Open your Bibles, if you will,
to Psalm 24. If you saw in the reading that
Brother Travis read, I had him read that because twice Paul
quoted this Psalm when he said, The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. Today's message is named the Supreme Sovereign.
You'll see why as we read this psalm. It's a short psalm. It's
a psalm of David. It's got 10 verses. Psalm 24
says in verse 1, the earth is the Lord's. Now this isn't up
for debate. This is truth proclaimed. The
earth is the Lord's. It's His. He has full dominion
over it. He made it. He spoke it into
existence. He created all things visible and invisible. It's His.
And the fullness thereof, everything that's in it, is His. Everything.
Again, it's not up for debate, is it? It's a truth proclaimed.
The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world,
and they that dwell therein. Everything. Every little creeping
insect, every little thing we can't see except with a microscope,
every atom, every molecule, is His. It's all His. It's all His.
It says, For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established
it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath
clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul
unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing
from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy
face, O Jacob, Selah. And in verses 7 to 10, we just
have a praise and adoration for our great God. Lift up your heads,
O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the
King of Glory shall come in. Well this is speaking of our
Supreme Sovereign. Who is the king of glory? Well
the Lord strong and mighty that's Jehovah in the Hebrew. The Lord
mighty in battle and he's a warrior we know that. Lift up your heads
all you gates even lift them up you everlasting doors and
the king of glory shall come in. Who is the king of glory?
The Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory Selah. So we see in verse 1 here of
this wonderful psalm that the The whole world and all who dwell
in it, all the dwellers in it, belong to the Lord. The earth
is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world, and they
that dwell therein, everyone. There's nothing that's not under
His dominion. If a man is a man, the Lord claims ownership of
him. Man and woman in this earth, children, He claims ownership
over them. The lowest, the meanest, the
most despicable man is God's property, His property. He is
the Creator. And that man may curse God and
deny His existence, but he's still owned totally by the Lord.
He still is. He's owned by the Sovereign of
Heaven and Earth. And God shall dispose of him
or her as it pleases Him. As it pleases Him. Men may divide
land and parcel it out. And they often do that, right?
They parcel out the land and they say, well, this is my land.
Well, They may hold a deed or a title to it, but they're just
tenants on that land We're just tenants on this land here where
the church and the Parsons just we're just tenants the Lord owns
this property He owns this world. I never forget Donnie Bell telling
me a story. He was filled up for gas one day I don't know
what state he was in I think it was in Tennessee And you know
the Appalachian Mountains there and all that and he's looking
at those mountains and the gas attendant come out And he says
just started talking with Donnie Donnie says yeah, my father owns
all that land and the gas attendant went looked at me says well I
know who owns that land and he's not your father done he goes
no my father owns all that land my heavenly father owns it all
he owns it all it's his everything we see is his everything he can
dispose of it however he's pleased to dispose of it it's his he
owns it no my and we clearly see that the truth of that bought
forth here and let's read again verses 1 & 2 the earth is the
Lord's Jehovah and the fullness thereof, the world, and they
that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the
seas, and established it upon the floods. He created it. In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things
were made by him, and without him was not anything made that
was made. John 1, verses 1 to 3. There's just nothing that
we see that he didn't make. Even the things we make, the
buildings we make, are made out of things that he gave us, that
he created. How would we build a house without
wood that he had grown? How would we? See, he created
things out of nothing, and we have to create things out of
things. But we create things, buildings, houses, out of things
that he's given us, freely. It's incredible. See, we don't
really look at those little minute things, do we? Even the nail
that holds wood together came out of the ground, was mined
out of the ground, and formed into that shape, and used by
man. I was talking to Norm Wells this
week and he said one of his Sunday school teachers one time brought
out the fact that the tree that the Lord was crucified on, he
had it grow. He had that seed fall into the
ground. He purposed that seed to fall into the ground. And
that tree grew. And then it was hewn down. And
it was made into a cross. And the very nails that they
nailed him to the cross with were hewn out of the ground.
And he put all that in the ground. Isn't that amazing? You see how
intricate God's purpose and will is in this world? It's incredible.
the whole earth and all we see. And beyond that, all beyond that,
there's so much beyond in the galaxies. It's all His. He made
it all. It's all His. He's the supreme
sovereign over it all. All things the scripture says,
visible and invisible. That includes angels, Satan.
He's over all of them. He's supreme. There's not a war
between Satan and God. of who will be supreme. We know
that from the book of Job, right? Satan has to come and ask permission
from God whether he can do things to Job or not. See, Satan's not
sovereign. He's not all-knowing and all-powerful.
