you so so So, Yeah. We do welcome you to the service
this morning. We invite you to take your hymnal,
turn to hymn number 19. 19, I Sing the Mighty Power of
God. And let's stand as we sing. I
sing the mighty power Touched with the flowing seas
above, And filled the lofty skies. I sing of his long melody, A
song to remember, The moonshine's blue at his side. I sing the goodness of the Lord,
and fill the earth with joy. He formed the creatures with
His Word, and then pronounced Him good. Lord, how I wonder
on this day, where'er I turn my eye. There's not a plan for the heaven
on which I go. There's not a plan for the heaven on which I go.
There's not a plan for the heaven on which I go. There's not a plan for the heaven
on which I go. There's not a plan for the heaven on which I go.
There's not a plan for the heaven on which I go. There's not a plan for
the heaven on which I go. There's not a plan for the heaven on which I go.
There's not a plan for the heaven on which I go. There's not a plan for
the heaven on which I go. There's not a plan for the heaven on
which I go. There's not a plan for the heaven on which I go. There's not a
plan for the heaven on which I go. There's not a plan for
the heaven on which I go. There's not a plan for the heaven on which I go.
There's not a plan for the heaven on which I go. There's not a plan for
the heaven on which I go. There's not Well, we are thankful that the
Lord has brought us into this place this morning
and we welcome each of you on the eve of the New Year. We thank God for his grace in
bringing us safely to this point and we look ever to praise him
and thank him for it. We have a lot of folks sick and
out today. Bill Reese and Peggy and a number
of other people who are sick with the common ailments of the
season. We pray for all of them and ask
the Lord's mercy upon them. For our reading this morning,
I want you to turn to Psalm 79. Psalm 79. O God, the heathen are come into
thine inheritance. Thy holy temple have they defiled. They have laid Jerusalem on heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants
have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the
flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood
have they shed like water round about Jerusalem, and there was
none to bury them. We are become a reproach to our
neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are round about
us. How long, Lord, will thou be
angry forever? Shall thy jealousy burn like
a fire? Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen
that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not
called upon thy name. For they have devoured Jacob
and laid waste his dwelling place. Oh, remember not against us former
iniquities. Let thy tender mercies speedily
prevent us, for we are brought very low. Help us, O God, of
our salvation, for the glory of thy name, and deliver us and
purge away our sins for thy name's sake. May the Lord bless His
Word to our understanding. Our Father, this morning we are
in this world as your people. The very way that the psalmist
has described us. Hated by the world, persecuted
by the world, counted as did by the world, not of the world. And we pray that you might, in
your great mercy and in your great power, do as is the purpose
and by thy own mighty hand. Lord, we know not what instrument
you will choose to do this, But we know that you are the one
who does all things, especially as it concerns your people. We thank you for the Lord Jesus
Christ. We thank you for the revelation
of your grace in him. For mercies that are new every
day. For that eternal salvation. that you give in him. For him
who is eternal life and all righteousness that is imputed to your people,
grant that we might rightly know you and be pleased and thankful
with you and speak right things of you before this present evil
world. Lord, we ask your strength We
ask your grace. We pray for that forgiveness
which is in Christ Jesus by his blood. We thank you for every
gift that you have bestowed upon us in that bounty. We pray for all your people that
are about this world this morning. All in every place, afflicted,
persecuted, Lord, in need of your ever-present hand and help,
and for your true servants who preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Lord, we ask that you would receive
our thanks, for we make our prayer in that one great mediator and
high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. And your hymnal is once again,
290, Chosen of God. And Brother Tim,
if you'll wait on the congregation. The Lord rises to sing, and calls
for delighting in Jesus the King. The peoples of heaven, so honored
of heart, ready, prompt, and fashioned by Calvary's law. O'er enemies' faces, O'er the
face of night, I am who has promised the Lord no good-bye. For he who has loved me and loved
you, to save our people. And trust in my voice and you'll
save all my friends. so so so I don't know about you, but some
mornings, it feels like you're rolling in on fumes. The situations
of life, our flesh that we contend with
all the day long, all week long, and just, it seems like everything
wants to keep you from gathering with God's people. And if it
were not for the grace of God, those things would keep us from
gathering with God's people. But God brings us together. He brings us under his word.
