If you'd like to follow along,
I'm gonna be in the 33rd Psalm. Psalm 33. And I'm gonna begin reading in
verse eight. Psalm 33, verse eight. Let all
the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord bringeth the counsel
of the heathen to naught. He maketh the devices of the
people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth
forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Blessed,
blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom
he hath chosen for his own inheritance. I'm gonna just stop right there. I heard a saying this week, and
it really kind of struck me. And the saying is this, for those
who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not
understand, no explanation will suffice. That's pretty good,
isn't it? I did, I like that. Now, let
me tell you something, I looked it up, just wanted to see who
said it, because I knew the guy who I'd heard it from didn't
make it up, but you know. Well, if you Google search this
thing online, it comes up with the fact that some guy whose
name I can't pronounce said it. But then I looked even further,
and it also said, and I'm sure this was before this other fella,
because he was much younger, Jerry Lewis said that. I have
no idea why. I don't know what his application
was. But I do agree with the sentiment of this statement.
However, I searched a little farther and I found out that
Jerry Lewis borrowed this saying from Thomas Aquinas. Now he paraphrased it and changed
it a little bit because this is what Thomas Aquinas said. To one who has faith, no explanation
is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation
is possible. And that's the truth. That's
the truth. I like that. I remember years
ago when Henry Mahan says, you want me to explain that? He says,
I'm not in the explaining business. This is what he means. We are
not here to explain. We're here to preach. We're here
to preach and we're here to proclaim the word of God, the word of
the Lord. Because here it is, if you believe,
if you've been given faith, the faith of Jesus Christ, you'll
believe his word. You may not understand it all.
You won't understand it all. I can pretty much guarantee you
that. But you'll believe it because you believe him. And here's the
other part. Those who do not have faith will
not believe his word. They'll flat out deny it, they'll
twist it, they'll rest it to their own destruction. That's
what the scripture says. The question is this. Will you
hear his word? Will you believe his word? So
here's what the Lord has said. This is in verse 12 where I'm
gonna be preaching. Blessed is the nation whose God
is the Lord and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance."
All right. Blessed is the nation is where
I'm going to start. Let me get this out of the way
before we go any further. I am not going to preach about
the USA. I am not going to preach about
America. Because I will not tell you that America is a Christian
nation. I will not tell you that America
has ever been a Christian nation. Because it hasn't. And that's
not what this scripture is referring to. Now I know some people like
to think that. That at least America was a Christian
nation. No. No it wasn't. And no it's
not. But it does say here, blessed
is the nation whose God is the Lord. That's what this song is
about. But I had to look at this word
because I wanted to know. And here's the thing. This Hebrew
word translated nation here. You wanna know what it means?
And this amazed me. It means foreign. in a Jewish song, written by
a Jew, and right here with the Jew, because when you get to
where it says, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord
and the people, the people are Jewish. The nation is a foreign people. And they're in the same boat. In the Old Testament, they're
in the same boat. Now isn't that amazing? You understand,
you will not find the word Gentiles in the book of Psalms. It doesn't
say the word Gentiles. Now in the last half of Isaiah,
you'll find it all over the place. And in him, the Gentiles will
trust. But I'm gonna tell you that, that's what he's saying
here in this book of Psalms. This is talking about Gentiles. This
is talking about foreign people. Blessed is the nation. It's a
group of people. It's not a political boundary.
It's never been a political boundary. Even when it was Israel and Judah.
God has his people out of every tribe and kindred under the earth. And nation. Oh yeah. Yeah, this is a Jewish psalm
which is referring to Gentiles with the Jews. And understand
this, this nation, the people of God, has always been, is now,
and ever shall be, at one time, few in number. Few in number. Now, let's be clear. The Lord
has always had his people. From the beginning. But they've
always been a few people. You can look through the scriptures,
I'll just give you a couple here. Noah and his family. That was
it. At one time, that was it. Noah and his family, out of the
whole world. Then when Elijah was running for his life, and
said, Lord, they seek to kill me, I'm the only one left, and
God told him no. God told him, no, I have 7,000
who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Reserved. Preserved. There's always been few in number,
but blessed is the nation. Blessed is the nation. Oh, I
like that, I do. What did Christ himself tell
us? There are few whose God is the Lord. There are few whose
God is the Lord. You don't have to turn there,
but it's in Matthew chapter seven, verses 13 and 14, say this. Enter
ye in at the straight gate. For wide, wide is the gate, and
broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. And wait a minute,
here it is. And many there be which go in
thereat. You wanna know where the many
are? They're not in the narrow way. They're not going through
the straight gate. Because he continues, because
straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto
life. And few there be that find it. Understand, broad is that way
that leads to destruction. And many go that way. Nothing
is any different now than when he said this 2,000 years ago.
There's not a bit of difference. And there's not a bit of difference
in this part either. Straight is the gate and narrow is the
way. That leads to life, life. And there are few, few there
be that find it. Then the Lord of glory said this,
right after he said that, this is verse 15 of Matthew 7. Beware false prophets, beware
false prophets. What have we got all around us
right now today? I'm gonna tell you, false prophets.
