And the title of the message
is, The Rain and the Floods. Now, that's not the rain as in
R-A-I-N, but the rain, R-E-I-G-N, rain and the floods. We'll see that title here in
just a minute, how it comes into play. The psalmist writes in
Psalm 93, the Lord reigneth. 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. 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. The reign of the Lord, and surely
the floods of the Lord upon His people. Now this psalm begins,
as said before us here, is without title or author. I think this is important because
this can be then related to every believer in his dire situation. But its subject here is plain. It doesn't have a title or an
author, but the subject of this psalm is very clear. It's revealed
in the first line, the Lord reigneth. So then the absolute and omnipotent
sovereignty of God is here, plainly stated. This is to all God's
saints a very self-evident truth, isn't it? The Lord reigneth.
The Lord reigneth. This is something every believer
knows and finds great comfort in. The Lord reigneth. It is
an obvious truth that cannot be denied. And it is a truth
that we do not debate. It is a simple truth. Plain. For the Lord hath created
all things, and by His hand they were created. Therefore God, the maker of all
things, surely is the ruler of all things. The Lord reigneth. And from verse 3, we may see
then the occasion of this declaration. Why then is this declaration
made? If this is a self-evident truth,
which it is to every believer, why then should this declaration
be made? Why then should we be reminded
that the Lord reigneth? Here's the occasion. Verse 3. The floods, O Lord, the floods
have lifted up. Oh Lord, the floods have lifted
up their voice, the floods lift up their waves. This is the occasion
that the people of God had come into great trouble, as with a
flood. Now listen, I've been in a flood,
and they come on very quickly. They come on very quickly, without
warning. The rain comes in and all of
a sudden it pours and the water overwhelms you. It's a flood. It comes in. And this is the
people of God's experience, is that we are often in great floods
of afflictions, floods of trouble. This was true of the nation of
Israel, wasn't it? The nation of Israel was often
in great danger from their enemies. It was often the case, you remember
how they forsook God often. How often they were seduced to
follow after the religion of their neighbors. How often they
were prone to leave the worship of God for the things of the
world. That sound familiar? That sound
familiar to you? Prone to wonder. Lord, I feel
it, prone to leave the God I love." And you remember what God did
to the nation of Israel when they forsook Him, when they left
Him. He would chasten them. He would chasten them. He would
send their foes, their enemies, in to assault them. He would
allow His people to be taken captive. He would allow their
possessions to be taken from them. And by this, He would show them
the vanity of this world. He would show them the vanity
of the gods of their neighbors that were not able to help them.
And then what would Israel do? They would cry unto the Lord. They would cry unto Him. They
would say, the floods have lifted up, O Lord, their voice. They've
lifted up. The waves have lifted themselves
up against me. They cried unto God. And so then, what was the message? What else, what other message
then could comfort the children of Israel in such a flood of
affliction but this, the Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth is
the message God gives to give hope and encouragement to His
people. In the midst of their flood,
in the midst of your afflictions, God gives you this comfort. Here
it is, the Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. The Lord on
high is what? Mightier than the floods. Mightier than the floods. And
so today it is my heart's desire to speak to the people of God
who are in floods, in afflictions, in trouble. You that cry out
to the God in the midst of all your sorrows, all your griefs,
This is a message from God to you. From God to you. Here it is. The Lord reigneth.
The Lord reigneth. We, like Israel of old, aren't
we so prone to sin and unbelief? Lord, I believe. Help Thou my
unbelief. Though we were chosen of God.
That's true, isn't it? We were chosen of God. before
the world began by free grace by grace we were redeemed by
the blood of Jesus Christ by the grace and power of the Holy
Spirit we have believed on the Son of God he has quickened us
to life and though we have been given such faith as to believe
on Christ so that we are now given a holy nature We are accounted
righteous before God. Is that not evident truth to
us? We know, Paul said, that no man's justified by the Lord.
We know this. We're justified by the faith
of Jesus Christ. We're justified. We're righteous
before God. We have the very righteousness
of Christ robed in the new nature. Yet, what must we confess? We
confess the old nature still abides. The old nature still
abides. John says, If any man say he
hath not sinned, he hath made God a liar. So believers, though
we are robed in the righteousness of Christ, yet we confess our
sins. Why? Because He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins. We still have sin. We still have
the old man, the old nature. You remember what Paul said in
Romans 7. He said, "...in my flesh dwelleth..."
