If you will take your Bibles
and turn with me to Psalm 93, Psalm 93. The title of the message is simply the first few
words of this Psalm. The Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. scripture says 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 the Lord reigneth And this message to
every believer in Christ, to everyone who is born again of
the Spirit of God, to everyone who has the new nature that is
created inside of us, this is a self-evident truth. This is a truth that no one has
taught us other than God Himself. His Spirit, the Scripture says,
testifies with our spirit. It testifies of this truth simply,
the Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. Now I'll tell
you, we may not have our fingers on the pulse of this religious
age. We may not have our attention,
we may not be up to date on all the current events that are going
on around us. Matter of fact, most of the time
I like it that way. Someone tells me that something
happened, I go, oh really? I'm just oblivious to it at times.
I don't have time for it and when I do, it does nothing but
depress me. So usually I just leave it be.
So we're not one to keep up with current events and we're not
one to figure out what religious debates are going on and that
kind of thing. We don't know that. We may not
know that. We may not be very educated folks. We may not know a lot. But no matter what men say, No
matter what men do, no matter how men try to educate us, no
matter how bad things seem to get in this world, we know this. And this is sure. The Lord reigneth. We know that. We know that. Believer, this is not a matter
that is up for debate. For a believer in Christ, no
matter what the intellectual discourses of men may be, and
no matter how logical they may sound, we know this, the Lord
reigneth. The Lord reigneth. And He reigns not because men
agree with it, And He reigns not because men disagree with
it. He reigns because He is the Lord
God omnipotent. He is the only true and living
God and He is the only self-existent being. I like this. He is the being of beings. Without Him, there is no being. Very simple, isn't it? He has clothed Himself in majesty. He hath girded on Himself strength. You see, it doesn't matter what
men say about God. It doesn't matter if they get
it all and they all sit down in a room and work out all their
issues and put it on a piece of paper, sign it, and say, yes,
the Lord reigneth. Well, the Lord reigned before
you signed it. The Lord reigned from eternity. And the Lord reigns
now and the Lord will reign forevermore. Men can rage and hell can rage
at it, but God reigneth. He is sovereign over all things. He is the Lord God and He reigns. I'll tell you, if you get ten
men in the same room who are lost, by the time you get done,
you'll have ten different gods. You see, they'll each give their
opinion about God. And they'll say, well, I think
God is this, and I think God is that. Well, it really don't
amount to a hill of beans what you think God is. God is who
God is. And what we think of God does
not change the fact God is what God is. I am that I am, He said. I didn't say I am because you
thought it. I am because you think it. I am because I am. There is only one true God. There
is only one true God and in Scripture He is clearly, distinctly manifest
in the Trinity of His persons. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons in the
Godhead, yet one omnipotent God. One God. John clearly tells us
this. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 7
says, For there are three. Three. that bear record in heaven. Who
are they? The Father, the Word, and the
Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the
Spirit. These three are one. No math in the world will ever
teach you that. You'll never get that in school.
Three never equals one. In Scripture it does, Nowhere
else. I can't wrap my mind around that.
I don't understand the fullness of that. I believe it because
this is how God manifests Himself. God says that there are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Spirit,
and these three are one. I believe that because God says it, not
because I can understand it. And it is God, God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit that reigneth over all
things. They are one in essence, one
in purpose, one in will, one in unity, and one in deity. And this is the beginning of
all wisdom. If you're to know God, you're to know who He is.
He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet one omnipotent God. And this omnipotent God, this
God that we have come to worship this morning, the Lord that reigneth,
I hope you've come to worship the only true and living God
because there is no other God. There is no other God. And because
He reigneth, He is sovereign in all things, especially this
matter of salvation. Salvation. This is the matter
that is most intimately particular to us as men. Salvation. I'll tell you, a man may know
the power of God, he may know the justice of God, and he may
know the righteousness of God. He may know the holiness of God,
but unless he knows these things in the face of Jesus Christ,
he has no salvation. Unless God reveals these things
to us by His omnipotent, sovereign grace, we cannot by nature know
them. He is sovereign in salvation. It was God the Father who in
sovereign love elected a people for Himself. He chose a specific people, a
specific number of people that He would save. What is that number? I don't
know. I didn't do it. I didn't elect anyone. God did. And this is a matter of great
love. This is a matter of great grace. And for the believer,
it is a matter of humility that God would choose us. That God
would redeem us. That God would save us is a matter
of great humbleness. It's not a matter of great pride
because there was nothing in us that would cause God to choose
us. Anyone who believes election
was based on anything they've done is nothing more than robbing
God of His glory and pride. That's it. If God chose you because
of what He saw you would do, then He chose you based on what
you would do, and therefore it is not of grace, but of works
that God elected anyone. Well, that's not the God of the
Scriptures, and that's not a God I know. Because my God reigneth. My God reigneth. He chose whom
He would. The Scripture says, Hath not
Potter the potter power over the clay to make one vessel of
the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor? It was the sovereign grace of
God that chose His people of the same lump of sin. There was
no difference in us and anyone else. There was no difference between
me and my brothers. We were all born of the same
parents, under the same house, following the same rules, and
yet God in grace chose me. It's not a matter of pride for me.
