That's okay. I have a little trouble with electronics. I'm of the horse and buggy day
almost. I'm going to read verse 3 again.
His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endure
forever. I'm going to talk about God's special work, His great
work this morning. The work of the Lord is contrasted
with that of the work of man. My question is this morning,
as a Christian, is it the work of God or is it the work of man?
That's a good question, isn't it? There's a whole lot depends
upon that answer. Is it from heaven or is it from
man? Most teach that it's from man
and by man's actions, manufactured by man, not the workmanship of
God. But this morning, it's God's
work and it's glorious and it's honorable. We live in a day that
there's a rejection of God's method of saving sinners. Set
up man in his free will, set up man in his self-righteousness.
But this tells us here that all of God's work, He is honorable
and glorious. Creation. That's a great work. It's a glorious work and it's
an honorable work. God's creation. How He made all
of this. And I'm amazed that every once
in a while I read about People that study the stars and they
say, we don't know how far all this goes. But God made it. Isn't it amazing? What God has
made in creation. We talk about nature and how
things multiply and how they replenish themselves and so forth.
Nature. What God has done. You know,
one of the little things that God has done in creation is water
flows down. You go into the mountains and
there's streams and springs and it flows down to the ocean and
waters as it goes. The little honeybee. When I was
in school, I had to write some papers and I wrote one on the
little honeybee. And it has a very special place,
doesn't it? Just a little honeybee as it
pollinates fruit. We wouldn't have fruit if it
wasn't for the little honeybee. See how God's made all of this.
How His work is glorious. And that of providence, what
He's done. But above all of this, and it's
distinguished from all of His other works, is that great work
of salvation. That's distinguished from another.
God saves sinners. If He left them to themselves,
they would perish. His great work of salvation,
how great that it is. We find it says, God. The psalmist says, behold, God
is my salvation. I thought about it right much
here lately. When it comes to their salvation,
their mind runs to when they made some kind of a decision
or something. That's when their mind goes.
Our mind should go to Christ as our salvation. It's Christ. It's Him. And the psalmist says,
I'll trust Him. And this method of God saving
sinners is ordained of God. We find that it's ordered of
God and it was all before time. It's been arranged. It's been
settled. It's ordered because He's ordered
all things. And He gets the glory. I tell
you, if you've got God's salvation, He gets the glory. You give it
to Him. You don't pull on your shirt
collars and say, and give yourself to glory, God gets the glory. In the Old Testament, what did
He do? He reached down in the heaps there one time and brought
them up and set them as princes, didn't He? From the heaps there.
He gets the glory. Many tell us that it all depends
upon the sinner and God's done His best. He does all He can
do and He's left it and put it in their hands. God saves sinners. God's honored. His salvation is glorious. One
of the things, this salvation of God meets all the demands
of the law of justice. It's met in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord kept the law, didn't
He, for us? And it's imputed to us. His righteousness
is imputed to us. The Son is honored in all of
His obedience and His suffering. Thy will be done as He hung upon
the cross. The Holy Spirit is honored because
of what He does in giving life and birthing us into the family
of God and taking possession of us. It's so glorious this
morning that nothing is going to tarnish it and nothing is
going to mar it. It's so glorious this morning
that the very vilest is not out of its reach. What about that
thief on the cross? What about old Saul? with the
Christians and putting them to death, stood down when they stoned
Stephen. It's a salvation that He saves
to the uttermost. Those who come to God by Him.
What a glorious salvation. It's all in the hands of Jehovah.
