Eleanor has a friend that is
very sick. Her name is Mae Wilson. Some
of you may know her. Herman knows her. She's been
vomiting for several weeks. Sounds kind of like what Kathleen
was doing. But she's asked that we remember her in prayer. And
her daughter, Patty, has a brain aneurysm. Those folks are having
some problems. I don't know them, but she's
asked us to remember them, and if God lay them on your heart,
then you pray for them. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
13. In Matthew chapter 13, a couple of weeks ago, Donnie
brought a message, and he used a verse out of Isaiah, and it
says, Incline your ear, and you may remember he cupped his hand
behind his ears. He says, Incline your ear, and
come unto me. Hear, and your soul shall live. Last week's bulletin, Obie had
for the topic of the bulletin, hearing. And I thought I would
continue on with that topic in our scripture reading tonight. Now we all as parents have gotten
down face to face with our children and gave them a good tongue lashing. almost without fail when we get
through, we say, did you hear what I said? And it's kind of
a silly question because you were right in their face. But
really what we're asking is, do you understand what I'm saying? I want to illustrate that a little
bit further, give you an illustration. Two men leave out of here after
the morning worship, and they get outside, and they're stopped
by another man, and he says, did you hear what the preacher
said this morning? And the first one says, of course
I heard him. He was so loud, how could you
not hear him? My ear's still hurting. And the
other one says, oh, I heard him. Don't we have a wonderful Savior? So they both heard. But one heard
with some understanding. He's the one that really heard.
And I think that's what our Lord means here in verse 9. He said, Who hath ears to hear,
let him hear. Verse 10, And disciples came
and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them, meaning the great
multitude that is gathered, They said, why do you speak thou unto
them in parables? He answered and said unto them,
because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever
hath to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath not, from
him shall be taken away, even that he hath. Therefore speak
I to them in parables, because they seeing, see not, and hearing,
they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled
the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing, they shall
hear and shall not understand. In seeing they shall see and
shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears, and shall understand with their heart
and shall be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your
eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that
many prophets and righteous men have desired to see these things
which you see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things
which you hear, and have not heard them. Hear ye therefore
the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word
of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked
one and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is
he which receiveth seed by the wayside. But he that receiveth
the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word
and anon, or at once, with joy receive it. Yet hath he not root
in himself, but doeth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution
arises because of the word, and by and by he is offended. He
also that receiveth seed among the thorns is he that heareth
the word, and the cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches,
choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that receiveth
the seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and
understandeth, which it also beareth fruit and bringeth forth
some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Another parable
put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened
to a man that sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept,
his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his
way. And when the blade was sprung
up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the
servants of the household came and said unto him, Sir, didst
not thou sow good seed in thy field? From which then hath it
tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath
done this. The servant said unto him, Wilt
thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest
while you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat with
them. Let them both grow together until
the harvest. And in the time of harvest I
will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares,
and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into
my barn. Another parable put he forth
unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened to a grain
of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field,
which indeed is the least of all seeds, But when it is grown,
it is the greatest among the herbs, and becometh a tree, so
that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
And another parable spake he unto them, The kingdom of heaven
is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures
of meal, till the whole was leavened. All these things spake Jesus
unto the multitudes in parables, And without a parable he spake
not unto them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables. I
will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation
of the world. Then Jesus sent a multitude away
and went into the house. And his disciples came unto him,
saying, Declaring to us a parable of the tares of the field, he
answered and said unto them, he that soweth the good seed
is a son of man. The field is a world. The good
seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the
children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is
a devil. The harvest is the end of the
world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares
are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end
of this world. Son of man shall send forth his
angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them
into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine
forth as a sun in the kingdom of their father. He who hath
ears to hear, let him hear. Let's pray. Our most gracious Heavenly Father, I beg that you would anoint our
speaker tonight, that you would give him clarity of thought,
clarity of speech, boldness to proclaim the gospel unto us.