God is, though. And He permits things to occur
according to His will and according to His purpose. But even Satan's
on a leash. On a leash to our Supreme Sovereign.
Here's a biblical narrative we all know. Book of Jonah. I was
telling Karen Travis, I gave him a little preview. I got so
excited yesterday. You know, you put a message together,
you get so excited, sometimes you just can't keep quiet about
it. You know? So I gave him a little preview yesterday. And Tom too,
a little bit, when we were walking on the grass, just about the
fish too. I just get so excited about it. It's just, it's wonderful.
But Jonah, there's a story that pretty well all of us know about
Jonah. He's swallowed by a big fish. And most people who don't
come to church, they know about the story of Jonah, most of them.
Or if you ever attended Sunday school, you heard about the story
of Jonah. It's actually one of the most gripping stories in
all the scripture, isn't it? Jonah's trying to escape from
God, goes on a boat. All of a sudden, they get in
the midst of this huge, what we would call a hurricane almost,
tempest. And those little wooden ships, they just got bounced
around back then. They didn't have ships like we have now.
A little wooden ship. Can you imagine that thing on
those waves going up and down? Vicki's dad used to be a fisherman
and she told me sometimes he was on 20, 30 foot waves. And
you know, you're up so high you can't even see the bottom. And
then you're so low, you can't see nothing except all this water
around you. And that's what happens in those
storms. It's scary. So he found himself in one of
them storms, didn't he? But never forget, our great God's
hand is in no way shortened, which means hindered. See, we
can be hindered by things, right? Things can occur that can, number
one, catch us by surprise. Nothing catches God by surprise.
Nothing. And then we can be hindered in
whether we can do things, certain things, either by our power,
which we don't have a whole lot of power, but what God's given
us to do things, or by not having the right things to accomplish
that, or by other people sometimes can hinder us too with things,
right? God is never hindered. There's no one in this world
that can thwart God. No one. Now, men think they can,
right? They think they can. Their pride
and self-righteousness. We were all there. Think they
can hinder God? Well, I'll never come to Him. That's what we used to say when
we were younger. Well, why do we need that? Why do we need
God? I'll never go to church, and now I'm a preacher. How do
you explain that? That's because that was part
of God's plan and purpose for my life. He made me willing in
the day of His power. It's all Him. He gets all the
glory for it. I was heading that way, and He
turned me around and headed that way. And I know it's so for all
you too, who love the Lord. It's incredible. And then now
we wonder, how did we live without Him? Well, because even before
we were saved, He was protecting us and watching over us, because
we were His people. Look at this though. This is
pretty amazing. Let's think about this here.
So Jonah, he's on this ship, and he's heading away from God.
I want to read these words first in Isaiah, in light of this blessed
truth that the Lord's hand cannot be hindered. Isaiah chapter 50,
verses 2 and 3. Wherefore, when I come, was there
no man? When I called, was there none
to answer? Is my hand shortened at all? That's the Lord asking.
Is my hand shortened at all, hindered, that it cannot redeem?
Is there anyone too far gone that the Lord's hand can't redeem
them? Nope. hope or its hand shall not be
hindered in every one of us who are believers are living proof
of that in that right yeah we know don't we we're living proof
of that he can redeem whomever he pleases he says or have I
no power to deliver does he have does he have no power to deliver
us from our sins but we have no power to deliver ourselves
from our sins but he has all power done that's why we say
flee to Christ Listen to this, behold at my rebuke I dry up
the sea. So someone's gonna say that God's
done all he can do now the rest is up to you and yet God at a
word of his power can dry up the sea. But yet he's sitting
there shaking his hands going, oh please choose me. I can't
do anything unless you let me. No, that's not the God of the
Bible. The God of the Bible says whom he wills, when he wills.
And we who are God's people say praise God for his mercy, because
he can dry up the seas just at the word of his power. He says,
I make rivers a wilderness. The fish stinketh, because there
is no water, and dieth for thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness,
and I make sackcloth their covering. That's the God of the Bible.
