Thank God for His love for us
in Christ Jesus. Alright, let's go to Psalm 19. Again, this evening, if you would,
Psalm 19. If I were giving this particular
scripture, It would be the glory of God. This entire psalm is about the
glory of God. The glory of God, first of all,
is seen in His works. The works of God. After all,
it starts off saying the heavens declare the glory of God, the
perfections of God, the beauties of God. This is a song to be sung and
there is no better song to sing than a song of the glory of God. The glory of His creative wonders. Aren't you just amazed as you
look around at creation? The beauties that God has made
and I know that things have been marred by sin and There's the
effect of Adam's fall upon everything and yet there is a beauty about
this earth. There's a beauty about the heavens
when you look at the skies on a night where the clouds aren't
up there and you can just see all the stars and get out somewhere
where it's really dark away from the lights of the city. And you
just look up and you just marvel at God's creation. I remember
when I was a kid, I used to go out and I'd just lay down on
the ground and stare up at the stars. Look at the moon. I'd think, wow, there's so many
stars up there. My God made those. My Father
made those. And He made them for His glory.
The Scripture says He made all things for Himself. You know,
they tell us there are billions of stars out there. Stars that
no eye will ever see. No human eye will ever gaze on
these stars. You say, well, I wonder why God
made them? For His glory. For Himself. You read there in Revelation
chapter 4, He's made all things for His pleasure. That's what
the Scripture said. Because it pleased Him to do
so. Everything's for God's pleasure and everything's going to bring
God glory. And His works, His great work,
His great work of creation and His ongoing work of divine providence
brings Him glory. And you know, you and I as the
people of God, oh how we delight to think about that verse in
Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. And Brother Lloyd was telling
us that where Carolee is staying in the little chapel there, the
Scriptures are open. Romans, I think you said Romans
8, 9, and 10. There in Romans chapter 8 verse
28, and we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Our Father, our Heavenly Father,
He governs all things in providence, and He's working all things out
together for our good. Now, that ought to give some
consolation to the people of God. Things aren't just going
to haphazard in your life and in the nation and in the world. Our God has never for one moment
lost control of what's going on in the world. He sits upon
His throne. He governs over all things. He's directing everything to
the end that He appointed long, long ago and in a way way beyond,
far beyond, infinitely beyond our comprehension and our understanding. Our God rules over all. Now rejoice
in that child of God. Rejoice in your heavenly Father's
governmental control over everything. Your elder brother, the Lord
Jesus Christ. All powers been given unto Him. All dominions been given unto
Him. That One who suffered for you.
That One who bled for you. That One who died for you. That
One who sealed your pardon with His blood. That One who worked
out for you a spotless righteousness with which God Himself is very
well pleased. Your Savior. Your Redeemer. He sits on His throne of absolute
sovereignty. And He rules and He reigns over
everything. And He is doing it to fulfill
His own eternal purpose. And He is doing it for the good
of all of God's elect. Everything is going to be alright.
Everything is alright. is alright because Jesus Christ
reigns. Our Savior, He has dominion over
everything, over all the kingdoms of the earth, over all the nations
of the world. Our God reigns. People of God
rejoice. Divine providence is bringing
everything to the end, to the goal that our God ordained way
before the foundation of the world. His eternal purpose is
being brought to pass. Rejoice and be glad people of
God. That ought to help you. If there's
nothing else here tonight, if there's nothing else that I say
that is beneficial to you, you've got enough already to go home
and chew on for a good while. You've got enough to go home
and think about and on your pillow tonight as you lay your head
upon your pillow, as you rest, you thank your God, your sovereign
God, your covenant God. God your Savior, God your Redeemer. Thank Him, oh Lord, thank you
for ruling over all things and forgive my weary, forgive my
murmuring, forgive my fussing, forgive my complaining. Lord,
I know you rule over everything and I know you're working out
all things together in my life. For your good, help me to bless
your name and be a joyful child of the King. The Lord reigns. Rejoice. Oh, here's a hymn to be sung.
