first came here preaching the
gospel, and it had to be at least 25 or 26 years ago. But it's
always been one of my favorite places to go and preach God's
gospel. Let's take our Bible and turn
to Psalm 115. I'm going to try to study this
morning Psalm 115. I appreciate your pastor inviting
me to come. We've had good fellowship, and
I've been blessed by his company. Psalm 115. Let's read this, and then we'll
ask the Lord to bless us by prayer, by way of prayer. Not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. Give glory
for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Their idols are silver, gold,
the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but They see
not, they have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but
they smell not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet have they, but they walk
not. Neither speak they through their
throat." Talking about the idols of men, the gods of men. Now look at verse 8 carefully.
They that make them are like unto them. So is everyone that
trusteth in them. O Israel, people of God, saints
of God, trust thou in the Lord Jehovah, God our Savior. He is
their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust thou in the Lord. He is
their help and shield. Ye that fear the Lord, Trust. Trust in the Lord. He is their
help and their shield. Now, verse 12, the Lord hath
been mindful of us. How long has the Lord been mindful
of his people? He will. He will. He has. He will. He will bless
us. He will bless the house of Israel,
God's elect. He will bless the house of Aaron,
God's priest. He will bless them that fear
the Lord, both small and great. He will bless all of his covenant
people. The Lord shall increase you more
and more, you and your children. You are blessed of the Lord,
which made heaven and earth. Every believer, you are blessed
of the Lord, which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the
heavens, are the Lord's. But the earth hath he given to
the children of men. The dead, praise not the Lord,
neither shall any that go down into silence. But we, but we,
we will bless the Lord from this time forth. forevermore. Praise the Lord. Let's bow together and ask God's
mercy upon us. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
You for Your blessed truth, Your blessed Word, mercy and grace
revealed in Christ Jesus, mercy and truth met together in the
Lord Jesus Christ. We pray You'd bless us together
as we come to worship the true and living God. We pray that
Christ will be magnified the preaching of the gospel, that
ye would send forth thy word and the power of thy Holy Spirit,
that ye will magnify the Lord Jesus Christ in our heart. Enable
us to declare your gospel. Enable us to believe it and trust
the Lord our God. In the blessed name of our God
and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, we give thanks. Amen. I would take a title for this
study, I would take it from the words found in verse 3, where
it says, Our God, but our God. Our God, who is God. God who
is God. He says repeatedly, I am God,
beside me there is no other. But our God, he is in the heavens. He is enthroned in absolute,
universal sovereignty. He said, from everlasting to
everlasting, I am God. But our God is in the heavens. Our God is in the heavens, and
He has done in His doing whatsoever it pleases Him to do. Now, as you read through these
words, did you notice? I know you did. Did you notice
a sharp contrast between our God that rules and reigns, our
God that's enthroned in the heavens, the true and living God, and
the idols of men? Now, what a contrast. What a contrast. The true and
almighty, holy, sovereign, living God and the impotent, useless
idols of men. What a contrast. What a contrast. Now, let's go back to verse 1
for a few minutes, and let's see if we can work our way down
through some of these verses. Now, he begins with a double
negative. Not unto us. Not unto us. O Lord, but unto thy name. Unto thy name. God has given
the Lord Jesus Christ a name which is above every name. His
name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Not unto us, not unto
us, but unto the name that's above every name, the Lord Jesus
Christ. God has highly exalted him and
given him a name which is above every name, that at that name
every knee should bow. Every tongue should confess that
he is Lord to the glory of God. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name. What do we give? Everything. What do we owe? Everything. We give glory. We give praise,
honor, and glory for thy mercy, And for his truth, mercy and
truth met together in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm not going
to tell you anything that you don't already know. You don't want to hear anything
new, do you? I've often heard that people
like to be told what they already know. And I trust that I can
tell you what you know already. There is no glory due to any
man, no glory due to any man in any aspect of salvation. All
glory is due to God alone. This is the believer's motto.
