Now let's turn over to Psalm
2. I've mentioned this quite a bit lately,
but it becomes clearer and clearer
to me with each passing day. that we are in the latter times. I've been thinking about this
a great deal. But Paul spoke there in 1 Timothy
4.1 about the latter times, because many shall depart from the faith. The faith. And it's clear to
me, because not only is there a total departure from the preaching
of the gospel, of God's sovereign grace. I mean a total departure. But even among those that, some
who profess to believe, at least the doctrines, they seem to dismiss
these doctrines as non-essential in salvation, as non-essential. And more and more I read a tax
upon the gospel of God's glory and the salvation of sinners,
more and more. I recently read a paper, and this is sort of
what got up my ire. I read a paper by a man, a preacher,
whom I once had some respect for. I don't think you know him.
He's not very familiar. But I've known him a great, a
good while. And I read a paper by this man.
And in that paper, all he seemed like he was, all that it seemed
like he was setting out to do was to blast those who insisted
upon people believing sovereign grace. And he, he entitled the
the article of what is the gospel. Well, the man never got even
anywhere near to describing the gospel. All he did was blast
Calvinists, he called them, Calvinists. He was a very learned man. I
believe that's his problem. He knows too much. Very learned.
But look with me. I didn't intend to do this, but
look over at 1 Corinthians chapter Fifteen with first Corinthians
fifteen The man used this text as his well. He didn't even he
didn't expound upon it, but he said this is to him is the closest
definition of the gospel And all of the scriptures look at
it with me first Corinthians fifteen And this is what he said
was the closest definition of the gospel that he saw in the
scriptures moreover He called it a formal definition Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto
you, whom also you have received, and wherein you stand, by which
also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto
you." Now, you notice there that the Apostle had been preaching
for some time. There were fourteen other chapters before chapter
fifteen, and the Apostle had been had preached there many
times. How long did he stay in Corinth?
A year or two years? He stayed a long time, I forget.
A long time. Preached a lot of messages to
them. A lot of messages. And he's writing this, and he's
written a long letter thus far. First fourteen chapters. Now
he gets to chapter fifteen, he said, now you remember what I
preached to you, don't you? Now that takes in a lot of preaching,
right? You remember what I preached
unto you, unless you believed in vain, unless it just didn't
do you any good at all. Verse 3, For I delivered unto
you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. There's a clue,
according to the scriptures. Well, he says how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures, and he was buried,
and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
Now, the man stopped right there. He said, That's the gospel. Now, you can get the gospel from
that if you go into according to the scriptures, if you go
into the Old Testament and see how the scriptures had to be
fulfilled, how all the scriptures bore witness of him, and what
the scriptures say about him, about his person, what he's to
do, and so forth. You can get the gospel out of
that. That's four verses, and look at the end of verse four.
What do you see at the end of that verse? A colon. You can't stop there, right?
You cannot stop there, and that's what the man said was the closest
thing he saw in the Bible to a formal definition of the gospel.
In other words, you believe that Christ died, buried, rose again,
that's it. It's cold in there. What about
verses like this? It goes on, look, he says, and,
verse 5, and, and it says, verse 6, after, after that, after that,
verse 8, and, verse 9, for, verse 10, but, therefore, now, but,
and, yay, for, and, then, if, but, you see that? He's going
on. What about that? What about down
to verse 20, 21? When he talks about the fall of man, 4, for
since by man came death, verse 22, 4, and Adam all died. What
about that? What about man's depravity? What
about our deadness? What about that? But, then, 4,
4, see that? And this man was a well-learned
man. He's ignorant of the Scripture. He doesn't care where he went
to seminary. That's the question I always get from people. They
hear, where'd you go to seminary? Where'd you go to school? That's what they're teaching
in seminary. This man's a doctor. I'd much
rather go to the school of the Holy Spirit and learn what God's
Word really says. Don't stop with the colon. Go
on. What about this? Look down at
verse 25. For he must reign. Does a necessary man believe
that God reigns? I read somewhere it says the
fear of the Lord is the very beginning of all understanding.