Give God the glory for His creation. Give God the glory for His providence. But even more, even more, give
God the glory for His salvation. You see, God's glory, God's perfection,
They're seen, indeed they are seen in His creation. They're
seen in nature. They're seen in the things that
God has made. But there's a greater glory to
be viewed. There is a greater glory that
God has revealed, that He has shown, that He has demonstrated. There is that great work of salvation,
the salvation of sinners by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That salvation of sinners brings
Him the greatest glory way yonder beyond creation and way yonder
beyond providence. You see, I know the wonders of
God's creation are magnificent and they're marvelous. But there's something more wonderful
and something more marvelous than even God speaking all of
creation into existence with a word. And that is the salvation
of a sinner, and the raising of a sinner from the dunghill
of sin, and lifting him up, washing him in the blood of the Lord
Jesus, and robing him, clothing him in the garments of salvation,
and taking him to glory as a trophy of God's grace. That's His greatest
glory. That's what He does for us. Do you think of God's election
of grace? Christ's redemption? The Spirit
of God birthing us into the kingdom of God? God preserving us? Think of your salvation. What
God has done and is doing and shall yet do for you. That brings
God the greatest glory. You who drink iniquity like water,
and so do I do too. You who are defiled from the
top of your head to the bottom of your feet, and so am I. You who have blasphemed the name
of God, you who went countless years in despising Him and rejecting
Him and not receiving Him and not worshipping Him, and I was
the same way, and what has God done for you? He lifted you up
from the miry clay and He set your feet on the solid rock,
Christ Jesus. He saved you by His free grace,
not for anything that you have ever done, but solely according
to the purpose of His grace and because of the substitutionary
death and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for you. What has
God done for you? The next time you get to feeling
sorry for yourself, and I was texting yesterday with a brother
in the Lord, And he said, son, I'm having a pity party. You
ever have a pity party? Usually it's just one there,
and that's you. And you feel sorry for yourself.
And we've all been there. You think about what God in Christ
Jesus has done for you. I tell you an object of his love,
that love that you just sang about. That love that's in Christ
Jesus. That everlasting love. Not a
temporal love. God doesn't have a temporal love. I listened to a message this
week that greatly disturbed me. A man talked about God's got
a... He's got a temporal love. That's a temporary love. He's
got a temporal love for everybody. No, God doesn't have a temporal
love for everybody. God's got a special love, an
everlasting love, a covenant love, a gracious love, a love
from His own heart. God's got that for His elect,
and He's always had it. There never has been a time when
God Almighty hated His people, and there never will be. Having
loved His own, He loved them to the ends, what the Scripture
says. The Lord said to Jeremiah, I have loved you with an everlasting
love. That's a love that predates creation. That's a love that is as ancient
and as old as God Himself. See, really, we talk about the
covenant of grace when God the Father and the Son, they made
this transaction. Really, there never was a time. We only speak about it like that
because we can only grasp things according to the concept of time. But He's always loved us. As long as God's been God, He's
always loved His people. As long as God has been God,
He has always viewed His people in our surety, the Lord Jesus
Christ. As long as God has been God,
He's always embraced us unto Himself and considered us as
His children. That's from everlasting. From
everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. And from everlasting
to everlasting, this everlasting God has loved this vile sinner. And dare I say it, He has loved
me with all of His heart. And that's the way He loves you,
you who are His people. And nothing ever interrupts that
love. You say, well, probably we could
do something to get us out of the love of God. You didn't do
anything to get in the love of God. And you can't do anything
to get out of it. If He loves you, He's always
loved you. If He loves you, He loves you in Christ Jesus. If
He loves you, then He loves you with a love that'll never be
taken away from you. He'll never forget you. He said,
I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. He said, your mother might forsake
you, your father might forsake you, your friends might forsake
you, but I never will. And every once in a while I'll
get a message from somebody who'll say, I don't think anybody cares
about me. Nobody knows what I'm going through. Nobody knows the troubles I'm
going through. Well, maybe nobody on this earth
knows, but God knows. And He hadn't forsaken you. He's
never forsaken you and He never will. You see Christ Jesus, God's
only begotten Son, He was forsaken on the cross. And because He
was forsaken for all of His elect, all of His elect will never be
forsaken by God. Ever. This is God's greatest
glory. His greatest glory is in salvation. Moses. Moses said to the Lord,
show me Your glory. And you know, you want to say
to Moses, man alive, Moses, you've seen so many things. You've seen
some miraculous things. I mean, you talked one time to
a bush that wasn't consumed, and the bush talked back to you. And all those miracles in Egypt?