That's the God who people shake their fists at and say, I don't
believe that. Well, you're going to find out
it's true one day. And if you leave this world without trust
in Christ, you're going to find out He's real. He's real. Then
it'll be too late though. Our Lord is not hindered in no
way. His hand is hindered in no way to accomplish His purposes
in this earth. Now again, men are often lifted
up in pride. I was there, thinking that they
can accomplish things without His help. Or they sometimes think
they can escape the necessity of doing His will. Jonah fell
in the latter category at first. He tried to escape God. When
God told him to go to Nineveh, he took off on a boat, didn't
he? And then he found out the other way, that God's will is
in no way hindered. Because what happened? Well,
there was a big fish that swallowed him up. Turn if you would to
the book of Jonah chapter 1. Jonah chapter 1. And then Jonah
got, he got angry when the Lord turned the Ninevites to himself,
didn't he? But see, all of Jonah's efforts
were fruitless to hinder the will and purpose of God. God
told him, you're going to go to Nineveh. He said, no, I'm
going to go this way. So he gets on a boat, and all of a sudden
that boat is in a tremendous storm. Tremendous storm. My,
oh, my. Tremendous storm. Now Jonah's
going to find out the hard way what Nebuchadnezzar found out
the hard way. Remember, Nebuchadnezzar said these words, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will, speaking of God and the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? Nebuchadnezzar found out the
hard way, didn't he? He was eating dirt for a while. Now Jonah's
going to find out the hard way the truth of that passage. But
don't forget, Jonah's one of God's people. And we go through
trials and tribulations, don't we? We do. A lot of time for
our learning, too. For our learning. Helps us. Helps
us draw closer to the Lord. And we look back, Sister Kathy
and Dan and I were talking, and Vicki went a couple weeks back
about that, how Sister Kathy was bringing forth, you can look
back and say, wow, look at that. Look what the Lord did. Look
what He did. It was for my good. It was for my good, even though
I didn't see the purpose in it. But my, it worked out, didn't
it? It's incredible. It's absolutely incredible. intends
to accomplish his purpose in the earth, the bringing of the
message of the gospel to the Ninevites, which pictures sinners
like you and I, right? And he intends to mold and shape
those whom he called and bring them into the conformity with
Christ. And we see a picture of this with his dealings with
Jonah. And as we look at this, think of how intricately, again,
our God's purpose is accomplished in the life of Jonah. And then
just think, it's so for every one of us. It's so for every
one of us. You know, we don't bring it home
sometimes. But you look back at your life and see what the
Lord did and where He moved you to hear the gospel. It's just,
it's incredible. It's absolutely incredible. So
He does this for all of God's people. And we learn and we gain
a knowledge that God's purpose was being accomplished in our
lives and in the world at the same time. Don't forget that
too. At the same time that God was accomplishing His purpose
for you and I, He's accomplishing His purpose in the world as well.
So fear not what we see. God's will and purpose is being
accomplished. Just trust Him. Rest in Him.
He's our God. He's our King. Look at verse
17 of Jonah chapter 1. Look at this. Look at the wording
here. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.
And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three
nights. But note right there. Brother
Tom and I were talking about this. The Lord had prepared a
great fish. It's in the past tense. See,
we often think about Jonah. Jonah's getting thrown overboard
and the fish comes along and swallows him and then vomits
him out on the beach. But it says right there, the
Lord had prepared a great fish. You know how many times I read
that and went right by that? Not this time. The Holy Spirit
decided it was time for me to learn something with this. and
I'm just going to pass it on to you. Oh my, look at this,
prepared a great fish. And consider this, that before
Jonah was even born, the Lord had already selected and equipped
a fish to swallow Jonah. The egg from which this fish
hatched was laid in exactly the spot marked out for it by God
Almighty. And it became a great fish. That
takes years for those fish. And it grew to the exact size
that it needed to be to swallow him and to vomit him up. And
here's where it gets even better. This is the part that just knocked
my socks off. This is incredible. We consider
that Jonah, he's grabbed by those sailors and they just toss him
over, right? They just threw him over. Now remember what's
going on. It's like a hurricane. It's a great tempest. That water's
like bulletin soup just, you know, bubbling all over, right?
And he gets thrown into that. And here is this fish at the
exact time that Jonah hits that water. That fish is coming by. And he swallows up Jonah. Now
what would have happened to Jonah if that fish hadn't come by?
You ever think of that? I never even thought of that.
He'd have drowned. He'd have drowned. I'll tell you, you get
thrown overboard in a hurricane, or in a tempest, even if you've
got a life jacket on, there's not a good chance you're going
to live. And he just threw him over. And that fish was there
at the exact time it had come by, and it swallowed him up.
And if it hadn't been for the fact that the Lord had prepared
a great fish, Jonah would have died so God delivered his people
right there right he delivered one of his people right there
He showed deliverance and the Lord will always deliver his
people always always deliver his people sometimes here place
us in the midst of affliction so that we may learn that salvations
of the Lord and Jonah learned that didn't he because he cried
that from the belly of the whale Jonah 2 9 salvations of the Lord
He learned that. And the scripture says in Psalm
3, 4, I cried unto the Lord with my voice and he heard me out
of his holy hill. And that's what he did. He heard
Jonah's cry. But think of that. He had that
fish grow all those years to that size that it needed to be.