That the first thing someone must know is who God is. This is eternal life, that they
might know Thee, the only true God. It's not facts, man. It's not
believing facts. It's believing a person. You
have to know something about the person. I beg to differ.
He must reign. What about verse 27? For he hath
put all things unto his feet. What about the Lordship of Christ?
Does that matter? Oh, my soul! Salvation hinges
upon it. The bowed, every knee shall bow
and every tongue confess that he's Lord, right? Salvation hinges
on that knowledge, that understanding, that heartfelt bowing. Yeah,
it does. Well, this is the reason. Turn back to Psalm 2. This is
the reason, in light of things like that, that I read and what's
going on in our day, this is the reason I'm made to cry out
with the psalmist like, why? Look at verse one. Why do the
heathen rage? Now, that heathen, that's Gentiles. You know, so he says, heathen,
and then the people? The Gentiles thought of the Jews, or the Jews
thought of the Gentiles as heathen. Heathen. a native on the jungle,
or you could be a respectable Grecian. But you're still a heathen
to the Jews. Still a heathen. And that's all
of it. We're heathen by nature. We don't
know anything. We are nothing. We're brute beasts
at best. Base, sinful, superstitious,
ignorant. You know the natural religious
man is no different than the native that's dancing around
a pole in Africa. No different. Why? Look what
he says here. Religion is the rave today, and
Pentecostalism, charismatic, that's the rage. That's the latest
rage. People are raging, aren't they? Babbling idiots. People are babbling
idiots, talking in tongues, and waving their hand, and carrying
on, and it's going crazy. Why is everybody raging? My margin
says they're too multishly assembled. All manner of voices and chaos
and confusion and everything going on in the name of Christ,
in the name of religion. It's just a bunch of confusion,
people raging. Why? Why? And the people, the
people imagine a vain thing. The Jews, to whom they had, the
Jews who had every advantage, because chiefly to them was given
the oracles and the law and this and that and the other, had every
advantage. But yet the Jews imagine a vain thing, that Christ hasn't
come yet. And why? There's scriptures. If they look
in the Old Testament scriptures, they'd see it bear witness of
Christ, that he's come. So clear. But you still may ask
this question, why can't the Jews see this when it pertains
to them? It's such good news to the Jews.
Why can't they see it? Why? Imagine a vain thing, and
I apply this to present-day religion, too. Why do people imagine a
vain gospel that won't save? Why would they rather have God
as a helper and not as their Lord and King? Why? You see, you may ask that question
yourself, aren't you? Why? I don't understand it. Why
do people imagine a vain thing, vain religion. Why do people
rage, and people do, they rage upon the gospel of God's sovereign
grace? When it's our only hope! It's
the only good news! Really! Good people rage on it,
don't they, Henry? Why? Why would a man get mad
at God being God? It just confuses me. And that's
what David's asking. Why? Why? Why do they dream up
all sorts of wild doctrines instead of just believing God's Word?
Why is Romans 9 such a hated passage of Scripture? Why? It's boggling to me. It's just
mind boggling. I don't understand it. Look at
verse 2. The kings of the earth, even,
all the rulers set themselves. I apply this to religious leaders.
All the religious leaders everywhere, it seems, band together. They
set themselves. The rulers take counsel together. Now, you've got—I call names
here. Now, we're just a little group
of people. I have not much influence. This tape doesn't get out anywhere.
I wish it did. I'd call them anyway. Paul didn't
call them names. He called names. But you take
the Swaggarts, Jimmy Swagger, Oral Roberts, James Baker, Robert
Shuler, Jerry Falwell, keep naming them, Bob Tilton. These guys
can't, I mean they're, they'll get together, won't they? They band together, really, in
a united effort at what, I don't know, at heresy, is what it is. But they'll get together. They
can all join hands. of the pretense and the guise
of Christian love and unity. Is that what it's all about?
We don't. We refuse to have anything to
do with these people. We don't get together in our councils. We
don't join together in these big Southern Baptist conventions
and so forth. We don't do it. Why? I'll tell you why. Look at what
it says here. They've gathered themselves together.
