This morning we'll be reading
the 2nd Psalm in its completeness. Beginning at verse 1 we read,
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord. and against
his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and
cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall
he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The
Lord hath saith unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye
kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the
earth. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. Amen. Will you turn in your Bibles
to the 7th chapter of Luke? We've come once again to a place in God's
Word where we are taught of two types of men. Why is that so important? Why is it so important that we
learn about the other side? The two types of men. Why do
we have to learn about those over there and these over here? Because God's Word teaches it. How are you going to know the
grace of God? How are you going to know the
depth of God's grace in your heart if you don't know what
you once were? You say, well now what do you
mean John? You're not what you once were in the flesh anymore?
I'm not saying that one bit. I want to stop there for just
a moment because that's where people stop and say, listen to
Him. He's holier than thou. He's not
a sinner anymore. Oh yes, I am. And if you're a
child of God, you know you are too. But to know His grace is to know
that deep, ugly, stinking pit that He drove us out of. To know His grace and working
in your heart is to know what He is, what it was that He pulled
us out of. Am I better than the other side,
the other type of people there is? No. But I am blessed. And because I'm blessed, I praise
my Lord. Because we are blessed, we sing
praises to Him for His blessings to us. Not just the blessings
like I mentioned in my prayer, not just the blessings of this
world, but the true blessing behind everything there is, and
that's the blessing of knowing who God is. Crown Him with many crowns. He's already got all the crowns. My heart didn't know it though.
Not until He moves in the heart of His people can we truly crown
Him in our hearts for who He is. Up until the point where
He doesn't work in that new heart after cutting out the old one
that shook our fist at Him. After He's done that work, we
come and we praise Him for everything, including our troubles. That's
a strange bunch of people. Two types of man. The ungodly
and the godly. That's scripture. The Lord talks
about it throughout the Psalms. We just read about those, the
kings and the princes that raise themselves. They derise against
God. They scheme. And this was us. This was us. I'm not going to
go to that church. I don't need to go to church.
I've got a God in my own little imagination that I deal with. That's what I told my mom. That's
what I felt in my own heart. No, it wasn't until the Lord
did a work in this heart that this heart came to know who the
true God is. ungodly and godly men. Two types. Unrighteous and righteous
as the scriptures declare it. This generation and a chosen
generation. The gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace divides. Period. I'm at odds with my religious
brothers and sisters in my family. I'm at odds with my unreligious
children in my family. I have certain guidelines that I walk now because
God has done a work in my heart, just as you do, the same thing,
that my ungodly friends and my ungodly family don't understand
at all. I didn't understand it before
the Lord did it work in my heart. Did you? No, you didn't. Absolutely. None of us did. We can't. It's entity to our
hearts that we're born with. So the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace divides. Here's what we read. Here's what
we read in Matthew 25, 32. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep
from the goats. That's God's Word. That's division. Listen to what he says over in
Psalms 29.7, the voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. In Luke chapter 12, verse 51-53,
suppose ye that I have come to give you peace on earth, I tell
you nay, but rather division. That's not the Jesus you hear
from in the world is it? No? How many of us have heard
about this Jesus? Jesus just loves you. And He
wants you to, He just wants you to, He wants you so badly, if
you would just give in to Him. Jesus loves all the world, everything. It's His creation, He loves everything. That's not what we just read.
What did we read there again? Let me read that again. Suppose ye that
I am come to give peace on earth, I tell you nay, but rather division. Or from henceforth there shall
be five in one house, divided three against two, and two against
three. The father shall be divided against the son, the son against
the father, the mother against the daughter, the daughter against
the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law,
and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Our Lord says, I will have mercy
upon whom I will have mercy. That's the grace of God in our
hearts, isn't it? That's where we see God's grace
the most, that he has had mercy on this one that doesn't deserve
it. Nothing of God's word divides
men more than election. Choosing between two. this generation and the chosen generation. The world focuses on the whom.
In that scripture I read, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. God's people focus on this, mercy. Oh, Lord, you can have mercy
on whomever you want as long as you're having mercy on somebody.
Maybe he'll have mercy on me. Maybe he'll have mercy on you.
Isn't that wonderful? Our Lord is merciful. In our
text in Luke, there will be those who are fixed on the whom and
those that are fixed on the mercy. Look with me if you would, chapter
7 of Luke, verse 31. And the Lord said, Where unto
then I shall liken the men of this generation? And to what are they like? This generation. Our Lord speaks
here of those who have no desire of His mercy. They are contrary to the gospel
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. At first glance, when we first
read what we just read there, it looks as though He's using
the word generation the way we commonly use it, doesn't it?
It looks like He's maybe talking about those of that generation,
those of that time. That's not the way our Lord is
using that word and that phrase. As we look through scriptures,
every time the word this generation is used together, those two words
together, they are used to describe self-righteous religionists.
