If you'd like to follow along,
I'm gonna be in Psalms 146, almost to the end of the Psalms. Psalms
number 146. Verse one. Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. While I live, will I praise the
Lord. I will sing praises unto my God
while I have any being. Put not your trust in princes,
nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath
goeth forth, he returneth to his earth. In that very day his
thoughts perish. Now this is gonna be my reference
here. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. And I'm just gonna stop right
there. Now, this is Easter. Just so you know, okay? So I
wanna give you a good Easter statement about the gospel of
Jesus Christ that you will probably not hear in most churches. All
right, the gospel is not an announcement that God has relaxed his justice
or lowered his standard of holiness. A.W. Pink wrote that. I like
that. That's not the gospel. I know
that's what's preached all around us and probably in cemeteries
this morning. but that's not the gospel. The
gospel, now this is me, the gospel is the announcement, the proclamation,
the preaching is that God himself is both just and justifier of
him that believeth in Jesus. The good news is declared from
ancient times. There is no God beside the Lord
a just God and the Savior It took the death of the Son of
God manifest in the flesh Jesus Christ to purchase the salvation
of his people The salvation of the Lord the one who knew no
sin, the one who had never sinned, and the one who took upon himself
all of the sins of his people. He paid the debt they owed, died
the death we should have died, and he purchased eternal redemption
for those that the father gave to him. And right now, he is calling
and gathering his people to himself. To himself. Oh, I like that. That's good news. And when he
calls them and he gathers them, they follow him. Now, let me make this statement. Sinners. You are all sinners. I'll even add a little to that.
We, I'll include myself because I belong there. We are all sinners. And here's one of my favorite
words, nevertheless. Nevertheless, what? Happy is
he that hath the God of Jacob. Happy. Now this word is used
45 times in what they call the books of wisdom, the Song of
Solomon, the Psalms and the Proverbs. 20 times it is used the word
happy, 25 times it is used as the word blessed. But it means
this, it means happy. It means blessed. Now I thought
about this. When I read this, and it kind
of struck me, I want to be happy. I've been miserable, and happy
is better. I've been down, I've been hurt,
physically and emotionally, and happy is much better than that.
Blessed is good. Blessed is good. Now every now
and then, I don't know about you folks, but every now and
then I'll get a statement from somebody, I've been in a store
or something, they're checking me out, and they'll look at you
and they'll say, have a blessed day. I usually answer, I always
do. Because I am blessed to know
Jesus Christ. I am blessed, here it is, I am
blessed to believe Jesus Christ. And I'm happy to believe Jesus
Christ. because you are blessed and happy if you are in Christ
Jesus. He is the God of Jacob. He is the God of Jacob. Now,
that's what Psalms 146 is proclaiming and teaching. And Jesus Christ
is the God. Praise ye the Lord, praise ye
the Lord, O my soul. While I live, I will praise the
Lord. I'll sing praises unto my God
while I have any being. And put not your trust in any
man. Happy is he that has the God
of Jacob. Happy is he, the God of Jacob. Now, Happy is he that has, or
hath in this case, the God of Jacob. The scripture is clear. I like to say that statement
because a lot of people don't quite understand it. The scripture's
always clear. It's man that's unclear. The
scripture's always clear. Or to put it another way, the
scripture's always right and man is always wrong. But here
it is, happy is he that has the God of Jacob. And I thought about
this, why did he say the God of Jacob? Why did he write that? Why did he write the God of Abraham?
The God of Joseph? The God of Isaac? Well, one reason
why I tell you is we know from the words of Christ that Jacob
is in heaven. Matthew 8 and verse 11 says this,
and I say unto you that many shall come from the east and
the west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in
the kingdom of heaven. You understand? And Jacob is
with his, you know, Abraham and Isaac is his dad and his grandpa. We believers, and I'm doing,
from the context, I'm not gonna go into it, from Matthew eight,
where it says many's gonna come from the east and the west, that's
Jew and Gentile. That's Jew and Gentile. It says
many are coming from the east and the west and we are going
to sit down. And the reference, the emphasis
of this is you're gonna sit at the table with them. with Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob at the feast of the Lord. Oh, I like that
idea, I do. Another one, Matthew 22 and 32
says, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead,
but of the living. Jacob is alive and in heaven. I am the God of Jacob, therefore,
Jacob lives. Jacob lives, Abraham lives, Isaac
lives, and here's the kicker. If you're in Christ, you live
and always shall. Oh, every believer has the God
of Jacob. I like that. Happy is he that has the God
of Jacob? Jacob was actually given another
name The psalmist doesn't write here Happy is he that has the
God of Israel? Although it's the same guy It's
the same person Jacob and Israel are the same person it is true
that the God of Jacob and the God of Israel are Exactly the
same, but I'm gonna tell you something. There's just to me.
