I want you to open to the book
of the Psalms of David. And I want to look at one Psalm,
Psalm 18, and one verse. And that's verse 46. This is the verse that I spoke
from yesterday at Brother Richard Pennington's funeral. And it's just one of those verses
that, you know, sort of grabbed me. Isn't it wonderful when you're
reading the Scriptures and the Spirit of God just takes just
a few words and gets your attention? That's the greatness and the
awesomeness of the Word of God. You know, we have in the bulletin
every Lord's Day a reading schedule if you want to read the Scriptures
through in a year. That's a great thing to do, to
reacquaint yourself with the Scriptures. But, I'll tell you
what's even better. Rather than reading a big block
of verses, without understanding. Now, if you read it with understanding,
that's okay. But rather than reading many,
many verses, focus on one verse. Because if you read several different
chapters, and you really don't understand it, you really don't
get anything out of it, it really doesn't bless your heart. I mean,
you know it's the Word of God. You know it's the Scriptures,
you know the Spirit of God inspired, as in this psalm, He inspired
David to write these words. It's one thing to read all of
the verses in this psalm, which there are 50. But as I was reading
this psalm, one verse really jumped off the page. So it's
better to read one verse with understanding. It's better to read one verse
and the Spirit of God bless it to you than to read a multitude
of blessings and then just say, well, you know, I read my five
chapters today. You know what I mean? And isn't
that the glory? One of the glories of the Scriptures
is that God uses His Word I'm not talking about somebody making
some remarks about the Word. And it's good to read your commentaries
and things like that. It's good to read some of the
biographies and some of the autobiographies. All those things are well and
good, but there's no substitute for the Scriptures. And there's
no substitute for focusing in on one verse of Scripture and
asking God the Spirit, give me understanding of this. Oh Lord,
bless my soul with these words. As I was looking over a few verses
in preparation for the message that I brought yesterday, this
was the one the Lord gave me." And these are such gracious words. And they're all about our Lord
Jesus. And David writes, Psalm 18, verse 46, The Lord liveth. The Lord liveth. That is, Jehovah, who is our
Savior, Who is our salvation. He liveth. He goes on living. And blessed or blessed be my
rock. He's my rock. The scripture says the wise man
built his house on a rock. The foolish man builds his house
on the sand, on the sand of religion, on the sand of doing good, on
the sand of being a wonderful person, on the sand of baptism. on the sand of morality. But
the wise man builds his house, he builds all of his hopes for
salvation and everlasting life, all of his hope for righteousness,
he builds on the rock, and the rock is Christ Jesus. And if by the grace of God you
build on Christ Jesus, you shall never sink. And though your house
may be assaulted by vicious winds of afflictions, by storms and
floods of troubles and trials, your rock will stand firm and
fast. Blessed be my rock. Blessed be my rock. And let the
God of my salvation be exalted. Yesterday I spoke on the last
part of this verse. Let the God of my salvation be
exalted. And I know several of you were
there, so don't think that you can now leave because you've
already heard this message. Because this is an altogether
different message. But what I do want to say about
this last statement before I really focus in on this subject, the
Lord liveth. But let me say first of all,
David said, let the God of my salvation be exalted. This is
so very, very sweet. He's the God of my salvation. This is my salvation. He gave it to me. It's mine. It's mine. In Exodus chapter
15, when Israel sang the song of redemption, they sang, the
Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare
Him an habitation, my Father's God, and I will exalt Him. He has become my salvation. When did they see that? When
they experienced God's salvation. When Pharaoh's army was behind
them, and the Red Sea was in front of them, and it seemed
as if all hope was lost, And the Lord opened up a way. And
they went through to safety. And then the Egyptian army was
drowned in the same waters of the Red Sea after Israel had
crossed over on dry land. Then they sang this after they
had experienced God's salvation. Then they sang, He has become
my salvation. And I know salvation was determined
before the world began. It was God Himself who elected
a people unto salvation in Jesus Christ. And we rejoice to know
everything is built upon Jesus' blood and righteousness, that
righteousness established at the cross. We rejoice in His
substitutionary work. But the grace of God that was
eternally given to us in Christ Jesus, and His work of redemption
accomplished at the cross, will really mean nothing to us until
the Spirit of God, by His effectual grace, brings us to the feet
of the Lord Jesus, and then we'll say, I rejoice in my salvation. My salvation. You can read about
God's salvation, you can hear about God's salvation, but until
in your very soul you experience God's salvation, you cannot say,
He has become my salvation. I'm not going to overemphasize
our experience, but I'll tell you this, we do experience the
salvation of God. There does come a time when He
makes it real to us. There does come a time when He
takes the gospel of substitution and satisfaction. And He makes
us alive so that we loathe ourselves and we rejoice in the grace of
God to us through Jesus Christ, our substitute and God's sacrifice
for sin. And then we will say, He has
