If you'll take your Bibles and
turn with me now to Psalm 115. Psalm 115. This morning we'll be looking
at verses 1 through 3. And the title of the message
is, A Humble Prayer to the Sovereign God. An Humble Prayer to the
Sovereign God. The scripture says, not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for
thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. This psalm was said to be sung
during Passover, during the time of remembrance of when Israel
was delivered from the nation of Israel by the blood of the
Passover lamb. Remember how that the Lord saved
Israel by the blood of the Lamb and delivered them from Pharaoh,
and by parting the Red Sea, and how the Lord stopped the flow
of Jordan and stopped the river so that they might go through
into the Promised Land. This is a picture. We know that
this is a great picture. God did this miracle to give
us the Gospel in a type, in a shadow, in a picture. And yet, What was the world's
view at this time? When God parted the Red Sea,
when God parted Jordan, what was the view of man? There was
great fear. There was great fear. If you
were to go to Joshua chapter 2, you remember what Rahab the
harlot said to the spies. She said, the hearts of all men
are like wax. They've melted because of you.
because of God's mighty power. And when they crossed Jordan,
this was the same report, that their hearts were melted, that
God had given them the land. They knew this. The hearts of
men were fearful. They feared the living God. And you remember, after the slaughter
of the kings, there were five kings in Canaan. And the Scripture
says that these kings rose up in fear, but they rose up against
Israel, and God took Moses, and He put His arms out. And He says,
as long as you keep your arms up, you're going to get the victory.
And remember, Aaron and Hur were standing there holding Moses'
arms. They put stones under there.
And you remember that God gave them the victory. Moses' hands
was lifted up. God gave them the victory, and
Moses, he put a A banner there. He said, this is Jehovah Nissi,
the Lord our banner. You see, it was time that the
people of the land of Canaan feared. But when the time passed,
when the time passed, what happened to that fear? It dissipated. It went away. This is what happens
to lost sinners who are not quickened by the Holy Spirit when they
come to death or when they come to a sickness or an illness.
They begin to fear God. They begin to dread death and
consider eternity. And they begin to fear. But when
they're made well, when God gives them grace to be healed, what
happens to them? They go away. They don't fear
God anymore. It goes away. When Israel was at peace, this
fear had ceased because the wonders of God had ceased. When this
psalm was being sung by the Israelites during their time of peace, the
nations of the world no longer feared God because there was
no more great wonders like there were at the Red Sea. There was
no great Destruction of the wicked. They began to grow bold in their
blasphemy to God. And thus the scripture says here,
Wherefore do the heathen say, Where is now their God? Ecclesiastes chapter 8. Flip
over there with me. Ecclesiastes chapter 8. See the
wisdom of Solomon concerning this matter? Ecclesiastes chapter
8 and verse 11. Because sentence against an evil
work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons
of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil an hundred
times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall
be well with them that fear God, which fear before him. But it
shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his
days, which are as a shadow, because he feareth not before
God." Because a sentence, God has pronounced a sentence
on evil men. God has pronounced death. The
soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. This is God's sentence. And because men are living long
lives, and the sentence of death is not executed immediately after
their sin, what does it do? It embolds men to be more sinful. Their heart is fully set in them
to do evil. When God operates silently among
men, it seems that wickedness, evil men, and open rebellion
against God and His people seem unnoticed and unpunished by God. And the more they are, the more
bold men are to blaspheme God. The more bold they feel to curse
God, and to defy His very existence and right to rule. Is this not
what Asaph saw in his psalm, Psalm 73? In Psalm 73 he said,
they cease not to open their mouths against heaven. They're not careful about death.
They're bold in their death. They don't have any fear like
God's men do concerning eternity, concerning matters of sin, righteousness,
and judgment. God's people have troubles with
these things, yet the world and the wicked do not. They're strong
in their convictions that there is no God. They're strong in
their convictions, bold with their mouth. And this causes
all of us who fear God who reverence God, who are saved by the blood
of Christ, this causes us much grief. Does this cause you grief? When
you see the wickedness of this nation, does that cause you grief?