There's a little extra meaning in using this title the God of
Jacob Just as Paul quotes from Malachi Romans 9 13 as it is
written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated And I'm not
gonna be like that one preacher I heard saying, well, God doesn't
hate anybody, so don't worry about that. That's what the scripture
says. That's what the Apostle Paul
wrote. And that's what it means. Anyhow, Israel have I loved,
Esau have I hated, that's not what it says. Although that's
exactly true. That's exactly true. It's not
written that way, and it's not, and here's the thing, it's not
written that way under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He wrote,
Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. And he wrote, happy
is he that has the God of Jacob. Jacob. Now, Jacob was elect,
chosen of God before the world began, and that election is of
grace. Jacob was chosen, elect, not
of works, but of him that calleth, but of God. Now Israel, the word
Israel means prince with God. That was the name God gave to
Jacob after he wrestled with him. So you'll be known now as
Israel, prince with God. But the name Jacob means Supplanter. Usurper. Heel catcher, I think
is the literal thing. Because when he was born, he
had a hold of Esau's heel. Oh. Think about it. Think about it,
just for just a minute. Happy is he that has the God
of the supplanter. for his help. Folks, I need the God of the
supplanter. I need the God of the usurper. Remember, there's a couple places
you can read the scripture. Thou worm, Jacob. That's what
he called him. I need the God of the worm, Jacob.
I need the God of the world for my help, for my help. And so do you, whether you know
it or not. This is the way it is. I understand. I need the just God and the Savior. I need the one, you need the
one, who is both just and justifier of him that believeth in Jesus
Christ. We need the God of the supplanter,
the one who came to save sinners. We need the one who died for
the ungodly. You understand? We need the one
who was raised for the justification of the supplanter, and the usurper,
and the ungodly, and the sinner. And if he is our help, if we
know him, we are happy, happy. Oh my, we are blessed. You understand,
here's the thing. I don't know much about a prince
with God, or being a prince with God, but now I know a little
bit about being a supplanter. You understand? This is the thing
people don't understand. When you're preaching the gospel,
you're preaching to sinners. You're preaching to sinners.
Only the saints will hear. but you're preaching to sinners.
Because here's the thing, what the world doesn't realize, every
saint is a sinner. Now every sinner is not a saint. But every saint is a sinner,
is a supplanter, is a usurper. And you understand, that's where
we were, that's where we are. And this is who we need. We need
the God of Jacob. We need the God of Jacob. Oh,
I like that. We need him. I do know that John writes in
Revelation 1 and 6 that Jesus Christ making us kings and priests,
what? Unto God his father. But I still
know more about being a supplanter than I do about that. I know more about being a sinner
than I do about being a saint. And that's just the honest truth
of it. Here's the thing. We need the
Lord who saves sinners. The one who saves supplanters.
The one who saves usurpers. Because he has shown us We are
sinners. You understand, we want the physician
because we know we're sick. The well don't want a physician
because they think they're not sick. Here's the thing about election.
I want to be chosen before the foundation of the world, I understand.
