Okay, this is Psalm 66 to the chief musician, a song
or psalm. Make a joyful noise unto God,
all ye lands. Sing forth the honor of his name,
make his praise glorious. Say unto God, how terrible art
thou in thy works. Through the greatness of thy
power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. All the
earth shall worship thee and shall sing unto thee. They shall
sing to thy name, Selah. Come and see the works of God.
He is terrible in his doing toward the children of men. He turned
the sea into dry land. They went through the flood on
foot. There did we rejoice in him. He ruleth by his power forever,
his eyes behold the nations. Let not the rebellious exalt
themselves, say law. Oh, bless our God, ye people,
and make the voice of his praise to be heard, which holdeth our
soul in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved. For thou,
O God, hast proved us, thou hast tried us as silver is tried.
Thou broughtest us into a net, thou laidest affliction upon
our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride
over our heads. We went through fire and through
water, but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. I will
go into thy house with burnt offerings. I will pay thee my
vows, which my lips have uttered, and my mouth has spoken when
I was in trouble. I will offer unto thee burnt
sacrifices of fatlings with the incense of rams. I will offer
bullets with goats, say, La. Come and hear all ye that fear
God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. I cried
unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But
verily God hath heard me, he hath attended to the voice of
my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not
turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me." Now, this again
is a Psalm that is very much an exhortation to the children
of God to make a joyful noise. That is, the term there, make
a joyful noise, literally means to shout unto the Lord, to make
a loud noise, to make a clamoring, to do something that is heard. And surely that is the call of
God's people. The scripture says, let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. And the Lord said to the Pharisees
that if these people are praising you and exalting
you and this is not right, you need to stop this. He said, if
I was to try to stop them, even the stones. would cry out. And so it is that the testimony
of the people of God unto God cannot be hidden. A city which
is set upon a hill cannot be hidden. And so it is that God's
people are called to praise Him. Sing forth the honor of His name,
make His praise glorious. Now one thing I noticed there,
it says all ye lands Now, the scripture is quite plain that
the Lord has a people out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue
on the face of the earth. Now, the Jews, they were pretty
convinced that they were the people of God. In fact, He told
them that He chose them. And they assumed by that, that
that meant that they were a people as a nation out of the earth
that was special. And they were special. But they
were special for this reason. Not because God had regard unto
Israel per se, but because He had regard unto that people which
He had chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the
world. And in order to illustrate that, as you see that throughout
the Old Testament, in order to illustrate that very fact, He
raised up the nation of Israel. which was a nation that was not
any more than any other nation on earth, but because He said,
because I chose you, because I chose you, because I loved
you. And so in like fashion, that
is the fashion in which the Lord has chosen His people. He chose
His people because He loved His people. He loved His people in
Christ because they were in Christ. And they've always been in Christ.
And so it is that the nation of Israel couldn't be the people
of God because He has a people out of every kindred and tongue.
Now the Scripture does say that this was a mystery which He kept
hid. He didn't reveal that to start
with. I mean, when He called Moses
out, He didn't say, You know, the nation of Israel, this is
just a sidelight here. I mean, I've got a greater thing
going on here. No, he pointed these things out
to Moses because this was a hidden truth. It was hidden from the
Pharisees. They never could see it, didn't
want to see it. It's hid from the eyes of many,
even in the present day, who are among the tribes of the Jews. But the Lord said, I mean, even
to this very day, there's a veil upon them when Moses is read. They still think in the same
way in which they did. Now, as to whether or not the
Lord will remove that veil in a broad sense, I don't know. I know there's Scripture that
leads us to believe that He will. And I can't comment on that other
than to say, go to Scripture and read it, and that's what
it says. And perhaps there is coming a great turning, you know,
of the Jews as a national people. But I do know this, that whether
or not that occurs, there is a calling out of the people of
God out of the earth of every kindred, tribe, and tongue on
the earth. those who were chosen in Christ.