They take counsel together against the Lord. That applies today. Yes, yes
it does. They've all joined together in
one united effort against the Lordship of Christ. All they say is, Lord. This people
draws near to me with their mouth, don't they? But their hearts
are far from it. Their methods, their means, their
ways deny. Oh, in words they profess to
know him, but They deny His power, as Scripture says. Deny it! By
calling, by begging men, by all of their low-handed and under-handed
trickery and guile and deceit and all that. They deny that
God has any power. They say, it's up to us. God's
done all He can do, now it's up to you. They're all joined
together in this, won't they, Joe? And chiefly, who they are
A battling is the Lordship of Christ, the Godhood of God. Yes, it's so. It's what David
said way back then. That's what Paul said. No, they all seek their own,
not the things of Christ, what Paul said. They're gathered together against
the Lord, against God, against God being God, and look at this.
and against his anointed, against Christ being Christ. They refuse to believe that Christ
actually saves somebody, don't they? They really do. They mix
it. They mix it against the Lord.
It's the spirit of antichrist is what it is. It's antichrist
to say that Christ did not redeem a people, but now it's up to
man. That is Antichrist. I'll say it as loud and strong
as I can say it. If Christ did not save, if they
say He did not save, that's Antichrist, right? Call His name Jesus, for
He shall save His people. And when you say these things,
the reason I get angry, when you say these things, you take
away God's people's comfort, their only hope and assurance.
You take it away. And above that, You diminish. You diminish Christ as person.
You make him out to be a failure. And do not I hate them that hate
thee, David said. Yes, I do. I hate them that bring
down my Lord like this. Not just my doctrine that I believe.
The glory of our Lord is at stake here. Yes, it is. I'm pretty angry. I am angry.
He put out. The zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up, the psalmist said. My heart is indicting a good
matter, Davis. I speak as things touching the
king. I wish they'd speak it, too.
I wish these numb skulls would get up and speak concerning the
king. Oh, if Robert Shuler, who has
the greatest hearing in all the world, if only he'd get up and
talk about the king instead of about how you can turn your scars
into stars, how that you are somebody. couldn't
this gracious man stand up and say, he's somebody, he's the
only one to bow down now. Then people would be crying out,
what must we do to be saved then, wouldn't they? Then and then
only are people going to cry out and beg for mercy and be
saved in the biblical sense of the word. Then and then only,
when they see him exalted to the stars and us abased in the
dust. See the importance of this. How
it needs to be cried out. Get thee up into the mountains.
Say unto this people, Behold your God. It's the message of
every true prophet and preacher every time he gets up in the
pulpit. Every time. And I'm made to ask with David,
Why? Why? Why? Why do dying sinners reject the
true gospel? Why? Even the point of raging
upon it will not have that. Why, man? It's your only hope.
Why? And I say it with more than just
anger. I say it with tear in my eye.
Why won't you have this? Because of preaching of total
depravity and inability when you preach the gospel. And this
is the gospel. I don't, I want to say it. This
is the gospel. The deadness of man. There is
no good news unless you've heard the bad news. Christ is not a
savior unless you know you're a sinner. I mean, depraved, dead,
on your road to hell. There's some folks that feel
like they're, you know, got some files. But Christ didn't come
to save those people. He came to save sinners. That's
the reason he came and talked to harlots and publicans, didn't
he? Nobody else would have him. But
if you preach the total depravity and inability of man, it offends
his dignity. Well, I may be heard by some
false, but I'm not that bad. Oh, yes, you are. That's what
God's Word says, and you're making God a liar. If any man says he
has not seen Him, you're making God a liar. He defends his dignity. And that's what the Pharisees
said. We need not be born of fornication. Liquors never touch these lips,
you know. Never smoke, drink, chew. You preach that the Holy
Spirit must effectually draw a man, that the Holy Spirit must
reveal this gospel to a man. Oh, it offends his wisdom, doesn't
it? It offends his wisdom. Do you
mean that I've got a doctorate, I've got a master's degree, and
I... I'll have you know, it offends
their wisdom, you see. It puts everybody on the same
place. It puts the farm hand on the same place with the professor.