And I'm telling you this morning, He's not going to give the glory
to another. The glory goes to Him. It's a
glorious salvation this morning that it unites the head and the
members together. The Bible speaks of it, He's
the head and we the body. And that makes this morning the
head and the members inseparable. The Lord's not going to lose
a little finger. He's not going to lose a big
toe, is He? We're members of Him. It's glorious
this morning in that it brings in the whole election of grace. From time to the end of time,
that's what it's going to do. Bring in the whole election of
grace. The whole church. Brings them
into a vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ. So glorious this
morning, it redeems without money or price. Isn't that something, what He
gives us? You can't put a value up on it. It's glorious redemption. It's so glorious this morning
that the Bible says that man backslides and he goes astray,
doesn't it? It's so glorious that He brings
us back. Isn't that something? It's glorious salvation. I wish we could say, and I could
say, and you could say, We just steadily advance this. But I'm
afraid much of the Christian life is up a little, back a little,
up a little, back a little. I'm glad that he heals backsliding. Says he'll heal it. I'm thankful. I'm thankful of that. This morning it says he loves
freely. He has a free love. He's never going to leave or
forsake that of His people. And it's a salvation this morning
that's going to bring to glory. Bring to glory. It's going to take those that's
cursed with the law. It's going to take those that
are rebellious, sinners, polluted, and it brings us into a union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a great salvation, isn't
it? It brings us in union. It's a salvation
that brings us nigh. And that is by the blood of Christ
we are brought nigh. Don't we sing, nearer to my God,
nearer to Him, All this love and kindness, tender mercy upon us. It says there in the 17th chapter
of John, Thine in the Word, Thou gavest them to me. This glorious
arrangement of love. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. I laid hold of that verse many,
many years ago. And that's one of my favorite
verses in all the Scriptures. God says, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. It's overwhelming. God would
love us. Not only love us, but with an
everlasting love. It doesn't have any beginning,
nor does it have any end. It's love. Honorable and glorious work. There's His regenerating grace. Bursts us into His family. Makes
us members of His family, His select family. You know, He does
it one by one. It might be a group like this. God speak to one's soul. It brings
life. You might have been in a group
of a hundred, sometime, and God spoke to you. You might have
been at your home. You might have been in your bed.
God spoke to you. He brings His people in one by
one. How glorious is His work! He
does it by the power of His Spirit. This doctrine of regeneration
is opposed and hated. Most want to take the work out
of God's hands. They want to put it into the
hands of man. And I tell you, the Bible says salvation is of
the Lord. It's in His hands. He's the giver of it. I've never
figured out this all these years. I'm getting on up in years pretty
well, but I've never figured this out. How can one give themselves
life, physical or spiritual? Can't do it. God gives you your
physical life. God gives you your spiritual
life. It's done through the new birth. Yet a lot of people say
that birth themselves, I've just never known anybody to birth
themselves. I've been around hospitals and
I've looked in the nurseries and all of this, but I just never
have figured out how one births themselves. New birth. The new birth, a lot of people
says, well, it can be done by water. I'm like Mr. Spurgeon. He said you can put
Unconverted it on one side, the ocean dragged it to the other
side. It wouldn't make any difference. It's not by water. And yet we
have people that sprinkle infants. We have people that do all of
this. It's by water. Then there's others
that say, well, just repeat certain phrases after me and that's all
you need. Just repeat a few things after
me. By that they birthed themselves.
But I'm telling you this morning that the new birth is a gift
of God. It's the work of God. It's by
the sovereign operation of the Spirit of God. It's upon that of the sinner's
heart and life. The Bible says over in Ephesians
chapter 2 and verse 1, "...and you, he is quickened who was
dead in trespasses and sins. Dead! God has to quicken. He has to
make alive. And that's an honorable and a
glorious work. What He's done. This new birth
is but a Spirit of God when He takes possession of our various
souls. And when He does it, there's
a knowledge We know Him. We know the preciousness of Christ. Unto you that believe, the Scripture
says, He is precious. I believe that's one way you
tell this morning whether you believe or not. Is He precious
to you? If He's precious, you believe. The Bible says the Holy Spirit
testifies of Him. We have access to the very throne
of God. We say, Our Father, and He bids
us to come in His name. We don't dare to go outside of
the Lord Jesus Christ, do we? One of the old parishioners says,
we carry Christ in our arms when we go to God. Carry Him in our
arms. Access. Communion. Fellowship. The joy of fellowship
of Christ. He's made us new creatures as
His regenerating work. And it's honorable and glorious.