He brings us under the truth again and again and again to
give us more grace to keep going. So I sang this song A couple
weeks ago, and it was written to the tune of Amazing Grace,
but I changed a few lines as I was looking over it this week.
Nothing too profound, but I just think they work a little better.
But I just want to say it's a privilege to be under the truth. There's so many different churches
out there. There's so many different strains
of religion. It's like a buffet. And the fact
that God would be pleased to bring us under his word and to
reveal Christ to us is no small thing. So I pray that, it's my
hope and prayer that we'll leave here this morning refreshed in
the truth and ready to keep fighting the good fight of faith. Sovereign grace, how sweet the
truth Received by faith alone This faith a gift from God above
No merit of our own No goodness to be found within
Our soul's corrupted shore But in our substitute we find Forgiveness
is a sure A wall of grace, salvation free
No works in which to boast Save Christ in His own righteousness
This is our only hope His righteousness he freely gives
to all he's called his own. His blood has paid their debt
for sin. His spirit makes this known. Thank you. Turn back in your Bibles to where
we read in Psalm 79. We've come down to the end of
the year. Paul said there's a lot of things
that have happened. We've had a lot of experiences,
some we call good and some we call bad. But I want to read again the
ninth verse. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name, and
deliver us and purge away our sins for thy name's sake. You might not believe it. As a matter of fact, you will
not believe it, apart from God's grace, that there's something more important
than you. There's something more important
than me. There's something more important
than our happiness, our comfort, our needs, our will,
our way, our satisfaction, our life, even our salvation. You see, one of the products
of the fall is that fallen man thinks it's all about him. We think it's all about self. But it absolutely isn't. It's about God. That's the title of my message
this morning. It's about God. And it's all about His glory. The scriptures say again and
again, it's for His namesake. And it tells us that this whole
creation, which he has created, was not only created by him,
but also for him. For God. And it is created in order to
magnify him. and to exalt him. And everything in it was his
design to do so. He created it all. Man created
nothing. Nothing. Let me read to you a
portion of scripture that's found in Daniel chapter
4 and this is found because this
man Nebuchadnezzar had this same view that we all have by nature. I did it and it's for me. It says that he went out And he spoke these words as he
viewed all of Babylon, his supposed creation. Verse 29 says, and at the end
of 12 months, he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake and said, is not
this great Babylon that I have built? for the house of my, of
the kingdom by my might, by the might of my power and
for the honor of my majesty. We all say that and think that
in so many ways every day. But while the word was in the
king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar,
to thee it is spoken. The kingdom is departed from
thee, and they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall
be with the beasts of the field. They shall make thee eat. grass
as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou knowest
that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and gives
it to whomsoever he will. You see, the reason One of the
reasons that God set apart that tree in the midst of the garden and forbid Adam and Eve to eat
thereof was simply to display and make known his right as God
to do what he will, to rule over his creatures. Because he tells us in Isaiah
43, even everyone that is called by my name, for I have created
him for my glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made him. Who's that? Everybody for his
glory. I created them for my glory. And in this creation, we see
God, though in our blindness, we do not confess him, but creation
displays God. Creation shows the determination
of God, the ruler of God as an absolute sovereign. I've often said this, all that
we have to know that God is God and an absolute sovereign is
to watch the weather. He controls the weather. And when he controls the weather,
it ought to tell us that he controls everything. Everything. Look over in Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one, it tells
us in verse 19, because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them, showed it
to all men, but they've not seen him. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. So that they are without excuse. All of creation declares God,
shows God as this absolute sovereign ruler, but they glorify Him not
as God. Because when they knew God, they
glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain
in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened, and
professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed,
or exchanged the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image,
made likened to corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-footed
beasts, and creeping things. Men look at the creation and
they see what is obviously, unmistakably a creator, a God who's made all
these things, yet they glorify Him not as God and they make
to themselves idols. And He predetermines all things
