I was so thankful Mike sent me
the songs and it's Ferris Lord Jesus. He's precious. Pass me
not and it hits well with my soul. I look forward to saying
that at the end. Psalm 50 if you will. because there's a Psalm of Asaph
and our brother just read Psalm 77, the Psalm of Asaph. He was a song leader in the church
and a Levite and one of the elders because he preached. I've said that before, I can't
remember which ones, if it's David or Asaph, he wrote several.
I forget, ought not, but I do. But what he just read there in
Psalm 77, all that pain and suffering and my soul refused to be comforted
After a pause, he said, this is my infirmity. That ain't the
Lord's fault. That's my fault. That's my fault. And I thought, it doesn't matter
if that's Asa for David or me, or you say that too. That's us. We're right here in Psalm 50.
I want to remind you too, there's a, as you're turning there, there's,
I pray the Lord raise up laborers for his harvest and down in Florida
I just found out about a month or so ago there's a man that
Greg had talked with years ago and for a while and Lord worked
in him and he's preaching the truth down there about an hour
and a half, two hours away from Apopka in Lakeland, Florida. And I reached out to him and
spoke with him a little bit and look forward to learning more.
And then I got another email, thought it was the same fellow
initially, from St. Petersburg though. And the Lord
saved him about three years ago, and he's a preacher. And he was
preaching, and about a month ago, they finally had enough
of him. They can't stand that gospel no more, and they run
him off. And so Lord Sheep left with him, and they're meeting
in a storefront. But one's preaching the first message in a popka
this morning, the other one's preaching the second message,
and then Greg's Baptizing one and some folks from the other
church And then they're gonna have a big meal after too. And
so there's I said Lord shaking up, Florida. I'm thankful I'm
happy and that's what this psalms about Psalm 50. I've heard it
preached a lot of different ways We'll look at the first six verses.
This is the Lord declaring who he is and Him saving his people
and I like to hear about that that don't get old. I don't I
I don't get tired of hearing who he is. I don't get tired,
I don't grow tired of hearing what he's done. And, and tell
me one more time. I think of there in Rahab's house.
You think, think that through real hard. You think her mommy
and daddy wanted to go where she worked, but they wish that place burned
down a thousand times. And they're in there with her,
in that house of a harlot, and he said red, right? Did you tie
it? You got that scarlet line tied? What kind of knot did you
use? Make Andre knows knots, make him go check. I want to
hear it again. Tell me one more time. Psalm
50 verse one, this is a Psalm of Asaph, the song leader. The
mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth
from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof." The
Mighty God, the Lord. He begins here with three different
names of the Lord. The Mighty, El, God, Elohim,
and the Lord, the Self-existent One. The psalm begins speaking
of the triune God, and it ends speaking of Him too. He said,
I'll show you my salvation. The mighty God, even the Lord,
hath spoken. And I thought, what a blessing
that is that He speaks to us. I was walking in my yard yesterday,
and it's absolutely covered in ants. I guess cause that rain. I mean, they are all over and
I forget about them. And then I actually thought I
just felt one. They start climbing up me. And then I had one on
my neck and there's on my arms and I go up my shoes and they're
all over. They're everywhere. And it's,
I read an article the day before that estimated there's 1.4 million
ants per person that's alive on earth. That's a lot of ants. There's quadrillions of them.
I think I have a few people's worth on my property, but if
I were to stoop down, just one of them, if I went and I picked
up one of those little ants and I calmed it so it wasn't running
all around and I spoke to it and I did something good for
that ant and I provided for that ant, that would not come close
to the stooping down, the descending, for the Lord to speak to sinners
like me. God has spoken. He hath spoken. The mighty God,
the Lord, has spoken. It says in Hebrews 1, God, who
at sundry time and in divers manners spake in times past to
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds. He speaks of his Son, and he
speaks through his Son, who Christ is and what he's done. That's
why he speaks to us. If he speaks, if the Lord speaks,
we ought to pay close attention. Shouldn't we? If he came here
today and said, I'm going to, I'm going to speak, we ought
to pay very close attention. He says, and I called the earth
from the rising of the sun under the going down thereof. That's
a, that general call. I've come to him, see him, adore
him, salvations of the Lord. That's from sun up to sun down
all day. What's that mean? That means
it's worthy to be heard and it doesn't change. Nothing's changed. Worthy as the lamb is what it's
always been and shall always be. Nothing's, nothing's changed
and it's all the earth. Every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. That's so. But declare
it to all nations. It says in verse two, out of
Zion. We can take that section out,
the perfection of beauty. Out of Zion, God hath shine.