And he says, all ye lands, there's not a place on the earth where
the praise of God is not heard. You can go anywhere you want
to, and the Lord has His people. You might not be able to find
them. You know, they might not be the ones that you think are
the ones. But the Lord has His people that He's called out. Sing forth the honor of His name,
make His praise glorious, because it is glorious. Magnify His name. You see, that's why we preach
the gospel. Now, I know that it is a common
notion that the reason that we preach the gospel is in order
to make converts. And surely as the Gospel goes
forth in the earth, the Lord is pleased to awaken men and
call men unto Himself. He brings life and immortality
to light through the Gospel. Most surely He does. But we don't
preach the Gospel in order to get converts. We preach the Gospel
to magnify the name of Christ. And that is the whole purpose
of the preach. That's the whole purpose of the
Gospel. It is to magnify Christ. It is to glorify Him. It's not
to tell folks, now you've got a chance to be saved. Because
salvation is not by chance. If salvation was by chance, how
much likelihood is there that anybody would be saved? Because
the Scripture says, there's none that seeketh after God. So if
salvation, if the Lord said, well, I'm going to give you a
chance to be saved, and there was nobody that would seek the
Lord, who would be saved? That's a pretty self-evident
question. You see, salvation is not by
chance, it's by the power of God who moves upon His people
to call upon His name in the time when He's pleased to call
them. As many as the Lord our God shall
call. Say unto God, How terrible art
thou in thy works! Through the greatness of thy
power shall thine enemies submit unto thee. Our God is an awesome
God. He rules and He reigns. And He
does terrible things in the earth. That is awesome things. He does
things that takes the breath of men away as they look. And what greater power is exhibited
than when He calls sinners out of darkness and into the light?
Men that aren't seeking Him. All of a sudden, they're seeking
Him. I mean, think about the Apostle
Paul on the road to Damascus. Did the Lord give him a chance
to be saved? I mean, did He say, alright now,
Paul, here's your chance. I'm giving you an opportunity
to be saved. No. He just struck him down. And then the power of Almighty
God, Paul, was overwhelmed. Because he knew in that instance
who this terrible God was. As the Lord revealed Himself
to him, he said, Who art thou? He didn't know his name, but
he knew this. That this One who had brought
him down to this place on his face and struck him blind was
that One whom he desired to know. Lord, who art thou? That's a
terrible thing. Terrible art thou in thy works.
Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit
unto thee. Now, if you'd have asked Paul
if he was an enemy of God, he'd have said, well, I'm not. I'm
serving God. I mean, if you went out into
religious communities around us and around the world and you
had interviews and said, are you an enemy of God? Oh, no! No, we're not enemies of God.
But you see, all men by nature are indeed enemies of God. And
until the Lord opens a man's eyes to see who He is, the glory
that surrounds him, all men are in rebellion against Him. Paul
didn't think he was in rebellion against Him, did he? No. He was serving God. I mean, he
was killing these Christians, these men who went around blaspheming
God. It was only when God opened his
eyes to see what he was by nature that he understood. How quickly
did he understand? I think it was like a light,
you know, of course it blinded him. The light was so great when
he realized how far off he had been. You know, the Lord, He
opens men's eyes to the truth. You can argue with a man all
day long about what the Scripture teaches, but until God opens
his eyes, he can't see it. But you know what? When the Lord
does open a man's eyes, he can't see anything else. Oh, how often
it is that I've heard it said, you know these guys, when they
start looking at the sovereignty of God. That's all they can see.
They see it on every page. They don't see anything else.
And you know that's the truth because God's a terrible God.
He's an absolute God. And He's no other thing to see.
I mean, God does not have two or three different personalities.
He's an absolute God. He said, I'll do my will in the
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and
none can stay in my hand. Our God's in the heavens, David
said. He's done whatsoever he is pleased.
How terrible are thy works! Through the greatness of thy
power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. Those that... See, that's what reconciliation
is. Now, when Paul said, We pray you in God's
stead, be ye reconciled unto him. He's not talking about something
that the Lord has done. Now, some men confuse that God
had to reconcile himself to his people. God didn't need to reconcile
himself to his people. God's always been reconciled
to his people. He loved his people with a perfect
love from the beginning. But the reconciliation has to
do with what the work of God in us to cause us to be reconciled
unto Him. And we pray men, we beg men,
we say, be reconciled unto God. I mean, fall down before Him. See, that's what it is to be
reconciled unto God. It is that work of the Spirit
of God in a man when he throws down his arms of rebellion, and
he's satisfied with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's satisfied
with the work of Christ. That's to be reconciled unto
God. His enemies submit themselves
unto thee. All the earth shall worship thee,
and shall sing to thy name, say, Law. Every knee shall bow, and
every toe shall confess. that Jesus Christ is Lord. Now, you know the scripture says
that the devils believe and tremble. The devils have more sense than
men do. Because men go along with their
head raised up against God and they're gonna go their way. But
all men shall fall before him. Scripture says, who shall not
fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? There's not anybody. Now some will glorify him as
the pit of hell opens up and swallows them up in their destruction.