And Father, that you would not only bless him, but you'd bless
us, that you'd allow us, that you'd bless us to be able to
hear the good news, that we'd be able to hear the Son of God.
And hearing we might believe, we might trust, we might trust him to be our only surety,
our only hope of salvation. Father, to those that have been
mentioned and the sick among us, we pray that you remember
them, be kind unto them, that you would, if you'd be pleased,
raise them up. We pray especially for Kathleen.
Oh, Father, that you would Keep her in good spirits, that you
would cause her to look unto thee, that you would enable her to be a good witness
to her family in this time of trial, tribulation. Restore her
to the health that be thy will. Father, oh, again, that you would
meet with us. Oh, we don't want to just go
through the motions But oh, that you would be pleased to meet
with us, that you would speak through Brad, that you'd use
him and enable us to hear. It's in Christ's name I pray.
Amen. Have the brothers and sisters
pray for you as I. sometimes prepare to stand before
you and open the Word of God and try to preach from His Word. It means so much. Several of
you told me so this morning, Brother Gary, Brother James. And I like what James says when
he prays. I think he says this every time.
He prays for the preachers and he says this, he says, cause
them to tell us about Christ. I hope you won't be disappointed
tonight, James. That's my goal as well. Thank
you so much. My text is found in Psalm 100. There's a verse of Scripture
in 2 Corinthians. The Apostle Paul, you don't have
to turn there. I'll just read it to you. It's
not my text. This thought has been on my mind
for some time. He says this to the Corinthians,
he says, You know, we live in a day where there are so many
voices and influences And with communication the way
it is these days, there are many avenues for people to express
opinions and raise issues. And there's a lot of ways to
be influenced. And it's somewhat troubling to
me. especially for our young people
that are exposed to so many false ideas and things that would corrupt
their mind if they were not instructed in the scripture and are led away from the simplicity
that's in Christ. You know, in our day, the thought
is that How can all the purpose of God be wrapped up in this
one man, Jesus Christ? And how can He be all and in
all? There's many other things to
consider. We have this issue, we have that
issue, we have this opinion to consider, that opinion to consider. And minds are corrupted by evil
men, sinful men that are not taught in the Scripture and depart
from the simplicity that's in Christ. And it's so important
to attend to the Word of God and to be instructed by the Word
of God, by His preachers, and sitting under the sound of
the Gospel. in hearing about the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is no greater subject,
there is no better use of time than to look at Him, to look
at His Word, to consider Him as He's revealed in His Word
and pray for God to reveal Himself to us by His Spirit through His
Son, in His Son. and never depart from that. And
it thrills me to stand before you that I do not have to come
up with some great new thing, some thing to dazzle you with
a new thought or some wisdom, some insight that I have that
promotes myself and my own intellect and my own wisdom. And we as
sinful men are apt to do that. But I must confess before you
tonight, I have no wisdom but Christ, my wisdom. I know nothing but what has been
revealed to me by the Spirit through His Word. And we look
to His Word tonight, and I just rejoice that the same Scriptures,
the same Christ, the same Gospel, that was preached by the Apostle
Paul in the first century. It's the same scripture, the
same Christ, the same gospel we preach today in the 21st century. That thrills my heart beyond
belief. And I know it does you too. So
as we look at this psalm in Psalm 100, it's five verses, a relatively
short psalm, but it's one of my favorite psalms. It's a psalm
of praise. The writer encourages us to praise
our Lord and our God. Let's read it, and then we'll
come back and look into some of it. Make a joyful noise unto
the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord,
He is God. It is He that hath made us, and
not we ourselves. We are His people, and the sheep
of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him, and bless
His name. For the Lord is good, His mercy
is everlasting, and His truth endureth. to all generations. In another place we read, rejoice
in the Lord. And again I say, rejoice. Oh my, we have much to rejoice
in. And this is a, it's a delightful thing to praise
God. The psalmist says, make a joyful
noise. Joy springs from the heart that
