Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. If you'd
like to follow along, I'm going to be in Psalms 92,
the 92nd Psalm. And I wanna read the first five
verses. Psalms 92, verse one. It is a
good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. and to sing praises
unto thy name, O Most High, to show forth thy lovingkindness
in the morning and thy faithfulness every night, upon an instrument
of ten strings, and upon the psaltery, and upon the harp with
a solemn sound. For thou, Lord, hast made me
glad through thy work. I will triumph in the works of
thy hands. Oh Lord, how great are thy works
and thy thoughts are very deep. I love that statement that this
psalm starts with. It's a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord. I believe that this psalmist
might be a master of understatement. It's a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord, and sing praises unto thy name. Now, I did a little
checking, because I do remember seeing this rather often, and
giving thanks is an overlying theme in the book of Psalms.
We are told 80 times in the Bible the words are used, give thanks
unto the Lord. 80 times, right? Well, 45 of
them are in the Psalms, over half. In 21 verses, it's written
in the Psalms. Matter of fact, we're told 40
times to sing praises unto the Lord. I'm beginning to sense a theme
here, you know? Why are we told so many times?
We forget, we forget. We need to be reminded. I don't
know about you, but I need repetition to get something settled in this
thing here, and then it'll slip away when I'm not looking. But
I need the repetition. We do forget we who are sinners
and saints need to be reminded. Give thanks unto the Lord. Sing
praises to his name. Because also, not only do we
forget, we are caught up, distracted, and bothered in our own circumstances. And some of them are very real,
and some of them are very bad, and I understand. But we ought
to always remember to give thanks unto the Lord, even for those
circumstances we don't like. And some days we just might be
lazy, and don't wanna do anything. Or is that just me? I don't believe
you, yeah. No, no. That's the kind of people
we are as believers. We need to be reminded. We need
to hear this over and over again. That song, Tell Me the Old, Old
Story. It's a good thing to give thanks
unto God and to sing praises unto his name and to be told
the gospel of Jesus Christ. So let's go on today and be reminded.
Where I'm gonna be starting at and what I wanna talk about,
my title, Paul, is glad through thy work. Glad through thy work. Verse four. For thou, Lord, hast
made me glad. Now I'm gonna tell you something
right there. That's giving thanks unto the
Lord. He has made me glad. This is praising the name of
the most high. Here it is, you, Lord, Yahweh,
Jehovah, supreme, self-existent one, above all, made me glad. Isn't that something? Isn't that something? The Lord,
and the word means this, literally, to brighten up. That's what it
means. To be cheerful, or best of all,
Rejoice, rejoice. Joy, joy in his name, joy in
giving thanks unto the Lord and sing praising his name. And verse
two says this, what? To show forth, to show forth. We're not giving thanks and singing
praises to get anything. We wanna show forth that he has
made us glad. I like that, I like that. We're
not to get, it's just show forth, what does it say? His loving
kindness, what? In the morning. And thy faithfulness
every night. Now that's something. You know
what that pretty much is? That's pretty much all day long.
And all night long. I like that. His kindness in
the morning and his faithfulness every night. The Lord is with
his people day and night. Day and night. All day, every
day. Oh, I'm gonna tell you something. And this actually is a statement
to tell us why we need to thank God, give thanks to God, and
to praise his name. Why? He's made his people glad. I like that. He's made his people
glad. So give thanks and praise in
word and song. And so now the psalmist tells
us how the Lord made me glad. He tells us through thy work. Now isn't that an amazing thing?
Through thy work. He didn't say through thy holiness.
Through thy love, Eva. Through thy righteousness, no.
The Lord hath made me glad through his work. Now that's something. You understand, because here's
the thing. True happiness, true joy, true rejoicing, true gladness
will never come from your works or mine. It comes from God's
works, God's works. I remember telling Earl one day,
we were sitting around just running our mouths, talking back and
forth, as we used to do sometimes, and I remember telling him, he
said, he quoted some preacher, I'm not gonna say his name, I
think it was Riesinger, but I'm not gonna say that. But anyway,
this fella said, I'm kind of right pleased with myself. And
Earl quoted that to me and I looked at Earl and I said, Earl, the
only thing I'm really pleased with myself about is what God's
done with me. In my flesh dwells no good thing.
I'm reminded of that daily. I try not to remind you people
of it, of my shortcomings. You can remind yourself of your
own shortcomings. but in my flesh and in your flesh
and in your flesh and in your flesh dwells no good thing right
now even as a saved, believing, regenerated, believing sinner. A saint of God, that's what that
description means. But I can be glad in his work.