It's a matter of love and humility that the Father would choose
me. The Father would love us. And when the Father passes by
others, does He do them any injustice? No. Same lump. Same lump. And whether He has
chosen to make one to honor is a matter of grace. He could have
let the whole lump go. It was worthless. It was of no
value and when God lets a sinner go on his own merry way to hell,
God does him no harm. But all along the way, know this,
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth and he does with that man as
he pleases. The Father chose a people. And friends, God the Holy Son
agreed in the covenant of grace to save those people alone. The covenant of God's sovereign
grace. Christ chose to be the surety
of those people. What does the word surety mean?
If Christ agreed to be our surety, what is it to be a surety? Well,
to be a surety is a promise to be responsible for someone. It is a promise to be responsible
for them. Christ obligated Himself to be
responsible for us. Did He have to? No. But He did
it because He would. And as such a surety, he became
a man and provided for God's people what we could not provide
for ourselves. Obedience and payment for sin. There are the two ingredients
needed for every sinner to stand before God. Absolute obedience
and payment for sin. We could not provide these for
ourselves and therefore God in sovereign love did by Christ
provide all our righteousness and all our payment for sin. This act was an act of God's
own sovereign will. Let me ask you, where were we when God purposed this? Where
were we even when Christ died for our sins? We were nowhere
to be found. We were not in existence but
in the mind and purpose of God. And yet God still, knowing how
we would be born, knowing how we would hate Him, in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. And when He
came, who would oppose His work? If He is the Lord God, omnipotent,
the Son of God, who reigneth over all things, who could oppose
His work? Well, I'll tell you, everyone
did oppose His work, didn't they? Every Jew, everyone in the Jewish
synagogues opposed Christ. The Romans opposed Christ. And what did they say? Well,
let's kill the heir. Let's kill him and we'll be done away with
this. We'll silence him forever. But in crucifying him, what did
they do? They did what they wanted to,
but what did they actually do? They accomplished what he had
purposed. to do. Go to Acts chapter 2. Hold your place. Go to Acts chapter
2. I want you to see this, that
no matter what wicked men determined to do to oppose God, they will
only accomplish what he has determined to do. Chapter 2 and verse 22. You men of Israel, hear these
words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst
of you. As ye yourselves also know, him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. Why was he delivered? Because God purposed it. God
ordained it. There was no other way that Christ
would save His people but by the cross. There was no other
means. Remember the Scripture that said
hundreds of years. It says that they shall look
upon Him whom they have pierced. Crucifixion wasn't even a method
then of execution. It wasn't until years later that
crucifixion became the method of execution and perfected by
the Romans. How did they know? Because this
was what God, who reigneth, purposed. Keep reading. Who being delivered
by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Did God do anything that was
contrary to what they desired to do? No. But in desiring to do it, they
did exactly what God determined before to be done. Why? For the purpose of salvation.
for the purpose of saving His people from their sins. This
is the will of God. That He accomplished by the life,
death and resurrection of Christ our complete, perfect and utter
salvation. That's what He had purposed. And God to manifest to everyone. God didn't do this in a corner,
friends. God didn't do this in a secret place. This is not something
that has to be uncovered. This was done in the open. God raised His Son from the dead,
and they've been searching for His tomb for 2,000 years. They've
been trying to find His body for 2,000 years. I keep hearing
it. They say, oh, they found the body of Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. You know better. There are more witnesses to the
resurrection of Christ than the Declaration of Independence. That's right. 500 witnesses saw Him
alive after His death. And you cannot deny the power
of Christ and the gospel sweeping over the known world at that
time. Thousands came after hearing
the gospel once. Thousands. Nations were turned
upside down by 12 men. And every one of those men were
killed except for John who was exiled. You can't deny this. This was not done in a corner.