What? No good thing. No good thing. "...not the will that is present
with me, but how to perform that which I want I don't find." I
can't find it. "...O wretched man that I am."
Not that I was. Oh, how foolish vain religion
is to think that they've overcome this flesh, that they can somehow
put away this old man and never see him again. Listen, if there's
no struggle, there's no life. There's no struggle, there's
no life. Believers, we have a warfare with this old man. And so when
we were born again, God gave us a holy nature, but what did
He do to the other one? He did nothing to it. other than
put it in subjection to the new nature, he did nothing. It is
still just as vile as it was before. Therefore, every child
of God has a perpetual struggle within
his own breast, a warfare that will never cease until this body
is laid in the ground and made ready for resurrection. And so because we are still prone
to sin and forsake believing in Christ, except for forsaking
believing in Christ, we are made to feel the floods and waves
of trouble in this life. What about the flood of sin?
Sin is a flood, isn't it? How often Do we, like David,
desire with holy zeal not to sin? We make resolutions, don't
we? How many resolutions have we
made not to sin? I will not sin, David said with
my lips. I'm not even going to talk. And he walked around with righteous
outward piety, and then what happened? His heart began to
stir. With what? Guilt. Look, if we
put ourselves in a monastery somewhere out in the desert,
alone, by ourselves, sew our lips shut, tie our hands and
feet, yet what? We are still at our best state,
altogether vanity. Sin begins to stir, and it was
like a steam pot that was building in David, so ready to explode. Therefore we find this principle
when we would do good, evil is present with me. Evil is present
with me. What do we need? We need the
Lord to teach us. We need the Lord to forgive us and to help
us. Because by our own hands we cannot
stop sin. You found that to be true? That's
just so for us. We have no power or strength
in ourselves. And so often, sin comes in like
a flood. Though we determine not to do
it, it overwhelms us. The second is the chastening
hand of God. That's a flood, isn't it? Isn't
that the result of this? When we sin, what does God do?
He comes and He chastens His children. He said, Whom the Lord
loveth, He chasteneth. and scourgeth every son he receiveth."
Believer, do you feel the chastisement of your God? Are His chastisements
come in like a flood? Now God is long-suffering to
us, isn't He? How many sins? How many times
have God allowed us to go our own way? He's long-suffering
with us, and patient and kind, and we say, we will not, we will
have our own way. And God says, there you go, there
you go. He allows us to go our own way.
And by our own foolish wisdom, we forsake the Word of God, the
preaching of the Gospel, we forsake the study, we leave off prayer. What a horrible thing is that,
isn't it, that we're prone to do? Leave off praying. Communing
with God, we are prone to leave it off. You remember Jonah, he forsook God,
didn't he? God told him to go to Nineveh
and he forsook God. I like when the Lord prepared
that fish for Jonah. And the fish swallowed Jonah.
You remember He said, the waters are come in unto my soul. Isn't that what it is? God was
chastening His child, and the waters of affliction came into
Him, unto His soul. He was dragged to the bottom.
How often have we felt that as believers in Christ? Here's another example, the bride
in Song of Solomon. How often are we like the bride,
the sleeping and slumbering spiritual slumber of the bride? And what
Christ comes to our hearts knocking so sweetly upon the door of our
hearts and he whispers open to me Open to me my love my sister
my dove my undefiled For my head is filled with the dew and my
locks with the drops of the night See how he calls to his own sleeping
bride and Seeing He chose us, He redeemed
us, He called us, He keeps us. What does that make us? That
makes us His. He says to you, My love, My dove,
My undefiled. Now these harsh words, now she
deserved harsh words, didn't she? She would not open to Him. And He speaks such sweet words
of affection to us. And what does he say? He says,
My head is filled with the drops of the night. What is he referring
to? He's saying, Jesus, our beloved,
has endured the darkness of our sins. It's as though the husband had
worked all night and the dew was filled his locks. What is
he saying? Jesus Christ says, I have worked in the night. I
have worked under the wrath of God to pay for your sins. I have prepared my feast. I have brought forth the fruits
of my labors so that we may feast together. that I should be your Savior
and He calls us to feast and rejoice and pray and worship
and in devotion to Him. But our hearts are so hard, our
affections are so cold that we will not open. And what do we
do? We make excuses. We make excuses. I've put off my coat. How can
I put it on again? I've washed my feet. How can
I get them dirty again? open to you. What do we say? We have no time. I have no time. No time for you. The children are just too much.
