Every time that I sing that song,
first time I ever heard it was probably about ten years ago,
I'm reminded of what a great mercy has been visited upon us
that we would be mindful of the certain destruction that awaits
sinners outside of Christ. And it is indeed, even as the
Lord, when He walked upon the earth, and He looked over Jerusalem,
and He said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered
thee? Thou wouldst not. And you know, I believe that we'll glorify God in the destruction
of sinners. He's worthy of praise. But it
is an awful thing nonetheless. And as we think of how men rebel
against the mercy of God, the kindness of God continually,
and wouldn't we be any different were it not that He did change
our mind and heart. Looking again at Psalm 92, It's
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 10 strings, and upon the psaltery, 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. O Lord, how great are thy works,
and thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not, neither
doth a fool understand this. When the wicked spring is the
grass and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is
that they shall be destroyed forever. But thou, Lord, art
most high forevermore. For lo, thine enemies, O Lord,
for lo, thine enemies shall perish. All the workers of iniquity shall
be scattered. But my horn shalt thou exalt
like the horn of a unicorn, I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Mine
eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears
shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me. The
righteous shall flourish like the palm tree, he shall grow
up like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They
shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat
and flourishing to show that the Lord is upright. He is my
rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. And as so many of the
Psalms, this I believe is the, The prayer of Christ, it is the
declaration of Christ in the gospel. And as we spoke some
last week about the fact it's a good thing to give thanks unto
the Lord. I mean, there's no higher calling
that man is given than that. It's that very simple thing,
but yet even such a simple thing as that, is the thing most totally
disregarded by the majority of people, to sing praises unto
the Lord. Now they can sing songs about
all sorts of stuff, loving somebody and somebody breaking up with
them and breaking their heart and all these things you know
that men make songs up about. But it's a good thing to give
thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Lord. And I believe that the Lord puts
a song in the heart of his people. And whether we can carry a tune
in a bucket or whether we're virtuoso in singing, nonetheless
we have a song. And we ought to sing a new song
unto the Lord. And a new song is not one that
we just read somewhere in a book. for the first time, that's not
the new song he's talking about. He's talking about a new song
that's new every morning because the Lord's blessings have been
revealed to us day by day. And we do sing unto him a new
song every day, even though it might be the same word. You know,
you don't have to sing different words to sing a new song because
it's new, because it is fresh in your mind. Now, that's one
of the things, you know, in the church that I grew up in, it
used to be pretty common, or at least from time to time, that
they would have people stand up and give their testimony.
And what most people's mind about what was a testimony was they'd
go back and talk about the first time that they ever believed. And that is a testimony. Paul
recounts how the Lord brought him out of darkness and into
the light. But dear brethren, if the only thing that we have
in our lives to testify about is 25 or 30 years ago when the
Lord first brought us to Himself, then something's missing. Because
we have the blessings of God, that's a daily thing that the
Lord blesses us. And in those things is our testimony. I mean, we testify that He's
faithful even in the present moment and time. And we sing
praises to Him to show forth Thy lovingkindness in the morning
and Thy faithfulness every night. You know, when you wake in the
morning and your mind is fresh and we think of His lovingkindness
that brought us through the night, because it is the mercies of
God that brought us through the night. I mean, when we wake up,
it's simply because He woke us up, not because of anything we
did. It's like taking your next breath. You can't make yourself take
a breath. If the Lord don't give it to you, you won't have it.