concerning everything and He does all his will in all things
with all men, even the wicked, even the devils. He rules it all for his glory. The psalmist said in Psalm 83,
let them be confounded and troubled for ever. Yea, let them be put
to shame and perish, that men may know that thou, whose name
alone is Jehovah, are the most high over all the earth. Every person. Turn over to Proverbs Chapter
16, listen to these words. Proverbs 16 and verse 4, the
Lord, the sovereign Lord, hath made all things for himself, not for your happiness. not for
my will or my way, not for my joy, not for my health, not for
my happiness. The Lord hath made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." Every person, all those myriads
of people that were destroyed during the flood, all the inhabitants
of the cities of the plain, like Sodom and Gomorrah, all these
wicked people, the Lord made them for himself to show his
glory. And he gives us Pharaoh as the
example. Let me read you this out of Exodus,
the book of Exodus. Chapter nine, speaking of Pharaoh
in Exodus nine and verse 16, he says, and in very deed for
this cause have I raised thee up for to show in thee my power
and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. I've raised you up, I've made
you, I've exalted you to the head of Egypt, I've put you in
authority, I've given you wealth, I've done all these things that
I might show in you my power and glory. Look over at chapter 14. Chapter
14 and verse 4. And I will harden
Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them. And I will
be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his host, that the Egyptians
may know that I am the Lord." And they did so. They didn't know so in grace.
They didn't know so in mercy. But because all things are made
for him, and for his own glory, and honor, and majesty, all men,
even the wicked, will know who God is. And then in Romans 19, Paul's
speaking also of Pharaoh too. Romans 19, I mean Romans 9 and
verse 17. Paul quotes those very verses
and he says, for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, says to all
of us and to Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised
thee up that I might show my power in thee and that my name
might be declared through all the earth. And yet when you read such verses
to people, they have the rebellion and the blindness and the ignorance
and the defiance to say, oh, my God wouldn't do that. And they're right. But that's what the God of the
Bible did. That's what the God of the Bible
says. And the truth about God is this. He cannot be changed. He's the
Lord who changes not. And He cannot be improved. And He cannot be added to. He can only be revealed. And even He must do that. Even He must do that. So that's
what it is to glorify God. If you can't change Him, nothing
you do changes Him or adds to Him or improves Him in any way. So what is it to glorify God? It's to praise Him and to proclaim
Him for who He is. You see, we don't know God unless
we know Him as He is. Unless we're brought to confess
Him as He is. And not only for who He is, but
for what He's done. We're talking about two different
gods. If we're not talking about God
as He is, if we're not talking about Him in what the Bible says
that He's done, All we have in our imaginations,
as Paul says there in Romans 1, all we have in our imagination,
whether it's spoken from the pulpit or just believed in the
mind, is an idol, a false god. It's not God. And that's what we do when we
preach His gospel. That's what we do when we preach
His gospel. We show His glory. If you look back over in Exodus
chapter 33, and you remember that question
that Moses asked the Lord here in Exodus chapter 33 in verse
18, Moses asked him this, he says,
and he said, I beseech thee, show me your glory. Show me your glory. And God said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee. This is all God's goodness, all
God's grace, all God's name. And will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. That's what God says to Moses. in response to his question. I'll make it all pass before
you. I'll make you know all my name. It can be summed up in this. I'll be gracious to whom I'll
be gracious, and I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy, and that
to the glory of God, because none deserve grace or mercy. No other can extend grace or
mercy. But God, in the greatness of
His person, and in this great work in Christ, that's exactly
what He does. He saves His people from their
sin. He has mercy on them. He has grace on them. And He
does so just because He would. Because they don't deserve it. Because all are sinners. And that's what the psalmist
cries out here in this verse. Help us, O God, of our salvation. This is the only basis of appeal. This is the only way we can plead
for God to save us. Help us, oh God, of our salvation
for the glory of thy name. And deliver us and purge away
our sins for thy name's sake. That can be the only basis. God can only show mercy to us
as God, as the absolute sovereign that he is. He cannot base it
upon need because everyone born of Adam has that need. He can't base this on simply
a human cry because many have cried out to God to save them. but he can bless them and save
them as God. And the only reason that he would
do it, the only reason that he can do it, is he'd do it for
his glory. And that's what it is. All of
salvation, true biblical salvation, God's salvation, all of salvation