They're just too much. I have no more time left. My
job is too demanding. I have no time for you. My husband and wife, they're
no help. so i have to do everything myself there's no time left for
you i've already made my plans how
can i disturb my plans to open to you? anybody have any relationship
to that? or is it just me? i can identify with her all but when he puts his hand
to the hole of the door, and the smell of His sweet grace
comes to our nostrils. We then spring up like the bride. We then search Him out. We open to Him. But what happens? He chastens us by this. He's
gone. He's gone. And surely then the floods of
sorrow and grief come when he hides his face. Is there any
greater chastisement for a believer than to have his face hid from
our sight? And so we cry with Jeremiah,
Wherefore dost thou forsake us forever, and forsake us so long
time? Oh, the floods of sorrow when
God hides His face. What about the hand of chastisement
comes not only inwardly, these afflictions that I've mentioned
now are inward afflictions, but He also chastens us by outward
afflictions. There are outward floods that
we face. such as a sickness, the evil
providence of sickness, the hatred of men, financial troubles, whatever
outward affliction you may face, God may use this to chasten His
children. I tell you, one of the things
of this generation, one of the worst chastisements, it seems,
of this generation is prosperity. Prosperity. for God to give us the things
of the world so as to starve us from the Gospel." What a chastisement
that is. And so, believer, is any of this
your plight? Does any of this relate to you?
We all understand these floods. Are you overwhelmed by sin, by
the floods of a cold and indifferent heart to God, to the worship
of Christ? Does He hide His face? from you,
do you feel the depths of your depravity? So as to think you
are lost? Have you ever felt that? Is the floods of the foes lifted
up their voice? Does Satan accuse you? Does your
conscience condemn you? These are floods that every believer
faces. Are the waves of providence seem
about to crush your soul and cause you to perish from God? Well, then I've got a message
for you. This was the occasion of the psalm, and this is the
occasion of God's people often in our life. The afflictions
and floods of sin and chastisement are often our case. But here
is the message. Lift up your hands. that hang
down and strengthen the feeble knees. Here is the message of
such consolation and comfort from God to you. Now listen,
this message I may have prepared, but this message was here long
before I prepared it. This message was here long before
that. It was here for you. It is a
message of God to you. And now listen, if you're not
at the moment in a flood, just wait. Because if this message
is not for you now, it will be later. Store it up. Here is the message. The Lord
reigneth. The Lord reigneth. In the midst
of your floods, in the very teeth of your trouble, here is your
message. The Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. Behold, whatsoever opposition
may arise, I want you to know this, God's throne remains unmoved. You're frantic. In the midst of your floods,
you're panicked. You're in disarray. But I want you to know this,
God is not panicked. God is not in disarray. He is reigning. Now, you know
this. Often I've told you this, and
it should be often reminded. Those words in the King James
Version with the ETH, we know this, that they are present perfect
tense. God is telling you this in the
midst of your flood. Look, I have been reigning. I am now raining and I shall
forever rain. And as we look upon the providences
of this life, they seem random. The turmoil of men seem chaotic
in this world. Can you make heads or tails of
what's going on? Can you tell the reason why things
happen? No. To us, it is a seemingly
random event. We don't understand. We can't
connect the dots. We don't know how this is going
to work for our good. God said it is, but we have no
idea how it's going to work for our good. We see the righteous suffer,
the wicked prosper, and yet, let us behold, the Lord is above
and untouched and unmoved from His place of dominion, where
He rules unopposed and in supreme serenity. For all these things are done
in accordance with His own sovereign will. He said, I am God and there is
none else. Declaring the end from the beginning,
from ancient times of things that were not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure. Psalm 115, Our God is in the
heavens, and hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Is this not what That wicked
and mighty king Nebuchadnezzar found out, when God made him
to eat grass for seven years like an ox, and then when his
reason returned to him, what did he say? He said, I bless
the Most High. I praised and honored him that
liveth forever, whose dominion and his kingdom is from generation
to generation. 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 inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? And such deity, such sovereignty
was not given. Look back at your text. The Lord
reigneth. This sovereignty was not given
to him. It was his by divine right and nature. Look what he says, he is clothed
with majesty. Not he was, he always was clothed
in majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength,
wherewith he hath girded, listen, himself, himself. Believer, behold, in the midst
of your flood the greatness of our God that reigneth in majesty
and strength that is all His own and is dependent upon none."