And so He gives you, He causes your heart to beat. Every beat
of your heart, which is numbered by Him before you was ever born,
every beat of your heart. is that which is brought about
according to the good pleasure of His will. And we ought to
praise Him, to show forth His loving kindness in the morning,
when the day is before us, and we think of all His goodness
to us, and our faithfulness every night. Because we can testify
to that every night when we lay our head upon our pillow, that
the Lord has not forsaken us. He is our God, even unto the
end, even as the scripture says that when he was with his disciples,
in John chapter 13, it says, having loved his own, he loved
them to the end. And each time I read that, I'm
comforted by it, because it doesn't make any difference where we
are or what's going on or what happens to us. If the scripture
is true, and I believe that it is, the Lord will be faithful
unto his people to the very end. You don't have to worry about
being put in a nursing home or something happening to you or
you getting some debilitating disease and you being just cast
aside. The Lord will be with his people
to the end. Now that might not manifest itself
outwardly and it might not be something anybody else has any
knowledge of, but the Lord will be faithful unto his people to
the very end. That's what he said. And I believe
it's true. His faithfulness every night
upon an instrument of ten strings and upon the psaltery, upon the
harp with a solemn sound. Now these, of course, You know,
I don't know if there is an instrument of 10 strings today. Some of
you musicians might can tell me that there is. I'm not sure. I mean, a guitar, Al's got one
that's got 12 strings here, but that's kind of a misnomer in
some ways because you actually play two of the strings at the
same time. But think about having to play
something that had 10 strings. If it was like a guitar, I mean,
I don't know what it was, maybe more like what we would call
a harp. And I think when they, and upon
the saw tree, Nobody really knows what a psaltery is. You can read
various commentators and encyclopedias and stuff that try to tell you
what it is and you'll get one opinion in one place and one
in another. So I don't have any idea what a psaltery is. But
it's mentioned numerous times in the scriptures. A harp, I
believe, is probably talking more about what we might call
a harmonica or something that you blow into. Now the scripture
speaks about that in heaven that we would play upon, there would
be those that play upon their harp. But I don't believe it's
speaking about that, you know, you see these pictures and they
always show everybody up there with a harp. I don't think that's
what it means at all. It's speaking about the sacred
harp. And the sacred harp is our voice. You see, when you
read in the scripture, it says that they praise the Lord. with
their mouths. And so it is. That's what the
Lord gave you a mouth for, was to praise Him. And just being
able to communicate with one another is a secondary thing.
So the harp, we ought to praise God with everything that we have. Whatever's at our disposal is
to praise Him with, with ourself For the Lord has made me glad
through thy work. I will triumph in the works of
thy hands. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
walked among men, he said, I came not to do mine own will, but
the will of him that sent me. Now, Brother Al brought up a
very good point, and I'd never really thought of those two things
that you had brought up there as a proof of the predestination
of all things by Almighty God, but there's no other way that
those two things could be harmonized if it was not that the Lord was
the one that moved those men. to speak to Moses, and Moses
said, the Lord spoke to him. So that's the way that God works. He works through means, and he
doesn't have to work through means, as men see them. He can
work miraculously. But most often, he does work
through means, and the things that happen in the earth. And
we think, well, wasn't that a coincidence? I mean, wasn't it a coincidence
that the woman of Samaria was sitting at a well when the Lord
Jesus Christ came by. I mean, wasn't that an amazing
thing? Or actually, he was sitting and she came up, but nonetheless,
wasn't it a coincidence? that she came up there at just
the same time that he did. No, the scripture says he must
need to go through Samaria because he already had an appointment
to be at that place at that time when that woman was ordered by
her steps, by Almighty God, to come to that place at that time. Now brethren, that's a glorious
thing when we consider the works of the hands of God. Now you
often hear some of these radio preachers, they're trying to
get you to do the Lord's work. Now, you can't do the Lord's
work. Now you might do the work that
God sent you to do, but you can't do the Lord's work. Because the
Lord, He doesn't need anybody to do His work. I mean, David
spoke about that. He said the heathen say, you
know, our God has no eyes or whatever, but he said our God's
in the heavens. He's done whatsoever he hath
pleased. So God, he doesn't need your
hands. He doesn't need your feet. He
doesn't need your money. He doesn't need anything you
got. He's quite able to perform his own works according to the
good pleasure of his will. Now He does, by His grace, give
men the privilege to participate in His unfolding of His purpose
in the earth in a way that brings glory to Him. But I will triumph,
as the Lord Jesus Christ says, I will triumph in the works of
Thy hands. O Lord, how great are Thy works,
and Thy thoughts are very deep. You know, when the Lord stood
before the tomb of Lazarus, he spoke, Lazarus, come forth. He
said, I spoke it, Lord, so that they might know. See, I mean,
he could have just stood there, Lazarus could have come out.
He didn't have to say, Lazarus, come forth. But he said, Lazarus,
come forth, so the men that were standing there would say, here
he comes, he's coming out. How great and mighty are the
works of God. Oh Lord, how great are thy works.
And thy thoughts are very deep beyond the thoughts of men. He
said my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. And my ways are
above your ways. I mean, when men sat around and
tried to figure out how God does stuff and why God does stuff,
It's a waste of time. You'll never come to the conclusion
of it. I mean, you might come to what
you think is the conclusion of it, but you don't know. I mean,
God does according to his will, and we rejoice in it, even as
the Lord told us to pray. Father, may thy will be done
in heaven as it is in the earth. Thy thoughts are very deep. A
brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this.