glorifies God. Because in that salvation is
the direct declaration of who God is. It's more than just the
saving of souls. It's the declaration, it's the
demonstration of who God is and how he is, and the only way he
can save and be God. Most people want God to change
to save them. They want God to do something
that He can't do to save them. That is be unjust. They want
God to follow their own little whims and wills. And no, God
saves as God. That's His glory. And especially as it is in the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is said to be the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. God in his entirety. God in his complexity. Saves his people in Christ. In Christ. And the thing that belongs to
him in everything, but especially in salvation, is this. God has determined that he'd
have the preeminence. The preeminence. That means all
the glory. And his greatest glory in this
salvation is his grace. I was talking to someone this
week. We do not know the grace of God that he has shown to sinners
like we are until we're brought to some realization and revelation
of who we are and who God is and the great difference that
is between. if God ever shows us who and
what we are. If he ever brings us to quit
bragging on ourselves, and trusting in ourselves, and relying on
something that we did, and show us the helpless, hopeless sinners
that we are, and yet at the same time, He declares to us who He
is and how He is as the sovereign God who's not dependent upon
us, who doesn't need us, who cannot in Himself receive us
except in this one way. If we ever see that great spance
and divide that He bridged and that He condescended to in Christ, maybe we'll know something about
grace. Because grace isn't just God
reaching down and offering a helping hand. Grace isn't God just looking
the other way and being good to us. Grace is God coming down in human
flesh to suffer and to die in the place of his people in order
to endure and bear in his own body on that tree what they really
deserve, which was death and eternal banishment from God. Why would he do that? For his glory. No other reason. You don't deserve. We are all so self-centered and
so interested in how our life is going to be and what we're
going to do and what we're going to have and how we're going to
feel. We're not interested in God's
glory. But it's offering His glory. It's all for His glory. And His
glory, His chief glory is His sovereign grace in Christ. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 46. Isaiah chapter 46. And look at that 13th verse where
God speaks in such a way here in the book of Isaiah, often
declaring himself to be God, declaring himself to be the only
God, and he talks about what he's gonna do. And he says, I
bring near my righteousness, and it shall not be far off,
and my salvation shall not tarry, and I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel, Our glory. Why did God deal with the nation
of Israel for so long and put up with so much and bring them
so low and then lift them up and deliver them in His mercy? He did it for His glory. And that was to picture His true
Israel, His true people that He saved and that He blesses
and keeps for His glory. For His glory. Because He's a just God and a
Savior. If you ever are told of God,
how that He can be a just God and at the same time be a Savior,
you'll find out something about His true glory, His true wisdom,
His true love, His true goodness, His true faithfulness, because it's for Him. I remember Brother Scott Richardson
used to say, quite famously often he'd say, He said, before God
does something for you, he has to do something for himself. And that's what God is doing
in Christ. When Abraham was asked of Isaac,
he said, I see the fire. You have the fire, and you have
the knife, and we have the wood for the sacrifice, but where
is the land? And that man Abraham wisely and
believingly said, God will provide himself a land. It's for himself. It's to magnify
his justice. It's to display his grace. And
it's to reveal the host of perfect attributes all together that
make up His glory and His being. He's a just God and a Savior. Turn to Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah
42. And look at verse 8. He says, I am the Lord, and that
is my name. And my glory will I not give
to another, neither my praise to graven images. If we're praising anything other
than the true and the living God, we're not praising God. He's not only not pleased with
it, he'll deal with it. Because he says, I will not give
my glory to another. Look at Isaiah chapter 48. Isaiah
chapter 48 and verse 11. He says, for mine own sake. Even
for mine own sake will I do it. For how should my name be polluted,
and I will not give my glory unto another?" That's why he
said, I'm going to save Israel. I'm going to deliver them. They
don't deserve it, but I've attached my name to that people, and I'm
going to deliver them for my glory, for my own namesake. Look at John chapter 12. John chapter 12. In verse 23. When our Lord was close to coming
to the cross. when he had lived before men
in the flesh all these years on earth in sinless perfection
and glory. And Jesus answered him, saying, The hour has come that the Son
of Man should be glorified. Was he going to be shown something else other
than he was? No, he was going to be revealed
for what he was. He was going to be revealed
as the Messiah who would be cut off, the one who would bear the