But speaking of Zion, out of Zion, the perfection of beauty. This is out of Zion, not out
of Sinai. Not where there was thunder and
there was lightning and there was people being afraid, being
scared. But out of Zion, out of mercy,
out of grace, out of peace, out of love. And out of us, that's
Zion. The church of God, His body,
we're called Zion. He's shined. Out of Zion, hath
God shined. In physical mountains and creation,
the Lord shines too, don't He? Throughout this world. We read
back in Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God and
the firmament showeth His handiwork day unto day. Every day, don't
stop. Uttereth speech and night and
night showeth knowledge. And there's no speech or language
where His voice is not heard. So you walk outside, I was driving
to services this morning, and I was passing all those trees
on my road, and it's got them little bitty green leaves, a
million on each tree, I don't know how many. And I was just,
I thought, the Lord provides and sustains every leaf on every
tree. And I just, I just sunk. I'm a worm. I just put you on
the ground, don't I? You want to go popping off about
what I have done to the Lord? Absolutely not. Look around,
that's just creation. That's just physical stuff. But through his church, through
his Zion, that's how he gives life to his children. Just as
we're physically born through a bride, through his bride, that's
how life comes to his children. That body, that church, he says
in his sight, as it truly is, she is the perfection of beauty.
Would you say that about yourself? In the sight of the holy God
on the perfection of beauty. I could never say such a thing.
He says it because he did it. It's his workmanship, isn't it?
God shines out of that body that he perfected. It says in Hebrews
10, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. What He's called clean, His creation,
His workmanship, it's perfect. There's no adjusting, it'll grow.
Just like a human body, once it's born, it's got everything
it needs. If you're a child of God, when you're born of the
Spirit, you're fully equipped to be in front of the Holy God
forever. Right then. You're as holy as
He's holy. You're as perfect as He's perfect.
You're sanctified and set apart for His use as you could ever
be. Right then. He says it's the perfection of
beauty. That's so. That's so. And God shines out
of that body. It happens to be housed in this
old body of death. This old broken vessel. But God
shines through. And it ain't us. Turn over to
2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4. In verse six, Paul writes to
the church at Corinth, 2 Corinthians 4.6, he said, for God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of knowledge, of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. Just as he said, let there be
light and there was void and darkness in the beginning and
creation, that's the same thing that happened to us. Salvation's
a command. And he said, let that light come
forth. and there was light in us, wasn't there? The light of
knowledge, the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. Now, all of a sudden, we don't
learn facts or a systematic theology, we're learning about a person,
our Savior. Now, there's a new paragraph
that begins in verse seven, but I thought, boy, what a continued
thought. If he's writing a paper, you talk about transitioning
to a good paragraph, this goes right with it, verse seven. But
we have this treasure, this light, The knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. Old busted up clay pots that
can't do nothing. That the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. That's why we're a perfectly
beautiful body in Zion that he shines through. That way he gets
all the glory for it. And just as we looked last hour,
if you fear him, you can say, he made me fear him. It's his
doing. We wouldn't have it any other
way. That's how God shines into this world. He abides in broken
clay pots. He saves us. He shines in us,
and that comes out of us. Like that little fella said,
Mommy, if Christ is in me, ain't he gonna stick out? He said,
sure he is. Can't keep from it. With rejoicing
and with fearing God. Fearing God. I was a little boy,
I went to stay at a friend's house, and his mom would always
say, the devil ain't got nothing on me. And as a small child,
I said, don't say that. You don't know what you're saying.
I don't really know what you're saying, but you sure don't know what
you're saying either. There's some reverence that needs to
take place about what God's done, not what we do. Remember in Acts
2, how it ended, it says, and they continuing daily, every
day, just like that sun comes up every day, just like his mercies
renew every day, his words sustaining and forever. Continuing daily
with one accord in the temple. Not with 50 different opinions,
one gospel, one truth, one Lord, one baptism. Not 20 baptisms,
one. Not 20 saviors, one. with one
accord of the temple and a breaking of bread from house to house,
communing together. They did eat their meat with
gladness and singleness of heart, one heart, praising God and having
favor with all the people. They're just happy the Lord saved
them. And they want to be around other people the Lord saved.
And it says, and the Lord added to the church daily as should
be saved. How did he add that church daily?