And you were the one who held out the rod that God gave you
and a sea split open. Well, I know the modernists,
they say, yeah, but it was only knee deep. Well, I tell you it
was knee deep that drowned a bunch of people. God split it wide open. Whoa! How would you like to have seen
that? The waters, they became like jello. They congealed. Isn't that what the scripture
said? They congealed. And there Israel goes through,
not in single file, but ranked by the thousands. A broad path
right through the sea, but just one path. And they got to the
other side, and then God washed away the enemy. You want to see
something else, Moses? Yeah, Lord, I want to see your
glory. I want to see your glory. Well, you hit a rock one time
and water came out and that water followed Israel all the way to
the promised land. Yeah, but I want to see your
glory. Well, every morning I sent manna from heaven that fed Israel,
except for the Sabbath day, and on Friday they gather twice as
much. So you still want to see something
else? I want to see your glory. I'll show you my glory. What
is your glory, Lord? I'll be gracious to whom I'll
be gracious. I'll be merciful to whom I'll
be merciful. That's salvation. God's greatest
glory. God's greatest glory. And I know
there are a lot of people, a lot of religious people, and they
will argue, they will stand up for creation. Creation science. And I'm glad folks do that. They've
got scientists, you know, and they say, hey, you know, creation. The six day creation, that's
what the Bible teaches and that's what I believe. Well, so do I.
They'll brag about creation and then deny salvation but God's
free and sovereign grace. And in doing so, they're denying
that which gives God the most glory. I had some acquaintances, they
would get together with the creation science people. and go have big
fellowship together. And I would say to them, I don't
see how you can do that. Well, we all believe in God's
creation. We deny evolution. I said, well,
I deny evolution too. The Big Bang Theory and all the
rest of that junk. But I'm not going to go and join
arm in arm with people who deny the efficacy of the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not going to go join arm
in arm with these creationists who deny the sovereign right
of God to save whom He will. I'm not going to join them, put
my arm around them and call them brethren when they believe that
man's free will is the determining factor in salvation. I'm not
going to do that. Because they're robbing God of
His glory. And He'll put you in hell for
that. His glory, His greatest glory
is seen in the salvation of a sinner. Oh, the heavens declare the glory
of God, but not like the salvation of an old fallen wretch. Not like that does. And all of us who are saved by
God's grace, those who are watching tonight, and you love Christ
Jesus as He's set forth in the book of God. You just remember
this, in your salvation, God's getting the glory. God's getting
the glory. And you know, when we come together
like a service like tonight, we just come to brag on what
God's done. That's all we're doing. We're
here to set forth Christ Jesus and what God through Christ Jesus
and in Christ Jesus has done for us. This is not complicated. It really isn't. Boy, you all get really deep
there. We're not getting deep. We're just studying the scriptures
and trying to learn the salvations of the Lord. We're trying to
learn Christ is all. We're trying to learn not to
put any confidence in the flesh. We are trying to learn that the
arm of the flesh will fail you. You dare not trust your own.
We are trying to learn that God has made Christ Jesus to be our
wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that according as it is written, He that gloryeth, let him glory
in the Lord. He said, I am the Lord. That
is my name. And my glory, I'm not going to
give it to another. And if you try to take it, if
you try to rob him of his glory, you're going to be in trouble.
You will rue the day. You will rue the day when you
try to steal God's glory. And one of these days when you
stand before Him, you'll call on the rocks and the mountains,
like you sang in that song, the rocks and the mountains, to fall
on you and hide me from the Lamb who's on the throne. Give Him
the glory. Give Him the glory. I was showing
somebody the other day, I've got in my office an ink pen and
it's in a well, and on the front of it, it says, Who is getting
the glory? A lady made that for me after
I preached years ago. It's like 1980 or 81, something
like that. She worked at a jewelry store.
Who is getting the glory? And anybody who goes in my office,
you look on my desk, there it says. Always as a reminder, who
is getting the glory? And when we stand up to preach,
We need to ask this question of our message. Who is getting
the glory? Isn't that right, Brother Allen?
