I'm speaking to you this morning
from Psalm 50, the 50th Psalm, a very powerful, very plain declaration
of the living and true God, of man, of salvation. Here, and
your soul shall live. In verse 1 it begins, The mighty
God, Almighty, the mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken and
called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down
of the same. This is God's Word. He speaks
through His Word. And have not all men heard this
in some way or another? Yes, from the rising of the sun
to the going down thereof, east and west. Verse 2, Out of Zion,
He saith, the perfection of beauty God hath shined. Zion. Zion has
always been a figure of, a picture of God's true church, God's people. Adab Zion, or the church of God. are a people. He's a people whom
God has shown the light of the knowledge of the glory of Himself
in the face, the person, and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the perfection, the beauty of holiness that is in Jesus Christ
and found in His people who worship Him. Verse 3, Our God shall come. The writer of this psalm says,
Our God shall come. And He did. He did. It says,
He shall not keep silence. A fire shall devour before Him. It shall be very tempestuous
round about Him. He is speaking of none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Malachi wrote in chapter
3, the Lord shall suddenly come to His temple. But who may abide
the day of His coming? Who shall stand when He appeareth?
He is like a refiner's fire. When the Lord Jesus Christ came,
He said, I am come to bring fire upon the earth. He said, do you
suppose I came to bring peace? Nay, but rather a sword, like
a fire. His Word destroyed all false
gods, all false notions, all of man's false refuge. It destroyed man's supposed wisdom. fire should devour before Him,
be very tempestuous round about Him. His first coming stirred
the world, saved some, but stirred the world. His next coming will
destroy it. Verse 4, He shall call to the
heavens from above and to the earth, that He may judge His
people. Christ came and called heaven
and earth to bear record of Him. His words, His work. He said,
I have a greater than man that bears witness of Me, that is,
God Himself. He came to judge His people. He said in John 5, the Father
hath committed all judgment to Him. He has the keys of hell
and death. And Christ came to judge, first
of all, His people. Now all souls are His to do with
as He pleases. Scripture says in John 1, He
came to His own, that is, His own creatures. They received
Him not. None do. None will by nature. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved some of these God-haters,
some of these Christ-rejecters, it pleased the Lord to make some
of them His people. And so Christ came for His people. the transgression of my people,
he was stricken. And he judged them. They were
judged, convicted, and sentenced to death. The soul that sinneth
must surely die in Christ on the cross. The sentence was carried
out on the cross. The soul that sinneth must surely
die, and Christ's soul was made an offering for sin. And now
there is no condemnation for his people. No judgment awaits
His people. They were judged in Christ on
the cross. But now those not in Christ,
not found in Him, will stand before Him someday to be judged
by Him and hear Him call for their condemnation. Verse 5,
it says, Gather My saints together unto Me, those that have made
a covenant with Me by sacrifice. Gather My saints. The sanctified
ones. Those set apart by God. Chosen by God. Christ Himself
said that He would send His angels to gather His elect from the
four corners of the earth. Those chosen by Him. Called by
Him. Reserved unto Him for His glory. Preserved by Him. Gathered by
the Gospel. Gathered by the Spirit of Truth. By the preaching of the Gospel.
gathered into the fold, into His kingdom, gathered unto Christ. Those who have made a covenant
with Him by sacrifice, or that is, that are found in that covenant
of grace which Jesus Christ ratified by His own blood, by the sacrifice
of Himself on Calvary's tree. All of God's saints, this very
day on the Lord's Day, gather together to hear and to glory
in Christ and Him crucified. But now, there are many, oh,
so many, sadly, sickeningly, there are many who draw nigh
with their lips only. There are many pretenders, many
professors, not possessors of Christ, of His Spirit, of the
truth. Many pretenders. Read on with me. It says in verse
7, Here, O my people, or that is, those who say they are. And I will speak, O Israel, I
will testify against thee." Against thee. I am God, even thy God. He testifies against those who
say they are Jews but are not. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly, but inwardly, Scripture says. And true circumcision,
the true mark of salvation, by the hand of God, the work of
God, the Spirit of God, the Christ of God, and it's inward. He says
in verse 8, I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, burnt
offerings, that have been continually before me. That is, the Jews
of old went through the motions, observed the ceremonies, and
still do today, although no lambs are being sacrificed. Well, professing
Christians come continually This day there are many, thousands,
millions, millions upon millions who gather, they say, in His
name and go through the motions. He goes on to say in verses 9
through 13, I read all of these verses, I will take nothing,
no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats of thy fold. Every
beast of the forest is mine, the cattle upon a thousand hills.