He prepared that fish and he had that fish go right by at
that exact time when Jonah went into the water. The world say,
well I was lucky. No, I wasn't lucky at all. That
was providence. That was the grace of God and
mercy shown to his people. That's what that was. Oh my.
He does so for us too. Think he saved us from all our
sins. Saved us from all of them. Amazing.
Now turn if you would to Jonah chapter 4. We see here that Jonah
was overtaken with grief and the Lord moved quickly to comfort
him. Jonah chapter 4 verse 6. He caused this vine to grow over
him and to cover him with shade. Says Jonah 4.6. And the Lord
God Jehovah Elohim prepared a gourd and it made and made it to come
up over Jonah, that it may be a shadow over his head to deliver
him from his grief. So Jonah was exceedingly glad
of the gourd. He was thankful for the gourd,
it got him shade. And this is out in the desert, and it gets
real hot in the desert. And we see this gourd, look at this
though, look at this. And the Lord God prepared a gourd. He prepared it. This gourd we
see was prepared by the Lord to see the drop at the exact
place it had grown, and at the exact place to give comfort to
Jonah. At the exact place, God will
always bring comfort to His people. When comfort is what we need,
God will always give us comfort. Always. Sometimes we cry out
for consolation when we really need correction. Sometimes. And
the Lord chastens us. He chastens those He loves. But
remember, when the Lord chastens us, it's never in anger. It's
in love. We're never being punished for
our sins because Christ already paid everything for our sins.
We're being chastened, that's all, when we go through certain
things. A lot of times we don't know when we're being chastened
for something. I just count everything up as trials and tribulations.
The Lord's putting me through to teach me some things, draw
me closer to Him. But once that chastening is done,
it passes and we are provided the relief we need at the proper
time, right? Look through in verse 7 now.
So the Lord provided a gourd, a gourd for comfort. Now look
at this. Look at this. Verse 7. We see here that God
prepared a worm to smoke that gourd. But God prepared a worm.
So this is the third time we see God prepared a big fish.
God prepared a gourd for comfort. Now we'll see, God prepared a
little wee worm. Insignificant worm in our eyes,
right? I was talking to Norm about this
and Norm said, I said, well after the worm was done whatever it
had to do, it probably went off somewhere else. And he said,
either that or Jonah crushed it, you know, because he got
angry because of what happened. And I said, yeah, that's a good
point too. We don't know. The scripture's silent. But this
worm was prepared by God. It says it in the scriptures.
Do you see how intricate and how in control he is over all
things? It says here, but God prepared
a worm and when the morning rose the next day and it smote the
gourd that it withered. Now the word smote there in Hebrew
means to strike. It means to kill. The worm killed
the gourd. God prepared that worm to kill
that gourd. That's what it means there in
the scripture. Some say, oh no, the worm just was hungry. He
just decided to eat. No, the scripture says God prepared
that worm Again, see how intricate and how in control our great
God, the God of the Bible is, not the God of people's imaginations,
but the God of the Bible. It's incredible. It's absolutely
incredible. Do you see how supremely sovereign
our great God is, just in these little instances right here?
Do we not see how nothing can hinder the Lord's purpose? You
remember, He went and preached in Nineveh, and the whole city
turned by the power of God, because God had purposed that. And Jonah
went off and got mad. You know, as a preacher, I don't
understand that. How do you get mad about the Lord saving people?
But He did. They did not like the Ninevites.
That's what it was. Jews did not get along with the
Ninevites. They were Gentile dogs. God has
a people, doesn't He? People His choosing. There was
a whole city of God's life there. That's incredible. And they had
to hear the Gospel, didn't they? They heard it, and they heard
it not in word only, but in power, in the power of the Holy Spirit
of God. Nothing can hinder our great God. Nothing can stop His
will from being accomplished. God prepared a worm to slay the
gourd, and often in the midst of enjoying the blessings of
God which God brings our way, we begin to forget from whom
those blessings flow. We sometimes begin to take them
for granted. and become angry at the Lord when our blessings
begin to wither. But we must be reminded, beloved
God, we must be reminded that the same One who prepared the
worm was also the same One who prepared the gourd and the same
One who prepared the fish to save Jonah. And our God purposed
and planned and prepared for our salvation, didn't He? And
the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, sent on a mission,
a planned and purposed mission to save His people from their
sins. And He accomplished that at Calvary when He shed His blood
for His people. That's why we say, we don't know
who God's elect are, so we say, flee to Christ. He's the only
hope for sinners. He's the only hope for sinners.