knows Christ. Make a joyful noise and serve
the Lord with gladness. Be glad in it. Come before His
presence with singing. Oh, we have much to sing about,
much to praise Him for, much to be joyful and glad about. And throughout the book of Psalms,
we read often, we're called upon, praise the Lord, praise ye the
Lord, praise the Lord, to bless Him, to thank Him, to adore Him,
to honor Him. And so it is here in this Psalm
we read tonight, King David, and he's often referred, or sometimes
referred to as the sweet singer of Israel. He writes by God's
Spirit. He pens these words. inspired by the Word of God,
thereby being the very Word of God, and gives us instruction
and praise and service and uplifting of our voices to the Lord. Do
it with a joyful heart, with a glad heart, with singing in
your heart. And though we're to praise Him
and serve Him all our days, It's not one, an act of necessity. It springs forth from a heart
of gratitude, knowing who He is, what He's done for us. And it's joyful praise, glad
praise, with thankfulness and blessing. And it flows forth freely. Can
you not praise our Lord Jesus Christ? A believer must praise
Him. He's worthy of praise. And we
delight, it's our delight to praise Him. And He's worthy of
praise. And we want to see that tonight
to some degree. So the thrust and force of my
message tonight is this. That yes, you and I ought to
praise and serve and thank God. But let's take a look at Him
unto whom praise is due. And I hope God, by the Holy Spirit,
will show us His praiseworthiness. Then we can praise Him more and
honor Him more, especially those of us that know Him. First of all, let's go back and
look at verse 3 together. Read with me the first line. Why are we to praise Him? First
of all, know ye that the Lord, He is God. Our God is God. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
is God Almighty. He's Jehovah. He's the Creator and the Sustainer
and the Upholder of all things. He gives life. He kills. He makes alive. He doeth all
His pleasure. in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of earth. He's God over all and beside
Him there is no other. And He is God over all and that's
absolute without any limits to His rule or His authority or
His power. I've heard it said many times,
He's either God over all or He's not God at all. And men worship
a God who has limits, and that is no God. We worship a God,
there's no limit to His power, there's no limit to His authority,
to His right to do with His own as it pleases Him. He is one
who decrees, who speaks, is brought to pass. This God is not to be
debated with or bargained with or questioned. he hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased. And who can stay his hand, or
say unto him, what do you think you're doing? You have no right
to do this. Paul says in Romans 9, shall
the thing formed say to him that formed it, why have you made
me thus? O man, who are you that replies against God? God who
has made thee. God who has all power, hath not
the potter power over the clay to make one vessel unto honor
and another unto dishonor? We must bow to this God who has
that right, that authority. We must bow to Him. We are in
His hands. And you remember when you read
the book of Job, our Lord asked Job, He said, where were you
when I laid the foundations of the earth? You've been debating and reasoning
and arguing and stating your case. Who are you, Job, and where were
you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if you
have understanding. Job cried and he said, I've heard
of you by the hearing of the ear. But now my eye sees you. I see who you are. I see you
as God. And you have the rule over me. And you can do with me whatever
you please. And Job said, wherefore I abhor
myself. I hate myself. And I repent. I've changed my mind. And I repent
in dust and ashes. God changed my mind. I'm nothing. He is truly God, truly God. And He rules and He reigns. And
we're in His hands. And He will do as He pleases
with each of us. Who can conceive of Him? Who
can tell out God? So let's adore Him for His overwhelming
majesty, His greatness. And let's bow down. For the Lord,
He is God. Let's bow down before Him who
is God. And then look further with me
in verse 3. The next phrase says this, it is He that hath made
us and not we ourselves. Now there are men that I suppose
don't believe that. They say they don't believe that
and you just almost have to laugh. As if some force just caused
us and all this that is to come into being. It had the wisdom,
the power to do that. You just almost have to laugh.
But a natural man won't attribute that to God. We know that. We
know enough about ourselves to know that. But it is He that has made us and
not we ourselves. And God has created us from nothing.
