I want you to turn back in your
Bibles this morning to Psalm 65, where we read. Psalm 65. I guess I could start this morning
by asking you this question. Do you really believe that the
Bible is the Word of God? Now, there are a lot of people
who say they do. And I just was sitting there
thinking that when everything is said and done, it won't matter
whether you thought I was wrong or not, or I thought you were
wrong or not, It won't matter whether you zealously
defended your position or whether I did it. It will all boil down to this,
what thus saith the unchanging Lord. He's not going to learn
anything between now and eternity. And He's not going to change
and alter without any doubt. And this book is his truth. And it is what we are to believe
about all things, especially in the matter of how God saves
sinners. It's just got to be that way. And yet, at the same time, this
same Word tells us that it is not only difficult, but it is
impossible for us to understand and believe its meaning apart
from a work of God's grace in us because of our fallen, blind
nature. This is the truth. And yet we, as sinners fallen
in Adam, are blind to the truth, in need of the grace and power
of God. Paul says it like this. He says,
because the carnal mind – and before you let those in this
world make that some kind of a sexual connotation there, it
means our natural, by birth, mind. Everything we think of
ourselves and about everyone else, especially God, the carnal
mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be." Neither indeed can be. And so God must not only give
us understanding, but also give us a heart and a will to receive
the things of His Word. I often think about what grace
is needed and what power from God must be exercised if a sinner
believes one truth from this book, just one truth. Paul writing to the Corinthians,
he said, but as it is written, This isn't anything new. This
has been this way a long time, ever since the fall. But as it
is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him. It just hasn't even entered into
our minds naturally. We don't even have a clue of
ourselves. He says, the natural man receives
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. These are not natural things
easily received by natural men. These are spiritual things and
must be spiritually discerned. And so Paul says to those believing
Corinthians, and includes himself and all of God's people, he says,
but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God." The title of my message this
morning is simply this. Can you believe one verse in
the Bible? And when I say believe it, I
mean, on the one hand, to acknowledge it to be true. And yet, at the same time, and
on the other hand, not only acknowledge it to be true, but delight in
it, take courage in it, and rejoice in it. Just one verse in the
Bible. And I would say this, if you
can believe, I mean from your heart, with some comprehension
of your mind, if you can believe this one verse, you can believe
all the Scriptures. Look down with me in Psalm 65
and the fourth verse. What amazes me about this is
as David talks about the glory and the grandeur and the power
of God, he cannot get far into his song before he has to stop
and praise Him for His grace, for His salvation for sinners
in Christ. He says, Blessed is the man whom
thou choosest, and causeth to approach unto thee, that he may
dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy He makes this statement to God. And I dare say that a great part
of worship, and this is a psalm or a song of David to be used
in worship and his own personal worship, but a great part of
worship is simply acknowledging and saying back to God what he
has said. Don't you think so? How could
we praise Him higher? How could we speak more correctly
of our God except to acknowledge what He has said and say it back
to Him with thanksgiving? And He says this to God. And not only does He say it to
God, but He states it as a statement of God's absolute truth. This is the way it is. And what men refuse by nature,
and what they sometimes call unfair, and especially what they
seek to explain away, that's what God declares. That's what the writers of Scripture
declare. And these things not only have
to do with the salvation of sinners, but they have more importantly
to do with the glory of God. We see nothing rightly until
we see and until we understand that the most important thing
is the glory of God, honoring God. And so here in this verse
is the good news, is the glad tidings of all the Bible, of
all the gospel in one verse. Can you believe one verse? Not
without the grace of God. not without the Spirit of God
revealing it in our hearts and teaching it to us and making
it an essential part of all that we are. You see, David here says
that there is a man. He could have said there is a
woman. In other words, there are people who he describes here
as blessed of God. Everybody is looking for a blessing. Well, here, the psalmist says,
is somebody who is blessed of God. And that literally means
something like happy. Happy is this person. Or as it
actually is, oh, how happy are these people. They are blessed
of God. And he uses this and others in
the Bible again and again. In another psalm, blessed is
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. That's who's happy in this world.