Then look at verse 8 of Jonah chapter 4. You know, Paul said,
I've learned whatever state I am in to be content. Be content.
Look at verse 8 of Jonah 4. And it came to pass that when
the sun did arise, that God prepared... Now here we go again, fourth
time. God prepared a vemin in east wind. My! And the sun beat
upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and he wished in
himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than
to live." How beloved of God all the wind and storm which
came upon this world are planned and purposed by God. All of it.
We see right here that nothing happens outside of his permissive
will. We see that so clearly, don't
we? Truly the earth is the Lord's in the fullness thereof. All
the way down to a little insignificant worm in our eyes, to a gourd,
to the wind which cools us, and sometimes fiercely comes, all
planned and purposed by God. And that's the one who saved
us. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Nothing too hard for
our great God. Oh my. In these things, these
trials and tribulations are not brought upon us to destroy us,
but that we might look to Him. Jonah learned to look to Christ,
didn't he? He said, in the belly of the
whale, salvation is of the Lord. He cried out to God in the belly
of the whale or the fish. He cried out. And again, these
things are bought upon us that we, our feet may be taken up
out of the miry clay of our own self-righteousness and our own
self and be put upon the solid rock of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 42 says this, He bought me out of a horrible pit. God
did that. I'll say that. God bought me
out of a horrible pit, out of a horrible pit of my own sin.
Now I'm still a sinner, but I'm a saved sinner, but it's God
that took me out of that pit that I was in. And if you're
a believer, you know it's God who took you out of that. This
is David saying, God took me out of the horrible pit and out
of the miry clay. And you know what the miry clay is. When you
try to get up, it's wet clay. And when you try to crawl your
way out, you just end up sliding back down in that pit. That's
what we were in. But help came from above, didn't
it? Help came from above. And then it says, and set my
feet upon a rock. A rock, not a bunch of rocks. A rock. That's the Lord Jesus
Christ. Set my feet upon Him. And then
it says, and established my goings. Now, did we not just see that
with Jonah? That God had established his goings. Look at that. Jonah
says, I'm going this way. The Lord says, he gets on that
boat, and God had already prepared before he was even born for what
was going to happen. He prepared a great fish. Swallowed him up.
At that exact time, he is tossed overboard. So do we not see how
intricately God is involved in our lives? He establishes our
goings. And that can bring us great comfort,
can it? Great comfort. Our Lord became a man to save
us from our sins, to redeem us from all our sins. And by the
shedding of His precious blood, praise be to God, He has accomplished
our salvation. By His one sin-atoning work at
Calvary's cross, He did it all. My salvation is not dependent
on anything I do. Nothing. I am saved by the grace
of God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ plus nothing. And if you're a believer, you
say Amen, right? Yeah? Because it's true, isn't
it? It's all Him. I'm just a receiver of the mercy
and grace of God. And that makes it joyful. We
couldn't lift ourselves out of the pit we were in. No, not at
all. And then He became a man to lift
us out of the pit we were in. God became a man to lift us out
of the sinful state we were in. God himself did that. The Word
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
No sin. Perfect. No sin in thought, no
sin in word, no sin in deed. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4.14-16. Let's go back to Psalm 24 psalm
24 we see in verse 1 of psalm 24 in verse 2 that God made this
earth full and he keeps it full think of that he made it full
and he keeps it full and It does not matter how much demand his
creatures that he created put upon it whether it be man or
animal It does not matter how much demand we put upon it. It's
still full. We lived at West There's so many
trees out there. It's unbelievable in Oregon There's
so many trees. It's absolutely incredible how
many trees are out there. Douglas fir, and redwoods, and
myrtlewood, and just absolutely incredible how much timber is
out there. And it just keeps growing. Man
cuts it down, just keeps growing. Like Brother Neil said, I was
at his house one time, out in the back, and he said, see that
beech tree out there? All it's ever done is produce beech trees.
And every time that beech tree drops seed, another beech tree
sprouts up. It's incredible. It's absolutely
kettle. So look at here. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. For
he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods.
So for, think of the fact for 6,000 plus years the earth has
kept producing, no matter how much demand living creatures
put upon it, it keeps producing. It keeps producing. The Lord
keeps it full. He keeps it full. How? By the
word of his power. Look at the sea. Think of how
many, for thousands of years, how many fish have been pulled
out of the sea. Thousands of years. Still more fish in the
sea. Again, think of the trees we cut down. Think of the fruit
we've eaten. 6,000 years worth. and it still
keeps producing. Apple trees keep producing apples.