There is a time we did not exist. He gave us beginning. And thereby
we belong to Him because He gave us our beginning. He gave us
life. He created us. And we belong
to Him. And we were and we are created
for a purpose. For His purpose. and for His
glory. You see, God's a God of purpose.
Everything He does is on purpose and for purpose. A good purpose,
a perfect purpose. And that purpose being the glory
of His blessed Son. We were made to glorify God,
to bring honor to Him, to praise Him, as we're admonished in this
psalm. That's what eternity will be. We were made to glorify God.
We were not made to live after the desires of our flesh, to
cater to this flesh and fulfill the lust of this flesh. We were
not made to fulfill our own desires. I heard a dear brother saying
a message here a while back. It's not about you. It's about
him. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not about you. It's about him. And he has a rightful claim to
our service, to our obedience, to our submission, to our praise. Oh my. Who but God can make a
man or a woman? Scripture says we are fearfully
and wonderfully made. We all know that. We must acknowledge God in this,
His wisdom and His creation, His power. We've not made ourselves,
therefore we owe all to Him. Him who hath made us. For without
Him, we wouldn't even exist. We owe all that we are to Him. He made us. We are not our own. We are God's. We are not our
own. The flesh doesn't like that.
That's an uncomfortable thing. But it's the truth. We belong
to God. He's made us. And He, with His
own hands and by His great power, has formed us and made us and
brought us forth from nothing, giving us a beginning who formerly
had no beginning. And He gave us life and breath
and continues to give us life and breath. He's given us faculties
of reason and understanding. And how can we not give Him His
due? And what do you and I have that we've not received? And
I tried to confess that at the beginning. I've come to know
that I don't know anything but what God has taught me and revealed
to me in His Word. And I don't have anything but
what God has not given it to me freely by His will, by His
power, by His wisdom. Oh my, how can we vainly attempt
to boast in ourselves who have nothing, who are nothing? You
said it this morning. We're less than nothing. That's
about as low as you can go, isn't it? For it is He that has made
us and not we ourselves. Oh, sing praises, joyful praises
unto Him who hath made us. Him who is God and Him who hath
made us and given us life and all that we have. And then look
again at verse 3, the next phrase. We are His people and the sheep
of His pasture. We're His sheep. Now, if a believer
can't praise Him for that, a believer can and must and will praise
Him for that. We're His sheep. There are goats
and there are sheep. God makes a distinction. We are. the sheep of His pasture. You
know, creation, being created by Him, it has its claims upon
us to attribute our existence to Him. But election, divine,
sovereign, saving election and redemption, they rise higher from those like us who are believers,
those that's peculiarly favored we must offer peculiar praise
above and beyond what natural man owes to God. Oh, how indebted
we are as recipients of God's grace, whereby we are set apart from the vastness of mankind,
from the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. We've been set
apart, snatched as brands from the burning, God set His love
upon us, chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world,
due to nothing that's in us, but by His own free and sovereign
will and grace and mercy. Cannot you praise Him for such
a great salvation. He reached down. He reached down
and snatched us out as brands from the burning and He set our
feet upon the rock, Christ Jesus. It is He that has done this,
not us. We cannot deliver ourselves.
And He did so because He chose to do it. The reason, the cause
is found only in Him. Oh, we must praise Him. There's
no praise due us. It's all due Him. Heartfelt,
joyful, glad praise for Him who has saved us. And there's so
much that can be said here about what God has done for His people
in Christ, and only His people know anything about it. The world
knows nothing about that. And that's sad. It breaks my
heart to think of it. But may those of us that are
renewed by God, by His Holy Spirit, and were fed out of the storehouse
of divine grace, may we serve Him with all our heart, with
all our soul, and all that lies within us, because we are the sheep of His
pasture, and we were not left to ourselves. and we're the people of His hand.