If you say anything different than this, it's false prophets. Why? Which come to you in sheep's
clothing. Oh yeah, they'll pretend. Don't
be amazed when Satan's ministers appear as ministers of light.
Why, he was an angel of light. And you understand, Satan's not
worried about dealing with the darkness, because the darkness
is dark. He doesn't go to the beer joints
and the pool halls. He doesn't need to. Satan does
his worst work, his best work from his point of view, his worst
work from our point of view, in churches. In churches. Beware of false prophets, which
come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves. What is it? They want to eat
the sheep. They wanna fleece the sheep.
They wanna live off of the sheep. What is it? Blessed are those
whose Elohim is Yahweh, whose God is the Lord, and here's the
other part, and watch out for those who are not. Watch out,
watch out, because here it is. Blessed is the people whom he
hath, I love this, Chosen. Chosen. Now, I'm gonna admit
to it. I like being chosen. You understand? One of the most humiliating things
in your life when you're a kid is not being chosen to play on
the softball team. Not being chosen to play basketball.
That's humiliating. But sometimes it's well deserved.
I can't help it, I'll be honest. Sometimes it's well deserved.
But this is what we're talking about here. That was on merit,
on my ability to not play softball or baseball or basketball. No,
this is God's choice here. This is God's choice here. Because
here it is, it's amazing to see in the scriptures how many times
it says God has chosen his people. It's everywhere. What is it? Well, I'm just gonna give you
three here in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 7 and 6. For thou
art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. Why? The Lord thy God
hath chosen thee to be, not because you were, to be a special people,
and here's the glorious part, unto himself. Unto himself, above
all people, that are upon the face of the earth. And then in
Deuteronomy 14 verse two he says almost exactly the same thing.
For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. What? Yahweh thy Elohim. And the Lord hath chosen you,
chosen thee to be a peculiar people, and here it is again,
unto himself. Unto himself. You are not a chosen
people unto the world. but you're a chosen people unto
God. Oh, that's even much better. Above all the nations that are
upon the earth. And Peter let us know about what
God said in those verses in Deuteronomy, because Peter wrote this speaking
to believers in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9 in the New Testament.
But ye are a chosen generation. a royal priesthood, and holy
nation. There's the nation right there.
A peculiar people that, there's a purpose for us being a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a peculiar
people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness. into his marvelous light. Oh, I like that, I do. God chose
to call out his people. And God chose the people he chose
to call out. Out of darkness, and not just
into light, into his marvelous light. his holy light, his holy
son, who is the light. Oh, that's good stuff there. You understand, we are told that
our God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever he hath
pleased. You know what that means? He
has done whatsoever he hath chosen to do. Oh, yeah. God said to Moses, I'll be gracious
to whom I'll be gracious. And I'll show mercy to whom I
will show mercy. Understand, God chooses his people. God has chosen his people, let's
put it that way. God's choice comes from God's
will. and he hath chosen us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Oh my goodness. And he shows
mercy to whom he will show mercy. And I'll put on this at the end,
when he will show that mercy. When God separated Paul from
his mother's womb and brought him forth, he was a Pharisee
for a good while. He was on the road to Damascus
before God chose to reveal himself to him. And when Paul was on
the road to Damascus sitting in the dust, and the guy said,
Lord, Lord, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And Saul of Tarsus had to look
at him and said, Lord, who are you? but it separated him from his
mother's womb and called him by his grace right here. And
he had to say, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. The Lord had
chosen Paul, Saul of Tarsus, and called him Paul. And then this last point here,
specifically, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord
and the people whom he hath chosen, what? For his own inheritance. You understand, think about this. We have a bunch of laws in this
country that deal with inheritance. Matter of fact, as far as I know,
about every country has inheritance laws. what a person can do or
not do. But according to these laws,
I can leave my money, such as it is, all right, to anybody
I choose. It's up to me. I can leave it
all to one person and nothing to another, or I can leave part
of it here and part of it here and part of it here. You can
actually, and this has been done in wills, you can leave it to
a home for stray cats. You can leave it to your cats
or dogs. That has been done. See, understand,
it's my inheritance. I can give it out however I want.