become my salvation. David said in Psalm 25, Lead
me in thy truth and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait all day. He said in Psalm 27, The Lord
is my light and my salvation, therefore whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
life, of whom shall I be afraid? He said later in Psalm 38, 22,
Make haste, O God of my salvation, to help me. Isaiah said in Isaiah 12 to behold,
God is my salvation. Faith is not my salvation. Repentance
is not my salvation. Even an experience is not my
salvation. God is my salvation. That's what
he said. Therefore I will not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become
my salvation." This is the song God teaches His people to sing. God is my salvation. Let the God of my salvation be
exalted. Dear old Simeon, working in the
temple, the Spirit of God said, you're not going to die until
you've seen the Messiah, until you've seen the Lord's Christ. And one day while laboring in
the temple, a young woman enters in with Joseph, Mary enters in
with Joseph, and she has in her arms an infant, whose name is
Jesus. which means he shall save his
people from their sins. And as Simeon watched them enter
into the temple, he took that little infant in his arms. That
infant to the natural eye looked no different than any other infant
that had been brought into the temple. There was no glow about
him. There was nothing special about
him? Well, you say, how did Simeon know
who Christ was? The Spirit of God told him. And
the only way we'll know who Christ is, and the only way we'll believe
Him and love Him and trust Him, is if the Spirit of God shows
us who He is. The Spirit of God showed Simeon,
told Simeon, this is the one. This is the one the prophets
wrote about. This is the one all the pictures
of the Old Testament pointed to. Here he is. He took that infant in his arms
and he said, Lord, now let this thy servant die in peace. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Thy salvation. He didn't see
a bunch of facts. He didn't hear a bunch of theories.
He saw somebody. Somebody who was real. Somebody
who could be touched. Somebody who could be embraced.
Somebody who came down from heaven. Somebody who came to fulfill
God's redemptive will. He saw somebody. And He said,
mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He is God's salvation. And He
is our salvation. My soul rejoices in my salvation. I tell you, this is the song
that God teaches His people to sing. Let the God of my salvation
be exalted. Let the God of my salvation who
chose me who redeemed me, who justified me, who gave me faith,
who made me righteous, who forgave me of all my sins. Let the God
of my salvation who preserves me and who keeps me and who will
someday take me home to everlasting glory. Let the God of my salvation
be exalted. Isn't that what you want? I know
every child of God here today, and every child of God throughout
the world, this is what they say, let the God of my salvation
be exalted. Notice these words, the Lord
liveth. The Lord liveth. You know, you
and I, our people, even the people of God, we are subject to a lot
of changes. Our feelings, they change. Our attitudes change. Our circumstances
change. But whatever may happen in our
world, whatever may happen in our churches, whatever may happen
in our families, Whatever may happen in our feelings and in
our own hearts, let us always remember this, the Lord liveth. Blessed be my rock, for he never
moves and he never changes. The hymn writer said, he said,
change and decay in all around I see. O thou that changest not, abide
with me." Now listen, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, forever. The Lord liveth. The Lord liveth. These words have been a great
comfort to me and a great comfort to many a child of God in times
of adversity, especially in times of sorrow, because we know this, Whoever lives or dies, whatever
changes may come about in our lives, the Lord liveth. The Lord liveth. Over the last 40 years of pastoring, like all other preachers, it
has often been my lot to commit to the grave Many a dear, precious
friend. Someone with whom we walked in
sweet communion in the gospel. They've been committed to the
silence of the grave, at least the body has. And many of us
have shed an abundance of tears over losing loved ones. And while it is a fact that our
grief and our loss is really felt, yet our loss is their gain. So that when we have buried a
father, or a mother, or a brother, or a sister, or a husband, or
a wife who knew the Lord, or rather who was known of the Lord,
when we have said goodbye to someone we dearly love, may these
words be a strong consolation to our hearts, that though others
die, and really all will die, and though others will leave
us sooner or later, we know this, the Lord liveth. The Lord liveth. Jehovah, who is our salvation,
he liveth. Jehovah who saves, He ever lives
to make intercession for us. This is a reference to our Lord
Jesus Christ, who is our salvation. And the psalmist says to us,
that one who is the salvation of poor, undeserving sinners,
He liveth. Now to be sure, He was dead. Yes, He was dead. Look at Revelation
chapter 1. He was dead. The ever-living,
exalted Jesus Christ says in Revelation chapter 1, He says,
I was dead. I was dead. Look at Revelation
chapter 1. Maybe sometimes we slip and say
revelations, but this isn't revelations. This is the revelation of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's what the book of Revelation
is all about. John is on the Isle of Patmos
for the Word of God and for the testimony of the Gospel. He says in verse number 10, Revelation
1, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind
me a great voice. It's a voice. But he said, it