And then the writer goes on in verse four. Enter into His gates
with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful
unto Him and bless His name. And then let's look at verse
five. Oh, I love this verse. For the Lord is good. And for some reason this has
a special meaning to me. Having by God's grace seen Christ by faith and seen the
goodness of God displayed in Christ, His doing and dying on
my behalf. By having seen the Lord, I see
the absence of good in all around in this world. and especially
within me. Our Lord Himself said this, He
said, Why callest thou me good? Man said, Good Master. He said,
Why callest thou me good? There is none good but God. Our
Lord Himself said that. There is none good but God. There is none good but one, that
is God. The Apostle Paul said in Romans
7 verse 18, he said, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth
no good thing. You see, the Lord is good. And
He's something that no one else is. And He can glory in that. He gets glory. Because He is
good. And none else are good. Turn
over to Romans chapter 3 and let's read this together. This
is something we need to be settled on because the world doesn't
teach this or believe this and corrupts men's minds concerning
this. In verse 10 of chapter 3, as
it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There's emphasis there. There
is none that understandeth, and there is none that seeketh after
God. They are all going out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good. No, not one. Scripture says of
our Lord, He went about doing good. It says of us, there is
none that do good. There is none that do good. The
Lord is good. No one else is good. He alone
is good. Oh, how we need to thank Him
for showing us His goodness, showing us what good is, showing
us Himself. For it can't be seen anywhere
else. Can you imagine a world where there's no gospel, no truth of God, where the goodness
of God can be seen? As best I can tell, that's a
pretty close description of hell, where God is not. There's nothing
good in hell to enlighten the countenance, to encourage the
heart and the mind to be lifted up. Nowhere else can it be seen other
than in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's goodness. Goodness personified. There's goodness. And all that
is good derives its virtue from God. If it's good, it came from
God. Every good and perfect gift cometh
down from God. From the Father of lights with
whom is no variableness, no shadow of turning. And we know nothing of good and
goodness apart from Him. Oh my! What is good? What is goodness?
I ask that question. Well, the first thing I do if
I ask them, you know, what is the meaning of a word, I just
look up a definition. What does it mean? Words have
meaning. And they have definitions. How can it be defined? Well, we can only see good when
we see the Lord. We know that. We've established
that. Our Lord says, the Scripture
says the Lord is good exclusively. We can only see good when we
see the Lord, but the word good in the English language means
at least partly this, beneficial in its effect. Beneficial in
its effect. The scripture says our Lord went
about doing good, doing good for others. Beneficial, that
was beneficial and effectual in its benefit to others. All that He did affected a benefit.
for all He chose to do something for. And in light of this, let's turn
to a scripture in Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Look there in verse 11. Now this is Solomon. He said, I looked on all the
works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored
to do, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there
was no profit under the sun. And that's me and you, no profit. Look down in verse 18. I just
noticed this, I think yesterday. He said, Yeah, I hated all my
labor which I had taken unto the Son, because I should leave
it unto the man that shall be after me. Did you know that? And who knows whether he'll be
a wise man or a fool, but another man's going to enjoy the fruits
of my labor. Yet shall He have rule over all
my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself
wise under the sun." It's vanity. This is all vanity. We look on
things that can't be seen. The things of this life are temporal,
which can be seen. But our Lord, He went about doing good, and
it had a beneficial effect. You can't say that about us. It's all vanity and vexation
of spirit. All our labor and our doing and
our striving profits no one, not even ourselves. No profit,
no benefit. But the scripture says, Our Lord,
He came into the world to save sinners. And He came not for
His own benefit, but for the benefit of His sheep. He didn't give his life for himself,
but he gladly laid his life down for the good, for the benefit
of his sheep. And he accomplished what he set
out to accomplish. He saved his people. Look briefly
there in John 10. Gary was there just a minute
ago. Or James it was, I'm sorry. Back in the study. Getting there in verse 11, he
answered and said, a man that is called Jesus... I'm sorry,
I'm in the wrong chapter. Verse 11, chapter 10. I am the
good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. But he that is in hireling and
not the shepherd, not the good shepherd, who has owned the sheep
or not, he sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and fleeth.