sins of many, the one who would make an end of sins. He would be glorified as the
one who would save all his people in the way that God could be
just and the justifier. Look in chapter 17 of John. Speaking to the Father, he says
in verse four, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify
thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was. The Son glorifies the Father,
and the Father glorifies the Son, which simply means reveals
who each is to the glory and honor of God as this just God
and this Savior who saves all His people from their sins, who
cried out It's finished. Sometimes I think about it like
this. Here's a canvas. Gonna be a work of art. There's
a lot of background in it. There's a lot of this and that
and the other. And a man comes by and he takes the brush and
dabs it in the paint and puts one little mark. Or he comes
over here and he puts another little mark. Is it finished? No, the salvation that's in Christ,
the master who finishes the work, and when all the work is done,
declares it finished, and all that work together manifests
God as He is, and shows the salvation that he has accomplished. In 1 Peter 4, verse 11, it says,
if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any
man minister, let him do it as of the the ability which God
giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus
Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen. If we don't speak what glorifies
God, if we don't declare him in his holy and his just and
his righteous character, If we don't tell of all his words and
his works, we've not glorified him. In Malachi he said, for from
the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my
name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place
incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering
For my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of
hosts. But we live in a day of God who
is weak and pitiful. A God who is obviously by whom
they say he'll take to heaven or cast in hell unjust. A God who wishes he could, but
he can't. A God who tries, but will in
the end ultimately fail. A Christ who made salvation possible
for all, but it must be made sure or authenticated or made
effectual by something that a sinner does. That's not God. There's nothing glorious about
such a God. Turn over with me to Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. These first 14 or so verses of
Ephesians kind of make up one sentence. But in that one sentence, God exalts himself and his grace. Verse three, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of His will." Now notice
this, what the Father has done. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. Wherein He hath made us accepted
in the beloved. Okay? The beloved, Christ, the
Son. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of time he might gather
together in one thing, one, all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory. who first trusted in Christ. Then, in whom also, in whom ye
also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, you were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Father, Son, and
Spirit, which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession, there it is again,
unto the praise of His glory. The triune God, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, in those sacred persons, doing all that's necessary to
save his people to the praise of his glory, to
the praise of the glory of his grace. And so when Paul comes to the
New Testament, He says such things as, whether
you eat, whether you drink, whatever you do, do for His glory. He says, if you be called upon
to suffer, do so for His name's sake. Paul, when he wrote to the Corinthians,
2 Corinthians chapter 4, Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness,
not handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation
of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscious in the
sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that lost, in whom the God of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commended the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. in the face
of Jesus Christ. Where does the light of the glory
of God shine the brightest, shine the most beneficial to our soul? It's in the face or the person
of Jesus Christ. So this is our plea. Help us, oh God, of our salvation. For the glory of thy name. I don't have any glory. I don't have any basis upon which
to plead. but my plea is to God for his
glory and deliver us and purge away
our sins for thy name's sake. Do it for thy name's sake. Because it's all about you. All that I've ever lived, everything
that was ever made, is for Him. It's all about God. And the knowledge of this and
the assurance of this in our hearts is the only thing that'll
take our fallen minds off of all this other stuff. All these problems, all these
difficulties, all these cares, all these trials, all this stuff,
it's all about God. Our Father, we pray, In the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That you will fix our mind. Fix our hearts. Toward your glory. In the coming year, grant us
more grace. More faith, more. Of a revelation
of yourself. and your grace to us that we might live in that light and ascribe all, all that we have, all that we've
been made to be, all our salvation, all our righteousness, everything
down to the smallest drink of water. crumb of bread, all by your grace and for your
glory. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Thank you.