arrested my attention like a trumpet. Well, what did the boy say? Verse
11, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. What thou
seest, write in a book, and send it to the seven churches which
are in Asia, to Ephesus and Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia
and the Laodicea. And John said, I turned to see
the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven
candlesticks, these are churches, one likened to the son of man
clothed with a garment down to the foot, gird about the paps
with a golden girdle, And his head and his hairs were white
as wool, he says, as white as snow. And his eyes were as a
flame of fire. And his feet likened to fine
brass, as if they burned in a furnace. And his voice is the sound of
many waters. And John noted, Verse 16, He
had in His right hand seven stars, seven preachers. And out of His mouth went a sharp,
two-edged sword. He's the Word of God. He speaks
the Word of God. And His countenance was as the
sun shineth in His strength, bright and brilliant. And when
I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon
me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am He that liveth and was dead. I was dead. And behold, John,
I am alive forevermore. Amen. and have the keys of hell
and of death. The ever-living, exalted Lord
Jesus Christ says to John, I am He that liveth. I was dead. I
was dead. Think of the death of the Son
of God and ask yourself this question, Oh, why did He die? Why did this One who is life,
He is life in Himself, He gives all life that is ever given,
be it physical, spiritual, eternal, everlasting, all life emanates
from Him, comes forth from Him, and yet the Word of God says
He died. He said, I was dead. I was dead. Why did He die? I know once a year the world
celebrates His birth. And once a year the world celebrates
His resurrection. But you know, really the only
thing we're ever said to remember in the Word of God is His death. This do in remembrance of me. Remember me. I'm the bread of
life. Remember me. I'm the wine. My
blood's the wine poured out for many for the remission of sins. Remember my death. And you know
what men refuse to remember? His death. His death. He died. I watched a little bit
of the news special this week. I couldn't sleep. Hadn't been
able to rest well. Nancy's been gone for the week. And so I've been staying up wee
hours of the morning and reading and trying to find something
on the news. Some kind of new revelation that
they now think they've discovered the body of Jesus. I thought
there's got to be something else better on television to watch.
So I finally found a baseball game. He really died. But He didn't
stay dead. He arose. But we must remember
that He died. He died. Why did He die? Why
did He die? And there are people who say,
well, you know, He died to show us the right attitude toward
death. Well, there is an element of
truth in that. Let us follow our Lord. He is
our example. Let's be willing to die and to
die in grace and to die trusting the Lord. When our time comes
and we're growing feeble, may we rejoice in Him who gave us
life, who's going to take our life and who will then take us
home to glory because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yeah, let's be submissive to death, but that's really not
the reason He died. It wasn't to teach us patience
in death or to teach us how we ought to die. And he didn't die
a martyr to start a new religion. Yes, he died. Why did he die? Well, he died because God ordained
that he die. I think that's where we need
to start, don't you? You see, if you're going to start
anywhere, the right place to start is at the beginning. Isn't
that right? If you're reading a book, well,
I think I'll start reading a book. And you pick up a book, you don't
go to the middle of it. I think I'll start reading this
book, so I'll start chapter 12. Why no? You go back to the introduction. You go back to the origin of
the book. You go back to the beginning.
And in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, let's go back to
the beginning. Let's go back to the origin.
Let's go back to the very counsel and covenant of peace where God
the Father ordained His death. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 1. Look
at 1 Peter chapter 1. Why did He die? Because God ordained
that He die. 1 Peter chapter 1, look at verse
18. For as much as you know that
ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as
of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who was verily
foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you, Why was He manifest? For you,
to save you by the shedding of His blood. That is all of you
who believe in God that raised Him from the dead. But what was
the origin of this? He was ordained to die. Ordained
to die. Would you remember this? The
death of the Lord Jesus Christ is the very core. The very heart,
the very kernel, the very core of God's eternal purpose. Remember
that. The death of Jesus Christ, it's
the very center of God's eternal purpose. And everything else
surrounds that. But this is the very heart of
His purpose. The substitutionary death of His Son. It's the foundation
of the entire structure of all of God's decrees. They were all
built on the ordaining of, the predestinating of, the death
of the Son of God. That's why we read He's the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. We read it pleased
the Lord to bruise Him. On the day of Pentecost, Peter
said Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. Everything that Herod and Pontius
Pilate and the Gentiles and the people of Israel did to Jesus
Christ was what God's hand and God's counsel determined before
it to be done. That's the origin. Why did He
die? God ordained it. Why did He die?
