Good morning. You can be turning
in your Bibles to Psalm 14. So Gabe and your brethren in
Kingsport send their love and greetings and my wife Rachel
and well she doesn't know about my daughter Hazel. And I don't
know if you know, but we're expecting the baby boy two months from
tomorrow. So praise the Lord for that. But anyway, it gets
a little harder for Rachel to travel as one child in the arms
and one in the belly. So anyway, sorry she can't be
with me. Psalm 14, and look with me at
verse 1. The fool has said in his heart,
there is no God. Can you imagine? No God. Can you entertain the thought?
No God. What a foolish imagination. You
know, when I think about everything, sometimes you just get up, you
look about, and you just consider all that is. Do you not think
In the beginning, God. Does that ever just cross your
mind? Saw some beautiful snow-covered mountains for a few hours this
morning. Absolutely beautiful. God made
it. There's no doubt about it. I
don't doubt that one bit. And God tells us, in the beginning,
He created the heaven and the earth. He created everything.
How much is out there? I don't know. However much He
made. How vast is it? Vast as He made
it. You ever think about yourself, where we come from? I love this. The Lord God formed man. He formed man. How did he form
him? Of the dust of the ground. Thus we are and to thus we shall
return. The Lord God formed man of the
dust of the ground. And he breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life. And man became a living soul.
You know that? Do you believe that? Whose hands is our life in? His. I'm strong. I'm weak. My life
is in His hands. I want to show you this. Turn
over to Psalm 139. I love what David said here. Psalm 139. Verse
14. I pray we can say this with the
same conviction David said it. Psalm 139, 14, I will praise
Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are
Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. We know whose we
are, don't we? We know who made us, don't we? Oh, there's no
mistaking it. You see, men may try to suppress
the fact that God is, but it's evident. And for someone to claim
that there is no God, they're just suppressing a fact they
know. It's on the conscience. We know. I love this. Paul tells
us in Romans 1, he said that the invisible things of God from
the creation of the world are clearly seen. If we think otherwise,
we're just fooling ourselves. He said they're clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made. Even His eternal
power and Godhead, so that they're without excuse. For someone to
believe such a thing, there's no excuse. Only a fool would
claim to believe that there is no God. Now turn back and look
at our text again with me. Most of you probably know this,
but when italics are in the scriptures, they were added by the translators.
They weren't in the original text. They were added to make
it read better, make it read easier. Sometimes they serve
as a hindrance more so than a help. Let's read this without the italics.
The fool has said in his heart, no God. No God for me. No God, no problem. Here's what the fool's saying.
I'll be my own God. Now, this verse and this psalm
is not about atheism. It's not. This psalm is about
submission to authority. And I've got news for us, according
to God's Word, you and I are all the fool. All of us. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
God. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, the Word was God. The same was in the
beginning with God. He's God and He came into this
world and do you know what man's reception of Him was? Utter hatred. wanted nothing
to do with him. Look no further than the cross.
When Pilate offered to release him, do you know what they said? Away with this man. Crucify him,
crucify him. Pilate said, he's your king.
Do you want your king? They said, we have no king but
Caesar. He's our king. We know who our king is. Our
king is Jesus Christ. Whether we know it or not, he's
the only king there is. He's the only king with any power.
authority and you and I all from From our mother's womb our cry
has been I will not have this man To reign over me. I'll be my own God. That's exactly
what the message of atheism is, isn't it? There's none greater
than me Brethren, we're no different No different whatsoever. We all
Naturally have no desire for God and it's worse than that.
It's utter hatred The carnal mind that you and I are born
with is enmity, hatred against the God who made us. The God
who created us, our Creator, whom God tells us to remember.
Pray He causes us to remember Him, think upon Him, acknowledge
Him. Naturally, we're only interested in one thing, and that's ourselves.
Can you see it? When you look back on your life,
do you find that to be true? I'm concerned with me, myself,
and I. Even now, I have a family, but
at the end of the day, and the start of the day, I'm more concerned
with myself. I really am. I know it's sad, but it's so.
It's sad, but it's so. We think we're somebody. You
know, I'm a big sports fan, but a lot of these guys, they get
out, they start making their millions, you know, life's so
easy breezy. Man, they just think they're somebody, don't they?
We need to know we're nobody. We need to know we're nothing.
I like what Job said. He said, God is greater than man. We believe that. Not only man,
God's greater than me. We need to understand that. You
know, naturally, we believe ourselves. I know this is going to sound
ridiculous, but according to God's Word, I believe it's obvious.