Listen, God said, there is none beside me. What did He mean by
that? None beside me. I don't need anyone's help. I'm
all by myself, alone, and do all my pleasure. God is alone
and needs no one. He is perfectly content and happy
in Himself, full of majesty and strength. Are you in floods,
your grief, your sorrows, your troubles? Are you clothed in
the rags of your sins? Are you without strength and
cannot overcome the floods of your souls? Then listen, God
reigneth. God reigneth and is clothed in
majesty and strength. He is our God. He rules our floods. Don't you know that? That your
floods are ruled by Him? Our sorrows and even our sins
and all the providences and circumstances of life are ruled by Him alone. Therefore, you who have experienced
His grace and have seen His majesty and plan of salvation, you who have by faith seen the
strength of God." Where did you see this majesty and strength
of God? Did you not see it at the cross? You saw the majesty
of God's holiness poured out on our sins, and you saw the
strength of God as He endured the wrath of God for us upon
the tree. This is seen only in Jesus Christ. And we know the power of God
by the new birth, don't we? We were dead in trespasses and
sins, and God, by miraculous strength and sovereign will,
gave us life and faith. Remember, He who is from eternity
has loved you. This God that reigneth, He has
loved you with an everlasting love. Remember, He has redeemed
you from all your sins and quickened you by His power. Now then, with
all that God has done for you, do you suppose that He means
for these floods to kill you, to destroy you? Is that His purpose? God who reigns over the floods,
is it His intent to hurt you? By no means. Is it your father's purpose in
chastisement to kill you? No. He tells us that... He says in
John chapter 10 and verse 27. I'll read this to you. John chapter
10 and verse 27. He said, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me. I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. What is the will then of Him
that reigneth? It is that His sheep should never
perish, nor any man shall pluck them out of My hands. So then
why did He send these floods? You remember John Newton, he
had that hymn, he said, I prayed the Lord should give me grace.
and faith, that I should grow in the grace and faith of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But what did God do? He sent
floods. He sent floods. He said this, He made me feel
the hidden evils of my heart. He let the angry powers of hell
assault His soul in every part. Yea, more with his own hand he
seemed, intent to aggravate my woe, crossed all my fair designs
I'd schemed, cast me down, and laid me low." For what? What purpose? He said this, I did this to answer
prayer. To give you grace and faith. Do you desire grace and faith?
