's where
it says it. Hebrews chapter 7. verse 22 scripture says but so much more
was jesus made surety of a better testament now look in chapter
8 and verse 8 chapter 8 and verse 8 it says For finding fault with them,
saith he, behold, the day is come, saith the Lord, when I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house
of Judah, not according to covenant I made with their fathers in
the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land
of Egypt, because they continue not in my covenant, and I regarded
them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant I will
make with the house of Israel." The covenant Jesus is going to
be surety of, here it is. He said, I will put my laws in
their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be their
God and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor and every man his brother saying, know the
Lord. They shall all know me from the least of them to the
greatest for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. How could
God do that? only by way of substitution,
only by way of assurity ship, only by the way that Jesus Christ
should be made their mediator, be made their high priest, to
offer a sacrifice acceptable, and that sacrifice was Himself. Look at chapter 9 and verse 11. This is how God will not remember
our sins anymore. Let's look at verse 11 in chapter
9. It says, But Christ, being come an high priest, a surety,
a representative of good things to come, the new covenant, greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood entered in once into the holy
place. And what did he do? he obtained
eternal redemption. This is the sovereign will of
Christ, that he should obtain eternal redemption. And listen,
in verse 28, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look unto
him, he shall appear the second time. He shall appear the second
time without sin unto full salvation. This is the sovereign reign of
Jesus Christ. Now we're gonna quickly look
at these last, go back to your text. Go back to your text and
quickly look at this. He says he's clothed with majesty.
Jesus was always worthy of praise and honor. He was always clothed
with majesty and with strength and from eternity as deity, but
especially as he became a man, especially as he became surety
for his people. He came into this world as a
man and his strength He obtained righteousness and redemption
for us. That thing that He did as our surety, that thing He
purposed to do as sovereign Lord, He actually accomplished in majesty
and strength. That psalm back in Psalm 45,
it says, He shall ride prosperously. In majesty, He shall ride prosperously. And He did. Christ came into
the world and clothed Himself in humanity and rode prosperously
in strength. Christ, the omnipotent, all-powerful
Son of God, robed in strength, and He finished the work God
has given Him to do. He called us by His grace. He
saved us by His mercy. Now think of this. If He is so
robed in majesty and strength, how then shall you ever be separated
from Him? If such a sovereign God determined
to save you, if such a sovereign Lord accomplished your salvation
by His death, if such a sovereign Lord come in time and gave you
life, what do you suppose should separate you from Him? Nothing. Nothing. Why? Because He purposed
He purposed it. He accomplished it. He established,
look at this. It says this, that verse two,
thy throne is established of old. Thou art from everlasting. Thy throne is established. It said the world is established.
It cannot be moved, but how much more is this? Thy throne is established. Listen, this world is gonna be
burned up soon and everything in it. What do you love most
in this world? It's going to be burned up. It's
all going to be made new. Isn't that going to be great? When Christ comes again and we
made new, a new heaven and new earth, he will establish a world without sin. Can you
imagine that? I'll tell you what, I think it's impossible for us
to imagine a world without sin. But it's going to come. He's
going to establish a world without a curse, a world that is centered
in the worship of Christ. You imagine an ever eternal day
of nothing but worshiping Christ and rejoicing always with not
being any exhaustion. No exhaustion, no mental fatigue. It's hard for us now to read
scripture and pray. We're mentally fogged and the
tensions are always pulling us in opposite directions. Then
it won't be any distractions. When He comes again in this world,
it's not gonna be moved, it's gonna be changed. But I'll tell you this, we now
by faith know that Christ will come and receive us. We know
that's His promise. He said, if I go away, I will
come again and receive you. We believe that promise. We believe
that promise. But how do we know? How do we
know this is going to take place? Thy throne is established forever.
It cannot be moved. God has accepted His offering.
He's approved of His righteousness. He's imparted and imputed that
righteousness to us. And He swears that none of His
will be lost. He said, I will lose none. That's a good promise, isn't
it? So far we've dealt with some wonderful things. The Lord reigneth.
He reigns in creation. He reigns in providence. He reigns
over all flesh. He reigns over all providence
and things that happen for the salvation of His people. Why?