Or rather, the professor on the same hand with the... Grace!
That it might be by grace that it might be sure to all that
believe. Not more certain to the man because he knows more
than the other. No, we all don't know anything. And so God has
to freely give His grace, you see. And the only time He's going
to save anybody is when they get down to the bus and say,
I don't know anything. You don't have to teach me. You
know, except you be converted and become as little children,
you're no wiser than the kingdom of heaven. And the professor,
the doctor, I don't care who he is, they're going to have
to sit down with the poor man and say, now teach us, Lord.
Right? Right. You preach this effectual
redemption. If you preach that Jesus Christ,
that his blood saves, that it actually saves, the blood and
the blood alone. That offends man's pride, because
man feels like he wants to have a part in this thing. I know
Jesus died, but I believed. So and so didn't. I did. Do you
see that? That's the reason faith must
be the gift of God. Yes, we're justified by faith,
but that's the gift of God. Lest any man should boast. Nobody's
going to be able to say, I believed. Why are you here? Because I believe.
Why isn't he here? He didn't believe like I did. No. No, no, no, no. No way. The blood saves. It's the blood
that God's looking at. And because of that blood, He
brings about faith. That's the power of the Holy
Spirit, too. You preach the Lordship of Christ, and it offends man's
desire for recognition here and there. I mean, if you really
preach the Lordship of Christ, and He's all and in all, and
we're nothing and in nothing. He's all and in all. You preach
His Lordships, and this will offend man's desire for recognition. Well, Lord, we preached and prophesied
and did more wonderful works in your name. Surely you've got
something coming. Yeah, you do. Hells! Right? But only the man or the woman
or the young person that goes before the Lord and says, Lord,
we can do anything. In fact, we ought to do it. We've been
unprofitable servants. They got something coming. Grace
and mercy and salvation. Do you see the difference? This
is more than just... This is the difference between
life and death, heaven and hell. Do you understand that? Yes,
it is. And look at what they say here
in verse 3. They've gathered together. Men, whether they actually
come right out and say it or not, this is exactly what's going
on. Gathering together against the sovereign God, against the
effectual redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are the three
key things. Everything here falls under that name. The primitive
man will fall under the sovereignty of God. You believe God's sovereign,
you'll know man's to pray. You believe Christ's saved, you'll
know man doesn't have free will. You'll know it. They gather together
against God and against his Christ, and here's what they're saying.
Let's break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from
us. break them asunder, cast their cords from us. There's
nothing people would like better. I know they smile at you on the
streets, and I smile back. I do. I hope you do, too. I hope you're friendly and nice
and kind and loving. We ought to be. Long-suffering
people take abuse and so forth. But Christ said, they'll hate
you for my name's sake. If you come out, Beverly, if
you come out and make a bold stand for the sovereign God And
the actual lordship and sufficiency and success of the Lord Jesus
Christ and salvation, those girls at the back now, they don't smile
at you. But on the inside, they'd like to tear your hair out, if
it is so. And what they're saying, let's
break their bands of Sunday. People would rather see a honky-tonk
on this side right here than they would this Sovereign Grace
Church. Yes, they would. You know, they would. They'd
rather see a Roman Catholic cathedral than Israel, and a group of people
just sitting around, just reading God's Word, just dared to proclaim
God's Word. Yes, they would. Sad to say,
I'm not gloating in that, boasting in it at all. I don't want to
give that impression at all, but that's the way it is. That's
the way it is. Break this band up. Break this
Grace Church up. The primary meaning of what he's
saying here is they want to break out from under the bands and
the cords of the yoke of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, break
out from under God's reign and rule, from under the yoke of
Christ. We don't want a sovereign God.
We want a serving God, a serving God. We don't want the yoke of
Christ. We want our church covenant. You don't think that goes on?