and the wolf catches them and scatters the sheep. The hiring
fleeth because he's an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
I'm the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and I am known of mine,
and he cares for his sheep. And as the father knoweth me,
even so know I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
The good shepherd, the good shepherd, Other sheep I have, they're not
of this fold, and them also I must bring, and they shall hear my
voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. I will
bring my sheep." He's the good shepherd. There are shepherds, and then
there's the good shepherd, the great shepherd, our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. He laid down His life for the
sheep. And then to add greatness to His goodness, consider His
sheep. He did not lay down His life
for good folks or folks that could further His kingdom or
do anything that would add to God. But the Scripture says while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He died for the ungodly. He who knew no sin, perfect in
His person, He became sin, He was made sin, that His sheep
might be partakers or made the righteousness of God in Him. He died for us and He sought
us, though we never sought Him, though
we never desired Him, though we were not looking for salvation.
Yet He came and died for us, unsought and unasked for. And to add further greatness
to His goodness, think of His condescension. God over all,
beloved of the Father from all eternity, seated high in the
heavens with all power and majesty and beauty and honor and glory,
complete, perfect, Yet He took upon Himself the
form of a servant and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. And He said in Psalm 22, But
I am a worm and no man. He became a worm for the good
of His people. To save His people, He became
what we are. He said, I'm a worm. Can you
imagine God Almighty stooping so low to become a worm. Think what it would be for you
and I to become a worm. Slimy, disgusting, filthy creature. But what a condescension for
him. How much greater for him to condescend
from his majesty. Greater love hath no man than
this. No love greater, no greater good. The Lord is truly good. Oh my, the glory of God's love,
the glory of His goodness, and it's displayed brightly,
clearly, and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, our dear Savior.
He displays His goodness in His Son. And it's wonderful to get a glimpse
of true goodness and true love in the face of Jesus Christ.
And had our God never displayed it in Christ, we'd have never
seen it. and never known such a thing
existed. And there are men still in darkness, those goats, that
God has not revealed His Son to. They've never seen Christ
in His beauty. They've never seen the goodness
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. If it's ever revealed to them,
oh, they'll fall down in worshiping. So having tasted and seen by
God revealing His blessed gospel to us, the goodness of the Lord,
we begin to see, as I said earlier, the absence of all that's good
in the world and especially in ourselves. And it's as God begins to teach
us and show us who He is, who Christ is, This is what leads
us to the fountain of all goodness. It's the goodness of God that
leads us to repentance. It is as unclean and unrighteous
that we come to Him. Not with goodness in our hand
as a recommendation, because we have no goodness and there's
none good but God. But we come with the utter want
of goodness, the utter lack of goodness in ourselves. The psalmist
said in Psalm 27, 13, he said, I had fainted unless I believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. All
thank God for his goodness. And, you know, I can identify
with the psalmist here. It'd be a dreadful place. It'd
be hell if there was no gospel ever preached. No gracious influence
in some that are affected by it. No hope of any good becoming
of anything. But just a fearful looking for
of judgment and condemnation. That's hell. That's hell. Only the prospect of final total
ruin. All but thanks be to God. There
is a blessed gospel. There is a Savior. Thanks be to God and praise. For it says in Psalm 33 verse
5 that the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. You look
at the sky and the stars and all around us. Look at one another. Oh, God's good to us. He's good. And then we come and hear the
blessed gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And all
we see the goodness of God in that for sure. God saving sinners
by and through His Son. The blessed gospel. And sending
us a pastor that faithfully proclaims to us the truth of the gospel.
And like James says, tells us about Christ. who has done the
work. And then back in our text, again
in verse 5 of Psalm 100, the second phrase is this. We talked
about, for the Lord is good, and it says His mercy is everlasting. Boy, this just keeps getting
better and better, doesn't it? It really does. I love this.