This is the believer's desire. Why'd we come here today? To
glory in the flesh? Oh, no. We've come here this
morning to glory in the Lord Jesus Christ, to give Him all
the honor and glory. We sing that song often, to God
be the glory. Great things He has done. We glory only in the Lord. I'm seeing this more and more
as I study the Scripture over the few years that I've been
looking into God's Word. Don't you see? that everything
God does, He does for His glory. The glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone said years ago, the grand
design of God's redemption is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. On every page of Scripture, when
you see God electing a people, what does it talk about? To the
praise of His glory. When you talk about and read
in Holy Scripture, when we see the blood sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ that effectually atones for those covenant people
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sin according to the riches of His grace, it's all to, you know
what it is, don't you? To the praise of the glory of
His grace. See, everything God has sold
in His infinite wisdom, His soul designed and schemed salvation
so as to shut out all creature merit, so as to shut out all
creature work or effort or endeavor, and
to give, and rightly so, all the glory to Himself alone. Alone. Our wise and infinite God has
so designed salvation that in The saving of sinners, the Lord
Jesus Christ must have the preeminence. Christ is all and in all. Now let me see if I can quote
a few scriptures for you. You remember in 1 Corinthians
where he says, But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God
is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. according as it is written, he
that would glory, let him glory only in the Lord." And then the
Apostle Paul, when he writes to those Galatians who seem to
want to revert back to glorying in the flesh and the law and
circumcision, and Paul said, God forbid, God forbid that we
would glory in anything but Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. The Lord must have all the honor
and glory. You see what he's saying there?
Not unto us. Not unto us. Now, no believer
would dare take any credit to himself for anything in salvation. It's all the free gift of his
grace. Not unto us. Not unto us. But unto thy name we do give
glory, honor." You know, that's the song of heaven, isn't it? Unto him who loved us and washed
us from our sin in his own blood, to him be all the honor and glory,
worthy as a lamb that was slain. to receive all honor, power,
glory, and blessing. We could spend the rest of the
day talking about this as His glory, the glory of His person,
who He is. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. The glory of His person,
the glory of His work, the glory of His salvation, His priestly
work. For His mercy. Look what it says
in verse one. For His mercy. His mercy. His mercy. You know, the scriptures
and in the book of Psalms, it often talks about the mercy of
the Lord. The mercy of the Lord is not
a temporary condition. The mercy of the Lord that we
enjoy as a blessing of the covenant, it's covenant mercies, covenant
grace. I think it's Psalm 136 in almost
every verse. It says, His mercy endures forever. Forever. Aren't you glad that
His mercy endures forever? Aren't you glad and thankful
that the salvation that we enjoy in the Lord Jesus Christ, He
saves us with an everlasting salvation? That He gives us eternal
life in the Lord Jesus Christ? We give thanks for His mercy.
His mercy. You know, it is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed. Do you remember that in Lamentations
chapter 3? And then when Paul writes to Titus, and he said,
it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but it's
according to His mercy that He saved us. His mercy. I need mercy. I remember a statement of an
old elder in 13th Street Baptist Church. It's the first time I
heard this statement by the roach. And he would always use this
statement. And oftentimes when he'd pray, he'd call himself
a mercy beggar. And that's us, aren't we? We're
mercy beggars. Lord, Lord, you know, we never
graduate above that, do we? Mercy beggars. Lord, have mercy on me." That's
what the publican cried out. God, have mercy on me, the sinner. Now, we give glory unto the Lord
for His name, who He is. We give glory unto the Lord for
His mercy. He said, we often talk about,
and it's true, God, His mercy is sovereign mercy. He'll have
mercy on whom He will. But let us not forget, He said,
I will have mercy. Not of him that willeth nor of
him that runneth, but it's God who shows mercy. But my friend,
He will show mercy. He must, because He's merciful. We give glory unto His name,
don't we? As much as we can, as much as
in me is. And then for His mercy. And then
for his truth, for his truth's sake, mercy and truth. You know, the blessedness of
the gospel and the glory and the mystery of the gospel, how
God, how God can show mercy, how God can save sinners, not
at the expense of his truth, how he can be a just God and
Savior, how he can show mercy. Mercy to the guilty, mercy to
the miserable, and yet at the same time, honor His truth and
His justice. Not compromise His justice, not
compromise His holiness, that He might be a just God and Savior,
that He might be just and the Justifier. You've heard these
things before, haven't you? You know, it never gets old,
does it? Never gets old. I'm never weary
of hearing of God's mercy because He's merciful to the sinner. And I'm a sinner in need of mercy. So I give glory as much as I
can. It's my desire to honor and magnify
and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's
sake. Verse 2, look at verse 2 carefully.