But all men shall render praise unto Almighty God, because he
has determined to have praise from the earth. all the earth
shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee, they shall sing
to thy name. Selah. Come and see the works
of God. He is terrible in his doing toward
the children of men. He turned the sea into dry land,
they went through the flood on foot. There did we rejoice in
him. Now, of course, we realize that
what that's speaking of is the parting of the Red Sea. The Scripture
says that they went through on dry ground. Now can you imagine,
they were on the bottom of the sea here, that just had water
on it, and the Scripture says it was dry ground. I mean it
was dry ground. Now, you know, you can pump water
out of a pond or something, but it takes a long time to become
dry ground. But the Lord made it dry so that
the children of Israel went through. And the scripture says that the
shoes of their feet did not deteriorate the whole time they were in the
wilderness. Now if they had got wet going through that Red Sea,
their shoes would have probably come apart. Wouldn't he? But you see, the works of the
Lord are terrible. He turned the sea into dry land,
but then he took that same dry land that the children of Israel
crossed through the Red Sea, and when the Egyptians went through
there, guess what? Turned back to mud again. Because
Scripture says that the wheels of their chariots came off as
they tried to go through there. How terrible are the works of
God. There did we rejoice in Him. Now they weren't rejoicing
to start with, were they? Do you remember when the children
of Israel were on the side of the sea and they looked over
there and they saw the big dust cloud coming and Pharaoh's army
said, Oh Moses, you brought us out here to have us all killed
right here by the Red Sea. And he said, stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. And when they went through and
they got on the other side, guess what they did? They rejoiced
because those Egyptians were destroyed that would have destroyed
them. There did we rejoice in him.
Now, I believe this is the Lord Jesus speaking here. And remember
this, that the Lord has always been with his people. He's always
been with His people. His people have always been hidden
in Him. And so when He speaks of their
triumphs, He's speaking of His own. And when He's speaking of
His own triumphs, He's speaking of theirs. Because we triumph
in Him. And so He says, there did we
rejoice. Christ rejoiced. with his people. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. You see, Christ rejoicing is
in his people and in the victory that he has brought for them. He ruleth by his power forever. His eyes behold the nations.
Let not the rebellious exalt themselves, I mean, if a man
is going to go contrary to the things of God, he better not
be exalting himself, because he will be destroyed. Oh, bless
our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be
heard, which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our
feet to be moved. Oh, bless our God. You see, when
the Lord Jesus Christ, He came into the world, as a man born
of a woman. Now, as a man born of a woman,
he was a mortal man. That is, in the sense that he had the capability of death in
his body. Now, as God, there's no capability
of death because he's alive. Death and life can't mix, can
they? This is one of those mysteries
that is beyond our comprehension how He who is life, the scripture
says He had life in Himself and yet as a man He laid down His
life and He died and so He was susceptible to death as a mortal
man just like you and I. Now we know that He had the power
to lay down His life and He had the power to take it up again
but don't ever forget that he did ordain, that his life would
go out from him, because he was dead for three days, according
to what Scripture says. I know that the theologians will
get us all straightened out on how that is, but he was dead. I don't need anybody to explain
to me what that means, he was dead. He was as dead as any man
has ever been dead. And yet, He lives forevermore. I don't get it. I don't understand
it. I can't comprehend it, but it's
a glorious thing. Our God is an awesome God. Which holdeth our soul in life,
and suffereth not our feet to be moved. The Lord Jesus Christ understood
His dependence on His Father. And his dependence on his father
was there for our sake. He didn't need to do any of the
things that he did for his own sake, did he? But he did them
for our sake. He walked among men for our benefit. He held our soul in life and
suffered not our feet to be moved. For thou, O God, hast proved
us, thou hast tried us as Silver's tried. And if anybody's ever
been tried, it's been the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou broughtest
us into the net. Now Luke, think about this. Here
he is. This is Christ speaking, I believe. But he speaks as the plural. He said, let us. Now who's he
talking about? He's talking about his people.
He said, we. You see, because when he went
to the cross, we went to the cross with him. When he stood in the judgment,
We stood in the judgment with Him. For thou, O God, hast proved
us, thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Now what happens when
silver is put in the fire? Does it turn to something else? No, you see, when silver is tried,
it becomes pure. It becomes that which it was
in the beginning thou broughtest us into the net, thou layest
affliction upon our loins." Now it is true that God's people
are from time to time afflicted in various fashions and down
through the years the Lord has seen fit to cause His people
to suffer affliction. Paul is a good example of that.
He suffered immensely at the hands of other men for the preaching
of the gospel of Christ and many men have had their lives taken
from them among men for preaching the gospel of Christ, for standing
up for the worship of God. This has happened. The Lord has
caused this to happen. The Lord's been with everyone
because He said this, He said, Thou hast caused men to ride
over our heads. He said, You caused it. But He
said, It's us. Because you see, He knew firsthand
what that was, but He was with His people in all of their sufferings. Thou broughtest us into the net,
Thou laidest affliction upon our loins. And like Brother Al
mentioned this morning, I mean, you know, there are those that
go around saying, well, God doesn't ever do bad things to people. I mean, He's always wanting to
bless His people and all of these kinds of things. Well, listen,
God ordains, He said, I make peace and I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
Job understood it. His wife didn't, but he did.