Yes, it does. Danny Blair was kicked out of a church. He was
kicked out of a church when he read Romans 9, when he preached
from Romans 9, just read it practically. And they said, it's not a matter
of whether this is in the Bible or not. It's whether or not it's
in our church covenant. That's what they said. Don Fortin
was sitting there listening to them. They say, why are you kicking
me out? I'm just reading God's Word. It's not a matter of whether
it's in the Bible or not, they say. But it's not in our church
covenant. You think about that. This goes
on, people. Brother Ralph Dale. I haven't
told you all this. I don't know where he is right
now. I called him up a couple of Wednesdays
ago. I was going to surprise him,
go down. When we didn't have service,
I was going to go down there. And just popping on his service.
And I thought I better call first and find out what time it is.
I called no answer. A fellow answered the phone. It was a
painter. He said, no, that preacher, he moved out of town. I don't know where he is. I don't
know the particulars of that. I'll find out. I'll let you know.
But those people ran him out. He was a man with two children.
three small children, a wife, and he just dares to stand up
and say what God says, thinking for the people's good, thinking
that they'll rejoice in what God's told them. We won't have
that. See, it goes on today. It goes
on today. Christ said they killed the prophets.
There's going to come a time they're going to think they're
doing God a service for killing you, getting rid of you. break
these bands and yokes asunder. Well, look at verse four. What's
God's reaction to all this? What's God's reaction to all
this tumult in the earth? Well, the first thing he does
is laugh. I laugh a lot up here
in the pulpit. When I rejoice over something,
I kind of laugh. That's maybe a bad nervous habit.
I don't know, but I laugh. What's God doing? Oh, what am
I going to do? He's laughing at all this religious
tumult that's going on in the name of God. Oh, God, Lord, help
me, Jesus. Oh, you pathetic, pitiful creature.
He's laughing. Laughing. Laughing. He says that in many
places. But with Psalm 37, you don't
have to turn. I'll turn to these places. He
says this, Psalm 37, verse 12 and 13. He says, The wicked plot
against the just. And he calls religious Pharisees
wicked. Now, don't just confine this
to gutter snipes, harlots and drunks and so forth. God calls
self-righteousness wickedness, works of iniquity, didn't he? The wicked, so don't just confine
this to people that are outwardly or openly immoral. It's talking
about religious wickedness, too. The wicked plotted against the
just. Who does this remind you of?
Pharisees? Sadducees? They plotted, didn't
they, against the just one. They plod up against the judge
and massaged upon him with his teeth. You know what they do
with Christ, folks? What are we going to do with
this guy? The Lord shall laugh at him. He sees his day is coming. He
sees it. He says over in Psalm 59. Let
me read this to you. Psalm 59, verse 6. He says, they return and they
make a noise like a dog. And, you know, people are called
Gentile dogs, all this charismatic stuff, because everybody's trying
to help bark one another. They're like wild dogs. You know,
the more dogs you get together, the more wilder they become,
right? Men and women that are normally Every day, upstanding,
calm, quiet citizens. You get a bunch of the religious
ones together, and they even start, start going wild, like
wild dogs, don't they? Raving lunatics. Well, he says,
they make a noise like a dog, go around about the city. Christ
said they encompass sea and land, establish one fossil. Behold,
they belch out with their mouth. They spew out their, ugh. foolish religion. Swords are
in their lips. But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh
at them. Shalt laugh at them. And it says
over there in Proverbs 1, Proverbs 1, that he's going to laugh at
their calamity someday. He's going to laugh, because
I've called and you refused. And God calls. He's still calling
this day in the time of the gospel. But men refuse it. It will not
have this. No, no. What they say in so many
words, what people are saying in so many words, is we will
not have this man to reign over us. We will not. And he that
saith unto heaven shall laugh. You will not? You will not have
me to reign over you? You have your free will? You'll see. You'll see. It's kind of like
a men's boasted will and all that. Kind of like Andrew there. What if Andrew sent a letter
to Mike Tyson and said, I challenge you. You're not the heavyweight
king. I could beat you. I've got my
own free will. What do you think Tyson would
do? Well, that little snuff, I'll
snuff him out. I'll go down that Rocky Mountain. I'll just step
on him. That's kind of the sense, I believe,
in what this is saying. Free will? You will only do what
your nature allows you to do, and that's sin. That's how far
your will goes. You ever seen that in Adam? the
most glory that man had, the strongest will ever. What did
he do? Sinned, rebelled against God. What are we going to do? We ought
to get full of sin. Look at this. Then God will speak. First he laughs. First he laughs. I'm not making fun here. I'm
just trying to put this on in a sense which we can understand.