I know all the fowls of the mountain, the wild beasts of the field
are mine. If I were hungry, I would not
tell thee, for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. Will
I eat the flesh of bull, or drink the blood of goats?" fellows say that God can't do
anything without you unless you let Him? What fools! The fool
hath said, No God. That is no God at all. He is
no God that needs man. He is God that needs nothing,
that needs no one. Man is poor and needy. Man is
the needy creature. Are you? Are you? This is the
one to whom God looks, the poor and needy, those that are nothing,
have nothing, can do nothing, and know this God who needs nothing
and no one. The poor and needy is whom He
came to save. In verse 14 He says, Offer unto
God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High. Thanksgiving. Offer unto God Thanksgiving. Now Romans 1. Romans 1 is an
indictment against, a declaration against man and his foolishness
and his foolish notions and imaginations of God and his unthankful attitude. He says, where do I begin in
Romans 1? In verse 18, the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold or suppress the truth in unrighteousness. That
is now the wrath of God from heaven, be it calamities, disasters,
sicknesses, plagues, pestilence, whatever it may be. It's against
all unrighteousness. ungodliness of men, who suppress,
who reject the truth. He goes on to say, God's eternal
power in Godhead is clearly seen in His creation, and man is without
excuse, and verse 21 says he does not glorify God, he's not
Thankful. He's unthankful. In 2 Timothy
3 that speaks of the last of the last days, it says, men are
lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful. Unthankful. Well, he says in
our text in Psalm 50, offer unto God thanksgiving. We have no
greater need to meet than to just thank God for everything. Everything. The God in whose
hands our breath is and all our ways. God, His mercy, His grace,
His kindness, His provisions. But most of all, God's people
gather, those who They're in this covenant of grace of redemption
in Christ by His sacrifice. They gather to give thanks for
the blood of Jesus Christ and His righteousness given to them
to cover them. Oh, they offer thanks and they
vow a vow of honor and glory to Him and Him alone. Not unto
us, they say. Not unto us, but unto Thee is
all the glory. Verse 15, He says, Call upon
Me in the day of trouble. I will deliver them. Call upon
me. Man, earth is in trouble with
God. Christ is the Deliverer of all
His saints, all who call, whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. He is the Deliverer. And if and when He does deliver,
whomever He delivers, they glorify Him. They glorify Him. What do you say to these things?
Is this the God that you know? Is this the God that you've heard? Is this the Christ you've heard?
The truth that you've heard? Do you gather with His saints
to hear and to glory in His sacrifice? Christ and Him crucified? Have
you heard His Word? Have you heard His voice? Do
you call upon Him? for salvation, for mercy and
truth. He says, I will deliver you and
you will glorify Me. But, he says, to the wicked,
those that hate instruction, cast My words behind them. They consent with thieves and
adulterers, that is, corrupt leaders, corrupt government leaders,
religious leaders, they listen to, consent to, slanderers and
gossipers and deceitful liars. Oh, my! He said, I heard you. I've heard you. These things
you've done, I kept silent. He says, you thought I was altogether
such a one as yourself. God is not like us. He's not
like you think. He says, I'm going to reprove
thee. I'll set everything in order. Everything will be made
perfectly clear someday. He goes on to say, Consider this,
ye that forget God, lest I tear you to pieces. The verse 23 ends
with saying, Whosoever offereth praise glorifieth me to him that
ordereth his conversation aright, I will show the salvation of
God, the praise of the glory of his grace, a life of faith
and good works in Christ. That person knows the Lord and
is saved. What about you? Amen.