Good morning to everyone. Take
your Bible and let's turn to Psalm 146. Psalm 146. I always am delighted to come and
be with you, worship with you, and see you
again. I've been coming here for a lot
of years. Never tired of it, never weary
of it. OK then, Psalm 146. Let's read these ten verses,
and then we'll come back and make a few comments. Notice,
Praise ye the Lord. The marginal reference has Hallelujah. I guess that's what it is, that
phrase in the Hebrew. Praise ye the Lord. Praise the
Lord Oh my soul, in my heart, in my heart. David declares,
while I live, while I praise the Lord, I will,
I will praise Him while I live. I will sing praises unto my God. He gets personal, doesn't He?
He's my God, my Savior, my Lord. while I have any being at all. Now, verse 3, put not your trust
in princes, nor in the son of man. And the phrase there means
any son of Adam. Don't trust any man. In whom there is no help. And
notice the marginal reference on the word help. There's no
salvation. from a man or in a man, that
is, in any son of Adam. And the reason being, verse 4,
his breath goes forth, he returneth to his earth. Man is a frail
creature. In that very day, his thoughts
perish, his plans, his ambitions, all his schemes. You can plot
and plan all you want, but when the Lord comes, The point is
that the man wants to die. Your thoughts, your plans, your
ambitions, the things that you might accomplish in this life,
they're gone. So don't put your trust, your
confidence in any man. Happy. You see verse 5? Happy. And that's the word we see in
other places in the book of Psalms. Blessed. Blessed. Blessed. Happy is he to have the God of
Jacob. the God of Jacob for his help,
whose hope, those three words are happy, help, and hope. You see that? Happy is he to
have the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope, whose hope
is in the Lord, his God. Now, from verse six on down,
we have a description of the Lord our God, the one that we
love to praise in our soul and sing praises unto, verse 6, which
made heaven and earth, the sea, he the mighty Creator. And all
that therein is. He made all things by the word
of His power. All things are held together
and consist by His dominion, His reign, His rule forever. Forever. Which keepeth truth. He keepeth truth. His truth.
Let God be true in every man and liar. He keepeth truth forever.
He executed judgment for the oppressed, which giveth, giveth,
he giveth food to the hungry. Everybody hungry this morning?
Look unto the Lord. He's the giver of all good things. Every good thing, every perfect
gift cometh from above. The Lord giveth food to those
who are in need. The Lord luceth the prisoners. He set
the captive free. The Lord openeth the eyes of
the blind. Seems to indicate here that our
salvation is of the Lord. It's the Lord that openeth the
eyes. It's the Lord that luceth the
prisoner. The Lord openeth the eyes of
the blind. It's the Lord that raiseth them
that are bowed down. The Lord loveth The righteous. The Lord loves his people. They're
righteous in Christ. The Lord preserveth the strangers. He relieveth the fatherless and
the widow. He is our relief. Those who are
in need is what he's saying here. But the way of the wicked, the
way of the wicked, he'll turn that upside down. He'll destroy
that way of self-glory, self-righteousness. Verse 10, the Lord shall reign
forever. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion, from everlasting to everlasting, thy word God, even
thy God, O Zion. The Lord reigned unto all generations. Now, notice, he ends this psalm
the same way it begins. Hallelujah. The Lord reigns. Hallelujah. Praise you, the Lord. Let's bow together and ask the
Lord's blessing upon our day. Our Heavenly Father, we look
unto Thee this time to bless Your Word unto us. Lord, give
us a heart of worship a broken and contrite spirit that we might
honor thee, praise thee in our heart, worship thee in our heart. Lord, we thank you for this congregation. Thank you for Brother Paul. We
ask you to bless him as he preaches today. Bless us here. Send forth thy word and power.