It does me. It causes me much grief. I am
very sad when men use the name of our God in such a flippant
manner. We who know that Jesus Christ
is our Passover, this morning we are celebrating the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Passover. That's what we do when we come
to worship. We are coming to celebrate the blood and righteousness
of our Savior. We come to worship. And yet these
fears, these troubles, these griefs from sin and the world
come in on us even when we try to worship. We know that our salvation is
accomplished. We know that Christ has secured
our salvation and we know that we have this witness in ourselves.
We have the Holy Spirit that testifies to us that we are saved
by the blood and righteousness of Christ. That He has ascended
from the grave and He has risen again, seated on the throne of
God. We have this assurance in ourselves.
We know this. And yet we live in such a time
where evil men and false religion abounds. It not only exists, it abounds. We live in such a time, as Paul
warned us, over to 2 Timothy. Look at chapter 3. And tell me
if this is not our time. Tell me if this is not your generation
that you live in. 2 Timothy 3, verse 1. This, know also, that in the
last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers
of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affections,
truth-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers
of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of
pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof from such turn away. Look at verse 12. Yea, and all
that will live godly in Jesus Christ shall suffer persecution,
but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving
and being deceived." Is that not clear that this is not going
to get better? That this world is not getting
better. This world is getting worse.
Evil seducers shall be worse and worse. And not only that,
they shall be deceived in their evil practices. They'll be deceived
by false religion that is boastful, proud, heady, high-minded man. Lovers of self and pleasure.
We live in such a time. What are we to do in such a time
as this? When we are surrounded by those
who have a form of godliness. but deny the power of the blood
of Jesus Christ. Deny the power of salvation that
comes from God alone. What are we to do in such a time
as this, when God seems to hide His face from us? How are we to endure the boldness
of evil men who say to us, where is your God? Have you not had
men say that? How many are there that go to
your service? You see, what they've done is
said, where's your God? If your God is true, then why
are there so few? Why is there not more activity? Why is there not all of this
outward physical miracles? Where are they? Where's your
God? It's exactly what they're saying. Paul says to us in to Timothy,
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and
hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. By whom have you learned the
gospel of Jesus Christ? By whom? Was it by me? Was it
my doing? No. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit. That's how we know. The power
of God's salvation comes by the Holy Spirit. He's revealed the
Scriptures and made us wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus
Christ. He's made us wise. He's made
us to understand these things. Do you trust the Son of God? Do you believe God? It's altogether different to
believe in God and believe God. Do you believe God? Do you know whom you have believed? If we know the Lord Jesus Christ,
then let us rejoice no matter what this world does or says. We should rejoice in Christ Jesus
our Savior who has made peace with God for us. We should rejoice
in Him. We should find comfort, we should
find rest, we should find assurance, not by looking at them or what
they say, but by looking at what God has told us and confirmed
in us by the power of His own Holy Spirit. Rejoice in the gospel of His
grace. And know this, that all our rejoicing,
all our worship, all our praise, all our preaching will be of
none effect to this world but by the grace of God. I know that you and I have a
desire for our families to believe. That's evident. It's evident. We want them to. But know this,
that salvation, just like your salvation, is by the grace of
God alone. I like what the Lord said to
Peter when He told him that he was going to die a specific death.
And Peter said, well, what about John? And He said, you don't
worry about John. Follow thou Me. You follow Christ. You believe
in Christ. You trust in Christ. And God
will do the rest. It's God's business to save.