But I want that. You know why? Because Jesus Christ
said, I would not choose him. He told his disciples that. He
said, you didn't choose me. I chose you. And if he doesn't choose you,
you're not gonna know you're a supplanter. You're not gonna
call upon the God of Jacob. You're not gonna call upon the
Lord Jesus Christ. I want the God of Jacob, and
what does it say? For his help. For his help. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help. This is extremely and totally
personal. Now he is all of our help. He
is the help of every believer, but here it is. I can be happy
because he's my help. You can be happy because he's
your help. The God of Jacob, the God of
the usurper is our help. Oh, I like that. Because we need
his help every day. We need his help every day. That's
like we're celebrating the resurrection of Christ. You're supposed to
think about the resurrection of Christ every day. You understand? It's not just a one time a year
thing. When you dress up, now I know I'm wearing a pink shirt,
but that's just because it was the one in my closet. Okay, next
week I'll wear a different color shirt. But here's the thing,
you're not here to dress up one time a year and celebrate Jesus. No, if Jesus Christ isn't real
to you every day, if he's not your help every day, you don't
know Christ. You don't know Christ. We need
his help every day and we want his help every day. And here's
the thing, we must have his help every day. His guidance, his
strength, his word, his faith, his assurance, his everlasting
life every day, every day. We need, and here's the thing,
We have, believers have, the saints have his help every day. The blessings of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is our great high priest,
you understand? He carries us every day in his
heart and upon his shoulders. He's our great high priest, every
day. He keeps us by the power of God
through faith every day. Every day. And Jesus Christ leads
his sheep and they follow him and they walk by his help. By his help. We live and we move
and we have our being in him by his help. He is our help. because without his help, we're
the chaff. The wind comes along and it just
goes, and it's gone. It blows away without him. What does it say next? Whose
hope is in the Lord his God. Believers, we hope in the God
of Jacob. And, The God of Jacob is our
hope. You understand, our life is a
gift from him. Our love for him is because he
first loved us. Anything good the believer has,
the saint has, the believing sinner has, comes from him. It doesn't come from us. We still have nothing good in
and of ourselves but in him we have all Blessings in heavenly
places and I'm gonna tell you and right now here on earth We
are blessed by the Lord Was it say our life is a gift from him
and our love for him is because he first loved us and Psalms
130 in verse seven says this. Let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is mercy. And with him is, I love this,
plenteous redemption. Oh, I like that. Plenteous redemption. more redemption than you even
know about. His redemption for us is so glorious, we just know
the bare bones. And we only know that because
he taught it to us. Hope in the Lord, there is mercy
in the God of Jacob. Hope in the God of the supplanter. Because with him, there is plenteous
redemption. And what does it say? Our hope
is in the Lord his God. Again, this is personal. It is
intimate. It is between God and you, and
you, and you, and you, and me. I can't help you get saved. All
I can do is preach the righteousness of Christ. the truth of Jesus
Christ, that he did die for his people, he was buried for his
people, he resurrected, what? To reconcile us to God. Oh my. And he ever liveth to make intercession
for the usurpers, the supplanters, the sinners that the Father gave
him. Understand everything good comes
from the God of Jacob He is our hope all life comes
from him He is the light and without Jesus
Christ, there's only darkness And we know men love darkness
rather than light Instead of the light men love darkness,
but he is the light he is the way the truth and the life If you are laboring and heavy-laden
With being a supplanter or being a user being a sinner Come to
him He'll give you rest He's the God of Jacob He's the God
of Isaac and Abraham, and he's the God of Jacob. Still this day, he is. Oh, I like that. If you know
you're a sinner, come to Jesus Christ. You understand, he says, I am
the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. What'd he say also? Moses wrote of me. He also said,
Abraham saw my day and was glad, was happy. Oh, I like that, happy
is he that hath the God of Jacob. Oh my, whose hope is in the Lord
his God. Here's a couple of verses of
a song. but where the Lord of grace and power has blessed the
happy field, how plenteous is the golden store the deep-wrought
furrows yield. Father of mercies, we have need
of thy preparing grace. Let the same hand that gives
me seed provide a fruitful place. I like that, I like that. Happy
is he that hath the God of Jacob for his hope, for his help, for
his life, for his love, for his all. Because the God of Jacob
provides everything for his people. and that's what we need, everything
from him. Our Heavenly Father, thank you,
Lord, for this time and this place. Thank you for your Son,
who did live on this earth, perfect, holy, wonderful, glorious life,
and we as men were too dull to see the truth of God manifest
in the flesh, Emmanuel, God with us, while he was here. Lord,
help us to see him now. Help us to believe him now. He
died, he was buried, and he rose again from the grave and ascended
unto you, and he ever liveth to make intercession for those
that you have given him. Be with Paul and Walter as they
come to preach your gospel. Help us to understand it, to
lay hold of it, and to be happy in you. In Christ's name we pray,
amen.