Turn with me back to Psalm 85. Psalm 85, our text tonight is the first three verses. And our title is Lord Thou hast. And in knowing that, I believe you'll very easily be able to see our outline as we read through these three verses again. Verse one says, Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. That's good news. If I've ever heard it, that's good news. Lord, He's the object of this whole thing. He's the object of the whole thing. He himself, by himself, Lord thou, thou hast. It's not him and me. It's not what he did and what I've done. or what I need to do so he can do. Lord, thou hast. You already have. You already have. That is the glorious news of the gospel. Christ already has. If you want to know what we preach, if you want to know what our message is, if you want to know what we're talking about, what is the gospel, what are we saying? Here it is. Christ already has. Christ already has. I love how everything with the Lord our God is already ordered and sure, finished, and forever settled in heaven. Everything. All of it. All of it. Turn over to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 verse 4 says, Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of my people was he stricken. How, Isaiah? He hasn't even been born of a virgin yet. How? Verse 9, And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. He hadn't even died yet. He hadn't even died yet. Why does it say he already laid in his grave? Isaiah cried, it's done. What is the message of the gospel? It's done, it's always been the message of the gospel. It's done. Happy day, good news, glorious news, it's done. It's a done deal. That's the message of the gospel, it's done. Turn over to John 17. John 17 verse 4. This is our Lord speaking to his father. He said, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. He said that in chapter 17. They don't even lay hands on him until chapter 18. He said, Father, it's finished. I finished it. I finished it. Turn over to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2 verse 4, it says, But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That has already happened. I read that and I think, huh? Known unto God were all his works from the beginning, all his works, forever settled in the mind, will, and purpose of God, were all of His works from the beginning. And He is the Lord, He changes not. If He purposed to do it, if He purposed to do something, there is only one outcome for that situation. It's as good as done. It's done. If He purposed, it's done. I love that. That's sovereignty. That's sovereignty. If he purposes to do it, it's done. Never to be changed. We deal in time. You know, we operate in time, but not God. God does not. That's something that's difficult to understand. But he said, I am the beginning. and the end at the same time. Everything he accomplished in the beginning he accomplished in the end at the same time. And that's why everything in this book says rest. It's done. It's done. It speaks of us as being complete in Him. And we just keep looking at ourselves going, I don't see completeness. It's done. Rest. It's done. It's already done. Go back to Psalm 85. With that being acknowledged, let's enjoy these six truths that the Lord our God has already established and forever settled in heaven, and then we'll be done, okay? Number one, verse one says, Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land. Favorable means well-pleased. Well, pleased with, it means affectionate toward. You've been affectionate toward. It means delighted in. It means gracious with. You've been gracious with thy land, your people. Your people, your chosen people, your elect people. Specifically, that's who you've delighted in. That's who you've been affectionate toward. That's who you have been gracious with. Your people. The love of God is what started this whole thing. The affection and the delight of God is what started this whole thing. For God so loved. That's what started the whole thing. God commended his love toward us. And you know when he did that. You know what we were when he did that. Sinners. Why we were sinners? God commended his love toward us. In this was manifested the love of God toward us. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us. We love him because he first loved us. Grace is the message. Grace is the message. God's grace. God's grace. Grace is where the gospel starts. That's the start of it all. Not our works. But His grace, the gospel doesn't start with us. It starts with Him. I love how when the angel came to Mary to announce the birth of our Lord, he said, this is what he said to her, he said, Hail, thou that art highly favored. The center margin in my Bible right there in Luke chapter two says, graciously accepted Much graced. Hail thou that art much, much graced. That's the truth concerning all of God's people. We have been much graced. We've been much graced. That's all we can say. That's what we owe it all to. God's grace. What do you have to say for us? Grace. Grace, grace, God's grace, the grace of God, the love, the kindness, the favor that was shown to us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. For God so loved, he gave his son. Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land. Thank God for his grace. Number two. The end of verse one says, thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast brought back captivity. I love this declaration. Thou hast, thou hast, thou hast, thou hast, thou hast, thou hast done. See you later. Oh, you've been so favorable to your land. And then he said, thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. What was Jacob who represents all of God's elect people? Israel, spiritual Israel. What was Jacob in captivity to? Sin. Captive to sin. The apostle Paul said, I am sold to sin. I think about Joseph being sold into captivity by his brethren. I'm sold to sin." That makes us sold to death. Paul said, who shall deliver me? I'm being held captive. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? That's where we are by nature. That's where we are in this flesh. We are such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in affliction and iron bars of sin. held captive, prisoners of self, prisoners of Satan, prisoners of sin. But, I wrote that real big in my notes, and I'm saying it softly, but I'm screaming it in my heart, but. But the Lord our God, in his strength, in his glory, he set his grace on us to deliver us. He purposed in the merciful kindness of his love to liberate his people. I love that song, The Comforter Has Come. It says, through the vacant cells, the cells of sin, the song of triumph rings. He purposed to liberate his people, to bring them back from the captivity they'd been taken in, and that's exactly what he did. It's exactly what he did. Turn over to Psalm 126. I told this true account probably eight or 10 years ago, so most of you didn't hear it, and those who did don't remember it. But my dad's uncle, my great uncle, Harold Stoniker, He lived in Tupelo, Mississippi. And we used to travel from Tennessee to Louisiana once or twice a