God purposed it. You see, long before there was
a sinner, God had already provided a Savior. Long before the first
sheep ever went astray, God ordained a shepherd. Long before we fell
in the first man, Adam, God provided the second Adam to save. Before we broke God's law, He
provided someone to redeem us from the curse of the law. Before
we became polluted, The Lord Jesus was ordained by the Father
to be the cleansing fountain. Before we incurred the debt of
sin, Christ stood as our surety to pay that debt. Before we were
ever cursed by the law, we were blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Before we died in Adam, Our Lord
Jesus was appointed to be the resurrection and the life. He died because God purposed
his death. He died so that God could be
a just God and a Savior. The soul that sinned shall die. Well, that means we'll have to
die, either us or a suitable substitute. The Lord Jesus died in our stead. He died in our room. He died because God loved his
people with an everlasting love. Our brother read, for God so
loved the world, the world of his elect, and he gave his only
begotten son. He died to fulfill the Old Testament
pictures of his sacrificial death. Oh, that picture of the Israelites
bitten by the fiery serpents. What a gospel lesson. As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have eternal life. You'll remember on the Day of
Atonement, Aaron chose two goats. The first goat died. The second
goat lived. The first pictured the death
of Christ. The second pictured the results
of His death. The first pictured the sacrifice
of the Son of God to satisfy justice. The second one pictured
all the accomplishments of His death. He removed our sins and
He brought righteousness. The first goat sounds forth truth
and righteousness. The second goat sounds forth
mercy and peace. He died to fulfill Old Testament
prophecies. And then Peter says in 1 Peter
3.18, he died to bring us to God. He died, but he didn't stay
dead. He didn't stay dead. The Lord
liveth. The Lord liveth. How do we know He lives? The traditional song that's sung
at Easter is the song He lives. He lives. He lives. Christ Jesus
lives today. He walks with me. He talks with
me along life's narrow way. He lives. He lives. Salvation
to impart. You ask me how I know He lives. He lives within my heart. I'll
tell you what, you ask me how I know He lives. I know He lives because the Word
of God says He lives. The Word of God says he lives.
You see, truth is not based on our experience or how we feel. Truth is built upon the Word
of God. You ask me how I know he lives? Because he said, I live. I live. Let the foolish Scientists and
explorers or whoever say, oh, we've located the dead body of
Jesus Christ. I say, I'll just believe the
Word of God that says He lives. Why, people turn a blind eye
to the facts. The Scripture says He was seen
of many witnesses that God chose. God chooses who will see His
Son. God chooses who He will reveal
the resurrected Christ to. And on one occasion, He was seen
of above 500 people at once. He lives. Where does He live?
He lives on high. He lives enthroned in the skies. He lives at the right hand of
the Majesty on high. He rose because He finished that
work of redemption the Father gave Him to do. He rules because
He redeemed His people with His blood. He rules because He put
away the sins of all those the Father entrusted to Him in the
covenant of grace back before the world was made. He lives
because he finished the work to God's full satisfaction. God raised him from the dead,
he ascended back to heaven, and the Father said, sit here at
my right hand until I make you enemies of your footstool. He
lives and he's enthroned. And because he lives, we live. We live spiritually. We live
spiritually. You know, when the Lord said
to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life, He goes on to say
this, He that liveth and believeth. And that's the right order. He
that liveth and believeth. You see, the religious world
has it backwards. If you'll believe, you'll live.
No! If you're made alive, then you
believe. The Lord Jesus said it exactly right. He that liveth
and believeth in Me, he is never going to perish. Because He arose,
we live spiritually. We are raised from the grave.
We are raised to newness of life. Christ Jesus is our life. He
raised us. The Lord liveth. And because
He lives, we shall live forever. The earthly tabernacle of our
brother laid to rest yesterday, Brother Pennington. I said yesterday, death doesn't
have the final word. Because the Lord Jesus lives,
that body is going to live again. Oh yeah. It's just a temporary
goodbye. It's kind of, see you a little
later. See you later. In your new body and in my new
body. I'll see you again. We'll live
forever. The Lord liveth. He lives within
the hearts of all of His people because He's our life. The Lord
liveth. He lives in the assembly of His
people. Wherever His twos and threes are gathered together
in the world by the power of His grace, He lives and there
He dwells. He lives and He dwells here. Exodus 20, 24, the Lord said,
In all places where I record My name, I will come unto thee
and I will bless thee. And if He has recorded His name
in your heart, And if He has recorded His name in this assembly
as we meet, He'll come and bless us here. He said He would. The
Lord liveth. He lives in the souls of His
people. He lives in the gatherings of
His people. He lives in our prayers. He lives
in our praises. He lives in the hearing of the
gospel. He lives in our preaching. He
lives in our singing. He lives with us daily. He always
lives. He lives in us and we live in
Him. Therefore, we cannot be brought
into condemnation. The Lord liveth! The Lord liveth. And He always
lives to make intercession for us. We have somebody representing
us in glory. He has five bleeding wounds that
He bears, received on Calvary. They ever plead for us. Therefore,
there is no condemnation. to those who are in Christ Jesus.
He lives. He lives. Well, let's sing a
song. Is it 303?