Lord, we give you all the honor and glory both now and forever. In the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, we give thanks. Amen. Now, I enjoy the psalms,
don't you? Aren't they a blessing? I recently,
back the last two or three years, started in Psalm number 1, and
went all the way through to Psalm 150, and looked at each and every
psalm, and every week as I'd sit down and study the psalm,
it just lifted me. It just helped me. It just encouraged
me. And as I got toward the end of
the Psalms, this phrase here is repeated over and over and
over again. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. And it says
here, O my soul. Now, there is a lot that goes
on in religious circles about folks raising their hand and
saying hallelujah and praise the Lord And it gets to the point
where it becomes just meaningless. It's overdone. It's overused. And I think most of the time
in what we call main Christianity or mainline false religion, I
guess we would call it, that this phrase is used to the point
of contempt. to the point of using the name
of the Lord in vain. You know, we can, as believers,
we can praise the Lord, and we can do it and not utter a word,
not move a finger, a hand or a hair, as Brother Mews used
to say. We can praise the Lord sitting
still. Be still. Turn over here. Hold your place here. I'm thinking
of this Psalm over here in Psalm 46. Psalm 46. Look what it says here. Verse
10. Psalm 46 now. Hold your place
there in 146. Look at verse 10. Be still. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob. That phrase
is repeated, you know, how many times? 26 times. The God of Jacob. The God of Jacob. Covenant God. The God of Jacob is our refuge. You remember, I'm thinking of
the children of Israel as a exodus out of Egyptian bondage And Pharaoh
and his 600 chariots pounding down upon them, the Red Sea before
them, the mountains on each side, they were hemmed in. They were
trapped. They were confined. But they
were exactly where God put them. You remember the message the
Lord gave to Moses? Fear not. Stand still. and see that salvation is of
the Lord. So praise ye the Lord. Praise
the Lord, O my soul. And that reminded me of this
psalm. Look at Psalm 103. Very familiar psalm. Psalm 103. Bless the Lord. Praise the Lord. Bless the Lord. Psalm 103, verse
1. O my soul. Psalm 103. and all
that is within me, witness our desire, embody mind, spirit,
all that is about us, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name, bless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all of his blessings, his benefits,
who forgive us all, Iniquities, how can we not thank Him? In love and in gratitude unto
Him. Forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.
We do honor Him. We do exalt Him. It's our desire,
our heart's desire. That's why we're here today,
isn't it? To honor the Lord, to worship Him in spirit and
in truth. Now look at verse 2. He says,
I will, while I live, while I praise the Lord. This is David's determination
and this is every believer's determination. To come to the
house of the Lord. For the gospel of God is preached
while we live, while we're able to come. What a blessing! What
a privilege! I think of that other psalm that
David talks about. He said, I was glad when they
said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. What a
privilege God has given us to come and to worship around the
gospel of God's grace in Christ Jesus. While I live, Will I praise
the Lord? Now watch this. Not only will
I praise the Lord and bless the Lord, but I will sing unto Him.
I will sing praises unto my God. David gets personal. While I
have any being, while I have any thoughts, I want to sing,
sing unto the Lord. Now I thought of this psalm,
this is kind of, you know the psalms really are a commentary
on the psalms. Look at Psalm 40. Psalm 40. We just want to look at a few
Psalms here. Psalm 40. I thought about this, about that
singing unto the Lord, and it's a song of redemption. It's a
song of redemption. It's that new song. Worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive all honor, glory, and power,
both now and forever. And this song is the song that
the Lord puts within us. Look at Psalm 40, verse 1. I
waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and
He heard my cry. The cry of the heart. He brought
me up also out of a horrible pit. He brought me up out of
my replay. He set my feet upon a rock. And we know that rock is Christ.
He's our rock. He established my goings. And then he put a new song in
my mouth, something that wasn't there before. Praises unto our
God, many shall see it, and fear and shall trust in the Lord.