Cross shining out of them. You see that? Back at our text
here in Psalm 50, verse three. It says, our God shall come. and shall not keep silence. A fire shall devour before him
and it shall be very temptuous round about him. He shall come,
he shall come. And I want to tell folks, it's people's fault, it's preacher's
fault, it's mankind's fault that this poor little Jesus, sissified
Jesus that wants to do things and God's trying, that's no God.
Or God that did most of it in the last yard on the football
field is up to you. That's no God. That's an imaginary
thing. Our God's a consuming fire. And
judgment is true and it's coming. That's a reality. And I want
to warn those outside of Christ. Come to this city of refuge.
Bow to him, beg him for mercy. He's faithful, he delights to
show mercy. Come, come, fire's coming. I was thinking about Hawaii.
You think there's people warning folks? There's stories all over
the internet that's trying to get people out. The fire's coming,
it's right there. He's a consuming fire, but remember,
this is speaking about his church. This is him saving his people,
isn't it? It said in Exodus 24, the sight of the glory of the
Lord was like a devouring fire on top of the mount. in the eyes
of the children of Israel." That was Sinai, wasn't it? That was
a consuming fire. It's going to burn everything.
And that's for those that want to observe and keep the law.
You want to keep the law? Ain't you heard the law? That's
what Paul said. Go read it. You ain't kept it. You can't keep it. You won't
ever keep it. That consuming fire is from that.
Our text says there in verse two, out of Zion, the perfection
of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come and shall
not keep silent. A fire shall devour before him
and it shall be very temptuous round about him. Whose God's
coming? Our God. Remember the end of Psalm 48,
this God is our God forever and ever. That's who's coming. That's
who's coming. He shall come. He has come. Physically. In the person of
his son, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he shall come to each of
his children. He shall save his people from
their sins. He won't lose one. And he shall
come. And he shall not keep silent.
And he'll be like those voices of many waters. You can't hear
nothing else. The thundering of the Lord's
voice. He thundereth marvelously with his voice. And he shall
come to his people and shall fire, shall devour before him. And it's going to be very temptuous
round about him. He's going to burn up everything
that's not provided by him and for him. Whatever, what he's
required, he's provided. And if you're trying to come
to him and you're his with something else, he's going to burn that up. If
you're leaning on some decision you made 45 years ago, he's going
to burn that up, you're his. Everything's gonna burn, and
it's gonna take everything away and point all of our focus to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's gonna consume everything.
Well, what if I ain't burn enough stuff? It don't matter if you
burn enough stuff. I ain't put away my idols. No, you can't.
You're gonna cling to them. You can't put them away. He will.
And then you'll say, burn it. Like those books of curious art,
those curious cartoons they had. Oh, it's 50,000 pieces of silver.
I don't want somebody else getting them. Set them on fire. Burn
them. He's going to burn everything,
isn't he? Burn everything that's not provided
by Him alone, and He's going to shake things up. It said in
Deuteronomy 12, Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein
the nations which ye shall possess serve their gods, upon the high
mountains and upon the hills and upon every green tree. And
ye shall overthrow their altars and break their pillars and burn
their groves with fire. And he shall hewn down the graven
images of their little G gods and destroy their names out of
those places. That's what King Josiah did. He burnt the whole
place down. Get rid of it. We don't do that,
God does it. If we did it, we'd say, I picked
the right matches. I used the right lighter fluid.
I cut it in little tiny pieces so it burnt real good out in
the backyard. God does it, and that's in the heart. Do you get
that? That ain't physically like the crosses and the angels and
all this garbage and religious garb and all that stuff. That's
in the heart. He burns the things we're clinging to, and I'm thankful.
He must do it, I can't go on. We were sent into this world,
but we're not of the world, to declare through those broken
vessels what he's done, who he is, and his shining glory. It
says in Luke 3, as it's written in the book of the words of Isaiah
the prophet, the voice of one crying in a wilderness, prepare
you the way of the Lord, make his path straight, every valley
shall be filled, every mountain and hill shall be brought low,
and the crooked paths made straight, and the rough ways shall be made
smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. That would be some stormy waters
for some people, wouldn't it? Can you imagine right now if
the mountains started coming down and the valleys started coming
up and all the crooked roads started to be made straight and everything
that was sticking up got knocked down, everything down got lifted
up? We'd be vibrating all over the place. Talk about an earthquake. That's stormy waters, but the
Lord will apply it as He sees fit. We just declared it. And if he's chosen to lift some
up, be a saver of life unto life, that's his business. If he's
chosen to tear some down, make him a saver of death and death,
that's his business. Our job don't change, does it?