Orange trees keep producing oranges. It's amazing. Flowers keep growing. We get seeds, we put them in
the garden, and God gives the increase. amazing. And the ground just keeps giving,
doesn't it? Just keeps giving. All by the word of God's power.
And think of the air. The air is full. Think of all
the lives that have lived on this world and breathed in the
air. There's still lots of air. The field again still yields
and trees still bear fruit. The earth and all the earth's
wonders are all Jehovah's. All His. These great lakes that
are so beautiful. Probably worth more than all
the gold and oil in the world because it's fresh water. It's
all His. He just allows us to drink out of it. But it's all
His. All His. Kings and presidents are mere
pawns in His hands. Whoever's in power, they're just
pawns in God's hands. He does with them whatever he
wills. Tom and I were talking about the Roman Empire. Remember
yesterday, Tom, and Tom bought forth how the Roman Empire was
raised up, was used, because the gospel spread like wildfire,
because they kept the Greek language, and the gospel spread like wildfire
during the New Testament times, and now it's gone. It's served
its purpose, as Brother Tom said. It's served its purpose. Now
it's gone. So God raises up kings, He raises up countries to serve
His purpose. I was thinking when we were talking
about that, we never got to talk about it. But England, England,
great nation. They used to say, Britannica
rules the waves. Out of England flowed the gospel
all over. Now, Britannica no longer rules
the waves. It served its purpose. Amazing,
amazing, absolutely amazing. So all these things are the Lord's. Everything in this world is the
Lord's. And this applies especially to us, we who are the born-again,
blood-washed saints of God. We are born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. We do not belong to the world. We do not belong
to Satan. But by creation and redemption,
we are a particular people chosen by the Lord, redeemed by the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are God's purchased
possession. And of course we say, why me?
Right? Do we not say that? Because it pleased God to do
so. I've had to learn that. And I
still say, why me? I know I'm just a sinner saved
by grace, but I keep reminding myself, because the scripture
declares, it pleased God to do so. Isn't that amazing? That's absolutely incredible.
Turn if you would to Colossians chapter 3. And you know this
applies to all races of men. You know that all races of men
are the Lord's? Everybody. See man distinguishes
by races and by color. But you know God doesn't do that.
You know that the body of Christ, we're split up into Jews and
Gentiles. Isn't that wonderful? No mention of color, no mention
of nationality, just Jews and Gentiles. I like that. That's
wonderful, isn't it? And you know why it's so? Because
we've all been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. We're
all redeemed by the same blood. As I always say here, that the
ground at the foot of the cross is level. I'm as a preacher know
better than anybody else. We're all level. When it comes
to the foot of the cross, we're all down here, aren't we? On
the same ground when we're standing up. That's right. We're all saved
by grace. We who are the people of God.
We're all saved by the mercy of God. We're all on level ground.
I learned that from Scott and I'll never forget that. That's
probably one of the most wonderful statements I ever heard a preacher
say. Found at the foot of the cross is level. Well praise be
to God. Isn't that wonderful? Just a
bunch of mercy beggars saved by the same grace and mercy of
God. We all look at each other and
go, me? Yeah, praise be to God, not by our doing, not by our
merit, but all by the grace and mercy of God. Colossians chapter
3, look at this. You know in the body of Christ,
one grace preacher brought this forth, in the body of Christ
he's made an end of nationalities. This is wonderful, look at this,
Colossians chapter 3, we'll look at verses 9 to 13. Lie not one
to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his
deeds. and to put on the new man, this means to be born again,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in
all. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. So we see here
in Colossians 3.11 that it shows us that we who are the Lord's
are His in a particular way. We're not distinguished by race
but we're distinguished by character because it's all a result of
our supreme sovereign's work in us. We're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God and we're all saved and redeemed by Christ. Look at verse 11 again, where
there is neither Greek nor Jew, that's the two separations right
there, which is Gentile or Jew. See, the Jews just lumped all
the Gentile nations into, they're just a bunch of Gentile dogs.
But we see here, Paul goes a little further when he says, there's
neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, so that shows
the divide there between the Jew and the Gentile. Barbarian,
we know what the barbarians are. The Scythians, I told you before,
they're the barbarians of the barbarians, the worst of the
worst. Bond nor free, that talks about if you're a slave or not
a slave, right? But Christ is all in all, so
there it is. Christ is all in all to every
single believer in the body of Christ. Isn't that wonderful?