Wherefore now should the heathen say, Where is now their God? Where is your God? It seemed like they were mocking
David, saying, David, you talk about your God is in the heavens
and He's done whatsoever He has pleased, but where is He? We
can't see Him. We know where our gods are. We set them over here in the
temple, and we set them up on a pedestal, and we can touch
them and feel them and look at them. And they said, you know,
in a mocking way, didn't they? David, what is your God anyway,
David? And look at the answer. In this
phrase, verse 3, but our God. If you would just look up that
phrase sometime, but God, but God, when it describes everything
that we are in Ephesians chapter one, dead in sin, children of
wrath, even as others. And then it says, but God, who
is rich in what? Get right back to mercy, don't
we? He's rich in mercy for his great love we're with. He loved
us even when we were dead. in sin, and hath quickened us
together with Christ, and raised us up, and made us sit together
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. But our God, but our God. I don't know where the cause
of these heathens, the unbelievers, I know where our God is. This
book is not silent on that matter. Our God is in the heavens. Our
God is in the heavens. He's enthroned. And he hath done,
and is doing, whatsoever it hath plead him to do." Now, turn over
to Psalm 135. Turn over there. Psalm 135. This statement is given to us
again over here in Psalm 135. It says, look, verse This is Psalm 135, verse 5. You
got it? I know that the Lord is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he, in heaven, in the earth, in seas, and all deep
places. The only place a sinner will
truly worship is at the throne of the sovereign, almighty God. If you've got a God that you
can manipulate and change, you won't worship. God who is undisputed
in His sovereignty, undisputed in His reign, who reigns in absolute
authority and power and glory, That's the only place that a
sinner will worship, as at the throne of the sovereign, almighty
God. Now, what has it pleased the Lord
to do? What has it pleased the Lord to do? The scripture is
not silent on this matter. And I'll give you these five
things. What has it pleased the Lord
to do? Well, number one, the scripture said in 1 Samuel 12,
it pleased the Lord to make you his people. It pleased the Lord
to make you his people. Your pastor told me last night
that he was going to teach a lesson this morning from 2 Thessalonians
2.13. where it talks about God electing
a people. We are bound to give thanks to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit,
which leads to what? Belief of the truth. Whereunto
he called you by our gospel. Is it please the Lord to make
you a child of God? That's something you did. That's
something He did. Our Lord said to His disciples,
you didn't choose Me. I chose you. And I ordained you. You see, it's God who from the
beginning has chosen us unto salvation. So it pleased the
Lord back in eternity, old eternity, to choose a people unconditionally
and give them to the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him the surety
of that everlasting covenant. So it pleased the Lord to choose
a people, to elect a people, and give them to the blessed
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, what did it please
the Lord to do? It said in Isaiah 53.10 that
it pleased the Lord to bruise Him in our room and in our stead,
to make His soul an offering for sin. You see, and you understand
this, we know that it pleased the Pharisees when they had the
Lord arrested. It pleased the Jews when He was
confined and imprisoned and beaten when they mistreated the Lord.