First he laughs. The Lord shall have them in derision."
Verse 5, then he's going to speak. Y'all get tapes sometimes of
Scott preached on God's silence. I've said this many times. But
he said, man, everybody's wanting God to speak. Everybody everywhere
is wanting God to speak from heaven. And certain men say,
God spoke to me, you know. No, no, God spoke once in the
last days. He spoke unto the Father by the
prophets. For now, in these last days, he's spoken unto us by
his Son, Hebrews 1. He's spoken unto us through this
Word, by his Son, in Son language, in the Word, in the incarnate,
in the written Word. This is how God speaks. God doesn't
speak audibly anymore. We have a most sure Word of prophecy,
and it's finished, the Word of God. Someday, though, he's going
to speak. He's actually, audibly, going
to speak. And the Scriptures say his voice
is going to be the sound many waters. It's going to say that
trumpet's going to sound, a loud trumpet, and God's going to speak.
And this is what he says, look at that, verse 5. He shall speak
in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. God's going
to vex people. What is it that vexes us? And
I'll hurry, doesn't mean to keep you so long. I don't know when
I began anyway, but what is it that vexes us usually? Something that vexes you means
that it bothers you. Oh, did it vex my soul? What
she did to me? It's something that's a pet peeve,
right? You know, something, somebody does to you that you really gets
under your nerves. It's vexatious to you. How's God going to vex people?
This is what he vexes them with. That which is right now, the
greatest vexation to religious people right now, is the way
God's going to vex them. Sovereign grace. Look at it,
verse 6. Yet, I know a Savior will break
His cords and His bands. We don't like this. We won't
have this man right over. Yet, I set my King, the Lord
Jesus Christ, upon His throne. I know you don't like Him as
King, but He's there. How do you like that? They'll
match their souls. They'll look on Him whom they
pierced and, Lord, won't they? Huh? Well, He is King. He is. He is Lord. I didn't make
Him that either. I didn't make Him Lord. He was
already Lord, and now I'm in His hands. And that's when they're
going to cry out enough rocks in the hills to fall on them.
Why would they do such a thing? Everybody believes on Jesus.
Why would anybody cry out to be killed, suicided? Everybody
believes on this Jesus. No, they don't. When they see
Him as He is, then they're going to say, we didn't bow. We never
knew you. Right? Kill us now. Hide us from the face of Him
who speaks in wrath. Right? Right. He's loyal. He's not a co-pilot. He got this ship under his control. He's the pilot. He ain't no door knocker. If
he ever knocks on my sinner's door, he'll caver in on it. He
ain't no failure. He's the king. Got the keys. Hell, let death decide. He decides
who goes in. You don't go in? You know very
well you got to. Know by you to my house said
the things that are over right now getting out of the place
where. You don't get in God's kingdom
except he has the keys right. He got to. You decide there's
no. Always been a low life no good
but I died for it. Go in, John, and close the door.
Now, let's see. Who else am I going to let in?
That's his prerogative, right? He got to choose. And this vexes
a man, doesn't it? I wish it didn't. I'm not laughing
at this. I wish it didn't, but it does.