They're the only ones who are happy or can be happy. Here's
another one, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed
is the man that trusts in Him. That's a happy man. That's a
joyful man. Here's another one. Blessed is
the man that makes the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the
proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. That's a happy man. But here in this verse, he gives
a description. And he speaks of a number of
reasons, all in this one verse, why these are described as the
psalmist is led by the Spirit of God, why these are described
as being blessed of God. Here is the first thing. He says,
Blessed is the man whom thou In other words, when this world
is so full of emphasizing the will and the choice and the decisions
of men, so much so that they have created a kind of decisional
regeneration. That is, you are born again if
you decide to be. Or you are born again if you
decide for God. And so man's choice becomes the
motivating factor and cause for every blessing that comes from
God when that cannot be or man would get the glory for it. He
said, blessed is the man that thou choosest. And so just like
it is everywhere in this book, The first things that we are
confronted with in the matter of God and His salvation is God
initiating and God acting, God as our Savior, God in election. Blessed is the man that Thou
choosest. And David begins, where this
book begins, where the gospel begins. David begins at the fountainhead
of all blessing, and that is with God Himself. You can't start with man. You can't start with man's need.
You can't start with man's problem, because if God is not the way
the Bible says He is, man doesn't have any problem. And not only that, if God is
not the way He says He is, and if He doesn't do the way He says
He's done, then man doesn't have any blessings either. He said,
blessed is the man that God chooses. You see, everything that is done,
and especially everything that is done in salvation, begins
with God's will and not man's will. It depends on God's sovereign
will and not man's so-called free will. It begins with God's
sovereign choice of His people. God chose a people. As a matter of fact, the question
is not whether man has the ability or even the privilege to choose. I've made lots of choices in
my life, most of which were absolutely bad choices. But the question is this, whose
choice is the first cause of the blessing of salvation. And the reason why that is so
important, not only for the purpose of knowing the truth, but the
reason that's so important is because whoever is the first
cause of a thing is the one that gets the glory. You see, man is a rational being. I say that with some limitation,
and he makes many choices. But at the same time, he is also
a sinful, fallen being, and as Paul said, therefore, he does
not choose God. He will not of himself choose
God or choose truth. He is so fallen in sin And sin,
after the fall in Adam, has so permeated every one of us and
affected our every faculty and left us in a state of such total
depravity that if left to ourselves, we'd never choose God. We'd never
choose anything right. We'd never choose the truth. We would never of our own wills
ever accept or receive or believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember that garden paradise
that our father Adam and our mother Eve lived in and the bliss
of it? What did they choose there? When you look at how when Christ
came as God manifest in the flesh and men surrounded Him on every
hand, what did they choose then? He said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent
unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and you would
not." And he looked at those who searched
the Scriptures the most, who studied them, who had them written
out on little scrolls of paper, bound up and tied all over their
garments, who taught others? He said, search the Scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of Me, and ye will not come to Me that you might
have life. That's the will of man. That's
the so-called free will of man. And that will is simply free
to be what he is by nature, a sinner and a God-hater. Therefore, this
is the demonstration of it every time, apart from grace, you will
not come to me that you might have And that
means you're dead. Dead in trespasses and sin. And when they were confronted
with this very truth from the lips of Christ, especially by
His own neighbors and friends there in the synagogue in Nazareth,
when He spoke so clearly of how that God was not sent to every
widow in Israel, how he was not sent to every person, but demonstrated
that divine choice and election of some among a people. They tried to take him out and
cast him off a mountain. And this is what the words of
our Lord said. He said, you've not chosen me. But I've chosen you. And it is so like fallen sinners
to look and to think about God choosing some and leaving some
to their own just dessert for their sins, instead of thinking
about how it is that He in mercy has chosen somebody. It's not a wonder that God would
bypass somebody, leave them to their own sin and just desert. It's not a wonder that He would
leave everybody. But it sure is a wonder if He'd
choose somebody. And I'll tell you what, it's
a real wonder if He'd choose you and me. Blessed, happy. Oh, how happy! is that man that he has chosen. And you know what? This is one
of the first things that the Spirit of God made sure that
this man Saul of Tarsus, when he was confronted by Ananias,
this is the first thing he was to know about. Ananias says to him, the God
of our fathers hath chosen the Well, maybe we ought to put this
on the high shelf, and just those that are spiritual giants or
very learned ones, maybe they're the ones that ought to hear about
that. Absolutely not. This is the children's bread.
He said, the God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest
know His will. His will. and that thou shouldest
see that Just One, that's Christ, and shouldest hear the voice
of His mouth. Why are you going to hear? Why
are you going to see Christ? Why are you going to know Him?