This morning, God's not going to have any rivals in this matter
of salvation. It's His great and glorious work,
and He preserves it, and He maintains it this morning. Paul writes,
and he said, "...he that has begun a good work in you will
perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ." I don't worry where he's begun
a good work. It's where he hasn't. If he's begun a good work, he's
going to perform it. If he's started that work in
you, he's going to perform it. It's a glorious work. It's work that He does. It's all to His glory. You know,
in creation, He didn't ask for help, did He? He didn't say to Adam, He says,
help me. Help me make Youself. He didn't
do that, did He? It's all to His glory where it's
creation and where it's salvation. It's His work. from first to
last. How glorious is it! He carries
out His purposes, He carries out His decree, He carries out
what He has arranged. God is sovereign. He is sovereign
this morning and He is saved by Christ's blood and His righteousness. And I like this, it's called
a finished work. Finished. God the Holy Spirit, He gives
repentance unto life. This morning, it's not the gospel
if you reject God's purposes. It's not the gospel this morning
if you reject His decrees. It's not the gospel this morning
if you reject Christ's perfect work, or you reject the Holy Spirit,
and that is a new word. That's not the gospel. Yet, our
generation has taken the gospel and put it in free will's hands. A lot of people say, well, God
changes His mind. God saves us in the face of rebellion. He's going one way and He changes
us. Turned us around. We look at
His work, how glorious that it is. We was pleasing ourselves. You know, that's what most people
are doing today, pleasing themselves. Isn't it? They're pleasing themselves. Man does. He pleases himself.
His sins keep numbering up, heaps up. I believe the Bible speaks
of heaps on heaps. But God saves with an everlasting
salvation. We have in the Bible Jonah. Jonah
of old, he come to this. He was not going to go as he
was sent. He paid the fire to go another way. And God prepared a fish to swallow
him up. And just think about that. Could
He affect His own deliverance when that fish swallowed Him
up? No. God caused that fish to vomit
Him out on dry land. And you know what He said? Salvation
belongeth unto the Lord. I wish that was a lesson that
this generation could learn, that salvation belonged unto
the Lord. It originates with Him. It's
effected by Him. And it's all to His praise and
honoring glory. Heaven is going to be thanksgiving
to the Triune God. Man, when he gets to heaven,
he's not going to give himself credit. He's not going to say,
look what I've done. That's what a lot of people say
in this life. They're going to say, look what
I've done. I tell you, we say, look what Christ has done. We
say, look what the cross has accomplished. Look what His blood
has done. Put away our sins. It's all, I'm sure, this. that it's going to be this. Salvation
is the Lord. It's not the old rags of the
old man along with the righteousness of Christ. It's not a halfway
system. Man decides when he's going to
repent, when he's going to turn to the Lord and all of this.
It's the Lord's dealing. It's the Lord's work. I met with
an alcoholic one time And I was talking to him in his backyard,
and he said, I just turn to the Lord whenever I get ready to.
That's just not the way that it is. It's Christ. It's in His hands. He's that which atones for our
sins. He intercedes for us without
of His... Righteousness in His blood. I
want no priest but Him. He's our High Priest. I don't
need anybody with a collar turned around backward. It's Christ. I don't want no king but Him.
He's King of all kings. I go to write King of Kings. I put that big K up there. Big
K, he's king of kings, Little K. And I want no prophet but
Him. I want to be taught of Him. And
the Bible says He's going to teach all His children. He's
going to teach them. That's from the Old Testament
and the New Testament. Isn't it? From the Old Testament
to the book of John. All thy children shall be taught
of Thee. He's going to teach us. We trust in His teaching. He's a great teacher. He's a
great prophet. He's a true prophet. I don't
know how. It's so ridiculous that man would
set up some man as a prophet and go by what he says. We heard
a few years ago, what was it, Jim Jones? All these people following
Him, and they all committed suicide, and this, that, and the other.
But think about Christ, His teaching. We trust what He says. And I'm
going to tell you something else. Most are counting on this Bible
not being fulfilled as it is written. They think it's going
to be changed. It's not going to be changed.
Everything's going to be just like this Word says. That's how it's going to be.
You can count on that. You can bank on that. And I pity
people who think, well, God's not going to do like He says.