They always refer to the lost religious people. Like the Pharisees,
this generation of the Pharisees, this generation. The Sadducees, the Herodians,
those of the Lord's day in that day, that generation, this generation. And those people called this
generation are always hostile. They're always hostile to the
Lord. They're like those ones that
we just read in the And the Psalms, those who raise up, the kings
who raise themselves up to strive against God. They're hostile and they're persecuting
those who are of this generation, or of the chosen generation.
These are the people of whom our Lord spoke specifically of
when he said, in the world you shall have tribulation. The words
this generation speak of the enemies of our God and of our
souls in every age. And I want to look at some scripture
with that. So mark your place here in Luke and turn to Psalms
if you would. I want you to turn over to the
12th Psalm. I want to show you where the
Lord uses this generation in a way describing those, us, from where we came. Psalms 12. Turn over to the 12th
Psalm. Psalm 12, beginning at verse
1, we read, Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, for the faithful
fail from among the children of men. Now, speaking of those
others, this generation, they speak vanity every one with his
neighbor, With flattering lips and with a double heart do they
speak? The Lord shall cut off all flattering
lips and the tongue that speak of proud things, who have said
with our tongue, will we prevail? Our lips are our own. Who is
the Lord over us? For the oppression of the poor,
for the sighing of the needy, Now will I arise, saith the Lord,
I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. The
words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the furnace
of the earth, purified even at times. Thou shalt keep them,
O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from what? This generation. So we see the Lord using it.
This generation. He will preserve them from this
generation forever. The wicked walk on every side
when the vilest men are exalted. Let's look at another in the
Psalms. Turn over to Psalm 71. In Psalm 71, we begin at verse
12, O God, be not far from me. O my God, make haste for my help. Let them, let them be confounded
and consumed that are adversaries to my soul. Let them be covered
with reproach and dishonor that seek my hurt. But I will hope
continually and will yet praise thee more and more. My mouth
shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day. For I know not the numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of
the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even of thine only. O God, thou hast taught me from
my youth, and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also,
when I am old and gray-haired, O God, forsake me not until I
have showed thy strength unto this generation. Who kept us
through all the trials? Who kept us? I know who kept
you, Roger, when you went through the trial. I know who kept you. I could see it all over you.
God working in you. Who kept you, Donna, as you went
through that trial? I could see it all over you.
Not once did you lose. who your faith was in. Who kept
you, Mike, as you went through that trial? If I could see it,
not once did you ever speak out against God. Who keeps us? We know. We show this generation who it
is that keeps us. It's not in me that you see any
strength. It's not in my that I saw any
strength. It's not in Donna. It's not in
Roger. It's in our Lord. That was their
strength. I pray that whatever trials my
God brings, you will see Him and His strength, not me. And
as a child of God, I know you pray the same for you. Now also when I am old and gray-haired,
O God, forsake me not until I have showed thy strength unto this
generation and thy power to everyone that is to come." Why did the
Lord raise up Pharaoh to show his power unto the world? Let's
look at two more if you would. Turn over to Matthew chapter
12. Matthew chapter 12. Two different types of generation. This generation and God's chosen
generation. Verse 41 of Matthew 12, we read
these words. The men of Nineveh shall rise
in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it." Because
they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, a greater
than Jonah is here. One more, Matthew 23. A couple
of pages to the right. Matthew 23. Beginning at verse
29, Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, because
ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of
the righteous, and say, if we had been in the days of our fathers,
we would not have been partakers with them and the blood of the
prophets. Wherefore, ye be witnesses unto
yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye
generation of vipers, How can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto
you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and some of them ye
shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall be ye scourged
in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city, that
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from
the blood of the righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias,
son of Betharias. whom ye slew between the temple
and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these
things shall come upon this generation. All of those things that they
did to the prophets of old shall come upon whom? This generation. The very generation that you
and I were a part of from the day we were born from our mother's
womb. The very day that we walked on
this earth, part of that generation, till the Lord called us and brought
us into the chosen generation. Go back to your text if you would.
Here in verses 31 through 34, the Lord Jesus shows us that
unbelieving religionists are always deposed to, find default
with, and are quick to slander God's servants and His people.
Remember we talked about slander last week. Those who were slandering
John the Baptist. And our Lord sticking up for
John the Baptist. No, you went out into the wilderness.
What did you go out there to see? Some reed that's going to
be bent in the wind? That's not what you saw. What
you saw was My prophet He stood up for. That was the man, one
of the greatest prophets that ever walked this earth, is what
our Lord said. This generation is quick to slander
God's servants. They're quick because the carnal
mind is enmity against God. Look here at verse 31 through
34. And the Lord said, Where unto
then shall I liken the men of this generation, and to what
are they like? They are like unto children. sitting in the
marketplace and calling one to another and saying, we have piped
unto you and you have not danced. We've sang our music to you and
you haven't danced. And you have not danced, we have
mourned to you and you have not wept. For John the Baptist came
neither eating bread nor drinking wine and you say he hath a devil.