Have you prayed for that? Then you suppose why these floods
have come in on you? So that God should answer prayer
and give you grace and faith. And so then in the midst of your
floods, look back at verse 2. It says, "...thy throne is established
of old." Child of God, this should comfort
you. that the throne of your Savior has been established forever. This should comfort you because
I want you to know that your eternal security and salvation
is tied to the throne of Christ. Is vitally, inseparably tied
to the throne of Jesus Christ. Because God has chosen us and
put us in union with Christ, it is of vital interest to us
to understand that His throne is established. God says to His
Son, Thy throne, O God, is established forever, and Thy scepter is a
scepter of righteousness. This is vital to our souls and
our comfort. For we being in Christ are accepted
only in Him, and all our salvation is linked to the victory and
ascension of Christ to His throne. Remember in Isaiah chapter 9,
it said, Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the
government shall be where? Upon His shoulder. This is speaking of His church,
of His people, of Him being our surety. That we were linked to
His success, to His victory. You remember Paul said, if Christ
be not risen, your faith is in vain. Why? Because if He's not
risen, we are tied to Him. And if He's in the grave, we're
in the grave. Oh, but I've got good news. The
Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth, and as he
hath purposed, so has he done. He has, by Christ, put away our
sins. And by the victory and triumph
of Christ over the grave, he has ascended to the throne of
God where he sits, now ruling and reigning. He who chose us and called us,
the Lord Jesus Christ, has now in victory exalted us. The Lord reigneth. The Lord who in majesty and strength
chose us, saved us, and called us, the Lord Jesus Christ, now
sits upon His throne as our surety, and we are everlastingly linked
to Him. I want you to know in the midst
of your floods, the Lord that reigneth, the Lord that is now
seated on His everlasting throne, the Scripture says, is high. Oh, 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 the
noise, but He's Lord over all the sea itself. What wave does he not control? What providence then is outside
of his will? This was written in one of Spurgeon's
messages. It says, "...Fierce the stormy
billows broke, sounding to the echoing sky. Strong the breakers,
tossing high. But stronger is Jehovah's might."
Stronger is Jehovah's might. As in Providence, the throne
of God is fixed beyond all risk. I like that statement. You know
that God is not risking anything. God left nothing to chance concerning
the salvation of... His throne is fixed. It's set.
And so is your salvation. It is fixed. It is set. And listen,
so is providence. Don't you know that? Remember
the wheel within the wheel? It went straight forward. It
turned not to the right nor to the left. It went straight up.
So is the providence of God fixed. It's fixed. But there's something
else here fixed. The Word of God. The Word of
God is fixed, isn't it? He that hath begun a good work
in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Who
shall separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus?
Are you in Christ Jesus this morning? As you're in the midst
of your floods, I want you to know this. Are you in Christ?
That's altogether important. If you're not in Christ, surely
the floods will sweep you away. Surely the floods of God's justice
will overwhelm you in judgment. Are you in Christ? Then you must
know this. You are eternally loved of God. If you are in Christ and loved
of God, you are redeemed, you are justified. So then, who shall
separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? Who shall separate you from the
reigning Jehovah who has decreed your salvation? What flood will
destroy you or remove you? The answer is simple. Not one. Nothing and no one shall separate
you from Him. You got that? Nothing and no
one shall separate you from His love. No flood of sin or man
can drown His love or quench His sovereign affection toward
us. In this, we have confidence. Look at this in verse 5. Thy
testimonies are very sure. I know this because His Word
is sure. His testimonies are sure. The wisdom of man and his
teachings will fail. False religion will find an end. But one thing is true, God's
Word will stand forever. He said, We are not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold of your vain traditions
of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We were redeemed by His blood. We were called by this Word.
And He said, "...the Word of God liveth and abideth..." How
long? Forever. Forever. "...upon the
Sovereign Jehovah has set forth a sure foundation for His Church,
which is His Word." And what is the object and theme of the
Word of God? It is the Lord Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Sinner in the midst of your floods
in this even the sea of God's infinite wrath Shall never overflow
you because Christ has already endured The wrath you remember
the Israelites as they went through the Red Sea Can you imagine sometimes
the fear and the doubt? That the waters should fall on
them Did it? No. Why? Because the Lamb had already
been slain. God had already purposed their
deliverance. And there was no possibility
of them failing. And that's the same with you.
There is no possibility to fail. Why? The Lord Thy throne is established forever. The Lord is mightier than the
floods. Why? He controls the floods.
And His testimonies, His testimonies are sure. So no matter the floods, The
Lord is always mightier. So what is the believer to do
in the midst of his floods? Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. Which one? The one that reigns.
I don't trust any other Lord than the Lord that reigns. I
don't need any other Lord than the one who is mightier than
the floods. I don't need the Lord in a cooperative
sense, do you? I need the Lord to do for me
what I cannot do for myself. And His people have this promise,
My word is sure, I will save you. I will deliver you from
what? Every flood. Is that not your
experience? Has He not delivered you from
every flood before? And do you suppose now He'll
forsake you for some unseen sin that you did? No. I will never leave you. I will
never forsake you. I reign. May God bless the comfort
of your souls.