He said, shall we receive good and not evil from the hand of
the Lord? I mean, are we going to get mad at him because he
sees fitness and affliction upon us? Thou hast caused men to ride
over our heads. We went through fire and through
water, but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. Some through the fire, some through
the flood. Some through, what's the other
thing, you remember how that goes? Some through the fire,
some through the flood, some through whatever, but all through the
blood. Somebody can correct me on that,
but the Lord leads his people through
all things. I will go into thy house. Now
listen to this. He says, I will go into thy house
with burnt offerings. I will pay thee my vows. which
my lips have uttered, my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble,
I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings with the
incense of rams, I will offer bullocks with goats." Now the
Scripture says that the Lord Jesus Christ offered himself
without spot unto God, not with the blood of bulls and goats.
But you see, here speaking as the psalmist speaks, he speaks
about offering bullocks and goats because that was what the law
required. But he was that bullock and he
was that goat. He did offer bullocks and goats,
but they were not the bullocks and goats that roam in the fields. They were the bullocks and goats
of His own soul and His own heart that He gave unto the Lord for
us. He says, I will offer. Now, see,
He said, He's speaking about us. He's speaking in the plural.
when he's speaking about the troubles. And he said, these
troubles went over us, but he said, but when it comes down
to the offering, he goes back to speaking about one, doesn't
he? He says, I will offer that. Because dear brethren, we had
nothing to offer. We couldn't come before him. Come and hear all ye that fear
God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. The Lord Jesus Christ. would
testify to me and what the Lord did for his soul. He raised me
from the dead. Oh, what a glorious testimony,
dear brethren. And I cried unto him with my
mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity
in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But he was without sin. Now, dear brethren, we have often
regarded iniquity in our heart. You know, when a man says, well,
he's speaking about David here. Well, no, because David couldn't
say, if I regard iniquity, you won't hear me, because the Lord
never would have heard him. He did regard iniquity. Men do
regard iniquity. But the Lord Jesus Christ, who
was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin, He
could say this. that he did not regard iniquity
in his heart. And the Lord would not have heard
him if he had. Why? Because he couldn't have
been a perfect sacrifice. See, only Christ could enter
in once into the holy place on our behalf because he was that
Lamb without spot and without blemish. But verily God hath
heard me. He has heard me. Why did he hear
him? Because I didn't regard iniquity
in my heart. Had to be him, but verily God
hath heard me, he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. I'm glad that he did. The Lord
Jesus Christ, he prayed for us in the garden. He said, Father, I pray for them
whom thou hast given me out of the world. Thine they were, and
thou hast given them to me. He prayed, and the Lord hath
attended to the voice of his prayer. Blessed be God, which
hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. Christ himself is the object
of God's mercy, because Christ stood before him as a sinner. And yet God has shown mercy to
him for us, even though at the same time, He was that one who
was afflicted before Almighty God and whom the Father turned
away from. Turned His mercy away. And yet
here He is saying, Lord, Your mercy is there because you see,
He endured those things for our sake that we might be those who
would receive His mercy. Blessed be God which has not
turned away my prayer nor His mercy from me. He ever liveth
to make intercession for us. Now we think of intercession
as words, prayers, and surely the
Lord did intercede for us with words, groanings, and prayers
for us when He lived in the earth. But the Scripture says He is
our Great High Priest before the throne of God, and He ever
lives to make intercession for us at the present time. Now some
have pictured this as though He is there pleading our case
in words before the Lord, saying, Lord, I know you saw Ed over
there doing what he shouldn't have been doing, but I want you
to have mercy on him. Like that. No, that's not the
way Christ intercedes for His people. Christ intercedes for
his people by being in the presence of God. He is our intercessor. He is our great high priest.
And I think that Charles Wesley probably captured it best in
that hymn where it says, five bleeding wounds he bears, received
on Calvary. They pour effectual prayers,
they strongly plead for me. You see, Christ doesn't plead
for us with words, but He stands there with wounded hands and
a wounded side. And those who are hidden in Him
are those for whom He intercedes, because they are those that come
unto God by Him. See, there's no other avenue
of approach. We're not looking for one. He's
the only one we desire. And He is the intercessor of
His people. He's the great high priest before
the throne of God. And He has not turned away His
prayer, nor His mercy from Him, because His mercy has been shown
to us. And He has determined it to be
so.