We are looking this morning at
one of the Psalms, Psalm 33. Psalm 33, if you would like to
follow along. Most of the Psalms were written
by David, David the king, whom God called a man after his own
heart. A man whom the Lord loved, and
so he loved the Lord. A man whom the Lord revealed
himself to, revealed his mind, his thoughts, his purpose, his
heart to David. was a king, a sovereign, a true
sovereign. He knew something of sovereignty,
true power, true majesty. And so he spoke much, spoke always
of the king of kings, the sovereign ruler of the universe, the Lord
and ruler and creator of all, our Lord and our God. David spoke
much of the fear of the Lord. Men don't speak much about that
now because they don't know much about His sovereignty, His power. Most men do not know the true
God of Scripture. Though all should fear the Lord,
all will, most when it's too late. But all of God's people
do. They fear Him. Read with me,
verses 1 through 3. Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous,
for praise is comely for the upright. Praise the Lord with
harp, sing, sing unto him with the psaltery and the instrument
of ten strings, sing unto him a new song, play skillfully with
a loud voice." David is speaking to God's people, telling them
to praise Him, to give Him all glory and honor and credit and
all the glory for everything, because what do we have we have
not received? The Lord does all things. He
worketh all things. He created all things. He controleth
all things. He's worthy of all praise, honor,
and glory, of worship. That's what God's people do.
He's worthy of worship, and God's people worship the Lord, and
they love to do so with singing. The birds do. The trees clap
their hand. All mankind should, but no, most
do not. But God's true people do. They
worship God in spirit. They rejoice in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and they have no confidence, no confidence in man, in the
flesh. He goes on to write in verse
4, For the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are
done in truth. God's word is right. God cannot
lie. His word is called the truth. David said this, I said in my
haste, all men are liars. God alone is to be fully trusted,
for he is righteous, he is true. Paul said it, let God be true
in every man, a liar. And David says his works are
in truth. They are true to his character,
true to his person, true to his wisdom and his power. His works
of creation, grand, glorious, mysterious, because God is. His
works of salvation. His work of salvation. Great, merciful, wise, gracious,
like God Himself, like Christ Himself. Verse 5 says, the Lord,
He loveth righteousness and judgment. The earth is full of the goodness
of the Lord. Listen to Psalm 11. The Lord
loveth righteousness. Listen to Psalm 11, a sobering,
fearful passage of Scripture. It says, the Lord is in His holy
temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven, His eyes behold, His
eyelids try the children of men. The Lord tryeth the righteous,
but the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall reign
snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. This shall
be their portion. For the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness, His countenance doth behold the upright." Oh
my, do you understand what it means to be righteous? The only righteousness that a
human being can have is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Go and learn
what that means. He goes on to say here in Psalm
33, the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Psalm 145
says, His tender mercies are over all His works. The Lord
feedeth. The Lord provideth. The Lord
giveth to all. And He's the Savior of all mankind. Or that is, He upholds the lives
of beasts and men. Do men thank Him? Do men praise
Him? Some, by His mercy and grace,
do. Most do not. Oh, my! Do you? Verse 6 says, ìBy the word of
the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the
breath of his mouth. He gathered the waters of the
sea together as an heap. He layeth up the depth and storehouses
by the word of the Lord.î He said, ìLet there be light,î and
there was light. He said, ìLet there be a firmament,î
and there was. ìHe breathed into man, and he
became a living soul.î Yes, He is God our Creator, the God in
whose hands our breath is in all our ways. It says He gathered
the waters together and made the oceans and the seas. He said,
Hitherto shalt thou come and no further. Should not that cause
us to fear the Lord? That He does all things by the
Word of His power? He created all things simply
by a Word? And He still upholds all things
right now by His Word? Whatever He says happens? So verse 8 says, Let all the
earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of Him. Fear. Fear. This is what David
is saying, should we not fear the Lord? Listen to Jeremiah. Should we not fear the Lord who
gathered the waters together and holds them back from us?