It vexes people, doesn't it? You preach God like this, it
vexes them. It vexes them. I believe anything with that
predestination. That's what they're saying, isn't it? Well, buddy,
you're going to have it. God's either going to predestinate
you to be conformed to the image of Christ, or you're going to
hell. That's all there is to it. And it vexes them. It vexes
them. Look at the decree. I've set
my king upon my holy hill of Zion. He said he's king over
his church, all right. All his people, it's the way
I began this whole thing. His people, they love it that
way. I love him as king. I like it that way. Don't you,
Terry? I love it this way. I don't want him as wanting to
do something king. No. Say, I want to do some things
and can't. But he does things. I like it
that way. He does for me what I can't do
for myself. That's the way I like it. And he says, I'll declare
the decree. Christ declared it. The Lord
said unto me, you're my son. This is my son. What does God
say to this world still? This is my Son, the only man
ever prudent of God, the only one, the only way. Hear Him! Now listen to Robert
Schuller. Hear Him! Right? He's still saying that today.
Hear Him! We better do this. What's he
saying? Hang on. We better get this book out and
say, well, what did he say then? If God says, what does he say?
He said, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. Okay. Right? Right. My son, this day have I begotten
thee. Look at verse 8. Ask of me, this
is the father speaking to the son, ask of me and I'll give
you the heathen for thine inheritance. And he did, and they made a covenant
together, and he gave us some heathens, some heathen swords,
some heathen kinsmen, heathens, gentiles, heathens, no good,
no life, scum, sinners, heathens, gave them to Christ. That's his
crown, believe it or not. That's his crown of glory. He's
going to take his heathens, his boasts, low life, no good worms,
and make them into glorious beings, sons. It's going to be his crown
of glory, see? He's going to go into heaven
some day and say, look, this is what I've done, and all the I'm going
to applaud him. Only he could have done such
a thing. Look what he's done. They're going to applaud him.
Standing ovation when Christ walks into heaven with these
once low-life scum and their glorious beings. Right? I applaud Rick. He took that
piece of wood that was floating down the river and made that
beautiful dance. It does not yet appear unto us what God's
going to make us out to be someday. I mean, we ain't much to look
at now, but someday the heavens are going to stand in awe of
what Christ has done to these. You mean you took that Christ? You mean you took that block
of wood, dead wood, and made a son of God? Glory be to his
name. This is preaching. This is preaching
the glory of God and the glory of His Son, and this is what
He's saying. And He'll give you the heathen
for your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possession. God has placed all things under
His feet, right? He has. God has placed all things
under the Lord Jesus Christ's feet, all people, all things. He's Lord. He's Lord. Look at verse 9. I'll hurry.
Thou shalt break them with rod, with a rod of iron. Thou shalt
dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. You know what a crowbar
would do to a china cup? That's what he says he's going
to do in his wrath to all those that haven't bowed to him. Be
wise now, therefore, now, in light of all this. In light of
all this, he says, verse 10, be wise now, be instructed. Have we heard this? Oh, be wise,
wouldn't we? Scripture says fools despise
wisdom and instruction. Fools. Foolish religionists despise
it. I know it says that, but, but, No, God's people say, I know
it says they're so. Right? I know it says that, so
I'll believe it. Right? Fools despise wisdom and
instruction. Proverbs says, he that refuses
instruction despises his own soul. But he that heareth reproof
getteth understanding. We've been reproved this morning.
We've been reproved of our base, wicked nature, reproved for it,
of our sin. And this brings about repentance
unto salvation. It brings about conviction. It
brings about a calling. Now, how many will call on the
name of him who may not believe or heard? Nobody's going to call
upon the Lord and be saved there unless they know he's Lord, right?
Unless a man gets up there and preaches him as he is, Lord,
he's going to call on him. They're going to call on Jesus.
Would you let Jesus in your life? Okay, sure. They're not going
to call on the name of the Lord until they see Him high and holy
and lifted up and His whole train filled in the temple and the
keys of hell and earth at His side. And nobody getting there
but by Him, who He says so, right? They'll call on that Lord and
cry out for mercy. Be wise now, he says. Wise. Boy, this is wisdom unto salvation.
How much do you have to know to be saved? You have to know
everything I've said this morning. At least in principle. You have
to believe it in your heart. You have to be wise now, therefore,
along these lines. Be instructed, you judges of
the earth. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with trembling. And look
at this. I've never even heard this quoted.