Because He has clothed Himself in majesty. He's come in the
flesh. He's accomplished our redemption as our surety. He's
given us a new heart and a new life. We see that His throne
is established forever. That should comfort us. But notice
this, he says something's happening, some trouble is taking place
in his psalm. He said in verse three, the floods
have lifted up. Oh Lord, the floods have lifted
up their voice, the floods have lifted up their wave. Two things,
the voice of the wave, the voice of the floods and the waves of
the floods. The voice of the floods have
lifted up. What are these floods? What about
the floods of your sin? Every believer still has that
old man to contend with, self. Self. Sin. Does not the voice of conscience
flood you? The voice of the flood? You know
what? Your sin has been put away. Your
sin has been removed. Yet we still hear the voice.
What do we hear? Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! What do we hear? How can you
be a son of God? How is it possible that you should
do these things and still claim to have any ties with Christ? That's the voice of the flood,
the voice of the enemy, the accusations that come. But listen, it's only
a voice. What's the remedy? The Lord reigneth. Thy throne is established forever.
He's girded Himself in majesty. He's come and He's saved me.
That's just a voice. What does His voice say? Here's
what His voice says. It is finished. That's what His
voice says. But there's also the waves of
our sins. What is this but the consequences of our sins? You
see, we hear the voice of Him and I'll tell you, sometimes
we feel the consequence of Him. And it's a flood, isn't it? You
know David's consequence? He lost three sons. Can you imagine the pain? Can you imagine the shame that
he felt the rest of his life because of his sin? He lost three
of his children. He lost his kingdom. His best
friend betrayed Him. He lost everything. That's the
waves of sin. What's the remedy for such waves? Here it is. The Lord reigneth. He hath clothed Himself in strength
and majesty. Thy throne is established forever. There's the remedy. You think
your sin happened by accident? You get this, it was purposed. How could that be for my good? You listen, if you are a believer,
it will. Surely one consequence of these
waves, it draws us to Christ. Here's our relief, look at this
in verse four. What about, oh, what about the
floods of providence? Oh providence, dark providences. How often does our heart so cold
and indifferent to the things of God? How vile are men who attack us
and persecute us. Our enemies are strong, Satan
the world and the flesh are constantly provoking us. Remember old Lot, he lost everything,
didn't he? He lost everything. Job, he lost everything. Dark
providences. Their floods and their voices
of these things come constantly. But what's our remedy? Look at
this in verse four. The Lord on high is mightier
than the noise of many waters and mightier than the waves of
the sea. Oh, friends, God is mightier
than all the waves. Matter of fact, he set their
bounds. That's what it said in Jeremiah
chapter five. He said, shouldn't you fear me instead of anyone
else? Have I not set the sand so that the waves could not come
past the sand? You imagine the sand. Is there
anything about sand that's strong enough that could be against
the waves? No, God just says, I'm using sand as a barrier. And I've set the bounds of your
trials. I've set the bounds of your troubles.
I've set the bounds of the waves that overwhelm you. I've measured
them out. I am mightier than the floods.
Isn't that what He showed the disciples when He said, to the
seas, peace, be still. And they obeyed His voice. Do
you not think that that voice is still mightier than the waves
and seas of your floods? You bet He is. He is. You remember that in the Old
Testament when God destroyed the world with the floods. And after Noah came out of the
ark, what was the sign of the covenant? It was a rainbow. That God would
no longer destroy the world. What a picture. After Christ
had endured our suffering, the ark, after He had endured our
suffering, God gave us a covenant that He would never bring His
wrath on us again. And you know that rainbow is
still encircling the throne of God? That rainbow is ever before
His eyes, knowing this, that though He allows the waves to
come and trouble us, they will never destroy us. Why? The Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. Because he
clothed himself in human flesh and accomplished our redemption.
His throne is established forever, and these waves, He is mightier
than the sea. And listen to this, His testimony
is true. His testimony, that's the last
thing it says in verse five. It says that, Thy testimonies
are very sure. Holiness becomethon house, O
Lord, forever. Isn't that what we just read?
The testimony of the Lord is sure. What does that tell you? Over what? Everything. What is
not under His control? And so if you are His, what then
should we be troubled about? I know you are, but may God help
us by faith to see His testimonies assured. I pray God will bless
this to you.