I am glad in his work. That's one reason why I've decided
this, because I like this. I looked it up, I actually preached
on this. differently about eight years ago, 2014. And it just
hit me again, and I didn't know I'd done it. I'm searching my
records, and I have it on the computer. And it tells me, and
I said, well good, that's been long enough, I can do it again.
And this is a different sermon, but still. Here it is. It is through the Lord's work
that we joy, that we rejoice. God's work is sovereign and God's
work is supreme. And that makes me glad. That
makes me glad. It ought to make you glad too.
You understand? But now here's the thing. What
work? He didn't really go into it here.
So I picked up four of them. That's all I did. I just got
four. I had five, I cut one out. Because I didn't want to be here
too long. It's cold outside. And I don't want to get you going.
And anyhow, but here it is. The truth of it is, all of his
work makes me glad. The only thing is, I don't know
all of his work. I know what's in here. And I
only know some of what's in this book. But I'm gonna tell you
something, the part I do know, I like. Yeah, matter of fact,
some of it I even love. And it's his work, his will,
and his way that makes me glad. So I'm gonna give you four of
them. The first one I wanna talk about that makes me glad, for
thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work, is the work
of creation. Might as well start at the beginning. In the beginning, God. You understand, that makes me glad.
It wasn't in the beginning us, because we'd have messed it up.
is in the beginning God. The fact that God created this
world and everything good in it is his work. It's his work. And that makes me glad. That
makes me glad. Because here's the thing you'll
find out from reading this book. God creates with purpose. He always has a purpose. And
now here it is. You wanna know the purpose of
God? I'll tell ya. It's the purpose of his own will. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Oh my. The creator created according
to his good pleasure. As he was pleased. I like that,
as he was pleased, yeah. This includes man, believe it
or not. This includes man, because we
are his creation. We are his creation. And he created with purpose. But I gotta read you this. I was listening to Henry and
he quoted this the other day. Proverbs 16 verse four. The Lord hath made all things
for himself. Don't get ahead of me. For himself,
not for you. Not for you and not for me. He's
created all things for himself. But it didn't stop there. Solomon
was a very wise man. He wrote some of this stuff down. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. God has created everything for
a purpose. God creates with purpose. Oh,
it's not... Now, I'm not going into that
right now. Because I want you to understand,
Walter's headed there, not there already. The potter does have
power over the clay. To make one vessel under honor
and another vessel under dishonor from the same lump of clay. Now that makes me glad. But I'm
gonna tell you something, that makes other people mad. They
do. And they'll try and arrest it,
they'll get in there, because I mean, they'll say he makes
one vessel under honor and he makes another vessel that's common,
a common use vessel. Well, look at a Greek, I got
a computer, it'll do it for me. It says, That word dishonor,
the primary meaning is dishonor. Or, what is it? Disgrace. Disgrace, that's what that word
means. You understand, this is the Lord's
work, it's good, and it's right. Whether we understand it or not,
whether we like it or not. But I'm gonna tell you something,
and I think it's good. It makes me glad because here's
what I see when I read that. Without the Lord making some
vessels unto honor, there wouldn't have been any. That's the point the world misses.
They wanna focus on, he made some people into dishonor. No,
listen, it's the same lump. It's the same lump. We are no
different than anyone else. Believers are no different than
any other sinner, except that God has done something for us.
What? Wait a minute, that's his work.
That makes me glad. That's his work. Because I'm
gonna tell you something. If the Lord does it, it's right. It's right. Whether we know it
or not, for he has given me to know something. And I'm gonna
tell you this really deep, dark thought here of theology, if
you want. I have found out through reading the scripture and hearing
his gospel preached, now y'all brace yourselves, this is gonna
be deep, okay? I found out God knows what he's
doing. I don't. Sometimes I don't, sometimes
I do. Most times I don't. But you understand,
God always knows what he's doing. Now, I may not know what he's
doing, and you may not know what he's doing, but I know why he's
doing it. He pleased, he pleased to do
it. And one more thing, Walter already
covered this. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to that purpose he created them for. Purpose, his purpose. Because here's the thing, his
total work of creation makes me glad, makes me glad. And that includes his work for
us. Oh my, so the second work I wanna
talk about that makes me glad, And this is a good one. This
is the work of redemption. This is the work of redemption.
Because you understand, redemption was a work. And redemption, what? It's his work of redemption. What? The obtaining, the giving,
and the applying of it. It's all his work. He purposefully
and perfectly gave himself as the offering to God for our sins. And what's it say? When he made
that offering, he obtained eternal redemption for us, for us, for
believers, for his elect, for his children, for those that
the Father gave to him. He obtained it. He's got it. And he's applying it exactly
where he wants to. I'm gonna tell you something.