The first time Christ came to this earth, not much was said.
I mean, it's recorded and we rejoice in it. We do. Is this
place packed with 3.8 million people in this county? No, it
ain't. The first time he came, most people, they heard some
things, or 5,000, ate a bunch of fish and some biscuit, and
they went on about their day, didn't they? But that second
coming, every knee will bow, every tongue confess one thing.
The first time his people, they heard about him, when he works
in us, first time you read a Bible or you went to a church or something,
and you heard some things about God, not much things were noticed.
Not much things were said and you just went on about your daily
life, didn't you? There's a moment for each one
of his sheep, that God, when he does not keep silent in your
heart, and everything that's not Christ catches on fire. He
said, burning down all around me. There he is, just like those
three Hebrew children in the fire, right? That looks like
a fourth. Old Nebuchadnezzar, he went on
about his day after, that looks like the Son of God. How'd he
know what the Son of God looked like? Said so, didn't he? Some things changed
a couple of chapters later for Old Nebuchadnezzar, didn't they?
He shall not keep silent. I want to point this out too.
Just because the Lord doesn't speak in judgment right then
does not mean we're okay. Walk around this world and you
see all these things and this blasphemy and these rainbows
all over the place and people without knowledge and understanding
and all the debauchery and all that and it's terrible. And just
because the Lord don't squash it right then doesn't mean everything's
okay. And that's internally. If we was alone on a deserted
island, the thoughts that I have, there's times that I can't believe
the Lord didn't strike me dead right now. That doesn't mean that if somebody
has some guilt or a little bit of sad feelings, they know they
did something wrong, and the Lord ain't killed them, doesn't
mean everything's okay. Just because the Lord doesn't judge
immediately doesn't mean that we have his favor, and it doesn't
mean that he's indifferent. Look down at verse 21, Psalm
50, 21. It says, These things hast thou done, and I kept silent. Thou thoughtest I was altogether
such as one as thyself. That's what we do, right? If
another human being was, well, they didn't say it was wrong.
You watched me do it and you didn't say nothing about it.
You must be okay with it. That's what we do. Lord's not that way.
Just because he doesn't answer immediately doesn't mean that
he's like us. He said, I will reprove thee
and set them in order before thine eyes. He's going to sort
it out. He knows what he's doing. Back
in verse four, Psalm 50 verse four. says, and he shall call
to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge
his people. Not that he's going to judge
everybody on earth. This is talking about his people, his people.
God's going to summon all of the heavens and he's going to
summon all the earth to witness his judgment. And that final
day, we're going to watch the sun judge. And I know it's so. I can't enter into it now. There'll
be people I love dearly, and they'll be cast off with the
goats, and I'll rejoice with a pure, sinless heart, and I'll
say, this is right. He does right. This is wonderful. We'll clap and sing songs and
break bread, and it'll be great. But heaven and earth sees what
the Lord judges in His people right now, doesn't it? When he
comes to us and he judges, just like Joseph, he spoke harshly
to him, said, you're spies. He didn't judge at that final
day, he'll judge on this earth and break our hearts and show
us our guilt and show us what we are. And I said, that's right.
We are guilty. Tim Brothers said, you got us. That's us. And heaven and earth is going
to be involved in watching that. He said in Luke 15, I say in
you that likewise, joy shall be in heaven over one sinner
that repented. More than over 99 just persons
which need no repentance. But that one, he's gonna summon
all heaven and earth and say, watch this, watch what I'm gonna do.
We are judged in that Redeemer on Calvary. That's the judgment
he reveals in us. When we're convicted of sin and
we're convicted of righteousness, we ain't nothing but sin. He
is our righteousness. He's the only thing that's ever
been righteous and convicted of judgment. All judgment's been put away.
I was inside the Lord Jesus Christ by His covenant from the foundation
of the world. The Lord put me there, and I
was judged in Him. God turned His back on God because
of me. He was made me, and in doing
so, because He's God and He's able and will honor Him forever,
I was made righteousness. What a thought. What a thought. And that work's finished. That's
done. What are we left to do? Rest?
R&R? Rest, relax, have some refreshment,
and praise Him, thank Him for it? Now the Lord, through His
Zion, once that's happened, it shines forth. How could you be
so calm with all these torrential problems going on all around
you and all these trials? The Lord did it. He hasn't dealt
with me and my sin. He didn't dealt with me the way
I ought to be dealt with. He dealt with Christ the way
I ought to be dealt with. And because of that, I'm in Him. You're crazy. That's what people told me before.