Because God chose you. He chose you. You see, the Scripture
shows that Christ is the first elect, and we are therefore chosen
in Him." God chose a people in Christ. I think one of the hymn writers
said something like this, Christ be my first elect, God said,
and then chose us in our covenant head. That's
how he describes Christ. By the prophet of Isaiah, he
says, Behold, my servant whom I uphold, mine elect, my chosen
one. And then he says this by the
apostle Paul in Ephesians 1, And if there were no other, this would be sufficient. He
said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
In other words, this is something that God has done. And I think
if you'll listen, you'll find out that it's too late to disagree
with Him now. And not only that, He is described
by the Apostle Paul as being as happy about it as those who
are chosen of Him are happy when they find out about it. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us, past tense blessed
us, with all spiritual blessings, not mere opportunities or chances
but 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. All spiritual blessings depended
on His will. All spiritual blessings were
His to give. All spiritual blessings were
given to those He chose in Christ, and they were given to them before
the foundation of the world. Now, I don't understand all that
means. But I can tell you this, God
did it in such a way to get all the glory and to keep you and
me from messing it up. Virgins said, if there was just
this one statement in Scripture, it would be enough to believe
in divine election. And that's when Paul writes to
the Thessalonians, and he says, though all these other things
are the way they are concerning those who receive not the love
of the truth and are deceived and have strong delusion, he
says, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. He calls this a blessing. My
friend, I hear people say, and I understand what they are saying,
they say election is not salvation. And in a great sense, that's
true. But there's no salvation without
it. There's no God of this Bible without it. There are no elect
to be blessed without it. Blessed is the man that He chooses,
that God chooses. And He calls this a blessing?
And blind religionists, they call it unjust, but it's still
a blessing to His people. And then he says this, blessed
is the man that thou choosest and that you cause to approach
unto thee. What's the cause of any sinner
rightly coming to and being accepted by God? Well, here is what some have
called the effectual call. And the only way I know how to
explain this is God the Spirit always gets the job done. Everyone that God has chosen
in Christ before the world began, God also is the cause of them
approaching unto God. The will of man is not the cause
of any man coming to God in Christ. God is the cause. And they themselves,
being children of wrath by nature, even as others, they would not
of themselves ever come to Christ. But long before the king ever
showed his face on this earth, the father said to him, Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power." Evidently, they won't be willing
by their own power. They'll be just like those Pharisees
of whom He said, you will not come to Me that you might have
life. Dead people do not get up and
walk and go anywhere. And neither do spiritually dead
people, especially believe on Christ.
But He said, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power. And God calls His sheep, and
He calls every one of them by His gospel and by His Spirit. And He, by that gospel and Spirit,
brings every one of them unto Himself. You see, Paul carried on to the
Thessalonians. He said, you're not only chosen
to salvation, He said, whereunto He called you by our gospel. Paul, isn't that a little proud-sounding,
our gospel? Are you meaning to tell me that
you and these other little ragtag fishermen and nobodies that are
running around with you, are you telling us that that's the
only gospel by which God calls and saves His people? Absolutely. It's the gospel of His people
because He gave that gospel to them. It is the faith, and there
is none other. It is one gospel, the gospel
of God, the gospel of His Son, the gospel of grace, and there
is no other. All others are another gospel. Somebody said, you don't have
to defend the gospel like you don't have to defend a lion.
All you have to do is turn him loose. All you have to do is
preach the gospel. And the gospel by the Spirit
of God and the providence of God will find his sheep, will speak in power to his sheep,
will be believed by his sheep. Because he looked at those same
Pharisees. And they thought, now just imagine
this, this is so contemporary really. They thought that he
was going to be really put out because they didn't believe him. Can you imagine that? Is that
the height of conceit and pride, self-righteousness? They imagined
that the Son of God was going to be real disappointed because
they didn't throw in with Him, support Him. He said, all that the Father giveth Me,
they'll come to Me. And when they come to me, I will
in no wise, I will never, never, never, never cast them out. You believe not because you're
not of my sheep." And he says in John 10, speaking to some
there, "...and of the sheep I have which are not of this foal, them
also I must bring." I'm going to bring them." That
shepherd, he said, that shepherd goes out and he seeks that lost
sheep. How long? Until he finds him. Until he finds him. And my delight in preaching the
gospel is because I know the good shepherd is on the trail
of some of his sheep. God in His providence will bring
them to the gospel and the gospel to them. And He will, by His
Spirit, give to them spiritual life and faith and subdue that
natural rebellion and seal them unto the day of redemption. Here is David, and Saul has chased
him like a wild animal into the wilderness and everything. And
now Saul, the king, has been killed. Jonathan has been killed,
Jonathan being David's friend. And David rises up to the throne.