I love this psalm. I do. His mercy is everlasting. Let's turn to a familiar scripture
in Exodus 33. I'm going to try to wind this
up. Exodus 33, beginning in verse
18. And Moses said in verse 18, he said, He said, I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. And he said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And
he said, thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man
see me and live. And the Lord said, behold, there's
a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall
come to pass while my glory passeth by that I will put thee in a
cliff to the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass
by. And I will take away my hand
and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. Show me your glory. I'll cause
all my goodness to pass before you. God's glory evidently lies
in His goodness. And the very glory of His goodness
lies in His sovereignty. In that He said, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. Oh, there's mercy. That's a sweet
word for guilty sinners. I will have mercy. And I'll have
it on whom I will have mercy. God's glory is in His goodness
and it's manifested in His bestowing mercy. Mercy is not mercy unless
it's bestowed, unless it's given. I'll cause all my goodness to
pass before you. And His mercy is everlasting.
It doesn't ebb and flow, it doesn't come and go. We don't have it
one day and not the next. God's mercy as He Himself has
no beginning and no end. He doesn't decide to give you
mercy one day. He showed us mercy in eternity
past by electing us and giving us to His Son in that covenant
between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit before time
ever was. It has no beginning and no end
and it doesn't depend on us in the least degree to keep it,
to earn it, to lose it, to gain it. It's free, it's full, it's
complete, it's eternal. It's everlasting and it's unconditional.
It's constant. Nothing can be added to it or
taken from it. It's complete. And we are complete
in Him. And He is always merciful. everlasting
mercy. He is always merciful. You will never come to Christ,
never does any sinner come to Christ and find Him void of pity,
void of mercy. He's plenteous in mercy. He's
rich in mercy. He's full of mercy. He delights
to show mercy. The Lord is merciful and gracious
when we're children, when we're small. He's gracious in midlife. He's gracious and merciful in
our old age. He's merciful still. Everlasting
mercy. Never quit coming to Him for
mercy. And He ever lives to make intercession
for us. That though we sin, we have an
advocate with the Father. Well, I expect nothing less from
our God. There's one more phrase here.
I just want to touch on that because I know I'm running too
long. His truth endureth to all generations. We touched on that
at the outset. His truth is unchanging. It doesn't
change with the times. The same Scripture Paul preached
is the same Scripture we preach, and the same Christ, the same
Gospel. May we praise and serve and joyfully so praise our great
God and Savior, serve Him with gladness, and come into His presence
with singing for all that He is and all that He's done for
us through Christ our Lord. And it's not always easy to do
that. I've lived long enough to know,
and I've been there, and I know many of you have too. But in
closing, I want to read a verse of Scripture in 2 Corinthians. Chapter 4. There's a word of
encouragement as we close the service. Let's begin reading
in verse 5. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. We're troubled on every side,
yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed.
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus'
sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our
mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us,
but life in you. We having the same spirit of
faith according as it is written, I believed and therefore have
I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak. Listen to this. Knowing that he which raised
up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall
present us with you for all things are for your sakes that the abundant
grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory
of God. For which cause we faint not
but though our outward man perish Yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. Why should we praise Him? Because
the Lord, He is God. It is He that has made us and
not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep
of His pasture. For the Lord is good. His mercy
is everlasting. And His truth endureth to all
generations. We have a blessed good hope in
Him. May God bless His word. Let's
stand together and be dismissed with a word of prayer. Oh, our kind and gracious, merciful
Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your word and for your
blessed son, whom your word speaks of and teaches us. Oh, help us
to honor him. Help us to with joyful hearts,
praise Him from our hearts. Help us to honor Him in our lives. May He speak peace to our hearts
as believers in this dying world. And may we be able
to tell men of Him whom to know is life eternal. Thank you for
your goodness, your grace, and your mercy that's everlasting.
Your blessed word that endures to all generations, never changing. We look to you alone to go with
us and keep us, keep us trusting, keep us believing, keep us coming. Keep teaching us through your
word, by your gospel. Save the lost among us, we pray.
Be with us again on Wednesday as we come together once again
to worship. In Christ's name we ask, amen.
You're dismissed.