It pleased the Jews and the Pharisees, and it pleased the Romans when
they mocked Him. Hail, King! It pleased them even
when they laid Him out and drove Him nails. They thought, we're
pleased to kill another Jew. But it wasn't what men did. That's our hope. It's what God
was doing at the cross that day. That's our hope. It pleased the
Lord to bruise Him in our place, in our room, in our stead. For
we read in Scripture, God made Him sin for us who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. It pleased God. to send forth the Lord Jesus
Christ. In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under
the law. Thirdly, what did it please the
Lord to do? Well, it says in Colossians 119
that it pleased the Lord that in the Lord Jesus Christ all
fullness, the fullness of the Godhead, would dwell in the Lord
Jesus Christ. The fullness of God. Our Lord
said, when you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I and the Father
are one. The fullness of God. The Lord
Jesus Christ was a real man, born of a woman, born under the
law. He had real humanity apart from
sin. He had not the fallen nature
that we are born with. Sinless, he had no sin, knew
no sin, and did no sin. A real man, yet totally and fully
God. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. All of it. He is God without
controversy. This is not up for debate, is
it? Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. It dwelt among us. So it pleased
the Lord to choose a covenant people. It pleased the Lord that
the Lord Jesus Christ should suffer in our room and in our
stead. It pleased God Almighty that in the Lord Jesus Christ
should all fullness dwell. Fourthly, we read in scripture
In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, did it please God, through the foolishness
of preaching, to call out His people? To call out His people. He said, My sheep, I tell you
who's going to hear them. I tell you who's going to hear
the preaching of the gospel. The true preaching of the gospel
of God's grace. As Paul said, God forbid We preach
Christ and Him crucified. We preach not anything. We preach
not ourselves, but we preach Christ. Christ and Him crucified. Determined to know nothing among
you, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. His sheep will hear. His boy hip pleased God. We're going to talk about that
in the message this morning. How the Lord, every one of you
here who believe the gospel, at some point, In some way, by
the divine order and providence of God, God crossed your path
with the gospel of God's grace. You heard somebody preach it,
or you read it somewhere. God sent you the truth. He crossed
your path with the gospel, and he used that message of his own
will, begat he us with the word of truth. He called you. with the gospel and saved you
with the gospel. You see, this is God's order.
It pleased Him to do so. That's why when we come together,
each service, that's why we make so much of the Word. That's why
I, on purpose here, read this whole psalm. I didn't know how
far I would get, and evidently I'm not going to get too far
in this psalm, but I wanted at least at the outset to present
the Word of God to you. That's why when we meet together,
we make so much of the Word. It's the Word, the Word read,
the Word preached, the living Word. It all tells us about Christ.
The Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any committed sword. Here's the fifth thing. What did it please the Lord to
do? It pleased God to save sinners. according to His sovereign purpose. You remember the story of Saul
of Tarsus. He didn't think too much of those
who called themselves Christians. As a matter of fact, he made
havoc of the church. He was going around, breathing
out threatening and slaughter. And he was very successful in
what he did in persecuting God's people. This is Saul of Tarsus.
You know, after he was transformed by the power of God's grace,
You know who this man was known later as the Apostle Paul. But
as you read what he says there in Galatians chapter 1 about
being zealous of the traditions of his father and being successful
in his religious zeal and climbing the ladder of religious works
and a Pharisee of Pharisees and concerning the law, blameless,
and all these things that he thought one time that he gloried
in until God stripped him. and put him in the dust. And
then you remember what he said? When it pleased God, separated
me from my mother's womb, call me by His grace to reveal His
Son in me. You see, salvation comes by revelation. You know, it takes God Now, listen
to this. I don't know where I came up
with this. I may have heard it from Pastor Mahan or one old
grace preacher. I don't know. But it stuck with
me. It's a good statement. It takes God to reveal God. That does. That's what salvation
is. It's a revelation. God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness. Do you remember that Scripture?
Has shined in our hearts. Give us the light of the knowledge,
there's that glory of God. You can't get away from that.