Why won't people let God do that? Why won't they? I can tell you
why. I can tell you exactly why. Without
faith, no explanation will suffice. That's right. Without faith,
there's no understanding, that you understand. This is God's
inheritance. It's not my inheritance, it's
not your inheritance, it's God's inheritance, and he can give
it to whomsoever he chooses. And he is giving it to whomsoever
he chooses, whether you know it or not, whether I know it
or not, whether anybody likes it or not. God does it, what's
it say? It's forever. It's forever. It's his inheritance, his own
inheritance. And here's the thing though,
truly blessed are the people who do understand. Oh, I like
that. Truly blessed are the people
who do understand because truly blessed are his chosen. this nation whose God is the
Lord, and the people whom he hath chosen. They are the ones
that are truly blessed. Yahweh Elohim has chosen his
people for his inheritance. And if you got a problem with
that, you're gonna have to take it up with him, because I'm not
gonna argue about it. And I'm not gonna explain it, but I will
proclaim it. I will preach it. You understand,
he chose to lift up the poor from the dunghill, or the dust,
excuse me. And he chose to lift the beggar
off of the dunghill. And then he chose to sit them
both, the poor and the beggar, with princess. It's his choice, it's his work,
and it's his inheritance to say who gets it. Oh, he chose us
sinners from before the foundation of the world. He chose his people
in Christ Jesus to be holy and without blame before him in love. Oh, because here's the thing. Believers, this what, blessed
is this nation and the people whom he hath chosen, these people
are heirs of God. and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. It's his inheritance. And you
know what? He's given it to his chosen. Ah, I like that, I do. Because
here's the thing. Believers are going to sit and
to eat at his table. Believers are going to have the
robe of righteousness, which is Christ Jesus. He is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
and you know what that means. Believers have wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption in Christ Jesus. Oh, I like his
inheritance. I do. I like his inheritance,
because here it is. What is it? This blessed nation,
the people whose God is the Lord, are predestinated to be conformed
to the image of his son. Oh my, is that not a good inheritance? Oh. Oh. Believers are going to see him
as he is. Not how anybody thinks he is,
as he really is. Now that's an inheritance. Matter of fact, one day, this
earth is going to pass away and melt with a fervent heat. I know
a lot of people don't believe that. That's your problem. It's in the book. And it says
what it means and it means what it says. And there is going to
be a new heaven and a new earth, what is it? Wherein dwells righteousness. and I wish I could lay hold of
that right now. Because I don't have any idea
how good that's gonna be. I'm sure it's gonna be good,
but I got no idea how good that's gonna be because I, you know,
Walter and I, I mentioned it this morning, in my flesh still
dwelleth no good thing. And I'll use part of what I told
you, Walter. In my flesh, I'm still an idiot. But thank God he didn't leave
me in my flesh. Thank God he didn't leave me in my flesh.
Because here it is, with man, this is impossible. This is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. The Lord God has a people. And the Lord God has always had
a people, and the Lord God always will have a people. And his people
are those whom he has chosen. The father gave this people to
his son before the foundation of the world. They are chosen
in Christ and given to Christ. And 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ
redeemed them. He performed the redemption.
Understand, redemption is not anything we do. We don't even
obtain it, he obtained it. He obtained eternal redemption,
who? For us. For us. And he did this how many times?
Once. Once? Once. You understand? Once is enough when God does
it. Once is more than enough when God does it. Because it's
forever. Oh, I like that. He chose us
and redeemed us, and He reconciled us to the Father. And He, for
whom is all things, and by whom are all things, He is right now
bringing many sons to glory. And you know who they are? They
are the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance. Ah, I like that. God's people,
God's blessed nation, whose God is the Lord, have an inheritance
with Christ Jesus. Verse 18, here in Psalm 33. Behold, the eye of the Lord is
upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy. He watches over us. Behold, the
eye of the Lord is upon them. Not looking for him, he already
knows where you are. He's watching, he's watching. Oh, I like that. Verse 18, he watches us, and
verse 19, it says he keeps us. To deliver their soul from death,
and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the Lord,
he is our help and our shield. And here, for our heart, verse
21, for our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted
in his holy name. And here's why you trusted, because
you're chosen and he calls you out to him and he gives you faith. He gives you life, and then he
gives you faith. And you believe his word, and
his word is full of this. He, our hearts shall rejoice
at him. Behold, the eye of the Lord is
upon them to deliver their soul from death. Ah, man. We sing a song. There's a couple
of verses in it. Deep and unfathomable minds of
never failing skill. Never failing skill. He treasures
up his bright designs and works his sovereign will. The last verse is this. Blind
unbelief is sure to err. And scan his works in vain. God
is his own interpreter. and he will make it plain. And
here's the thing, he don't make it plain, you're not gonna see
it. And without faith, it's impossible
to please God. And without faith, no explanation
is necessary. No explanation is sufficient
without faith. With faith, his faith, he has
given faith, John Gill put it this way. This
nation is the chosen generation, the holy nation, the peculiar
people, both among Jews and Gentiles, and the Lord is the God of these. That's what I like. Not only
is the God of nature and providence, but as the God of all grace.
And that's exactly right. God keeps us. God watches us, God saves us. Why? Blessed is the nation whose
God is the Lord and the people whom he hath chosen for his own
inheritance. Oh, wow. This God is our guide unto death. in our guide into eternity. And is our life. His son gave his life, and his
son gave us life. His life. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for this time and this place. Thank you, Lord, that we may
come and gather and try to preach your word and try to hear your
word and learn of you, what you have done for us and to us, and
everything that you have given us in your Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ. For every good and perfect gift
cometh down from you, from the Father of lights. And you have,
thank God, brought us out of darkness and into your marvelous
light. Help us, Lord, to understand
we don't deserve it, we didn't earn it, and yet you gave him,
your son, to be our Lord. In whose name we pray, amen.