God's going to do exactly like He says. He always has and He
always will. We can trust His teaching. We
can rely upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, Hung upon
the cross through one of those words He said, it is finished. I see my salvation there. You
see yours there. It is finished. It's a perfect
atonement. His atonement. See, the whole Old Testament,
all that it pointed to was to this one atonement. All these
atonements in the Old Testament, all those animal sacrifices and
everything, all they pointed to was just one offering that
saves us. We embrace Him as our Priest,
as our King, and as our Prophet. We embrace Him as Sovereign over
it all. You know, that's something we've
come to understand, and I'm thankful to the Lord leading me in that
way years and years ago, when I first started studying and
all, that He's a sovereign God. I like what Mr. Pink said, He'll
do as He pleases, when He pleases, and how He pleases, with whom
He pleases. He'll just do as He pleases. We love Him because He first
loved us. We are justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. He sanctifies
His people through His blood. They are sanctified by the Holy
Spirit, by the Word of His power. They are set apart. And by the
way, they are set apart even before time. as chosen in Christ, Ephesians
says, before the foundation of the world. All His work is glorious
and honorable. The Bible says every good and
perfect gift comes down from above. It comes down. His righteousness
endures forever. This heavenly birth that we are
born with, the Bible says, is not of corruptible seed, but
of the incorruptible. by the Word of God which liveth
and abideth forever. We receive grace for grace. Christ
says of His sheep, they're in My hands. They're in the Father's hands.
In My hands. I thought about those hands.
Boy, they're strong hands. Powerful hands. Loving hands. Precious hands. He says, My sheep,
hear My voice. It says there's many voices go
out. And boy, they're going out all
over television, all over the radio, all over the land. But
He says, My sheep, hear My voice. I hear Him. And He says, I know them. He knows you this morning. He
knows you. And He says, they'll never perish.
He said, nobody's going to pluck
them out of My hands, they're in My hands, they're in the Father's
hands. He said, I'll never leave nor
forsake. And the Bible says here, His righteousness endure forever. And I'm saying unto you today,
that God's salvation is forever. One of a creature's doings is
not going to last. I've seen people claim they've
been saved four or five times. But one that's a creature's doings
is damning to the soul. that I'm just afraid that there's
many damning their own soul with their own doings, is Christ. It's the Lord Jesus
Christ. We stand complete in the righteousness
of Christ. We stand in Him. It's all of
His doings. He gets the credit. It's His
work, and it's honorable, and it's glorious. Scripture says,
Behold, God is my salvation. Christ is my salvation. He's the author and finisher
of it. He's the giver of it. He gives it to us as a gift of
God. And it's for our joy. We have
something this morning the world can't give. We have something
this morning that money can't buy. And it's all a gift of God. How precious. Gives, gives. Great gives. Gives joy. It's all in what He
does for us. So there's a great distinction
this morning between that which is of God and that which is of
man. We see and understand that salvation
is of God. This salvation tells us that
we are going to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, be with Him for
all eternity. The Bible writes over in the
book of Revelation, it says, unto Him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own blood, He has made us kings and priests
unto God. To Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and blessings. Him that sitteth upon the throne
unto the Lamb forever." So, first to last, there's His love. He loves you from the beginning. He loved you before you had a
being. He knew you. He loved you when He sent Christ
into this world. He loved you when Christ was
hung upon the cross. What great love God has for that
of His people. Great love. What about His blood? What it's done? He paid the price
of justice. He paid what we must do. He paid it all. He paid in His life, in His blood. He paid for our sins. Think about that of His grace and favor to those who deserve
it not. Rebellious, wanted our own way, going our own way. How blessed it is that He stopped
us. How blessed it is that He came to us, spoke to our hearts. He came by His Spirit and regenerated
us and given us life, spiritual life. We now worship Him and we gather
this morning. We gather at our church and we
gather here. And we gather for that of worship.
Worship the Lamb of the Lord. Praise the Lamb. He saves us. What a great term. He saves us. He shall save His people from
their sins. He shall. I like the shalls of the Bible,
don't you? He shall. I don't care much for
man's shalls. He can say all he wants to. I
like the shalls of the Bible. What God says He shall do. And
it's all to His praise. And this morning as we read this
verse and think upon it, His work is honorable and glorious.
His righteousness endure forever. His salvation deserves the highest
of praise. There's no other work to be compared
to it. I think it's amazing. God put
the moon out there, put the sun out there, and actually if the
sun was any closer to us, it would burn up. If it was any
further away, we'd freeze. That's amazing work. I love to see the mountains.
Love to see the ocean. But all of this, There's nothing
to be compared with God's salvation of saving a sinner and bringing him to glory. Nothing to be compared to that.
It brings Him glory. And it brings us to glory. May God bless you. May you ponder and think upon
this morning. His work is honorable and glorious. How glorious that it is. And
how honorable that it is. How would you dismiss? Okay, go ahead. I appreciate being here and I
thank you for being here. Thank the Lord. Let's all stand and turn to number
228.