Kiss the son, lest he be angry. He's gonna show his anger. God's
not all love like they say he is. Jesus is not a silly, pitiful,
sentimental Jesus like they say he is. He's gonna show his wrath
and his anger. He's gonna be angry someday.
He said he's going to try the wine presses. He says someday
he's going to march through here. Where do you think he's at? He's
going to march through here and his garments are going to be
soiled with blood. Kiss him. How do you kiss the
son? Where do you kiss the son? Like Judas? Master. Jesus. No. You lay down at his feet like
Mary. Crawl up like a dog, like that South American woman, don't
you? Kiss his feet, and say, Lord! Not his feet, say, Teacher,
Jesus. The disciples never called him
Jesus. Never did they. The Holy Spirit, narrating the
Scriptures, called him Jesus. The Holy Spirit did that. The
disciples didn't. They called him Lord! No man can call Jesus
Lord but by the Holy Spirit. Kiss the son on his feet lest
he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled
but a little, but a little. I was going to take, you talk
about Hurricane Hugo or whatever it was originally. I was going
to take one blast of one of God's nostrils to blow this little
ball of dirt out of the sky. Just a little, just a little
bit of his wrath. He won't pour it all out, but
the universe will be consumed. Just a little bit. You know how
big the earth is in this universe? You know how many other planets
there are? Nothing wrong with the other planets. A little bit
of speck of dirt that is a bunch of piranhas, a bunch of rebels,
a bunch of God-hating liars dwelling on this little—put that little
speck out of the universe. and create another one. Right? Just a little bit. I've got one ant crawling around
my house that's giving me problems. It's not going to take me getting
out of Forty-Four Magnum to blow that thing away. No. Why would
you care? Just a little rat. Now look at
this. Blessed are all that you do.
Oh, my soul. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. Who? The Him he's been talking
about. This great and glorious and they put their trust, they
bowed his feet, they kissed his feet and called him Lord and
commit their souls and their lives and everything to Him.
To Him. They put their trust. Why do
they do this anyway? Because He revealed Himself to them.
Yeah, he did. You talk about a blessing. Oh,
it's the greatest blessing a man or woman or boy or girl could
ever have. It's God revealed the gospel to them. The greatest
blessing they could ever have. And he says, I say, he ends it
all up blessed. Oh, how blessed. And folks, this
is more than just doctrine. This is more than just a little
group that meets together on Sunday and Wednesday. This is a group of blessed people. We're talking about a blessed
people now. We don't understand. We're so dull of hearing. We're
so dull of eyesight. We're so dull of understanding
we don't understand how blessed we are. It hasn't yet appeared
to us. The things that God prepared
for them that love Him. Why do we love Him? Because He
first loved us. Because He chose us. He said He's blessed. We just don't know. We're like
that son who's a servant who appears no different. You know
when we studied over there in Galatians? who appears no different
than a servant for a little while. We're just like him, grumbling
around this old world with problems and worries. Nancy, we're just
like anybody else, aren't we? We're fretting and worrying and
fussing. We're king's sons. Sons of the
king. You know, every now and then,
if we get a hold of that, just every now and then, just a little glimpse
of that, we'd stop and say, wait a minute, what am I worried about?
Well, all this time I've been worried when He said right there,
I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Inheritance is yours. Well, boy, I'm just going to
rest from my troubles and worry. Just going to rest. He set His
King upon His throne. Where is Christ now? He's on
the throne. Reigning and ruling where He's always been. Reigning
and ruling. And all His people love Him.
Love to have it so. Love to have it so. And if He's
revealed Himself to you, you're the most blessed person on the
face of the earth. I don't care how much He's revealed
to you. Just a little bit of that. See, the world doesn't
have a little bit of it. They don't have the slightest
inkling. Most people do that. No, no, no, no. They think God's
in our hands. But a little bit. Just a little bit. You're the
most blessed person. Okay. All right.