It's wonderful. So we see we're not distinguished
by race, but we're distinguished by character, being born again
of the Holy Spirit of God. Now let's go back to Psalm 24,
verse 3. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? It says here,
who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Well, no man or
woman can work their way to heaven. No man or woman can work their
way to glory. We cannot climb to heaven, we cannot work our
way to heaven, but only those who are born again blood-washed
saints of God shall ascend the hill of the Lord. And it's all
by the grace and mercy of God. The Lord will not save all the
people in the world, but he has a chosen people, doesn't he?
He has a chosen people in this world, chosen people who he purposed
to save. They're saved on purpose. Saved
on purpose. God chose us in Christ. Christ
redeemed us. The Holy Spirit regenerated us.
And who shall be able to stand or continue there? Because we
see this is a holy place. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Who shall be able to stand or continue there? Well,
no one but those who are made holy by the righteousness of
Christ. None can ever live in the presence of the glory of
God Almighty without the righteousness of Christ. The law will not bring
us into his presence, no. The law shuts us out from him.
But Christ, only by Christ and by his grace, can he make us
fit to behold the divine presence. There's no other way. So may
we examine ourselves and ask the question, Lord is this true
of me? Next we see the question in verse
3 answered in verses 4 to 6. Psalm 24 verses 4 to 6. He that
hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul
into vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing
from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy
face, O Jacob Selah. Now note in verse 4, he that
hath clean hands. This is outward practical holiness,
which is always a mark of grace. We don't go out and go crazy,
do we? No. The love of Christ constrains
us from sin. We're still sinners to our shame,
but we don't go out and go crazy anymore. I never used to even
think about sin before the Lord saved me. Now we're restrained
by the power of God. And it's a fact that many have
perverted this doctrine of justification by faith, and they treat good
works with contempt. But we know from Ephesians 2.10
that God has ordained us to good works. Now we do not know what
those are, but God has ordained us to those things. So it's vain
to speak of an inward experience unless the daily life is a life
which is dedicated to God. And we love the Lord, don't we?
And how do we prove that? Well, we just keep looking to
Him, don't we? We just keep clinging to Him.
We don't desire to sin like we used to. Now we desire to live
for Him. But we're still sinners. You
know, we're still sinners. But do we hate sin now? Yeah.
And again, it's more in ourselves than anywhere else. My! The Lord
said, take no thought for your life. Solomon had it all. He
had everything. And he found out that all the
pleasures of this world were but vanity. Vanity of vanity,
he says, all is vanity. Now man loves things in this
world. Don't they love things in this
world? They love the joys of sin. They love all the carnal
things that they can get. They love riches and honors and
prestige and names and fame. But you know, those are all empty
vanities. And again, Solomon found that
out. Those are all empty vanities. When you have Christ, you have
everything. you are far richer than anyone
in this world. Because in Christ are all spiritual
blessings, all riches are in Him. And praise be to God, He
has redeemed us, He's purchased us, He's regenerated us, He's
saved us. And you know what? He ever watches
over us. Isn't that a blessing? Donny
Bell used to say, being a gone Jesse, I asked him, I said, what's
a gone Jesse, Donny? I hear it all the time in your
sermons. He says, well that's the guy when you go and you're
you're going to do something maybe you're going to scrap with
a couple guys and he says I'm with you I'm with you and he
says he says you get there and the guys are gone Jesse you just
took right off and you're standing there in front of four people
he said and I said okay I know what those guys are like but
would we not be gone Jesse's if the Lord didn't take old care
of us and watch over us we would we'd be we'd be off doing our
own thing wouldn't we we would be but He restrains us and He
keeps us. And think of this too, Christ
did all those things for us. By His obedience, many are made
righteous, right? By one, many were made sinners.
All of us fell in Adam, but by one, many are made righteous,
those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, those who are saved
and redeemed by His precious blood and regenerated by the
Holy Spirit of God. Let's read verses five and six
now quickly. It says, He shall receive the blessing from the
Lord and righteousness from the God of His salvation. This is
the generation of them that seek Him, that seek Thy face, O Jacob,
Selah. So the Lord's people here have
been described by their inward and outward holiness, and they're
not saved by merit, not by their works. And their works are mere
evidences of their salvation. The things that we do for the
Lord are just mere evidences of our salvation. That's all.
We desire to serve Him. We desire to know Him more and
more. And the great King has clothed
us with the garment of salvation, the righteousness of Christ,
out of His free love, all out of His free love towards us.