God raised Him and His throne is established. Look at your
text. He says in verse 2, Thy throne is established of old
from everlasting. Christ is sitting on the throne,
seated on the throne of God. He reigns. We have a man that
reigns. And this is important because
We're men. It's important that we have someone
who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, that knows
our struggles, that knows our weaknesses. We have one that
can sympathize with us. We can have one that can intercede
for us. We have one that has compassion
on us. We have one that loves us. One
that cares for us. And He is Himself reigning over
all things. You know, Gil, if you became
a king, I'd be pretty happy. Because I knew you when you were
broke. You see, that'd be good for us,
wouldn't it? We know Gil. Look, he's a king.
He's going to take care of us. He loves us. You know, how much
more love does Christ have who is king of all? He loves us with
infinite love. And he sits on the throne of
glory. And he rules over all things. He rules over all things. And God the Holy Spirit reigneth.
God the Holy Spirit reigneth in this matter of salvation because
He's the one that comes in grace and power to resurrect the soul
of sinners. This is His work. It is His work. to take the gospel that is preached
by a feeble man to feeble men and empower, create a new nature. Create. You know, I've never seen anything
created. I've seen things made. But I've
never seen something just create. It comes from somewhere. If you
take snow or rain, we know how the clouds get together and it
makes rain. The energy is not created or
destroyed. We know these things. So we see things that He has
already made. But this is the greatest power
in the world, in the universe. It's when God the Spirit comes
to a man and creates life inside of his heart. so that he may be able to believe
on Christ. He who was not willing or able
by the spirit of the sovereign God that blows where he wills,
he is both willing and able. Which sinner has ever been dragged
to Christ kicking and screaming? Running, yes! Running to Christ,
yes. But never unwillful. Never. Never unwilling to hear of His
gospel. Never unwilling to worship and
praise Him. This is because of the great
spirit, and we have a new heart, a new life, and we have a new
law. A new law. We have that law that's
written in our hearts from birth, but we are given a new law. What
is this law? The law of faith. The law of
life. Breathe in, breathe out. You
don't have to tell me that. I want to do that. I want to
breathe. I want to breathe. And when I
stop breathing, something's wrong. I know that. You don't have to
tell me to believe. I want to. It's my desire. It's my heart
to rest only in Christ who reigns. And that's the spirit that dwells
inside of us. And He gives that to whomsoever
He will. It's not for us to give it to whomsoever we will. It
is for Him to give it to whomsoever He will. If this is your heart, if you
know these things, then you could take comfort in this, that Christ
Now reigneth. Jesus has accomplished our redemption
and obedience to God. And now that all of our sins
have been imputed to Him, there is no more guilt or condemnation
of sin. Because He reigneth, because
He lives, we live. Because He sits on that throne,
our sins, we are sure of this, our sins, not in part, but the
whole was nailed to the cross, and we bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. It is well with my soul. It is
well. And we bow the knee to Christ
even as God had ordained that we bow. Every knee shall bow
and every tongue shall confess. What? That Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father. I bow today. I bow before a sovereign
king who is in control of all things. Do you believe that?
Do you believe that? What to God
I believe that more. If Christ is on the throne, is
it not true that He is in control of all creation? Is that not
right? Of course it is. Scripture says
in the beginning the Word was with God, the Word was God. And
the same was in the beginning with God. And all things were
made by Him. In Colossians it tells us all
things were made by Him and for Him. For Him. And if he is creator of all things
and friend, he is surely in control of all things. Because Christ made all things,
he reigns over all things. Isn't that what Nebuchadnezzar
found out? He got up on that balcony and looked out over his
massive kingdom and he said this in his heart. He said, Look at
what I have accomplished. And God says, I'm going to show
you something. And that man became like a beast
for seven years. He lived and ate grass like an
ox. Not just any man. This was the
king of the biggest and largest nation that has ever been or
ever will be. And he was made to eat like an
ox in the field for seven years. And when God returned his reasoning
to him, when God gave him back his throne, he said this, I lifted
up mine eyes to heaven and my understanding returned unto me,
and I blessed the Most High. I praised and honored Him that
liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, whose
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 inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay His hand. Or saith what doeth
thou? Is that not our Lord Jesus Christ?