The Son of Man is come eating and drinking and you say behold
a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. We have also here a lesson to
be learned by our Lord's comparison describing this generation as
children. If we should be saved We must
become as little children. Isn't that what scripture tells
us? Meek. Humble. A proper child will sit and quiet,
taught properly, will sit and quiet. Meek. Listening to the
adults. Listening to the wives. humble, knowing that we have
nothing in our experience to add to the conversation of the
adults, of the wives. We say we must become as children
and listen to the wisdom of our Savior. Humble ourselves in meekness,
inoffensive and trusting, trusting what we hear. I just happened to look over and
see these two beautiful little girls. being held. Look at how she trusts you. Look how she is comforted, wrapped
in your arms. Knowing that she's protected.
That's the way it is with us and Christ. As the sovereign
of everything there is, we know that He's got it all. All the
waves that are bouncing that are just covering our boats.
Yet, like this little girl, we sit in the arms of our Savior,
taking care of knowing that because we belong to Him, He'll never
let us go. No matter how deep the water
gets, no matter how riled it up gets up against us, He's the
one who controls the storm and works it all out for our good. how I hope and pray that you
can understand. That's what it's like to be in
the hands of Christ. You don't have to worry about
the things of school. Whatever those folks say, it
don't matter. Our Lord controls what all those people are doing.
You don't have to worry about the government that's running
amok that we live under because our Lord controls it all. If I could just get that through
my head when I'm playing golf. We have a lesson to be learned
here in this. If we should be saved, we must
become as little children, but get a load of this. Lost religionists
are also like children. Not adorable ones, like these
young ones here. No. They're the ones who kick
and scream. All the way up to the age of
teenager. I don't want to go to church. I know dad's mom wants
me to go, but no, I'm not going to go. I'm going to make a scene. They're not adorable at all,
they're not sweet. Our master compares this generation
that he's talking about to perverse, rebellious children who can never
be pleased by anything. We pipe unto you and you don't
pay any attention to us at all. We sing, we play music to you
and you don't sing with us at all. Nothing satisfies them. Nothing
contents them. They find some fault with everything
and everyone but themselves. That's big words right there.
Find fault with everyone else but me. John the Baptist came living
a strict and separate life out in the wilderness. People came
out to see him. He didn't go into the town and
gather people around. He didn't hang around with just
anybody who came. They had to come out to him.
He lived a very strict life. And yet those folks said he had
a devil in him. After him, the Lord Jesus came with a little
bit different habits. He was more of a social guy.
He went around town hanging out with people. I'll go and eat
with the religionist people at their home. We read it last week,
but we'll see it again next week in verses 36 all the way down
through 39 where he went to a Pharisee's house to eat. Yet the same men of this generation
said of him, he's a glutton and a wine-bibber. Their hatred was
not really against either John or the Lord, you know. They were
okay guys. That wasn't what bothered them. What bothers people about the
Lord Jesus Christ? It's the message. It cuts two directions. It divides. It divides the sheep from the
goats. The sheep on the right, the goats on the left. It divides
this generation, the one that you and I walked with, to the
called out, the chosen of God from before the world was. Chosen
to be redeemed by the blood of His Son. Chosen to be saved to the uttermost by the
perfect righteous blood of Christ to spend an eternity with Him,
praising Him for saving us from this generation that we once
walked in. Our Lord and John the Baptist
preached the same message. It was the message that bothered
them. They didn't like the message. The message is this, for by grace
are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest man should boast. The doctrine,
the teaching of the gospel is this. God became a man, and that
man who is 100% God and 100% man, shed his blood. for a people, not for the world. John chapter 17 verse 9 I believe
it is, I pray not for the world but for them that thou has given
me. The gospel is righteousness by
the obedience of Christ. Did you know that Christ had
to learn obedience? He had to learn obedience. Look
it up. And He was obedient, even to
the death of the cross. The teaching of the gospel is
the redemption by His effectual blood, by the atonement, the
unlimited atonement. It was for His people and His
people alone. In John chapter 10, he told some
unbelieving Jews, you don't believe because you are not of my sheep. He didn't say, you're not my
sheep because you don't believe. He said, you don't believe because
you're not my sheep. He says, my sheep believe. They
hear my voice. The teaching of the gospel is
salvation by the irresistible gift It is not your will, it
is not of the will of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy, of God that giveth grace. Let us learn as little children
to be silent about those things of which the Bible is silent
on. This generation is a wicked,
perverse generation But our Lord also speaks of something else
here. There's another generation. It's called His generation. It's
called the generation of thy children. The generation of the
upright. A chosen generation. Look at
verse 35 of our text. But wisdom is justified of all
her children. Now here our master draws a direct
and a distinct contrast between those of this generation and
his own elect. But wisdom is justified of all
her children. Now certainly, there's at least
a reference here to the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who is
our wisdom, as we read in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. God has made him
our wisdom. So certainly this is talking
wisdom. Jesus Christ is justified of
all her children. Christ is the wisdom of God.