So he brought me up, he set me up, he established me, and then
he tuned me up. The same praises, the same word
that is in the land. Now look at Psalm 98. Look at this here, Psalm 98. And here's the theme of this
song, this song of redemption. Psalm 98 verse 1, O sing unto
the Lord a new song. And here's the chorus. He's done
marvelous things. His right hand and His holy arm
have gotten Him the victory. Remember that verse over in 1
Corinthians 15? Thanks be to God who has given us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the new song. We sing
of all that the Lord has done for us. Now, there's a warning
here in verse 3. You see, Psalm 146, verse 3. Here's the warning. Don't put your trust in princes,
politicians, presidents, or preachers. Not this one. Not any. Put not your trust in princes
nor in any son of Adam. Any son of Adam. In whom there
is no help. And notice the marginal
reference on that word is salvation. There's no salvation that's of
man, that's in man, that's from man. He can't be trusted. Don't trust yourself. The heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. In that
same chapter there, Jeremiah 17, it says, Cursed is every
man that trusteth in the flesh. Don't put your trust in any man. Son of man. And that phrase there
means the best of men. The best of men are still men. Sinners. Sinners who can do us
no good in the realm of salvation. Now, I know God's preachers point
us to the Lord Jesus Christ, and in that sense, they are a
hell. But he's saying there is no salvation
in man or from man. Salvation is God's doing. Salvation
is God's business. So, who are we to trust? Don't
trust man. Don't trust yourself. Look at
Psalm 62. I call Psalm 62 the only psalm. I was preaching somewhere one
time, and I told them to turn to the only psalm. And they looked
at me a little strange. I said, the only psalm is Psalm
62. It's the only psalm. Psalm 62. Now, here's the believer's competence. We are the true Israel which
worship God in the Spirit, that rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
we have no confidence in the flesh. Now, who are we to trust
then? Look at verse 6, Psalm 62. He
only is my rock, my salvation, my defense. I shall not be moved. Fasten to that rock. You see,
to move the believer, you've got to move the rock. That's
not going to happen. Christ is that rock, the everlasting
rock of ages. And to move the believer, you've
got to move the rock. And that's not going to happen.
We're fastened to Christ. I shall not be moved. In God
is my salvation, my glory, the rock of my strength. My refuge
is in God. Now, look at verse 8. Trust in
Him. Once in a while. When things
are going rough, then trust Him. That's not what it says there.
Trust in Him at all times. When should we trust the Lord?
Always. When should we look to Him? Always. At all times, ye
people, pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. So, back to Psalm 146. Put not
your trust in princes, nor in any son of Adam, in whom there
is no salvation. Now, he gives us a little help
here in verse 4. The reason we're not to trust
the flesh. His breath goeth forth, and it
returns to the earth. Thus thou art, thus thou shalt
return. In that very day, all of his
schemes, his plots, his plans, they perish. They perish with
him. Now, look right across the page
at Psalm 144, verse 3. Lord, what is man that thou takest
knowledge of him, or the son of man that thou makest account
of him? Man is like the vanity, his days
are as a shadow that pass away. I think of that other Psalm,
Psalm 139 it is. Man at his best state, all together,
Vanity. You wouldn't trust vanity, would
you? Someone said that the height of insanity is to trust vanity. You see, we're looking to the
Lord Jesus. How many times does it say, look over here, I think
we can find it easily, Isaiah 40. How many times does it say
in the Word of God, all flesh is grass? Isaiah 40, verse 6. The voice
said and cried, and he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is
grass, and the goodness thereof is the flower of the field. The
grass withers, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord
glows upon it. Surely the people's grass, the
grass withers, the flower fadeth. You know, that's a big word in
Scripture, isn't it? B-U-T. But the Word of our God
shall stand forever and ever and ever. Now back to Psalm 146. Happy. Happy. You see verse 5? Happy. As I pointed out earlier,
that word can also be rendered blessed. Blessed. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob. God who is God. Happy is he that
hath the God of Jacob for his salvation. He is God, our Savior. Happy is that man. Blessed is
that man. Same word is used other places
in the psalm. Blessed is that man. Who is the
blessed man? Let's see if we can find out.
Turn to Psalm 32. Psalm 32. Who is that blessed man? It's that man who was found in
Christ. That man who was blessed with all the spiritual blessings
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Psalm 32. Here's the blessed
man. Here's the happy man. The blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all our sin. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputed not iniquity, in whose spirit there is no hypocrisy,
sham, or guile. That's the blessed man. To have
the God of Jacob, that covenant God. Jacob have I loved, Esau
have I hated. That covenant God who will have
mercy on whom he will have mercy. That's the happy man that looks
unto God who is God for all of his salvation. He is my help.