Naturally, we believe ourselves to be greater than God. Well,
whose hands is salvation in? Well, you got it. Well, then
who's greater? Who's greater? Whose will's the
one that matters? Is it mine or is it God's? That'll
tell you who you think's greater. Naturally, we think we're greater
than God or at least His equal. You know, the Lord Jesus, He
thought it not robbery to be equal with God because He is
God. The big difference is you and me, we're not God. He's the
only man who's God. God in me. There's only one.
We need to understand, God's not like us at all. He's not like us at all. He's
holy. He's righteous. You and I are
the total opposite. We're unrighteous. We're sinful. Polar opposites. Now, David,
under the inspiration of God, of the Holy Ghost, he's about
to tell us just how sinful we are, okay? And look with me at
verse 1 again. The fool has said in his heart,
no God. They are corrupt. The word here
means ruined. We read that God created man
in his image. God's image. Perfect image. What
did man do? Ruined it. He ruined it. He ruined himself. You know,
somebody gets themselves in a bind. It's kind of like the prodigal
son. He wasted all he had with righteous living. You could say,
he ruined it. He ruined it. How did Adam ruin
it? Well, you remember, don't you?
He ate a piece of fruit. Well, that doesn't sound so bad.
Ate a piece of fruit. Plunged the whole human race
into hell and damnation by eating a piece of fruit. You know what
was so bad about that? You say, oh, well, he didn't
kill nobody. He didn't even steal. He just ate a piece of fruit.
What's so bad about that? God commanded him of all the
trees in this garden you may eat But of the fruit of the tree
of the knowledge of good or evil Don't eat that fruit God said
don't do it He did it. That's what's bad about it. That's
what we need to understand The worst thing we can do is disobey
God You know people think it's not so bad just to tell one white
lie God said don't lie. I It doesn't matter how big or
how small the lie is. God said, don't do it. And the
soul that sinneth, it shall die. That's why this is so important.
Adam corrupted himself. And as a result of what he did,
you and I are born into this world dead in trespasses and
sin. We're born with a corrupt, ruined,
fallen sin nature. I was talking to John about this
a minute ago. You have children. We pass certain things on to
our children. Your children often resemble at least one of you,
if not both of you. You pass on certain genes, certain
traits. You know what we pass on to our
children? Sin. You say, oh, well, she's pretty
like her mama. Well, I hope she is. Well, she's
nice like her daddy. I hope so. She's smart. Well,
that'd be good. We pass on our sin nature to
our children. And it's evident, and as our
kids get older, it becomes evident. I hate to say it, but I know
it to be true. Our father, Adam, passed on his
sin nature to you and me. And we're born in this world
dead in sin. We need to understand it's deadly. You know, you could pass on,
I found out just the other day, some friends are expecting a
child and they found, they did that genetic testing and found
out the child tested positive for some, I don't even know what
it is, but it wasn't good. Well, whether our children test
positive for that or not or anything else, we have the worst thing
we could possibly have and that's sin. Okay? So understand that. Sin. Verse 1 again, the fool
has said in his heart, no God. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. Now, it doesn't matter who we
are. It doesn't matter what we do
for a living. All we do is sin. It's what we are. It's our nature. And it's what we do. All our
works, no matter how great they might seem. abominable works
they are corrupt they have done abominable works someone might
say well not me just saying that made me think
nail man who are thou that replies against God but turn with me
to Genesis chapter 6 And we like to think Noah's day
was a long time ago. It wasn't that long ago. It wasn't
that long ago. Nothing's changed. Genesis chapter
6, look at verse 5. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Not most of the time. Not most
men. The heart of man. We just have one heart. God says
it's deceitful above all things. Desperately wicked. Only He can
know it. And He searches it. He does know it. God saw the
heart of man. And that's what He saw. Only
wicked, evil thoughts continually. Look down at verse 12. And God
looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. For all flesh
had corrupted His way upon the earth. Every man. Every imagination,
every thought, every heart, all flesh, this whole earth, corrupt,
evil continually. It's not a good outlook, is it?
Doesn't seem like we think it seems, does it? This whole world
thinks it's so good. It's not what God sees. I pray God would teach us what
our works really are, what they're worth. They're worth nothing.