Yes. He does whatsoever He has pleased
to do. And because He does this, He
reigns over all providence. all providence. Even the dark providences. Of
God. I like that song, I don't remember
at all, but it says the. The silver and dark threads are
needful. In the master's skillful hand. as God unfolds the tapestry that
He alone has planned. You see, I don't understand what
God is going to do. I don't understand most of the
time what I'm doing, much less what God is doing. But whatever He is doing and
whatever He does, is very needful or it would not be done. God
is not bringing you through dark times because he would just have
you suffer. He's doing it because he must. Because he loves you. It's needful. Otherwise, he wouldn't have done
it. He's not like us. Many times we do things to our
children or we do things to those people around us because we get
some kind of enjoyment of them suffering or something. It's
just the old man, the old nature. That's not God. That's not Christ. His will is only for our good. And to do this, He reigns over
all flesh. Not just creation. Not just the
elements of the world. Not just the circumstances of
life. He reigns over all flesh. There is not one man that will
do anything that is outside of His sovereign will and purpose. Not one thing. Friend, we are in troubling times
in this country. There's no doubt about it. Some people believe that God
is judging this nation. I believe God has already judged
this nation. I believe that God has already
condemned it. I believe God has already put
us on a slope that you can't recover from. As He has done
every nation since the foundation of the world. We're not any different.
We're not special. We're not special. God's people
are special to Him. And if He's got to put down this
country to save His people, He'll do it. He'll do it. And know that's what He is doing. Whatever it is that He's doing,
He's doing it for this. I told you I don't know what
God is doing, but I know why God is doing it. thou has given
him power over all flesh that he might give eternal life to
as many as thou has given him. That's what he's doing. That's
what he's doing. And to do this, he'll rule over
all flesh. We're coming to a time of persecution,
friends. We are coming to a time of great
division between God and this world, God's church in this world. They've started entering the
church. Religion has entered the church saying, unify, unify
with us. Compromise and come with us. That's what religion is trying
to do to destroy the church. And this is what government does.
It says it's for the better good. Well, you just need to give up
all your little bigoted points of view, your singleness of mind
and just embrace everybody. Everybody is good no matter what
they do. There is no sin. That's what
they're trying to tell you. Political correctness. Isn't
that the motto of the day? Everybody's getting in trouble
if they say one little thing. If they say one thing about a
certain race, oh, look at what they've done! They've said something
about another race, oh! Oh, you can't say anything about
people sleeping around outside of marriage. That's unpolitically
correct. You can't say homosexuality is
an abomination to God. Surely, they're just as good
as everybody else. Friends, we are to stay the course. Stay our ground on the gospel
of God and God says it's an abomination, it's an abomination. God says
homosexuality is a sin, it's a sin. God says adultery is a
sin, it's a sin. God says fornication is a sin,
it's a sin. We call it as God says it is. We don't have any room for discussion
about these things. We're not going to be moved about
these things. It's uncorrect nowadays to say
that a man is the head of his house. Well, you know, they're
just, they're equal. They have equal power in the
home. It's not what God says. God told the husbands to love
their wives as Christ loved the church, and that he's the head
of the house. The wife is to be subservient
to her husband as the church is to Christ, and to be obedient
to him. Now that's not politically correct,
is it? I don't care. I don't care why
it's not what God says. What God says is right. The Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. And we're not going to change
this matter of salvation either. Salvation is of the sovereign
grace of God alone and not by any works of man. Any other thing
is a false gospel, a lie, and we will not be moved. God's people
will not be moved from this because Christ reigneth. He will keep
us in His sovereign grace. It was by His grace we were saved
and it will be by His grace we are kept and sustained and not
moved about and tossed about by the doctrines of this world
or the government of this world. We will stand fast in the strength
of Almighty God that reigneth. He has power over all flesh.
And friends, he has determined to do nothing but for your good. In closing, go to Jeremiah chapter
32. Jeremiah chapter 32. Verse 40, God says, I will make an everlasting
covenant with them that I will not turn away from
them to do them good, but I will put
my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them
to do them good. And I will plant them in the
land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. God has undertaken with his whole
being. How big is God? However big that
is, God says, I've undertaken it with all my being. To do what? To do you good and not evil. to do you good that you should
not depart from Him. Left to ourselves, clearly, we
would depart. But by His grace, we are kept.
Because the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Is your salvation Sure. It is
if your salvation rests in the Lord that reigneth. It is if your salvation rest
absolutely in Christ alone. With no hope in yourself. No
hope to do good. No hope to merit God's favor.
Not by your deeds, not by your deeds or obedience, but only. by the obedience of Christ. And
we who are there, we have this promise. God will not let us
go. Everything is for our good. Is that not a comforting word
from God? That's not mine. Don't take my
word for it. It's God's. He reigns. I pray that God blesses to your
heart. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed in prayer.