It's God's business to quicken. It's not our business to change
this world. That's not what we're here for. You hear a lot of people want
to change society. People want the world to come
into their church and they get exactly what they want. I don't
want the world to come into this church. It'd tear us apart. I want God to call His people
and bring them in. I want God's people to hear the
Gospel and believe on Jesus Christ. And I know this. I have what
I asked for. I know that. That's so. That'll
happen. That will happen. Because God
said it would. Therefore, believer, let us fall
back on this ancient form of prayer. Go to your text. Look
at this. In Psalm 115. This psalmist was in the same
situation that we are today. And he falls back on an ancient
prayer. An ancient form of prayer. A
prayer of great humility. He says, nodding to us, Not unto us. Believer, when you go to God
in prayer concerning the hatred of men, concerning your suffering
and affliction, concerning His mercy and grace, when we go to
God, we must go boldly. The Scriptures tell us, come
boldly before the throne of grace that you might find help in time
of trouble. Come boldly. But what is boldly? Is that with arrogance? Is it
demanding of God anything? No. To come boldly is to come
reverently. We may come in a haste, but we
must come reverently. We must consider unto whom we
are approaching. Come boldly. In Hebrews chapter 12, I'll flip
over there. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 28,
it says, Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved,
let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear. Believer, if you are troubled
concerning this world, come to God with fear. This world won't
come to God with fear, but we should. We should come with reverence
to God, considering He is a consuming fire. We do not forget that our
God is holy and our God is right in whatsoever He does. We should
say, not unto us! Not unto us, O Lord! I don't
come in my own name. I don't dare approach Your throne
with my own works or because of me. Our Savior is our brother, but
He is still our God. Have you seen the foolish men
walking around with Jesus is my buddy t-shirts? That's foolishness. There's no reverence there. There's
no godly fear there. Our Savior is our God. And see
the humility. Not unto us, O Lord. Believer,
we are not saved because of us. We are not chosen because of
us. We are not redeemed because of us. We are not called to life
and faith because of us. And we are definitely not, our
prayers will not be accepted because of us. Not unto us. Not unto us. Lord, manifest Thy power and
might unto the sons of men, and what is our motive for this?
What is our desire that God would manifest Himself? What is the
motive that would move such a holy God to shut the mouths of the
wicked and call His people to Himself? What motive? The motive
the psalmist gives here, but unto thy name give glory. Friends, the only thing that
moves God is His own glory. The only thing that causes God
to do anything is for His own glory. The reason you believe
is for His own glory. You were not saved because of
you. God didn't look at you and say, well, man, look at him.
He's just worthy of this. No! God said, I'll save you to
show you my glory. That's what He did. And everything
God does is for His glory. So why not pray for thy name's
sake? For thy glory's sake. Lord, we long to see the days
of the great awakening. Is that not true? I long to see days like that.
I long to see days like the days of Pentecost where thousands
would come. I long to see the day when 500
would come. Lord, we long to see Thy churches
full, that all the chosen race May with one voice and heart
and soul sing Thy redeeming grace. We long for that. By what right should we ask this,
that sinners be saved? By what motive will God be moved
to shut the mouths of the wicked who preach the blasphemy of free
will works religion? Who's going to shut their mouth?
And if He does, what motive will God shut their mouth? Not unto
us. By what authority? Not by my
authority. But unto thy name give glory. This is the cry of Moses when
God was about to destroy the nation of Israel. He said, why
would you allow the Egyptians to speak mischief? concerning
your people. Joshua said, What wilt thou do
unto thy great name? Believer, there is no greater
argument for God to reveal Himself in His own glory. No greater argument. Lord, reveal
Thyself for Thine own glory. The Scripture tells us that the
Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked,
for the day of evil. Why are men allowed to blaspheme
and boast against our God in this day? Because God allows
it. And He does it for Himself. And if God will strike fear into
this nation again, it will be for His own glory and no other
reason. No other reason. Scriptures are clear. This is
why we have been chosen. Is that not true? Go to Ephesians
chapter 1. Read it. Read the purpose of
God concerning our salvation, our election, Ephesians chapter 1. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him, in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself. Here's the motive. According
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. We confess ourselves sinners. Every believer confesses this
to be true. We confess ourselves unworthy. And yet we pray that God will
reveal Himself not for us, not because of us, but because of
His own glory. We desire that men be saved and
the mouths of the wicked be shut. And where is God's name glorified? Where do we find the glory of
God? The Scriptures are plain that
it's only in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. For God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in
our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God. Where? In the face of Jesus Christ. Every time I think of that, I
always refer back to when Moses said, Lord, let me see thy glory. And what did God say? You cannot
see my face. The glory is in the face. The
face of the Son of God. It's in Christ. The manifestation
of God's glory is only in the Son. He said, I and my Father
are one. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. Therefore, we seek not the revelation of the wrath
of God, but the glory of God, for His mercy and truth's sake."