They're worthless. You know, it makes me tremble
when I read in Matthew 7 about people approaching the Lord in
the Day of Judgment claiming there are many wonderful works
that they've done, and I know I'd be right there with them
but for the grace of God. And it makes me tremble because
He's going to look at them and say, depart from me, you workers
of iniquity. I never knew you. I never knew you. I never knew you. All our works are abominable.
And the word here means loathsome. You ever loathe something? Can't
stand the sight of it. That's what our works are. It
means shameful. It's not a good thing. Isaiah said, filthy rags. Nothing
but filthy rags. That's all our works are in the
sight of God. I mentioned a minute ago, it may seem like a good
work. You know, this whole religious
world thinks they're doing wonderful works. They may be wonderful
works to one another. They may seem wonderful to us.
But here's a verse that makes me tremble also. The Lord said,
that which is highly esteemed among men, you know it, is abomination. That means detestable idolatry
in the sight of God. So that's impressive. Not to
God, it ain't. Might be to me, might be to you,
but it's not to God. God doesn't have the same expectations
you and I have. He doesn't have the same standard you and I have.
You know, men like to think so highly of themselves, and I say
them, but it's us. I'm the fool. We think so highly
of ourselves and so little of God, we're just about equal.
Oh, God is, if I could just, if my hand could just reach up
forever, and if I could just sink through the floor, sink
through the core of the earth, and lower, then we might understand
just how holy God is and how sinful, wretched we are. Back in our text, Psalm 14. We can't please God by anything
we do. We're corrupt. We've done abominable works.
Look at the end of verse 1, Psalm 14. There is none that doeth
good. None. No one. None. You know, this whole world
thinks it's full of good people. I hear people say just the term,
good people, good person. We probably say it sometimes.
There's no such thing. There's no such thing. God said
there's none. You remember when that rich young
ruler came to him, he said, good master, what shall I do that
I might inherit the kingdom of God? You remember what the Lord
taught him? He asked him a question. He said,
why callest thou me good? You know why he asked him that?
That young man came to him expecting the Lord to say, well, you've
kept the commandments from your youth up. You're good to go.
That's what he expected to hear. Because that's what he said.
He said, all of them I've kept from my youth up. The Lord said,
why callest thou me good? There's none good but one. That's
God. That young man, bless his heart,
he thought he was good. He thought he had some goodness
by which he was going to be accepted, welcomed in. The Lord told him,
there's only one that's good. There's none good. But one. That's God. Now he was right
in calling the Lord good. But like all of us, he was mistaken,
thinking himself to also be good. We are corrupt. All of us. Look here in verse 2. The Lord
looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone
aside. They are all together become
filthy. It means stinking. There's none that do it good.
No, not one. That's what God saw then. That's
what God sees now. None good. None that understand. Everybody thinks they understand,
thinks they understand God. You know, it's like that Philip
in that Ethiopian unit. He knew he couldn't understand
the Word of God, except some man should guide him. We have
to be taught that. Pray God will guide us in the
Scriptures, teach us His way. You know, we just read about
His statutes, His commandments. We don't keep His statutes. We
don't have respect unto His commandments. No, God. We don't understand. We don't
seek God. The command goes out, seek the
Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He's near.
We're not going to. We're not going to forsake our
way, forsake our thoughts, and look to Him. We're not going
to. The Lord looked down from heaven. He didn't see a single
one doing that. You know that? Not one. Not one. All gone aside. All together
become filthy. We turned everyone to our own
way. Like sheep, we're gone astray. It's all through the Scriptures,
brothers and sisters. We don't have to wonder about these things.
It captures all of us. You know, God doesn't see things
like we do. He certainly doesn't see things
like natural man does. He doesn't. You know, even now,
even as believers, our vision's marred by sin. Everything we
do is marred by sin, mixed with all we do, mixed with all we
think. We can't have a good thought, a perfect thought. We can't do
it. We're just not capable. God sees
things the way they are. God has perfect vision, holy
vision. Nothing gets by Him. You know, I mentioned again,
having kids. Well, they probably do some things here and there
that slip by me in ritual. They don't slip by Him. Nothing
does, and nothing you or I do either. And I want to touch on
this a little bit. I will as we go through this,
but you know, the religion of this world, it truly is impressive
to many people. It really is. I'm in a master's
program right now, I had class the other night, and my teacher
mentioned how their treasurer had stolen $30,000. They finally
found it out. And he made it sound like a lot
of money, and then he talked about how big the church building
was and all this and all these people. And they had, man, just
everything the flesh would want. And I was just, he was like,
man, what a church. And I just sat there thinking, it's not
impressive to God. Not impressive to God at all.