year. And we would take the Natchez Trace and stop at Uncle Harold's house. And Dad and he would talk. And we would listen. And every time we stopped at this house, I heard this story. Every single time. Every time I heard the man speak, I heard this story. He was a tail gunner. in a B-24 bomber in World War II. If you know anything about B-24 bombers, it was a dangerous seat. And they were on a mission over Germany, and two German fighters came up and just tore their plane all to pieces. Glass, you know, he was in a glass housing, just shattered. He lost an engine, and he said, all I can do is just keep shooting. And that's what he did until one of his buddies tapped him on the shoulder and made the sign, we're jumping. We're all jumping out of this plane. And so they did. Every time he told the story, he said, I made two jumps that day, my first one and my last one. And they landed behind enemy lines. They were captured and taken to a prisoner of war concentration camp. And they were treated horribly. I mean, they were treated horribly. He said the Germans had calculated. And every time I tell this, it's amazing to me. The name Stoniker is German. Our people came from Germany. But anyway, they... They had it calculated what was the minimum amount of food needed to keep a man alive. And that's what they gave him. And I guess when it was time for them to eat, he said they would group about eight men, six or eight men or something like that, around a garbage can. And they would throw a few moldy potatoes and one moldy loaf of bread in there. And those men had to divide it up. between themselves. But he was there for two years. Two years. I can't imagine being there one day or one week. But after a whole year went by, he had a whole nother year to go. You think about that. You get to the point where you start to wonder, am I gonna be here forever? Two years. And he said, one day, One day, he said, we were just sitting there, prisoners in our miserable condition. And one day, one glorious day, out of nowhere, like a thief in the night, American troops stormed the concentration camp. He said, tanks started rolling in. And he said, as soon as I saw that big white star on the side of those tanks, he said, I couldn't believe my eyes. I could not believe today was the day. I've been sitting here in captivity in this horrible, miserable condition, and I cannot believe today is the day. Every one of those men jumped out of that plane. Every one of those men were captured, and every one of those men were delivered. Look right here at Psalm 126 verse 1. It says, when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, We were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south, They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Go back to Psalm 85. HOW WAS HE FAVORABLE? HOW EXACTLY DID HE BRING BACK THE CAPTIVITY? VERSE 2 SAYS, THOU HAST FORGIVEN THE INIQUITY OF THY PEOPLE. THAT'S HOW HE WAS FAVORABLE. THAT'S HOW HE DELIVERED THEM. HE FORGAVE THEIR INIQUITY. HOW DID HE FORGIVE THEIR INIQUITY? THE END OF VERSE 2 SAYS, THOU HAST COVERED ALL THEIR SINS. What did he cover all their sin with? His own blood. The blood of Jesus Christ. He covered all the sin of all his people with his own blood. You know, we're right now in our captivity and we have hope. I can only imagine that my great uncle had hope. that he was going to be delivered. I hope they're going to come deliver us. I believe, I expect we're going to be delivered. But right now we're sitting in the captivity of our sin. We're sitting in our miserable condition. And on the day that deliverance comes, we are going to understand the glory of the fact that he covered all of our sin. He covered all of our sin. He forgave the iniquity of His people by completely covering all of their sin. I love complete in thee. No work of mine may take, dear Lord, the place of thine. Thy blood hath pardon bought for me, and I'm now complete in thee. Turn over to Psalm 51. Verse one, David said, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Verse seven, he said, purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. What he's saying is cover me with blood, and I'll be clean. Wash me. with blood and I shall be whiter than snow. When Moses said, Lord, show me your glory. The Lord said, I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. And he said, I'll make all my goodness pass before you. And I'll do that by placing you in a rock and covering you with my hand. Who was the rock? Christ is the rock. Who is the hand? Who is the right hand of God? Christ is the hand. I'm gonna cover you. No man can see me and live, but this is how you can live. I'm gonna cover you with the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm gonna hide you in Christ. I'm gonna cover you in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. God forgave the iniquity of his people by covering all of their sin with Christ. All of their sin was found to be in him, accounted to him, chargeable to him, paid for by him, settled in him. His blood was their remission. And where remission is, there's no disease. Where remission is, there's no disease. Just listen to this. Psalm, don't turn, Psalm 32 says, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputed, not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no God. That's a blessed man. He went on to say, thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me with songs of deliverance. You're my covering. You're my forgiver, you're my hiding place. The Lord was gracious to us and delivered us. He forgave us by covering us. And therefore, go back to Psalm 85, we'll close. Because of all that, verse three says, thou hast taken away all thy wrath Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger because he was favorable and brought back the captivity because he forgave the iniquity and covered the sin. All of his wrath has been taken away. It has been taken away from his people, being all poured out to the point that it was emptied on Christ. Just see if you can get a hold of that. All of his wrath against his people was emptied on Christ. It was emptied on the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ took the wrath and the anger for his people, he took all the wrath and all the anger. You talk about good news. Not only did he take all the sin from his people, he took all the wrath from God. He took all the anger from God to the point that there is no wrath and no anger left. There's none left, not for His people. Ephesians 2 says, He is our peace because He broke down the middle wall of partition and abolished the enmity in His own flesh, reconciling us to God through the slaying of His own body on the cross. In Hebrews 10, the Lord God said, their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. They're not there. They're not there. All is well, there is peace. Peace with God. How did all that happen again? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He did it. He did it. Lord, thou hast done all these things. And for that, we're glad. And to me, that's good news. To us, that's good news. Amen.