The glory of God where? In the face, in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It takes God to reveal God. Now, my time's almost gone, but
if you read verses 4 down through verse 7, God Almighty who is it? Now,
this is when you think about Scripture, we need to keep in
mind that this is God's inspired word. This is what God is saying
about the idols of men. Now, David is right this, but
this is what this is God's estimation of the idols of men. The work
of men's hands, they have the mouth, useless. Eyes, Useless,
they're blind, dead. Ears? Can't hear. Noses? Can't smell. Hands? They don't
work. Feet? Cannot walk. Cannot speak. Now look at verse 8 carefully.
This is one of the things that caught my attention in this psalm
many years ago when I first looked at it. They that make them are
like unto them, so is every one that trusteth in them. The idols of men, puny, impotent,
dead, what good would it do for a sinner in need of life, pardon,
forgiveness, and salvation to trust a dead, useless idol. And yet, men, because they're
so totally depraved, left to ourselves, and born in sin, we
gravitate to idolatry. That's right. The carnal mind
is enmity against the true and living God. Therefore, we seek
out idols like unto ourselves. They that make them are like
unto them. But here's the closing thing. O Israel, trust in the Lord. He is our
help. He is our shield. O house of
Aaron, and they're talking about every believer being a priest,
Through the redeeming work of Christ, Aaron being the priestly
tribe, Levitical tribe, O house of Aaron, trust thou in the Lord.
He is their help. He is their shield. Ye that fear
the Lord. You remember in Romans 3 when
it describes those being as there's none righteous, no not one, they
said there's no fear of God before their eyes. You know, this fear
he's talking about here is that covenant fear. He said, I'll
put my fear in their heart. I will be their God and they
shall be my people. And I'll put my fear. Believers
have a high and holy reverence for his name. As a matter of
fact, it says that over here in one of these psalms. Holy and reverent is
his name. We fear the Lord. We worship
the true and living God and we trust him. The Lord has ever
been mindful of us. He is our help. He is our shield. He will bless us. He will bless us. He has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. You remember
that in Ephesians chapter 1? He has blessed us. We bless God
who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He has ever been mindful of us.
ever been mindful of it. He's loved us, just not lately. I mean, he does love us just
lately, but he's loved us with an everlasting love. And then
he said, nothing, nothing, and that list is exhaustive, isn't
it, in Romans 8? Nothing can separate us from
the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ, here in
his love. Not that we love God. He loved
us, sent his son to be the propitiation, sacrifice for our sin. The Lord's
ever been mindful of us. And look what it says. Well,
he might bless us. Well, he could bless us. If we
meet certain conditions, he will bless us. No, he's ever been
mindful of us. He will bless us. He will. He will bless the house
of Israel, the house of Aaron, those who fear the Lord. The
Lord shall increase us. You know, the more we grow in
grace, and you know this to be so, the more you grow in grace,
the more you grow in esteem, for the Lord Jesus Christ. The
more you grow in grace, the less you think of yourself, and the
more you think of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact,
you have the same testimony as old John said, that he must increase,
I must decrease. The Lord will bless us. He will
cause us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse 15, you are blessed. You are the blessed
of the Lord. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
has chosen and causes him to approach unto the Lord. Blessed
is the man whom the Lord will not charge and impute sin. You talk about the blessed man. Oh, my soul, my friend, we're
so blessed of God. You see, we're blessed of the
Lord who made heaven and earth. Created all things by the Word
of His power. Sustained all things by the Word
of His power. And He has given to us. He has
given to us. The heavens, even the heavens
are the Lord's, but the earth, He's given it to us. The Lord
has given us all things. The dead, they don't praise the
Lord. Verse 18, but we will. We will. But we will bless the Lord from
right now, from this time, from this time forth, and forevermore, forevermore. Never end. Now, he ends with this. Praise
ye the Lord. Praise the Lord. It's all the
way through the book of Psalms, isn't it? Praise the Lord. Praise
the Lord.