Redemption is done. Redemption is done. Oh, it's
just now some of us are finding out about it. There'll come a
day, if you're one of his, if you're one the Father gave to
him, you're gonna find out about the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Oh, I like that. Because here's
the thing, Jesus Christ paid the debt that I owed. You understand,
if I sing that song, Jesus paid it all, I mean it. I mean it,
because if he didn't pay it all, I'm damned. All the debt I owed,
oh, the debt of all his chosen given people, Jesus Christ paid
on Calvary. And he took that sacrifice and
offering to the Father, and the Father accepted it. And right
there and right then, he obtained eternal redemption for us. He's not obtaining it now. He
already obtained it. That happened 2,000 years ago.
You understand? Let's just make this plain. The
believer, those who know Christ, no longer owes any debt to God. That ought to make you glad.
It makes me glad. And you know what? That's his
work. That's his work. It's not my work. It's not my
work. Yes, we sin. And yes, Jesus Christ
has paid our ransom. That price is paid. That price
is paid. Paul write in Romans four, I
think it is, quoting from the Psalms, blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. I love that. You know what? That's a work
I can be glad in, Mac. That's a work I can be glad in.
Oh, I like that. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin because his work of redemption Makes
me glad. It does, it makes me glad. Now,
the third work. This is a good one, too. They're
all good. The work of grace in his chosen
people. I like that. The work of God,
Father, Son, and Spirit in his people. What is that? God's gracious work. Gracious
work. What, John, you don't have to
turn here, John 111. He came unto his own, his own
received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name, which were born. Born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. Oh, what's this? Being born of
God is a gift given to his people. In his people. In his people. At one time, we were all dead
spiritually. But being born of God is when
he says, comes upon you polluted in your own blood. And I said
unto thee, live. You know what happened? When
he said that, you lived. Why? Because it's his work. And
it's good, and it's right, and it's perfect. And we're none
of the above. But he is, he is. Oh, John 3.3,
Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto
thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. And that is being born from above. Born again, born from above. Born again is the work of the
Lord in his people. The Holy Spirit blows whether
it wishteth, wherever it wants to. You don't know where it came
from, you don't know where it's going, all you know is something
happened to you. And it may take you a little
while to figure that part out. Because we are that dense. And
we were that dead. But I'm gonna tell you something,
you'll notice something's different. And then, you can see the kingdom
of God. Might not understand much about
it, but you'll see it. Being born of God is a gift given
to his people. It's the work of the Lord. And
this work of God makes me glad. It makes me glad. And I'm gonna
tell you something, if this don't make you glad, there's a problem
with you. There's a problem with you. If
this doesn't make you glad, you don't have a problem with me,
you might have a problem with the scriptures, you might have
a problem with the truth, you definitely got a problem with
God if it doesn't make you happy that God, our Lord Jesus Christ,
if you hear his voice, you're gonna come out of the grave,
that death. You're gonna come out when he
speaks. Oh my. What is it? And here's another thing, the
work of grace in his people, in his chosen people, believing
on Jesus Christ is a work of the Lord. You know I got scripture
for this, right? You know I do. John 6, 29, Jesus
answered and said unto them, This is the work of God. That ye believe on him whom he
has sent. Now what did Jesus actually mean
by that? Does that mean that the work
we're supposed to do is to believe on God? Or it takes the work
of God that you believe in God? Well yes, the answer is correct. Both of them. They're both true.
Because here it is, whosoever believeth, this is first John
five and one, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. And everyone that loveth him
that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. Salvation
in the child of God is the work of the Lord. It's his salvation
and it's his work. Oh, I like that, I do. The Lord's
work of grace in man makes me glad. It does, it makes me glad. Okay. Now the fourth one. The work of grace in the completion
of our salvation. You know he's not done with us
yet. Thank goodness. He's not done with us yet. He's
promised us more. And one of the things he's promised
is the good shepherd has promised what? He will lose none of his
sheep. You understand? Jesus Christ
is the good shepherd. He called himself that. And he
keeps his people. Oh, that's good stuff. We are
kept, Peter wrote. We're kept by the power of God. I like that We're kept by the
power of God through faith Which is not of yourselves. It's a
gift of God folks just in case you weren't sure about that We
are kept by the power of God through faith Unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time oh I like that I do Not only does he save us The
Lord keeps us. Our Lord Jesus Christ keeps us
by his power, through faith in him that he gave us. This is
his work. The completion of our salvation
is his work. I was gonna read this, John six
and verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. Oh, I like that. For I came down
from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that
sent me, the Father. Oh, I like that. And this is
the Father's will. Lots of people like to talk about
what God's will is. Well, here's what Jesus Christ
said himself.