That's absolutely right. Who is getting the glory? And
in your salvation you say, I'm saved. I'm a Christian. I know
God. Well, who's getting the glory
for your salvation? Well, I believe that Jesus did
it all and I just had a small part. No, He's not getting the
glory, then you're getting some of it. He's not going to give
you any of it. I tell you, any salvation that
requires something of you, some contribution of you, like I had
in Bible College a professor that said, salvation 99% God
and 1% the sinner. where he could say it is 99.999999%
God and .00001% man, it would still be no good. Because a salvation
that requires something of you in the restoration of your soul
to God is a salvation that will do you no good. That would be all of God. and
all in Christ, all of grace. Well, where do you learn all
this, preacher? From the word of God. From the word of God. And in this scripture, the psalmist
tells us about the word of God. Drop down to verse seven, he
starts off, he's talked about the works of God. And the works
of God set forth his glory, but then he begins to talk about
the word of God that sets forth salvation, which is God's greatest
glory. He says in verse 7, the law of
the Lord. He's talking about the Bible
now. He's talking about the Scriptures. He's talking about the Word of
God. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Now I'm
going to take these one by one. Here are four qualities, four
characteristics of the Word of God. And the first one is this,
the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Now, when
he says the law, the law of the Lord, he's not talking about
the law of Moses or the Ten Commandments. The word law means instruction. The instruction that comes from
God, that is this book. This book that comes from God
is perfect. That means it is all you need. It is entire, it is complete. The book of God is all you need.
Everything you need to know about God is in this book. Everything you need to know about
yourself is in this book. Everything you need to know about
the way to God through Jesus Christ. One God, one mediator
between God and me and the man Christ Jesus. Everything you
need to know about Christ is in this book. Everything you
need to know about salvation is in this book. Everything you
need to know about living the life of a believer is in this
book. The law of the Lord. This is
the... The book that God uses to instruct us. This is how we're
instructed. In the word of God. God himself speaks to his people. The law of the Lord is perfect.
The word law. I want you to look at this. The
word law over in the center column. Do you have a center column there?
The word law is doctrine. Your Bible got that in the center.
It's doctrine. The doctrine of the Lord is perfect.
Now, I know a lot of people today say, well, don't preach doctrine
to me now. You wouldn't ever say that, would
you? Don't preach doctrine to, what is doctrine? It's instruction.
It's the teaching of the Lord. In Deuteronomy chapter 32, the
Lord said, my doctrine. It falls like the rain. It's
like the refreshing dew. My doctrine. Over in 2 Timothy,
the Lord talked about doctrine. The Word of God is profitable
for doctrine. The Lord instructs us. I want to get you to turn to
this passage. Look over in the book of Acts chapter 22. Look at Acts chapter 22. Acts chapter 22. The law of the Lord
is perfect converting the soul. The doctrine. The doctrine of
the Lord. Look at Acts chapter 22. This
is when the apostle Paul is talking about his conversion. And for
the sake of saving some time, drop down to verse 12, Acts 22,
12. He says, and one Ananias, a devout
man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews
which dwelt there, he came unto me and stood, and he said unto
me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked
up upon him, and he said, you know what the first thing he
said was? The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. That's doctrine. And I've heard people say, you
can't teach election. Don't preach election to lost
people. And don't preach election to
young Christians. This is for the adults, this
is for the spiritually mature. Here is a man whose eyes have
just been opened and God sent a preacher to him and the very
first thing the preacher said to him, God chose you. Evidently
this man Ananias had not been to seminaries like we have today.
Who denied the doctrines of God. Because he starts off with election. With the election. God has chosen
you. The God of our fathers has chosen
thee for what purpose? That thou shouldest know His
will. What does He mean by that? His
redemptive will. His saving will. and that you
should see the just one, see him by faith. God chose you to
believe Jesus Christ. As many as were ordained to eternal
life, believe. That's brother Paul here. And
that thou shouldest hear the voice of his mouth and be a witness
to him. Doctrine. Doctrine. The word of God is profitable
for doctrine. Go with me over and look at the
book of Hosea. Here's a scripture I was looking
at earlier in the week, Hosea chapter 4. Hosea chapter 4. Sometimes, every
once in a while, people say, well, you people emphasize knowledge
too much. And you emphasize doctrine too
much. Well, you know what? You know what
eternal life is? It's the knowledge of God. So
I just don't think a man's got to know anything to be saved.