And the true saint of God, the born-again, blood-washed saint
of God wears the wedding garment, which is the righteousness of
Christ. That's the righteousness of Christ, the wedding garment.
And we proclaim, all of us, we proclaim that the Lord has provided
this garment, and the Lord has clothed us in this garment. We
didn't do nothing. We're standing there and he puts
it on us. Oh my, we saw that a few weeks ago with Joshua in
that study. And with Joshua being standing
there in front of the Lord, angel of the Lord in his filthy garments.
And God says, yeah, put a robe on him. that represents the righteousness
of Christ. And we do not wear our own merits,
not our own righteousness, that's like filthy rags in the eyes
of the Lord. But we've received a perfect spotless wedding garment
from the Holy Spirit of God. Turn if you would to Ezekiel,
to Ezekiel chapter 16. Here we're going to see the change.
We're going to see a change right before us. We're going to see
a change right before us. God's grace is highly exalted
when we give all the glory to the Lord. When we give all the
glory to the Lord. I'm almost done here. Just a
couple more chapters, or chapters, not a couple more chapters, no,
I'm sorry. Couple more verses here, that's all. But look at
this in Ezekiel. We're going to see our natural
state, then we're going to see us bought to Christ, and then
we're going to see us clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
Ezekiel chapter 16, starting in verse 3. And say, Thus saith
the Lord God unto Jerusalem, Thy birth and thy nativity is
of the land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, and
thy mother in Hittite, Ezekiel 16 verse 3. So there it shows
us our natural state, just dead in trespasses and sins. As for
thy nativity and the day thou was born, thy navel was not cut,
neither was thou washed in water to supple thee, thou was not
salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee, to
do any of these unto thee to have compassion upon me but that
was cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person
in the day that thou was born now look at this now we're going
to see the life-giving mercy of God on display look at verse
6 here and when I pass by thee all look at that when I pass
by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood I said unto
thee when I was in thy blood live live Yeah, I said unto thee
when I was in thy blood, live. Oh, there was a time when the
life-giving power of the Holy Ghost was exercised upon us,
right? We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. Live, live. I have caused thee to multiply
as the blood in the field. Now is it increased and waxen
great. Now come the excellent ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned and
thine hair is growing. Whereas thou was naked and bare.
There we were, naked and bare. He came by and he said, live.
So we're one of His. Now look at this. In the latter
part of this, from 8 to 14, we're going to see us decked in the
righteousness of Christ. What a picture we have here.
Verse 8, Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold,
thy time was a time of love. That's when we heard the gospel.
When we heard the gospel, it was our time of love. It was
our time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee,
and covered thy nakedness. Look at that. He covers our nakedness. Yea, I swore unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee. Oh, we were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Saith the Lord God, and
thou became mine. Oh, isn't that wonderful? We're
the Lord's. We're His by creation. We're
His by choosing. We're His by redemption. We're
His by regeneration. And one day we'll be His by glorification.
We're His, all according to His mercy and grace. Then I washed
thee with water, yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee,
and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee with brooded work,
and shewed thee with badger skin, and I girded thee about with
fine linen. That's the righteousness of Christ.
I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments.
I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck, and
I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and
a beautiful crown upon thy head. We're kings and priests. made
so by the Lord. Thus was thou decked with gold
and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen and silk and broilered
work, and thou didst eat fine flour and honey and oil, and
thou wast exceedingly beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a
kingdom. And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness.
Compliments there in Hebrews beauty they were made beautiful
like we are made beautiful by Christ in that wonderful Which
I look at that which I put upon thee he clothed us in his own
righteousness Say it the Lord God. So now let's go back to
Psalm 24. We're closed with the last four verses here in Because
what can we say after reading that, after seeing our state,
our natural state, and seeing what the Lord's done for us,
what can we say about these words in verses 7 to 10? Lift up your
heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord, mighty in battle. Lift
up your heads, O ye gates. Even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King
of Glory? The Lord of Hosts. He is the
King of Glory, Selah. Just think about it. Peace. Just
take those words and just meditate upon them. Let your heart sing. So beloved of God, if Christ
is our shepherd in the meadows down here, when he makes us to
lie down in green pastures of his grace, he will also be our
shepherd in heavenly pastures, where the Lamb, which is in the
midst of the throne, shall feed us and shall lead us into living
fountains of water. And we will praise his name forever.
We will follow the Lamb wherever he goes. We'll follow the Lamb.
Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the
King of glory, our Savior, our Redeemer, our God. And our King,
praise His mighty name.