God sees through the facade, the show of man's religion. He sees right through it. Right
through it. Look here, verse 4. He said,
Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people
as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord. Everybody thinks
they have so much knowledge, religion especially, so much
spiritual knowledge. God calls us fools with no knowledge.
He said we can't understand, we can't discern spiritual things.
They're spiritual, we're carnal. When I read this verse about
eating up God's people like they eat bread, I thought of the Apostle
Paul. He thought he had it all. He certainly thought he had all
the religious knowledge one could obtain. He thought he was working
the works of God. He was on that Damascus road,
on his way to persecute God's people. He had papers to arrest
him or do whatever he wanted to him. He was a Pharisee of
the Pharisees, religious leader. He was the Joel Osteen of his
day, so to speak, or whoever they are, these people on TV
and whatnot. People trusted him. Did you know, not only was Paul
lost, Not only was he persecuting God's
people. You remember when the Lord spoke to him? He said, Who
art thou, Lord? He said, I'm Jesus, whom thou
persecutest. He was persecuting God himself,
thinking he was serving God, thinking he was living for God,
doing the works of God. The end of verse four tells us
here, it says, They've not called upon the Lord. You know, Paul,
steeped in his religion as he was, do you know he had not called
upon the Lord? Do you know what it is to call
upon the Lord? I'm tempted to turn to Romans 10. Whosoever
shall call upon the Lord, the name of the Lord shall be saved.
You know, to call upon Him is to believe on Him, to need Him,
to trust Him, to be totally dependent on Him. Paul wasn't. He wasn't. Not at all. Turn with me to Galatians
chapter 1. I did want to show you this concerning
Paul. In verse 4, where he said, they
eat up my people. That's what Paul was doing, persecuting
God's people. But I don't want to overlook the fact that he
said, my people. God said, my people. God has
a people. Praise his name, the Apostle
Paul was one of them. Turn to Galatians chapter 1,
look with me at verse 11. I love reading about Paul's account
of what happened to him. He thought he saved himself and
then God saved him. Look here, Galatians 1.11, Paul
said, But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
of me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Literally. Verse 13, For ye have
heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how
that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted
it, and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals.
in my own nation being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of
my fathers. He's saying I was as religious as anybody. I was
even profiting from it. I mentioned old Osten. He sure
is, isn't he? Man, this whole world's profiting from religion,
ain't they? Left and right. They just don't know where to
tow down their barns and build bigger. They just got no room
for it all. Here's what happens when the
salvation of the Lord comes to a person. Look at verse 15 right
here. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb, and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me, that
I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood." When were you saved, Paul? When
it pleased God. How were you saved? According to God's good
pleasure. God saved him. He was just living
his lost religious life like we all do until God came to him. And God knocked him down, laid
him low, blinded him, and then gave him sight. God has a people. All Adam's race is fallen, corrupted,
sinful, but God chose to save a people. I just read about it. Please God to save a people.
Praise his holy name. I look back in our text. Salvation
is of the Lord. I hope we've seen, obviously,
we can't attain it. We can't work it. In John 6,
the man said, what shall we do that we might work the works
of God? The Lord said, this is the work of God that you believe
on Him, speaking of Himself, whom God hath sent. And I love
this. Don't overlook this either. It's
the work of God that you believe on Him. Who began the work in us? Who
will finish the work in us? It is God who does both. Look
here in Psalm 14, verse 5. There were they in great fear,
for God is in the generation of the righteous. He's talking
about the lost fool. There they are in great fear.
My margin says, they feared a fear. Psalm 53 is the parallel Psalm.
Verse 5 of that Psalm says, where no fear was. Every time I read
that, I think, that's me. Fear of fear where no fear is.
Fear everything. Afraid of everything. And yet
no fear of God. No fear of God before our eyes.
You know, there's the fear of being afraid of things and the
fear of the Lord, two totally different things. But I'll tell
you this, if we have the fear of the Lord, we ain't going to
be afraid of everything. If we reverence Him and worship Him
and bow down to Him, we acknowledge your Lord. You're God. Everything's
in your hand. You're my sovereign ruler, reigner,
if you will. I don't even know if that's a
word. Creator. You're God. We need to fear the Lord. You
know, we're fools by nature. You know what the beginning of
wisdom is? The fear of the Lord. That's
the fear we need. Pray God would put His fear in
us. By nature, this lost fool that you and I are doesn't fear
the Lord. Fear everything under the sun, but God who made it.