First thing a king did, kill every possible enemy. Kill everybody in the house of
Saul that might rise up to oppose him. He said, isn't there one in the
household of Saul that I might show kindness to for Jonathan's
sake? Well, there's one fellow. He's
lame in both his legs. He's a pitiful creature. He lives
out in a land of poverty, the land of low to bar, no pasture. He's not looking for you, Dave. But he sent his servant, and
the Bible says he fetched him. Fetched him. Blessed is the man
that God chooses and causes. He causes it, whatever is necessary. That's why, if you just stop
and think about who a man like Saul of Tarsus was, proud, religious,
moral, thought so well of and held up by his countrymen and
all these things, and to just simply use some of the stupid
tricks and gimmicks and imitations like religionists do in our day,
you think they would work against that man? He had to be unhorsed. He had to be met by a power greater
than he was. He had to be subdued by a king
who had his very heart in his hand. And when that happened, not only was he brought to bow
at the feet of King Jesus, He was brought to bow down at the
feet of a lowly servant by the name of Ananias on that street
called Strait in Damascus and asked him what he needed to do. You see, salvation is not a chance
thing left up to the wills and choices of rebels, but God mightily
saving some of these rebels by His almighty grace and power. And here is another thing. Blessed
is the man that God chooses and causes to approach unto Him. You mean a creature, fallen creature
of Adam's pitiful race, so vile, so corrupt, so lost, so hopeless,
so blind, so filthy, approaching the living God? I think I read this morning again.
I just went to John 17, and I thought, though men don't know how to
address God the Father, Christ did. And one time there in John 17,
he says, Oh, holy Father. He's not in Rome either. This
is the only holy Father there is in eternal glory. God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And then he doesn't get through the chapter before he
says, O righteous Father. That's who we're dealing with.
That's who we're dealing with. Well, how can a sinner approach
and come to God? You say, well, I'm already to
God. Oh, no, you're not. God threw you out in the garden.
He threw you out. He threw me out. He threw every
one of Adam's descendants, as well as him, threw every one
of us out of his presence in the garden. He put flaming swords
there. How does anybody approach God?
Well, we have the picture of it again and again and again
in the Old Testament. always by a priest and always by a sacrifice. And that's why the Lord Jesus
Christ put away sin, the sins of His people, by the sacrifice
of Himself and obtained eternal redemption for us and made an
end of that sin that separated, whereby we might have full access,
full approach under God. Betty and I have been in Scotland
to a music festival on occasion. And because she sells a few CDs,
we get a little badge. And we just kind of have the
run of the place. Just walk in and out, and you feel like you're
a VIP or something. If they only knew, though, you
know. But there are people who are
watching you, you know. They see you walk behind that
badge, and everybody starts to stop you. Then all of a sudden,
they see that badge. Oh, come on. Access. Total access. It's just one way to have access
to God. And he's the one who's called
the way. He's the one who's called the
door. He's the one that Paul says is
that one, did you hear that, one mediator between God and
man, the man, Christ Jesus. And that way is a way of blood.
That way is a way of sacrifice. That way is the way that the
priest went into the Holy of Holies, carrying that blood of
that God-appointed sacrifice, offering that blood, showing
that there is just one way, a way of sacrifice, a way of sin being
put away, a way of God being satisfied, a way of justice being
honored, that way that Christ crucified has made. When He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down. He didn't come back out like
every other priest did. He didn't go into that Holy of
Holies there in the tabernacle or the temple. He went into the
presence of God. He never came out. He opened
the way. And not only did all His people
approach God in Him, But they always approached God through
him. That blood, all that, I'd just
give the animal rights activists a terrible fit in our day if
that was the case now. All the blood that was shed,
all the victims, was it really worth it? Absolutely. Because God showed in them that
one who would come and suffer as that God-appointed victim
and sacrifice, and his blood shed to the satisfaction of the
law and justice of God would be the way by which access was
made. If you look at verse 3 in Psalm
65, the psalmist says, But as for our transgressions,
thou shalt purge them away." When He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on
high. How did that man get into the
wedding feast? The man gave a wedding feast
for his son. Everyone that got in, got in
because the master or the host of the feast gave him a garment,
a wedding garment. When that prodigal son came back
to his father and his father's house, what did the father say
to him? Put on the best robe. Get the best robe and put it
on him. If that's not imputed righteousness,
knock me down, I don't know what it is." Put it on him. And I thought about it this morning.