Well, he's got to know something. He's got to know something about
God. Wouldn't you agree with that? That man has to know something
about God? That God's holy and may not be able to use the same
terminology as we use, but he knows that God is God. And I'm
a sinner. I'm fallen and the only one who
can help me is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he looks to Jesus
Christ, he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, not in a vague
way. All I've got to do is believe
on Jesus. That's what they say. Just believe
on Jesus. Well, what do you believe about Him? Is it necessary to
believe that He's God and man? Is that necessary? Is it necessary
to believe that by His sacrifice, He satisfied the demands of God? Is it necessary to believe that
His blood alone washes sin away and His righteousness alone makes
us presentable before God? Well, how much does a man have
to know? Can a man go out into eternity saved by the grace of
God and not know anything? I don't believe that. Now I'm not saying I'd be a theologian,
but I tell you there's something, they shall all be taught of God.
Isn't that what the Savior said there in John chapter 6? They
shall all be taught of God. And everyone that hath, he's
earned and he's learned of the Father. That's who comes to me.
That's what the Savior said. And look over here in Hosea chapter
4. Let me show you this scripture. Hosea chapter 4 verse 6. And
these people who say, well, you emphasize knowledge too much.
Well, the way, just, won't you just listen to what God says?
We do well to shut our mouths and open our ears. Sometimes
we're just too quick to spout off. We get the big D of the
mouth. I won't, you know what I'm saying,
don't you? Okay. I'm trying to be nice,
but you know what I'm talking about. Look at verse 6. God says
my people are destroyed. for lack of knowledge. Because thou hast rejected knowledge,
I'm going to reject thee. That thou shalt be no priest
to me, seeing that thou hast forgotten the law of thy God,
I will forget thy children. Now guess what? This word law,
it's the same word found there in Psalm 19. It's doctrine. It's doctrine. You've forgotten
the doctrine of God. That's what God says. My people
perish. Israel is perishing. Why? For
lack of knowledge. For lack of knowledge. Don't
tell me knowledge is not necessary. You've got to find out some things
about God. That's what God uses preaching.
He teaches us. He tells us. He shows us. We'll go back to our text. The
Law of the Lord, watch it, says Psalm 19. The Law of the Lord
is perfect. It's complete. You don't need
anything else. I tell you, I like reading commentaries. I like reading books. I love
reading Brother Gill. Man, I listened to a message
by a fellow the other day, and he just kind of berated John
Gill. And I just want to put on my
boxing gloves. I said, who in the world do you
think you are? You're not even fit to carry John Gill's briefcase
if he is still alive today. I like reading Gill. I like reading
the Hawker. I like reading Brother Hawker.
There's several other men I enjoy reading, but there's only one
book of God. This is a book of all books.
The law of the Lord, the word of God, the doctrine of God,
that's what's perfect. All these other books, they're
going to melt with the fervent heat. God's going to set them
on fire one day. You can read these books with
profit, and I would exhort you to do that, to learn from other
men. But you still have to remember,
they're just men. And we don't revere them. We
don't set them way up here. They're just sinners saved by
grace, just like the rest of us. This is the book of God. This is the only book that's
perfect. This is all you need. It's all
you need. And you know this if you've studied
the scriptures. The best commentary on the Bible
is the Bible itself. A lot of times you read the Bible
and then you read those commentaries and those commentaries kind of
leave you foggy a little bit. And you say, well, I don't know
what that guy is saying, but I know what God says right here. The law of the Lord is perfect.
What does it do? Converting the soul. Once again,
look over in my center column and maybe look in yours. You
know what that word converting means? Restoring. Your Bible
says, how many of you got that? Restoring. What does God use
to restore us? See, if something's got to be
restored, it means it was stored once. But for some reason, It
isn't in storage anymore. And now it's got to be restored.
It's like eating molasses. Somebody says, pass the lasses.
I say, they're not lasses, they're molasses. Well, I can't have
molasses until I've had some lasses. That's what it's restoring
in. We must have been with the Lord
at one time and then we fell away. What happened? That's the
fall. That's the fall. And we've got
to be restored. What does God use in our restoration? The Word of God. The Word of
the Gospel. The doctrine. Well, you say,
don't preach doctrine to me. Well, then there won't be any
restoration. Is that right? If you don't preach doctrine,
there's not going to be a restoration. There's not going to be any bringing
back of the wanderer unless there's a preaching of instruction, the
law of God, the doctrine of God. What does it do? It converts
the soul. It converts the soul. Alright,
then watch this. Here's the second one. Here's
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The testimony of the Lord. Why
is the Word of God called testimony? because it gives an accurate
and faithful witness. And it's sure, that's what it
says, it's sure, it's faithful and it's accurate. What are the
Scriptures? If somebody said to you, what
are the Scriptures? You can answer this way, the
Scriptures, this is what the Scriptures are, the testimony
of God. It's God's witness, it's what
God has to say. And it's faithful and it's accurate. You go to a court. You listen
to a trial or whatever. You're present there and in court
men are called upon to testify in a legal proceeding. Well,
God has testified. God has given His testimony.