But the saved fool, that fool who's been saved by the grace
of God, who's been given faith to look to and trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ, that poor sinner fears the Lord, bows down at
His feet, like Mary, to just hear His Word and worship Him,
praise His Holy Name. Pray God will do that for us.
It's the one thing we need. And by nature, we don't know
we need it. You know, no God, we don't know we need God. Verse
6. You have shamed the counsel of
the poor because the Lord is his refuge. I just made a distinction
between the lost fool and the saved fool. We're all fools.
The lost fool doesn't fear the Lord. The lost fool shames the
poor, the lowly, the needy. But you know, that saved fool,
a change takes place in that man or woman. That saved fool
knows him or herself to be what the lost fool is shaming. Poor
and needy. How many times did David refer
to himself as poor and needy? And you know, David wasn't a
poor man. He had cup-bearers. I don't know
all the terminology, but he had it all. Armor-bearers, whatever
it was, he had all of it. He had no shortage. And yet he
often cried to the Lord, I'm poor and needy. Help me. Hear
my cry. Save me. Do we know that is what we are?
Do we believe ourselves to be just that? Act the mercy of God
for everything. Because we are. We are. Whether we like it or not, whether
we know it or not, I pray God would teach us we need Him. Desperately,
desperately need Him. It's not a bad thing to be poor.
I don't have an overabundance of money or material goods, and
that's okay. I don't need it. I have everything
I need. Do you? But nonetheless, our Lord said,
blessed are the poor. He didn't say in riches. He said
in spirit. God will supply all our need
through Jesus Christ. And blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Salvation is for the
poor. Not just salvation. Let me back
up. God is for the poor. Do you need God? Naturally, we
say, no God, no thanks. Run among the race. Remember,
the race we run is the race He set before us. Salvation is for the poor, it's
for the bankrupt, it's for the lowly, it's for the hungry, the
thirsty, the persecuted, the needy. That's all it comes down
to right there. Salvation is for sinners. Look at verse 6 again. You have
shamed the counsel of the poor, notice this, because the Lord
is his refuge. Do you need the Lord to be your
refuge? Do you need the Lord to save
you? Do you need the Lord to be your Lord, my Lord? You know, it's not just enough
to say, well, man's totally depraved. Do I know and believe I am totally
depraved? He's God. Is He my God? He's the Savior. Is He my Savior? Not that I make Him my Savior,
do I believe Him with all my heart to be my Savior, mine. If so, if God's given us faith
to believe on Christ, we're fools for Christ's sake. Paul used that phrase in 1 Corinthians
4 verse 10. He said, we're fools for Christ's
sake. He said, we're wise in Christ. Yeah, we're foolish on
our own. We just can't discern right from our left. We just
don't know what to do. But in Christ, oh, now that's
wisdom. He's all the wisdom I need. All
the wisdom that there is. Pray God might make us all fools
for Christ's sake. Alright, look here, verse 7.
Oh, that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion. That was
David's prayer. When the Lord bringeth back the
captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall
be glad What is this salvation that he
prayed would come out of Zion you shouldn't that But this is
where the psalm gets really good, and we're not going to spend
much time with it But I want to show you a couple passages
turn to Romans chapter 11 with me Romans chapter 11. I'm so thankful
God did not leave all of Adam's race in their lost, fallen, ruined
estate. He could have. I pray we've considered
that fact. God doesn't owe us anything.
He could have left us right where we were and we'd have been happy
saying, no God. Every one of us. But look here at God's goodness
in Romans 11 verse 25. Paul writes, For I would not,
brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should
be wise in your own conceits, that blindness, in part, is happened
to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And
so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, There shall
come out of Zion the Deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob, for this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away
their sins. Oh, praise God for the deliverer
who came out of Zion. You see, long before you and
I were, God made a covenant with himself. God made a covenant
of grace Not a covenant of works for us to save ourselves. Well,
now it fell. God knew what we would be. The
fall was no surprise to Him. Christ is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. The foundation of the world is
before Adam ever sinned. That means there was a Savior before
there was a sinner. You see God's glorious purpose? God chose to
save a people. Christ came to save sinners.
He came to deliver us. And the last verse we read says,
I shall take away their sins. Now, what do you think he did?