Listen, verse 22 of Jeremiah 5. Fear ye not me, saith the
Lord? Will ye not tremble at my presence,
which hath placed the sand for the bound of the sea by perpetual
decree, and it cannot pass? Though the waves thereof toss
themselves, they cannot prevail. They roar. They cannot pass over
it. Do you not understand? Have you ever gone to the sea,
to the ocean? Do you not understand it is God that holds back the
ocean? Every now and then He lets it
loose with a tsunami or something, and people fear for a little
bit. But no. They said here in Jeremiah
5, Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord,
that giveth rain the former and the latter. Oh, my, let all the
earth fear the Lord, and all the inhabitants of the world
stand in awe of Him. All shall fear Him. It doesn't
take much to make man fear Him for a little while, a little
rain, a little wind, a little wave, a little virus, a little
plague. Then they are in fear who knew
no fear. But God's people, this is the
characteristic of God's true people. They fear the Lord. Verse
9 goes on to say, He spake and it was done. He commanded and
it stood fast. God says, I have purposed it.
I will do it. I have spoken it. It shall come
to pass. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but not one word of mine shall fail. The Lord, verse 10, bringeth
the counsel of the heathen to naught. He makes the devices
of the people of no effect, none effect. Man has his little meetings,
his little gatherings, but they will be scattered like the people
at the Tower of Babel. Man's wisdom God calls foolishness. But the counsel of the Lord,
verse 11, the counsel of the Lord, the Word, the wisdom, the
purpose, the eternal counsel of God Almighty, It says, Standeth
forever his thoughts, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Listen to Simon Peter preaching
at Pentecost concerning the counsel of the Lord. Amen of Israel,
hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you as you yourselves also know.
Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken and by wicked hands and have crucified and
slain, whom God hath raised up." And he went on to say, being
by the right hand of God exalted, he said, ìLet all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom
you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.î That was Peterís
message and it struck fear in the hearts of three thousand
people. No, we don't make Him Lord, God
did. He is our Lord whether we know
it or not, and we should bow, and every knee will bow, and
every tongue will confess. Oh, it's salvation to know that
now, to willingly, lovingly, in worship, bow the knee and
worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, he goes on to say, The counsel
of the Lord standeth forever, the wisdom, the word, the truth
of the Lord. Blessed is the nation whose God
is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen for His inheritance.
Blessed. Back through time, Israel knew something of the Lord. They
worshipped the Lord, Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, under men like David and Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah, but
not now. Not Israel, not America. Oh,
there's a few. There's a remnant. There's a
true Israel, a true Jew inwardly, not outwardly. Their God is the Lord, people
whom He hath chosen, His elect. Verse 13 says, The Lord looketh
from heaven. He beholdeth all the sons of
men from the place of His habitation. He looketh upon all the inhabitants
of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike.
He considereth all their works. You know, the king's heart is
in the hands of the Lord like the rivers of water, he turneth
it whithersoever he will. The President of the United States
is not doing as he will, he's doing according to God's will,
the will of Jesus Christ, who alone has free will. Did you know that? What will
that make us feel? What will that cause? Fear, the
fear of the Lord. Oh, not just some mere man named
Jesus, but the Lord Jesus in whose hands our heart is. Verse 16, there's no king saved
by a multitude of a host. This nation is not saved by the
might of its armies. No, it's in the hands of God
to do with as he pleases. The only reason it still stands
is by God's decree. A mighty man is not delivered
by much strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety. All of our inventions, all of
our modern technology doesn't save us. Salvation is of the
Lord. Neither shall anything deliver us by its great strength.
Read on. Listen to verse 18. Behold, the
eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that
hope in his mercy, upon them that fear him. That's Psalm 33. Providentially, in God's creation
of this word, Romans 3.18 says there's no fear of God before
their eyes. That describes mankind. No fear
of God before their eyes. Ought to, but they don't. Oh,
but His eye is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope
in His mercy. Where is His mercy? What is the
hope of a sinner, of a human being? It's only one place, and
only in one person, and that is Jesus Christ. Hope of heaven,
hope of salvation. Well, he goes on to say that
he's going to deliver their soul in death and keep them alive
in famine. We're in a famine right now,
not of bread, but of the hearing of God's Word, that God's people
eat, delight themselves in the fatness of His Word. David goes
on to say, our soul waited for the Lord. He is our help and
our shield. What does that mean? A lot of
people still wearing shields. God's people have always been
under a shield. It is the Lord Himself. And he
says, our hearts shall rejoice in him, we've trusted in his
holy name. And he ends with a brief prayer,
saying, let thy mercy, O Lord, let thy mercy be upon us, according
as we hope in thee. Is he your hope? Do you know
anything about the Lord's mercy? Oh my, call upon him today for
mercy. Amen.