Now that kind of ties in to that hymn we sang a moment ago. Sinner,
oh why, so thoughtless grown. And that is the way of men, is
it not? They're thoughtless. They don't consider these things.
I mean, a brutish man, what that means is a stupid man. I mean,
if you want to literally translate it, it means a stupid man. The
fool has said in his heart, there is no God. There is a way which
seemeth right unto men, but then there are other ways of death.
That's just the way of men by nature, a stupid man. Now, if a man, you know, just
from a logical standpoint, If a man knew that destruction
awaited all who do not bow and worship at the feet of Christ,
would he not say, well, I'm going to bow and worship at the feet
of Christ? I mean, just logical common sense would tell you that.
But that's not in the nature of men, because men hate that.
They say, I'm not going to believe that. See, men choose not to
believe it. People talk about free will.
Well, I'll tell you what men choose to do. They choose to
go contrary to the way of God. They won't choose the way of
God. They'll choose to go away from God in every instance. A
brutish man knoweth not. He doesn't even know anything.
The scripture says, the fool passeth on and is punished. That is a man who just, he just
goes his way and he's destroyed as a result of it. A brutish
man knoweth not. He's just, he's just there. I
mean, isn't it amazing how many people are just there in the
world? And why aren't you among them?
Only because of the grace of God. But just think, I mean,
just think about this election that's coming up. And that's
a minor thing. I'm not up here to talk even
about that, but just pointing out this. How many people just
go along their way and they go in there and they mark down a
thing without even knowing anything about what they're doing? They're
just passing on. They're just like this brutish
man. They just don't know. They don't
even stop to think. They just hear something that
somebody said somewhere and they believe it. But the truth, they
don't want to embrace that. Neither does a fool understand
this. Now, you know, the scripture
indicates to us that we are to seek understanding. It's one
thing to know something. I mean, you can read the scriptures. A lot of people read the scriptures.
A lot of people know the scriptures. There's guys that just can memorize
the whole thing. I mean, have done it, you know,
and can just quote page after page of the Scriptures. And that's
good. I wish I could do that. But it's much better to have
the understanding of one verse than it is to be able to memorize
the whole thing without that understanding. Because it is
the understanding which the Lord alone gives to men so that they
can grasp these things. And a fool, he doesn't understand. He might read it, but he has
no understanding. And where does understanding
come from? It comes from the Lord. When the wicked spring
as the grass and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish,
it is that they shall be destroyed forever. You wonder, you know,
David often in his, some of the Psalms, he said, why do the heathen
race, why do the wicked prosper? Why is that? Well, here it is. They prosper. Their iniquity
flourishes, it is that they shall be destroyed forever. God, now
people might not like this, the language, but God's fattening
them up for the kill. I mean, whether you like that
or you don't, that's just what this verse is saying. When you
see the wicked prosper, when you see the ungodly triumphing
in the earth, you can be sure of this one thing. It is according
to the purpose of Almighty God, and He is bringing it to pass
for their destruction. Just like the scripture says
that He raised up Pharaoh. He said it plainly. He said,
for this cause have I raised Pharaoh up that I might show
my judgment in the earth. See, I mean, that's just the
Lord. And who can say anything about
it? Now, some people get all up in arms. Oh, you're accusing
God of un... Brethren, you can't accuse God
of unrighteousness. You can't accuse God of anything.
What platform would you stand upon to bring some kind of an
accusation against God? I mean, you don't have any place.
That's what Nebuchadnezzar came to find out, did he not? He said,
the most high ruler within the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and there's none that can stay his
hand over, say unto him, what doest thou? I mean, that's what
Paul said. Nay, but O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? What could man say? Man can't
say anything. His mouth is shut up before Almighty
God. But thou, Lord, art most high
forevermore. For lo, thine enemies, O Lord,
for lo, thine enemies shall perish. All the workers of iniquity shall
be scattered. There's nothing to look forward
to for a man outside of Christ. Nothing but destruction. He will
perish. I mean, that's what the scripture
says very plainly. There's nothing that a man is
going to change about that. Oh, sinner, oh, why so thoughtless
groan? I mean, the gospel message says,
flee to Christ. Christ is the Savior of sinners. He saves such as come unto Him,
such as call upon His name. Why will you die, O house of
Israel? But the wicked, they shall surely
perish. All the workers of iniquity shall
be scattered. But listen to this, verse 10. But my horn, my authority, now
who's speaking here? Not me, not David, not you. But my horn, shalt thou exalt
like the horn of a unicorn. The horn is a symbol of authority.