I think of that scripture over in, don't turn, let me just read
it to you. You know it very well over here
in Hebrews. Chapter 4, seeing that we have
a great high priest that is passed into the heaven, Jesus, the son
of God, let us hold fast our profession. Let us therefore
come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy,
find grace to help. You see, he is our help. Grace
to help in time of need. He's able to meet all our need
according to his riches in glory through Christ Jesus. Now, look
back at Psalm 146. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help. Blessed help. Blessed salvation
we have. Whose hope? Now we have a good
hope. Our hope is not a phlegm phlegm
hope. It's not a wishy-washy hope.
The believer's hope is a solid, good hope. Think of that scripture
over in 1 Thessalonians 2.16 where it says, We have an everlasting
consolation in the Lord Jesus Christ and a good hope through,
through, what's the next word? Through grace. It's the grace
of God alone. It's the grace of God alone.
I am what I am by the grace of God. You see, the Lord Jesus
Christ, He is our hope. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. That's our hope. Our hope is
all wrapped up. You know, I've got a good hope
because I feel good. What was it Luther said? Feelings
come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is
the word of God. Nothing else is worth believing. You see, He is our hope. Our
hope is all wrapped up in a person. In a person. Not an experience.
Although salvation is something we experience, but we don't trust
our experience. We're looking unto the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is our hope. Christ is all
and in all. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Him we stand complete. That's our hope. That's a good
hope. That's the only hope. that any
sinner that's taught of God has. Our Lord said, speaking there
in John 6, all those who have heard and learned of the Father,
they steed out to the Lord Jesus Christ. As Brother Montgomery
used to say, they hug up to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, salvation,
the Lord, has put all his salvation in our blessed Savior, who is
called God our Savior, the God of Jacob. He took old Jacob,
a connival. Read his life story. He didn't
merit God's favor or God's attention. He did everything contrary. And yet, God set His heart on
him, His affection on him, and He gave that old Jacob, a name,
he said, I'm going to change you. I'm going to make you a
new creature. I'm going to make you an Israel,
a prince of God. And that's what God does in saving
mercy and saving grace. Look at verse 6, 7, 8, 9 and
10. And I could spend another 30, 40 minutes right here. But Paul has wisely put a stop
clock right here. I'm looking at a stop clock.
And I push the button. And 27 minutes so far. We could
easily go another 27 minutes looking at the rest of this.
But I want to give you just a few more things here. Here we have
in verse 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, we have a fifth description of
the one that we're to praise. The one that we're to look unto.
The one that we're to trust. The one who is our hope. Look
at verse 6. He's the creator of all things. In Him we live and move and have
our being. Which made the heavens. The heaven of heavens. God who inhabits eternity. He's
not in the universe. The universe is in Him, which
made heaven and earth. He's the Creator. And all that
therein is, God said, and it was done. I think of that other
psalm, Psalm 33, I think it's verse 9 or thereabout. He spake
and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. It stands fast by the Word of
His power. He upholds all things by the
Word of His power. All things are held together
and consist by Him. And He's the Keeper. He's the Creator. He's the Keeper.
He's the Keeper of truth. Truth. What is truth? Our Lord
said, I am truth. I am the way, the life. I am
truth. And He keeps this truth, the
truth of the Gospel. The truth of His Word, the truth
of who He is. He keeps it forever. He said,
I am the Lord, I change not. He keeps His truth forever. Truth
never changes. You know a lie always changes.
No lie is of the truth. Satan is the father of lies.
Lies always change. Liars always have to change their
story. Tell the truth, and you can stick
with the truth. The truth never changes. Christ
is that truth. Our Lord said, the truth, you
shall know the truth. What's said, Stephen? You shall
know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Life will
set you free. Life will keep you in bondage. Truth will set you free. The
truth of who He is. The truth of who we are, the
truth of what salvation is, the truth of how God saves sinners
by His grace. He keeps this truth forever,
forever. Look at verse 7. He executes
judgment for the oppressed. And he's talking here about executing
our salvation in taking our sin to Himself. He took our sin in
His own body on the tree and suffered judgment for the sin
of His people. He executed and declares that
the Lord shall prosper in His hand, please the Lord to bruise
Him in our room and in our stead. He executed justice and judgment
on my substitute. Putting away my sin, the sin
that oppressed me. He judged it in Christ my substitute. Made Him to be sin for us who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. And then He not only puts away
our sin, He gives us everything we need. He's our wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. He puts away our sin and then
He gives us. He executes judgment upon our
sin in our substitute who may complete satisfaction for Him.