If they could finally say that's what it is to go against God
and try to do it yourself, crazy. They gave me a new mind, didn't
they? That inside these broken vessels
it shines forth and that calls to those who have not heard it
yet Look at verse 5. That's what the Lord's talking
about here verse 5 gather my saints together unto me Those that have made a covenant
with me by sacrifice What covenant have we made by sacrifice you
sacrifice anything for the Lord? Well, I gave up a lot for him.
No, I ain't I give up nothing Because it all means it's all
been burned up I'm not physically still be in a home and physically
still have a job physically still have a car and a family and all
that but that inside Lord burns that up and It's not my sacrifice it's his
sacrifice That we bring and I don't want to make it he's made that
covenant and I don't want no other covenant it's in Hebrews
12 that Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and and to the
blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Don't want my work, am I doing? It's his. He said in Hebrews
12, I read that to you. When the Lord gave his table,
I call it that on purpose. We'll observe his table on the
first Sunday or whatever. It ain't my table. I can't hedge
a table, it ain't mine. It's his table. He said he took
the cup and he gave thanks. He gave it to him saying, drank
all of it. For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is
shed for many for the remission of sins. That's a covenant. That's a sacrifice that was made
himself. He offered himself a sacrifice.
In Hebrews 13, it says, now the God of peace that brought again
from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep
through the blood of his everlasting covenant. Make you perfect. the perfection of beauty, make
you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you
that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. And that shines forth,
that's His work. He's doing it. He abides in His
people. Being a father, He said, we're going to set up our residence
inside of them. What sacrifice does a child of
God make? Christ, our sacrifice, not of bulls and goats and not
of money and of time and devotion. And that'll come. That's just
that ain't nothing. But we give to the Lord what
he demands and what he demands. He provides our savior. Christ,
our living sacrifice. That's who we come with. Don't
come to. I want to tell the world, you think you did something good
for God? If it ain't Christ alone that you're bringing to him,
I pray he burns it up, or you're gonna burn. Don't bring nothing
in your hand. In my hand, no price I bring,
simply to thy cross, thy sacrifice, thy work, thy claim. Come to
him that way, in Christ alone. Verse six says, and the heavens
shall declare his righteousness. They do now, physically, right?
Watch a comet or the moon or whatever, I don't know. Look
up, see the birds flying, watch it rain, do something. He's on
his throne, he's mighty. That does, that's just physical
stuff. All the hosts of heaven, that's up there right now, and
our brethren that the Lord saved throughout time and took home,
right now, oh, they declare his righteousness. What if I die
before he comes? I'm going to be with Him in glory.
I'm going to declare His righteousness, not my own, His. We have an understanding
and a knowledge of His righteousness, don't we? And when that day shall
come, all of glory will declare His righteousness. Four, because
God is judge Himself. Is that going to happen because
I thought it was right? I've decided that this is right. I'm the decider
of what's right and wrong, and that place is wrong, and that
place is wrong, and that place is wrong. Now I'm in the right place. No. He's
the judge. He's the judge. He's done it
all. He's a judge, jury, executioner, sustainer, and he built the courthouse.
He built me that stayed in the courthouse. He did it all. And
I'm thankful. And CELA. I first read through that a couple
weeks ago, and I thought, it's 23 verses. If I could keep it
about a minute, minute and a half a piece, that'd be about 30 minutes,
that'd be good. I started reading it. I just,
I looked at the number of verses first, and I saw that seal, and
I thought, oh, I need to stop and pause and think about that
for a little bit, don't I? I need to stop and think about that.
I'll pray somebody else will stop and think about that. Maybe
someone never thought about that, never heard, just went on about
their business. Maybe, maybe today might be the
Lord, I think is it. I think the Lord's gonna say
something, folks. Let's pray together. Father,
thank you for your word. Thank you for your consuming
fire. Salvation that's in Christ and him alone and keeping the
undeserving people, making us righteous. Sanctifying us and
redeeming us being our wisdom and Where our heart overflows We
try to count our blessings who can number them Thank you for the heart you've
given you people Lord and we trust you shall save your people
Abide in us and Thy your glory to shine forth, Lord, make us
invisible, this body of death. Forgive us for what we are. Thank
you for working in this United States and around this world
and saving your people as you promised you will. We still thank
you, Lord. We're encouraged by it. Let us learn our brethren and
love them. Thank you for this day. It's
in Christ's name that we ask. Amen.