And here's a miracle. You've got it in your hands.
You got it in your hands. And I've said this before, and
it's just, it confounds me that the Word of God, you can go to
a dollar store and buy the Word of God Almighty, everything that
God has to say, you can buy for a dollar. And aren't you amazed that you
have the Bible, that you have God's Word, God's testimony? Shame on us if we don't read
God's testimony. Shame on us if we don't open
that book to hear what God Almighty witnesses from His own Word. He's not left us without a witness. This is a witness of God right
here. This is God's testimony. God
has testified. God's got something to say. And
I tell you, if we had any sense whatsoever, we'd be like old
Samuel. Eli, you know, the Lord called
upon Samuel. And Samuel, he thought it was
Eli, the old high priest. And he got up out of bed and
he went rushing in and said, Sir, can I help you? Eli said,
I didn't call you. What are you waking me up for?
Go back to bed. And then Samuel heard the voice
again. Samuel! Samuel! He jumped out
of bed. He ran, He run in to see Eli
and he said, did you call me sir? No, I didn't call you, go
back to bed. I'm an old man, I need my sleep.
And the third time God said, Samuel, Samuel, and Samuel goes
running in to Eli and Eli perceived as the voice of God. He said,
now you go back to your bed. When you hear somebody call your
name again, you say, speak Lord, for thy servant heareth. That ought to be our attitude
every time we come in these doors. Speak, Lord. I'm ready to hear.
I got my mouth closed and my ears open. I know people today,
they got their ears closed and their mouth open. They don't
need a preacher. I don't need a preacher. I can
study the Bible as good as you can. Well, probably you can.
But this is the way God's ordained it. One sinner standing up in
front of other sinners. Bragging on the Savior. This
is the way God's ordained it. This is the way God's purposed
it. This is the way God's decreed it. The testimony of the Lord. That's what the Word of God is.
It's the testimony of the Lord is sure. It's accurate. What God has to say about Himself,
that's accurate. And what He's got to say about
you, that's accurate. He tells it like it is. He doesn't try to make you feel
good about yourself. You listen to some of these preachers
today, they're just religious psychologists, that's all they
are. They're like motivational speakers with a little dab of
religion thrown in, trying to make you feel good. You read
the word of God, and I'll tell you, before it makes you feel
good, it's gonna make you feel bad. Ain't that right? It's gonna make you feel bad.
It's gonna whittle you down to nothing. God didn't say, God
didn't say, I make alive and I kill. He said, I kill and then
I make alive. He strips and then He closes.
That's the way God works. He brings us down to nothing.
We just look up to Him and say, Lord, help me. Lord, save me. That's the way God operates.
The testimony of the Lord is sure. And you know what it does?
It makes wise the simple. 2 Timothy chapter 3, the Word of
God, the Scriptures, they're able to make you wise unto salvation. Just how wise can these Scriptures
make you in the hands of the Spirit of God? Wise unto salvation. Making wise the simple. Look
up the word simple. You know what it means? Empty
headed and empty hearted. Boy, that's us, isn't it? Empty
headed and empty hearted. But this book right here, it
will make wise the simple. It will show you how God can
justify the ungodly. It will just boggle your poor
brain. How can it be? How can it be that God in His
beauties, in His perfection, in His glory, how could He ever
have anything to do with a vile old sinner like me? Through the
doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what wisdom
is this? Through substitution, through
somebody dying in your place. Through a sacrifice that honored
God's justice that demanded death for sin. It'd make you wise. And you say, I've heard some
people, I haven't even heard some people say, well, I don't
know much about the Bible. You know more about the Bible
than most of the people in this whole wide world. If you understand
how God saves sinners, you're wise. God's made you wise. God's taught you. He's taught
you. Then here's the third thing.
The statutes of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart. And I know some people say these
words are referring to the law of Moses, the precepts of the
law, the statutes of the law. But the law doesn't bring joy.