He is the word of God, the one for whom we know of God. He lived in wisdom and he here
shows us the way of wisdom. Our Lord Jesus stands for us
as our wisdom in the council chambers of the Almighty in eternity. He fulfilled the wisdom of the
covenant. He makes believing sinners wise unto salvation,
and He gives us wisdom as we need it in the face of our numerous
subtle foes. All of God's elect justify Him
in all of His persons and work. Wisdom is justified of all her
children. All who are born of God, born
of wisdom, repent before Him and therefore justify Him. That's
what that's talking about. All of those who are born of
God, we repent before Him and therefore we justify God. Listen
to this verse in Psalms 51 verse 4. Against thee and thee alone. Now this is what we're talking
about. We've confessed our sins. All of those who are born of
God, born of wisdom, repent. Against Thee, and Thee alone,
and Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil, is what David
says. Isn't that what you and I do? Do we not confess to our
Lord? In the privacy of our closets,
or wherever we are in our privacy, Lord, I'm just a sinner. Everything
I do, even The goodness of giving food to that beggar outside of
McDonald's. Even the goodness of helping a family, going over
and helping them with the work that they need done around their
home. Even the goodness of plowing that field, Lord I know, is filled with sin. if it's not
for your glory. Do we not confess our sins? That's
what David's doing here. Lord, against Thee and 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. Repentance is taking the sides
with God against ourselves. Our Lord says our tongues are
like vipers. I agree, Lord. Although the flesh
wants to say, wait a minute, I haven't said something bad
in the last five minutes. God's right about it all. That's repentance is turning
to His side and saying, He's right. Despite what I feel within
me, despite what I think in my mind, I have confidence in what He
says, not in me. It's taking sides with God against
ourselves. It's coming into agreement with
God and justifying God and the way that He saves sinners. Yes,
that's just. That's just that God saves sinners
through the salvation of His Son, through the blood of His
Son. Are you washed in the blood? Yet there's more here, isn't
there? And we'll be quick. Believers justify God's wisdom in all things. Thereby we prove ourselves wise
indeed, giving God glory for everything. The Scriptures make
us wise unto salvation through faith in Christ. Listen to what
Paul wrote to Timothy, and from that, and that from a child,
he says to Timothy, thou hast known the Holy Scriptures. which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus. God the Holy Spirit is in his
people teaching us the spirit of wisdom through the revelation
of grace. Thus we are taught and enabled
to see the justice and the equality of our God in all his works and
in all his ways. Psalms 36.6, we read these, the
judgments, thy judgments are great, deep. Psalms 48.11, let
Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad because of thy
judgments. Psalms 119.75, I know, O Lord,
that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness
has afflicted me. Even when our Lord Jesus is spoken
of in derision, He proves Himself to be a great Savior. His enemies
constantly derided Him, calling Him a friend of publicans and
sinners. You and I once rallied against Him as well. The thief
on the cross, both of them railed against our Lord before the Lord
saved one. How I rejoice to declare That
is exactly who and what the Lord Jesus Christ is. In fact, in
truth, He's our only friend. He's the only true friend of
publicans and sinners. The only true friend that we
have. And He is the friend only to
folks just like you and I. called by his grace. Matthew 9 verse 12 and 13, but
when Jesus heard that he said unto them, they that be whole
need not a physician. I wasn't whole. I bet as a child
of God you know you weren't whole either. Oh how willing God is to be gracious. I'll make this last point. Have
you ever noticed how often our Lord refers to our sins as a
sickness? Think about that for a moment.
Leprosy is a sickness. It's a picture of what we are,
God's people, in sin. We're covered from the top of
our heads to the bottom of our feet in sin. That's a sickness. He refers
to our sins as a disease, an infirmity. One of the reasons
for this is this, our Heavenly Father views our sins. He views our sins as a sickness
calling for pity. A sickness you can't help. Sickness is not a crime for punishment. It's only a sickness to his people, to everything else, to this generation
of Vipers, the very generation that you and I once walked in.
It's a crime. But to you and I, who have been
saved by His grace, it's a sickness to be pitied, to be merciful
to. Have you ever noticed that? Two generations, those for whom
judgment is due, and those who have been judged in their substitute,
Jesus Christ the Lord. What a blessing of grace, what
blessings of grace are showered upon His chosen generation.