That's what our text says. It says, "...for Thy name, the
name of Thy glory..." Hold on, let me read it. Let me get back
to my text. "...but to Thy name give glory,
for Thy mercy and Thy truth's sake." The truth is that all
men are sinners and none are righteous. That's the truth,
isn't it? Isn't the truth that God's going to punish all sin?
Yes, that's the truth. The truth is God is holy and
He must punish man, body, heart and soul. You sin with your body,
you sin with your heart, you sin with your soul, and if God
is going to punish man for his sins, He'll punish all of man,
the whole man, for eternity. That's the truth. And the law
of this is written in the hearts of man, on tables of his heart and on
the tables of stone, but the mercy of God, the mercy of God
is revealed by Jesus Christ. The truth is you deserve hell.
I deserve hell. Mercy and truth, mercy is free
salvation. Free forgiveness of sins. How can the truth and mercy meet
together? Only in the person of Jesus Christ. The mercy of God in truth is
glorious. God in mercy sent His Son to
be the substitute for sinners. And only by His one blood offering.
Has He forever satisfied the justice of God for sinners? Only in Him can righteousness
and peace kiss each other. That's the only place. Why then do the heathen question
our God? Why do the heathen rage and imagine
a vain thing? Why are they lifted up against
the Lord and against His anointed? Saying, let us shake their bands
from us. Let us break away from them. The God of heaven shall laugh. Impossible. They can rage all
they want to. He has already revealed His glory
and grace by the death and resurrection of His Son. And if any are to
be saved, It will be by a miracle of grace. A miracle of grace. Does God seem silent to you in
our day? Do the wicked seem to prosper?
The heathen seem to rage? Are the men of our generation
fully set to do evil? Yes. But let not your heart be troubled. Let them rage. Let them ask. Pray that God would reveal His
glory, that He would call His people, and that the wicked would be
silenced and rest in this truth, verse 3, but our God is in the
heavens. he hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased." Believer, our God is sovereign. What does He do whatsoever He
pleases? Whatsoever He pleases in creation
He is sovereign in the providence of time. He is sovereign in the
affairs of men, angels, demons, and Satan. There is nothing that
moves without His direct permission. My sister, you are suffering.
But I know this is the direct hand of God for you. There is nothing that is outside
of the hand of our God He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased."
Our God is sovereign. And we especially rejoice in
His salvation because it's sovereign. You were chosen by His sovereign
will. You were saved by His sovereign
decree. You were saved by the will of
Christ who redeemed you. You were saved by the will of
the Spirit who quickened you. And you are kept by the sovereign
will of God so that nothing, nothing will take you out of
His hand. Nothing. Let them rage. Submit yourselves under the mighty
hand of God. And He will. This is not a doubt. There's no doubt here. He is not saying He may be. He
will exalt you in due time. He will. Well, I'm not worthy. Well, of
course you're not worthy. I'm not either. But isn't that the whole point
of grace? I'm not worthy to be kept. But
I am going to be kept by grace. By His sovereign mercy. The Lord will show mercy to whom
He will show mercy. And I'm so glad that He has shown
me mercy. And so when this world is so
full of hatred, so full of sin, and they say, where is thy God? We bow before our God and say,
Father, glorify thy name. Honor your truth and mercy. Honor
your Son. We know that you're sovereign. whatsoever seems good in thy
sight. And you know you have exactly
what you ask for. That will happen. And we should
rest in that. That should be enough. I pray
that God will bless this to your hearts.