Psalm 97. I'll begin reading here in verse
six. It says, the heavens declare
His righteousness and all the people see His glory. Confounded
be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves
of idols. Worship Him, all ye gods. Zion
heard and was glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of
thy judgment, O Lord. For thou, Lord, art high above
all the earth. Thou art exalted far above all
gods. Ye that love the Lord hate evil.
He preserveth the souls of his saints. He delivereth them out
of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous,
and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord,
ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. Now, the psalmist began here
in this psalm, as we looked at last week, that the Lord reigneth. And that is the place of our
greatest delight, is to consider that the Lord reigneth. He is
not hoping to do something. Unfortunately, we live in a time
and age when the vast majority of those that call themselves
Christians look at the Lord as though He was somebody trying
to do something. But when we look in the Scripture,
we realize that The Lord doesn't try to do anything. He does according
to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. He is in no wise hindered in anything that is created. And everything that we can see
and even many things that we cannot see are nonetheless created
by the hand of Him who created all things for a purpose which
belongs to Him. Now, I don't know the purpose
of God in all things. I know what His overall purpose
is, because He's revealed that to us, that He would bring glory
to His name in the giving of His Son as a Redeemer for His
people. That is the purpose of God, the
purpose for which the world was created. And it is that wherein
we rejoice as we consider that the Lord reigneth. He has not
in any wise failed in anything that He has undertaken to accomplish. And so we do come this morning
with a delight in considering that. Now all of those things
that the Lord has done has not at all times made men happy. And you know today I believe
that the biggest thing that people are looking for as they come
together in places that they call coming together to worship
is to be happy. They just want to be happy. And
most of that, there's plenty of preachers out there that just,
that's their goal is to make folks happy. Now I want you to
be happy, but That's not our goal here today, not be happy,
but it is to recognize who it is that is the author of all
blessedness or happiness. There's only one place that that
blessedness, that happiness can be found for the sons of God,
and that is in Jesus Christ. Because all of the things that
we come in contact with in this world are just passing away.
Now, we've spent time in these past few days with our family
and friends, and it's been an enjoyable thing. But all of those
things pale in comparison to the blessedness that we have
in Jesus Christ. The Lord said that He came to
set fathers against sons and brother against brother. I mean,
that's the way the Lord works in that He calls His people out. and you can't anymore call somebody
that you love with all your heart to delight in the things of God,
then you can come back from where you've never been. You cannot
do that, even though you desire for your loved ones to embrace
the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. I mean, that is our desire and
our prayer. But we understand that the Lord
bringeth. And as Job said, though he slay
me, yet will I trust in him. The Lord's will is good. That's why the Lord Jesus prayed,
Father, not my will, but thine. He said that we are to pray thy
will be done in the earth as it is in heaven, that is, as
it is already decreed in heaven. That is our prayer. Lord, make
me to be reconciled unto thy will, not that I would get my
will done. I was taught all my life growing
up that we prayed in order to get God to change his will to
line up with ours. That's totally backwards. The
whole purpose of prayer is to cause us to become in uniformity
with His will. Thy will be done. And we bow
down and worship Him. And surely He does indeed give
us the desires of our heart because His will shall be done. And so
that's what the psalmist begins, the Lord reigneth, let the earth
rejoice. The heavens declare his righteousness
and all the people see his glory. Now we've talked about this in
time past, but there is no man on the face of the earth that
can make any excuse for not falling down and worshiping God, just
in a natural sense, as he looks around him and as he sees the
glory of God stretched across the earth. Now, he will not see
it because he does not want to see it. You see, a man, as David
said, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. What
he's really saying is, not that he doesn't believe there's some
kind of a God out there, but that there is no God for me.
I will not fall down and worship the true God. Now, men worship
all sorts of gods, and of course, the psalmist goes on to talk
about that here. I mean, it's not unusual for
there to be many gods. As every culture on earth has
their own God. I mean, the United States has
their own God. We call ourselves a Christian
nation. And thankfully, by the grace
of God, many of the principles upon which our nation was founded
do have their basis in the things of God. But we're not a Christian
nation because a nation can't be a Christian. Just can't be. You know, hopefully that the
people that are in a nation may follow the way of God and they
would be Christians in a nation, but the nation's not Christian.
Can't be. And so it is kind of a foolish
thing. And in many ways, it is a national
God done to many because many rely upon it. And they say, well,
we're the chosen people of God in earth. I mean, God's on our
side. Do you ever heard anybody say
that? I mean, all the politicians believe that God's on their side,
don't they? I mean, even the best of them.
And the worst, they've done many efforts, the best and the worst.