And then He gives us everything we need. Food. He's the water of life. He's
the bread of life. He's the sustainer. And then
the Lord also does this. You see, Reading this book, you
can only come away with one conclusion, that salvation is of the Lord.
Because look, everything, He executes judgment, He gives food,
He gives salvation to the hungry, to the needy, He came to save
sinners, didn't He? This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that the Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. The Lord sets him at liberty. Those who are bruised stand fast
in the liberty wherewith Christ has set us free. Don't be entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. He set us free. You shall know
the truth. The truth sets you free. Liberty
in Christ. The Lord has not only judged
our sin, given us salvation, set us free, He opened our eyes. He opened our eyes, thinking
we were blind and dead and didn't know and didn't see and didn't
care. One day, He opened our eyes,
gave us ears to hear His Word, to hear God's preacher. gave
us eyes to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He's
altogether lovely. And one day by His grace, God
doing that work of grace in the heart, brings us to the place
where we must have Him. We will not let Him go, as Jacob
said, till you bless me. The Lord opened the eyes of the
blind. The Lord raises up them that
are dead in sin. He raises them that are bowed
down. You see, the way up is not up.
The way up is down. You say, but that doesn't make
sense. Yeah, it does. Where was Saul of Tarsus when
the Lord raised him up? I mean, one time when he was
going to Damascus, he was riding pretty high. And as Brother Mahan
used to say, God unhorsed him. Put him in the dust. Put his
nose in the dust. He would bow down. God bowed
him, didn't he? But he didn't leave him there.
Raised him up. You had Hequod who were dead
in trespasses and in sin. Aren't you glad the Lord is able
to raise up dead sinners? Just turn a couple of pages back,
Psalm 138. Well, it pays to write these things
down. Well, I'm looking for a verse
and I'm thinking of a verse, but I can't find it. But needless
to say, The Lord raises up them that
be bowed down. I can't think of this verse.
Psalm 34. He's nigh unto them of a broken
heart. He saveth such that are of a broken heart in the confines
of spirit. The Lord raises up those that
are bowed down in the dust. The Lord loves it. God is love. The Lord loves the
righteous. You know, His love His holy love. His sovereign love. His holy
love. And the Lord loves the righteous. Now, he's saying, I know the
scripture says there's none righteous, none but one. All of our righteousnesses
are still to arise, and that's so. But this is talking about
how the Lord loves us in Christ. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see,
he is the Lord, our righteousness. As a matter of fact, Jeremiah
said, that's my name. The Lord, I write that, that's
our name. The Lord loves, and here's the bottom line. He loves his people. He loves
his people. He loves them with an everlasting
love. And nothing can separate us from that love of God, which
is in Christ. And then He's our Preserver.
When we were strangers to Him, strangers to the covenant without
God, without hope, and without Christ, now we're made nigh by
the blood of Christ. We're no more strangers. We're
one with Him. The Lord preserves His people.
He's known them forever. We're kept by the power of God.
And then, He's our relief. Remember that old Rollage commercial,
how do you spell relief? Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. He is my relief. He is my refuge. He is my righteousness. He is my resurrection. He is everything. He relieveth
the fatherless and the widow. Those who are in need, my God
shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory through
Christ Jesus. Now, I'm going to quit. But,
but, the way of the wicked, he's going
to turn it upside down. There is a way that seems right
unto men. The end of that way is death. The way of works, self-righteousness,
self-glory, the way of the flesh. God's going to turn that upside
down. He's going to destroy what He's saying. He's going to destroy
every false refuge of lies. And the Lord shall reign You
know the word sovereign is not in the Bible. Do you know that?
The truth of it is everywhere. Reign. God reigns. He reigns. He reigns. He reigns. He reigns
in the heavens. In the heavens. Over there in Revelation 19. Don't turn. But listen to this. I heard, as it were, the voice
of great multitude As the voice of many waters and the voice
of mighty thundering sang, praise the Lord. Hallelujah. For the
Lord God omnipotent reigneth. He reigns. He reigns. Always
has. Always will. He's God. Now, take that home and chew
on it a while. Chew on it a while.