When you find in the scripture, it's often used as the horn.
In some of the vision that John had, the horn is the authority.
Now we know there's only one authority. And that all authority,
that's what the Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples in what's
called the Great Commission. He said, all power is given unto
me. All power, that is all authority. That's what power is, it's authority. All power is given unto me in
heaven and in hell. In heaven and earth. Of course,
that includes hell. I mean, all power, he's the one
who has the power of hell. Don't fear him who can kill the
body, he said, but fear him who can destroy both soul and body
in hell. You see, he is the one who has
all authority and power. He said, I kill and I make alive. I, the Lord, do all these things.
You can't stop the hand of Almighty God. Now what does that do? You know, a man who's been given
just a little bit of understanding of the things of God, it causes
him to tremble, cause him to fall on his face and say, oh
Lord, deliver me from this. I'm headed, I'm on a slippery
slope and I'm sliding that way and if you don't rescue me, I
will be destroyed. He is that one. But the Lord
Jesus Christ in his prayer says, my horn shalt thou exalt. And the horn of Christ is exalted
in the earth like a unicorn. Course, you know, some people,
without understanding, read that and say, oh, see there, the Bible
can't be trusted because it's talking about unicorns. Well,
I don't know what a unicorn is. And maybe there has been such
a thing as a unicorn, like people talk about a horse with a, you
know, a spike coming out of his nose or something. I don't know
what a unicorn is. I know whatever the Lord's speaking
about here is something that exists and something that He's
saying that this is mighty. Now, a lot of people think this
is the horn of a bull. And, of course, whatever it is,
it's a powerful illustration. He's saying, you have exalted
me above all things. I shall be anointed with fresh
oil. And surely he has been, for he
is that one who's accepted in the Father's sight. He's that
one who's pleasing unto the Lord. Mine eye also shall see my desire
on mine enemies. Who is this that cometh from
Edom with dyed garments from Basra? He that is mighty to save. And he said, wherefore art thou
thy garments red? He said, they are red with the
blood of my enemies. So you see, the Lord Jesus Christ
has not only shed his own blood for our redemption, but he has
shed the blood of his enemies. He has triumphed over them openly.
And there is no mitigation of this. Mine eye shall see my desire. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied because the travail of his soul took
place at the hand of his enemies. And he shall see their destruction. He shall see his desire. You
see, it is the desire of God to destroy his enemies. You can
cut that any way you want it or if you like it or whatever,
but he will destroy his enemies. He most assuredly will. And mine ears shall hear my desire
of the wicked that rise up against me. Now, let me talk a minute
about that enemy. See, we were never the enemies
of God. God has never been at odds with his people, those whom
he chose in Christ. They've never been appointed
under wrath. He's loved them from the beginning, the scripture
says. And so when the scripture says, even while we were yet
enemies, Christ died for us, it's not that we were his enemies
from his perspective, but we were enemies from our perspective.
We hated him. He didn't hate us. He loved us
before the world began. And so we're, you know, we're
never been the enemies of God except in our mind by what Paul
said, by wicked works. See, we hated the way of God.
And in that way, we said we're the enemies of God because we
don't want His way. We want to go against Him. But
God, who's rich in mercy, with the great love wherewith He loved
us, even while we were yet enemies, Christ died for us. Oh, what
a glorious thing. But he shall see his desire on
his enemies, those whom he has appointed unto wrath. And mine
ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against
me. That is the way of the wicked,
to rise up against the Lord. The way of the righteous, those
who've been made righteous in Christ, is to fall down and worship
him. They love him, they love his
way. The righteous shall flourish
like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. Now, who is the righteous? By the grace of God, we've been
made righteous, have we not? But the righteous are righteous
because of one who is righteous. And his righteousness shall flourish
like the palm tree. He shall grow up like the cedar
in Lebanon. We are made strong because he's strong. Those that
be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts
of our God. See, we've been planted. He is
the head of the house of God. We've just been planted there.
We've been grafted in, scripture says. We've just been put in
there. We don't have any claim on it
except that which he gives us. See, the scripture says that
the Lord has given to him to have eternal life in himself. He has life. See, we don't have
life. unless he gives it to us. And
so it is that he does. And those whom he plants shall
grow up and flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still
bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourish.