They all believe God's on their side. Every nation that's ever
went to war believed God was on their side. Do they not? I
mean, that's just the way that men think. But that is the natural
thinking of man, making God like themselves. Worshipping and serving
the creature more than the creator. The heavens declare His righteousness,
His glory, and all the people see His glory, can't deny it. Confounded be all they, however,
having seen that, how confounded be all they that serve graven
images, that is, those things that they have made with their
own hand, their ideas, the concepts that they've come up with, that
this is the proper way. We're going to design something
that suits us, that boasts themselves of idols. Worship Him, all ye
gods. The Lord commands all the gods
of the earth to worship Him, and they shall. All the gods. We see this foretold and manifested
when the Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant into the
temple of Dagon. And they went in there, and old
Dagon, he's down on his face. And they stood him back up. How
foolish was that? And when he came back, then he
wasn't nothing but a stump. His arms was broke off and he
was just a cripple. And such is the way of the gods
of men. They shall worship the Lord. Worship him, all ye gods. Zion
heard and was glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of
thy judgments. Oh, Lord. Zion heard. Now, when you see Zion in the
scripture, primarily, it's speaking about the kingdom of God. Now, Zion, of course, was the
stronghold of David in Jerusalem. And it was that place which the
Lord used as an illustration of that people that he has chosen
out of the world. that belonged to him, Zion, the
overall kingdom of God. And then it says, and the daughters
of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments. That is not only
in the broader sense of all of Zion, but wherever God's people
are gathered together, the daughters of Zion. See, everybody couldn't
be in David's stronghold, but there were people who served
David the king, who nonetheless, in other places, not all in Zion,
that desired to bring glory to his name. And so God's people,
as he has them scattered in the earth in every kindred, tribe,
and tongue, they rejoice as though they were in Zion itself. Now Zion, of course, has many
connotations. It has the heavenly Jerusalem
which cometh down. Now we don't believe that there
is a city, a literal city in the sense that you can go over
there into Israel today and you can go into the city of Jerusalem.
That's not the Jerusalem of God. The Lord doesn't have real estate.
He's not in the real estate business. He said my kingdom is not of
this world. but the Lord dwelleth with those
that are of a contrite heart and a broken spirit. And that's
the place of the Lord dwelling. He said he inhabited the eternity
and with him that's a broken heart and contrite spirit. And
the Lord does dwell with his people. And that place where
he dwells with his people is in Zion. And it is out of Zion
that we rejoice. Now we are in the present time,
though we are the inhabitants of Zion, we've not yet had, by
the grace of God, been brought into that place where we shall
be. Now, you know, somebody has described
the Christian religion as a pie in the sky, by and by. And that's
kind of a poor illustration of it because the blessings of God
are presently enjoyed and shall be more greatly enjoyed in that
time to come. So that we desire something that
we don't have, but yet what we have is what we desire. Now,
if you can make sense of that, that's the way the Lord blesses
his people. He gives us, I believe it was
Ralph Barnard, he said, there's a lot of heaven on the road to
heaven. See, there's a blessing of God that comes upon the people
of God that we don't have to wait for. But yet we do long
for that which is to come. Zion heard and was glad the daughters
of Jerusalem rejoiced because of thy judgments, O Lord. Now
that is, I believe, A manifestation of the grace of God when a man
can rejoice in the judgment of God, even as we mentioned Job
there a moment ago. He said, Lord, if the Lord slays
me, if the Lord kills me, I shall yet praise Him. I mean, you know,
many people, they want to serve the Lord because of what they're
going to get out of it. See, they say, well, you know,
we're gonna have a great reward one day in heaven, so we're gonna
tow the line, and we're gonna get there, and the Lord's gonna
be happy with us, and He's just gonna give us all kinds of stuff,
and we're gonna be happy then because we got all this stuff.
But the sons of God don't care anything about all the stuff.
We just want to see Him. See, that's the blessing of God
to His people, is that He would dwell in our midst and we would
dwell with Him. He said, I'm going to prepare
a place for you, that where I am, there ye may be also. And we have that promise. But
at the same time, having that promise, there is within the
heart of God's people, even if the Lord should cast us off,
Where else are we going to go? What would we say? Peter said
it. The Lord said, as many of his disciples departed from him
and walked no more with him and listened to what he had to say,
he said, well, will you also go away? And Peter said, Lord,
to whom shall we go? I mean, that's the words of eternal
life. I mean, you see, all of our eggs
are put in one basket. We don't have any other hope.
We don't have any other expectation but that which is found in Christ.