You reckon he took away our sins? He came to do the will of the
Father. Of him which hath sent me, of all them which he hath
given me, I shall lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. You reckon he did it? You think it's going to come
to pass as he said it would? Call his name Jesus for he shall
save his people from their sins. He bowed his head and gave it
the ghost. But before he did, he cried, it is finished. He
prayed in John 17, I finished the work which thou gavest me
to do. Now, do you think he finished it? Do you think he delivered
us from our sins? You think he put them all away
as far as the east is from the west? Isaiah 42 verse 4 says, he shall
not fail. Oh, praise his name. Where it
said in verse 26, all Israel shall be saved. That's a sure
statement. That's a good hope. In verse
25, he talked about Israel and Gentiles. God's people are both,
both Jew and Greek. Christ is all in all to everyone
which believes on Him. There's no difference. There's
no difference. It's not Christ and me. It's
Christ or nothing. Well, my righteousness is mostly Christ and then He's
all my righteousness. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth on Him. What's our hope going to
be? Our hope better be Him and Him
alone. Back in our text. Verse 7, O that the salvation of Israel
were come out of Zion, when the Lord bringeth back the captivity
of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. Who
was Jacob? Oh boy, where do you start? He
came out of the womb, tugging on his brother's heel. He was
a mess from the start, but that represented something. We're
told in Romans 9, the elder shall serve the younger. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. But how could that be? That's
not fair. God chose to save a people. Jacob shall be saved. Israel
shall be saved. Jacob's going to be glad. He's
going to rejoice. It pleased God to save Jacob. Who are we to complain against
God, murmur against Him, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand? That's why. That's why Jacob
shall be saved and Esau won't be. It's not of works. It's of God
that calleth. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth. It's of God that showeth mercy.
He said, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll be gracious
to whom I'll be gracious. Salvation's of the Lord. Pray
God will give us faith to believe on Him. And you know, if He does,
we're going to acknowledge Jacob to be one of us. Buddy, we're
just going to want to sit right beside Him. That trickster, that
conniver. Because we know we're one of
Him. Jacob represents God's people. Jacob was a sinner. He was a
worm. He was wicked. He was evil. He
stole his brother's birthright. But again, that was according
to the purpose of God because it belonged to Him. Salvation is for sinners and
only for sinners. You know, by nature, we all cried,
no God, no desire, no interest, no praise, no acknowledging. And yet, that's the very kind
of person Christ came to save, the fool. I want to show you this. Right
there, he said, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad. I say,
how can we not? How can we not rejoice and be
glad? Because of God's goodness to sinners in Christ. How could
we be anything but happy? Turn with me to Zephaniah. It's
one of the last few pages of the Old Testament. It's after Habakkuk, before Haggai. Zephaniah chapter 3. These two verses are so glorious
to me. Amazing. Zephaniah 3 verse 14. Sing, O daughter of Zion. Shout,
O Israel. Be glad and rejoice with all
the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. Now look at this. The Lord hath
taken away thy judgments. Are you scared of meeting God
in the judgment? If we're trusting in ourselves, we ought to be.
We ought to be scared to death.
But because of Christ, we can rejoice. The Lord hath taken
away thy judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy.
The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee.
Thou shalt not see evil anymore. Is that good news to you? Every time I read that, I can't
help but think of those Israelites with the Egyptians breathing
down their neck. I mean, they thought they might
have had a few minutes left at most. And God gave Moses boldness
to stand there and look at them and say, fear not. Stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you
today. Hey, so those Egyptians whom
you see today, you shall see them again no more That's our
sin. That's our judgments that God
must convict us of if we're ever going to look to Him. That's
good news, isn't it? Good news. Praise God. Salvation
has come out of Zion. Christ came. He didn't die for
His own sin. He had none. He knew no sin. He died for the
sins of His people. He died for Jacob. He died to
put our sins away. And only he could put sins away,
because he's the spotless Lamb of God, which should take away
the sin of the world, God's people in the world, the elect, the
sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep. Lay down his life for his friends,
those who were his enemies, whom he made to be his friends. How'd he make us to be his friends?
He made himself like unto them. made himself like unto his brethren. He didn't take on him the form
of angels. He took on him the seed of Abraham, made like unto
his brethren, that he might make reconciliation for the sins of
his people. That's why he came. That's what
he did. The fool has said in his heart, no God, but praise
God. Christ came. Praise God. He put
our sins away. He redeemed us to God by Himself,
by His precious blood, His spotless righteousness. He's made us to
be one with Him. Praise God. He would not take
no for an answer from His people. Amen. Praise the Lord.