And boy, some of us have sure fulfilled that haven't we? But the Lord, you know, fatness
in the scripture is not considered to be a bad thing. I mean, if
somebody's fat, that was a good thing. I mean, that was considered,
you know, a blessing. I read something somewhere this
week that some ladies wrote a book now saying that actually people
that's fat, that's actually a very healthy lifestyle so you can
all relax. You know, but, you know, it's
amazing to me, they can come up with a book that says anything.
I mean, they can come up with a book that tells y'all to be
fat and one tells y'all to be skinny. Reality is, just like
with this virus thing, they don't anybody know anymore about that
But yet there's all these experts running around telling you what
you need to do and how you can avoid it and all that. And they
don't have any idea. They're just trying to be important. But anyway, how did I get off
on that? But they shall be flat and flourishing. That is, they
will prosper. And God's people do prosper.
they might not prosper in this world's goods. Now see, that's
one of the errors of the modern-day philosophy of what we call the
health and wealth gospel, is that God, and really it's the
same message that the Pharisees were teaching, is that if you'll
be obedient and you'll do these things, then God will bless you
and it'll be able to be seen. And that's why they thought rich
men were the essence of the blessing of God. I mean, when the Lord
said, you know, a rich man can't enter the kingdom of, it's harder
for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to pass
through an eye of a needle. And they say, well, Lord, then
who could possibly be saved? I mean, if the rich people who
are the evidence of the blessing of God on them, if they can't
be saved, who could be saved? But dear brethren, the flourishing
of God's people has nothing to do with flourishing in this life.
I mean, you know, remember Lazarus who laid as a leper, and the
dogs came and licked his wounds. He didn't have anything, but
yet the Lord said he was blessed of God. And all of this is done to show
that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no
unrighteousness in Him. He is my rock. He's my fortress. He's the shadow of a great rock
in a weary land. He's the rock that led the children
of Israel through the wilderness. Christ was that rock. And this popped into my mind
here about when the Lord said to Peter, he said, Peter, thou
art a stone. because Peter, he said, thou
art Peter. He said, thou art a stone. But
he said, upon this rock will I build my church. Now a lot
of people have gone into great lengths, and of course the Catholic
church, but mainly one of them, thinking that Peter was the one
whom the Lord was speaking about. They said, Peter, you're a stone,
but he said, upon this rock will I build my church. It's not upon
you, Peter, but it's upon me. And so the Lord is that rock.
He's that one who is our rock in the wilderness and in this
world. There is no unrighteousness in
Him. How foolish is it for a man to
ever entertain the notion that there is unrighteousness with
God. There is none. That's the end of the story.
If somebody says, well, you know, God did this and He did that,
well, maybe He did, but there's no unrighteousness. See, the
only reason men bring up questions about stuff like that is because
in their hard heart they want to find something that God's
guilty of that they can blame Him for. You can't blame Him
for anything. He said, I make peace and I create
evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
But yet, when a man's tempted, he can't say, I was tempted of
God, according to what Scripture says. He's tempted of his own
self. You know, that's his nature.
That's the way he is. Now, is a man accountable to
God? Absolutely. Wise men are. Why are men accountable
to God? Are men accountable to God because
God gave them a free will to choose one way or the other?
No, men are accountable to God because God made them accountable.
He said, you will be accountable. I mean, he told Adam what he
was going to do, did he not? He said, in the day you eat this,
you're going to die. Now, did he say, if you eat this,
you're going to die? No. He said, when you eat it. you are going to die. And what
did Adam do? See, I mean, people say, well,
God put Adam in here and he was on probation and he could have
done one thing or the other, not according to what the Lord
said. The Lord said, in the day you eat it, you're going to die.
And he did, because that's the nature of Adam, and that's the
way God made him, according to the good pleasure of his will.
And if you've got a problem with that, then you've got a problem
with God, not with anything else, because philosophers, they'll
tell you all kinds of stuff. You can get all kinds of books
that will tell you, oh, well, it couldn't possibly be like
that, because that would make God the author of sin. Well,
I don't even know what that means, but I know one thing, you can't
accuse God of anything, and whatever he did, it was right. And there's
nothing that exists in the world that He did not cause to come
to pass according to the good pleasure of His will. What a
glorious God we serve. There is no unrighteousness with
Him. And that again is what makes it so hard for us to see who's
been given a mind and heart to seek God. is that if a man knows
there's no unrighteousness with God, why will he not fall down
and worship him? Oh, that the Lord might give
us a mind and heart to do so.