But we rejoice in his judgment. Now, you know, we rejoice in
the mercy of God. And the mercy of God is that
wherein the salvation of God has been visited upon us. But
make no mistake about it, it is because of the judgment of
God that we have a basis to hope. Because we believe in the justice
of God. You see, if we didn't believe
in the justice of God, then we would not have any confidence
that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Because He would be both just
and the justifier of them which believe in Christ. He is that
one who is just in his dealings with men. Payment, as a top lady,
I believe it was, said, payment God cannot twice demand, first
at my bleeding surety's hand, and then again at mine. So we
rejoice in the judgment of God, because that what he said, he
will do. And he will indeed judge the
world according to his righteousness. Ye that love the Lord hate evil. He preserves the soul of his
saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. Now,
you know, on the one hand, you don't have to tell the people
of God to hate evil. Because, as Paul said, you know,
the work of God is so great within me. He said, the good that I
would, I don't do. And what I don't want to do,
I find myself doing. Why was that? Because he hated
evil. He hated it and he saw it within himself. He saw his
own self as being overcome with evil in the flesh. And so on
the one hand, you don't have to exhort God's people to hate
evil, because by the working of the Spirit within them, that
occurs. But yet, at the same time, because
we are men of flesh and blood, we do exhort one another to hate
evil. Turn from every evil way. Let
the Lord knoweth them that are His, and let them that are the
redeemed depart from evil. See, we have no place. We're
not desiring to embrace evil. We desire to walk in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ and the manifestation of that in the earth. He delivers
His people out of the hand of the wicked. Now, the wicked do
triumph in this world quite often. It's not unusual to see the wicked
triumphing on every hand. David saw it. We can see it. I mean, we see it plainly before
our eyes. But it shall not always be, because
the Lord will deliver his people out of the hand of the wicked.
Not in this life, perhaps, but in that glorious city Zion, which
he is bringing us to. Light is soon for the righteous
and gladness for the upright in heart. You know, I was thinking
a little bit about light. You know, you can go to the spigot
and you can draw you a glass of water and you can set it in
the refrigerator and you can come back in the morning and
you can drink that water. But you can't get you a cup of
light and store it, can you? It's a present thing. It's only,
light is soon, that is, it's spread by the hand of the Lord. And without light, you can't
do anything. And you can't cause yourself
to have light. As we spoke about the light being
in the houses of the children of Israel. Now they didn't light
candles or put batteries in the flashlight in order to have light
in their house. The Lord made the light in their
house, just like He made the light. Let there be light. And there was light. And light
is soon. It is a very present thing, however. It's not something, just like
the manna, you couldn't eat the manna on the next day. You can't use yesterday's light
for today. It won't do you any good. Oh,
you might go back and remember some of the things that you have
been taught, but dear brethren, if the Lord doesn't give you
light in the present moment, it's not of any use to you. You're
desiring the light. You want to see. Lord, open my
eyes that I might see thy truth. Not just read it. I mean, you
can go out, you know, people talk about they read the Bible
every day. I hope you do. That's a good thing to read the
Bible every day. But it's a better thing when
the Lord gives you light every day. On the word, light is sung
for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart because
it is, those two things are connected. See, God's people cannot be glad
without the light. Christ is the light. He said,
I'm the light of the world. And dear brethren, we believe
that to be true. And He has caused us to be lights
in a dark place. What a glorious thing that the
Lord would see fit to put His light in the children of God. Glorious. I mean, how can that
be? We can't explain it. Rejoice
in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance
of His holiness." Because that is our righteousness. That is our joy, to remember
His holiness. Just like we sang there a moment
ago, that song, Dressed in Uniform, the soldiers are. But they're
not clothed with the garment that they made. See, when an
army goes into battle, they're clothed with the garments that
their king bestows on them. And that's the only uniform they
have. And by the grace of God, we have
the uniform of Christ's righteousness, which has been given to us. And
He alone has woven it from top to bottom, and it's a coat without
a seam. And He's placed it upon us. And
a man can't purchase it. With all the wealth of the world,
all the knowledge that men have, they cannot gain this robe. But when Christ is pleased to
put it on a man, what a glory is shed abroad in his heart.
What a wondrous thing. Rejoice in the Lord. Let the
redeemed of the Lord say so. Rejoice in the Lord always. And
again, I say rejoice. What a glorious place we have. Give thanks at remembrance of
His holiness. What is the holiness of God?
Is it that He doesn't chew tobacco or go to the picture show? I mean, is that what holiness
is? No, the holiness of God is His eternal person, His nature. The fact that He is inapproachable
unto men. He dwells in the light to which
no man can approach. That is His holiness. He is set
apart. Even the angels Those heavenly
creatures that fly around His throne, they cannot even so much
as look. They have their hands upon their
eyes because they cannot behold the glory of Him whom He has
been pleased to reveal unto us, the glory of God revealed in
the face of Jesus Christ. Even as He told Philip, Philip,
if I've been so long time with you and ye have not known Me,
He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father." Oh, that's a glorious
thing, dear brethren. We rejoice in remembrance of
His holiness because we understand that apart from His mercy, we
would never have any knowledge of His holiness. For He has shown
us who He is. What a glorious place the sons
of God have that we dwell with the Lord according to His mercy. and he's caused us to rejoice.
Now, you can't make a man rejoice in the Lord. Oh, you can get
him all jived up and he can think he's rejoicing in the Lord, but
he's just, you know, feeling good. I mean, he could be at
a rock concert and feel the same thing. But the joy of the Lord is our
strength. and He has given it to us. What
glorious thing to rejoice in Christ and in Christ alone.