The law doesn't bring gladness. The law doesn't make our hearts
rejoice. The law is the voice of terror. The law pronounces guilt. The
law curses. The law condemns. In fact, the
only joy we can get in the presence of the law is that Jesus Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everybody that believes. He's
fulfilled the law, but as to the law itself, it's the killing
letter and it works wrath. Now this word statutes, if you
go back and look up this word statutes, It's a very interesting
word, and the root word presents the idea of visits. Visits. How does God visit with us? Through his word. That's how
he visits with us. You know, when you go to speak
with God, how do you do that? Well, when God speaks to you,
when God visits with you, when He visits with me, when He visits
with us, how does He do that? His book. That's why I don't
want to miss a worship service because every time the book of
God is open, God visits with us. He's visiting. God's visiting
with us tonight. What is man that thou visitest
Him? Who are we, oh God, that today,
September the 27th, 2015, who are we that you would visit us
again? Every time the book of God is
opened, it's another visit. Oh, how precious are His visits. And how we long next time we
meet. Wednesday night we'll say, oh
God, visit us again. When does God visit us? When
we make much of this book right here. This book right here. This book right here is the testimony
of God. It's the testimony of Jesus Christ.
He said to the Jews, search the Scriptures, for in them ye think
ye have eternal life. These are they which testify
of me. And every time we come in here,
the Scriptures testify of Christ Jesus. God's visiting us. I believe
God visited us this morning, don't you? I believe He's visiting
again tonight. Yeah. I don't have any doubt
about it. And then watch what it says here.
It says, the statutes of the Lord are right, the visits of
the Lord, the visitations of the Lord are right, correct,
straight, and you know what they do? They make the old heart to
rejoice. There is no lasting joy out yonder. Out in the world there is no
lasting joy in the materialism, There's no lasting joy. You say,
well, you know, you buy a new dress, you buy a new pair of
breeches or whatever it is. Buy something new. Boy, I got
something new. You want to see it? And before
long, the newness wears off. And a lot of people, their joy
is strictly tied to what they got, what they have. That's why they're all the time
getting new stuff. We have the joy of the Lord. Rejoice in the
Lord always, and again I say rejoice. He's our joy. You can
take from me my health, you can take from me whatever degree
of prosperity I have, but you can't take the Lord away from
me. He's my joy. The people of God have three
characteristics. We worship God in the Spirit,
we rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence in the
flesh. Philippians chapter 3 says that. We rejoice in the Lord. I tell you, you ought to be so
happy right now, you ought to be so joyful right now, because
God is visiting us. Don't be a stick in the mud.
You know, loosen up just a little bit and maybe even crack a smile
and say, I am happy in my soul. I'm happy in the Lord. He's my
joy. This is not a carnal joy now. We're not talking about that.
We're talking about rejoicing in the Lord. Rejoice the heart. And then the last thing, the
commandment of the Lord is pure. Notice the word commandment is
singular. The commandment of the Lord is
pure. It's unadulterated. Unadulterated. And you know what the Word of
God does? It enlightens. Well, who needs enlightening?
Folks who are in the dark. That make sense? That's who needs
enlightening. Folks who are in the dark. Well,
what does God use to enlighten us? His Word. His Word. Thy Word is a lamp
to my feet, a light to my path. Psalm 119, 105. Isn't that what
it says? It's the light. In this dark
world, here's the light. And you know what the light of
God's Word tells us about? You know who it tells us about?
He who is the light of the world. It tells us about the light,
and it illuminates our darkened hearts. We don't walk in darkness
anymore. We don't walk in blindness anymore.
God's revealed Himself to us through His Word. Through His
Word. And He's visited us today, and
I'm thankful again, aren't you? I'm grateful. Lord, thank you
for visiting with us. Thank you for speaking to us
one more time. I don't ever take His presence for granted. I sure
am thankful when He meets with us. And that's every time the
people of God meet because He says where two or three are gathered
together in My name. When He gathers two or three
in His name, in His name, in the name of Christ Jesus, for
the glory of Christ Jesus, He said, I'll be in the midst. That's
what He said. I'll be in the midst. He's visited again today. We're grateful. We're grateful. Let's sing 75, Abide With Me. It's a good closing song, Abide
With Me, taken right out of Luke chapter
21.