You know, those servants, it wasn't like they had to be instructed
to go and sort through all the master's garments and find out
one of the robes. He said, you go get that best
robe. That one that has all the family
regalia on it. That one that symbolizes who
I am and that symbolizes everyone in my family, my heir. Put it on him. Put it on him. You see, in repentance
we cast off the filthy rags of our own imagined righteousness,
whether it be religious or whether it be moral. And we trust the
Lord Jesus Christ, who to his people is the Lord, our righteousness,
who is, as it says, Jesus Christ, the righteous. That's all. Singular. Christ and all who are in Him. Made the righteousness of God
in Him. They have access, approach unto
God, are received by God, have fellowship with God. Paul said, for through Him we
both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. in whom we have
boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him through the
blood and righteousness of our great high priest. I'll try to hurry. He says, blessed
is that man who the Lord shall choose and cause to approach
unto him that he may dwell in thy courts. not only come into the house
of God, not only walk in His courts, not only visit in His
presence, but dwell there, live there, abide there, and never
go out. Isn't that the worst thing about
vacation? Vacation always has a downside, you know. Because
you always live better on vacation than you do at home. Worst thing
is going back. Visit a beautiful place. Oh,
I wish I didn't have to go back. Back to the labor, back to the
toil, back to the whatever. They're never going to go back. They're going to dwell. That
means to abide. They're going to dwell as a son
in the Father's house. He said, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. And some fool comes along and
says, well, they might want to take themselves out of the Father's
hand. I don't think so. But they're in His grasp, in
His home, in His courts for their security. Surely, goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I'll dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. Omephibosheth. It says not only
did that servant come back, go down there to Lodobar and fetch
Mephibosheth, but it says that he brought him back and he did
eat bread at the king's table continually as one of the king's
sons. Grace that does not keep is not
grace. Somebody said, do you believe
And once saved, always saved? I just simply say that depends
on who did the saving. If you did it, if you had a hand
in it, if it's your will or your decision, you not only will be
lost, you are lost. But if God saves a sinner, clothes him with the righteousness
of Christ, puts all his sins away, counts him as one of His
children, I don't think He has anything to fear. Then here's the last thing. He said, we shall be satisfied. We shall be satisfied. with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple." That will be
a miracle warning. Because we are all by nature
unsatisfied and unsatisfiable. Hell and destruction are never
full, so the eyes of man are never satisfied. He that loveth
silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth
abundance with increase." Here we all are, in this day
of such communication, seeing what having so much does to men
and women, makes them so unhappy, leads them to drugs to get away
from it, brings them to suicide and every other thing, lands
them in prison and a host of other things, and yet we see
that and we still want more. He that loveth silver shall not
be satisfied with silver, nor he that loves abundance with
increase." Yeah, I know that, but just give me a couple of
million or something. No. Here's where satisfaction is. called, justified, kept man,
the believer in Christ, is satisfied. And I'll tell you this, if you
don't remember anything else, you'll never be satisfied with
anything other than that which satisfies God. your conscience
will never be satisfied except in him who has satisfied God. We shall be satisfied. The fear of the Lord tendeth
to life, and he that hath it shall abide satisfied. The promise goes and I will satiate
the soul of the priest with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied
with my goodness, saith the Lord." We shall be filled that nothing
can be said to be wanting, and we have nothing to look for outside. Why? Because we're in the house
of Christ. If you live in the mansion, you
surely don't want a tent. If you're eating at the king's
table, you sure don't want a can of potted meat or something. We're in the house of Christ.
who made everything, who is the master of everything, who will
be all to every one of his children in a house filled with the inexhaustible
treasures of God. He said, we'll be satisfied with
the goodness of thy house. Somebody said, with the grace
of thy house. You satisfied with the grace
of God's house? Absolutely. We'll be satisfied
with the doctrines of His house, without a doubt. We'll be satisfied
with the ordinances of thy house. will be satisfied with the people
of thy house." I'm satisfied with the people
of God's house. They may not be satisfied with
me, but I'm satisfied with them because when the Lord showed
me where perfection was, I quit looking for it anywhere
else. They'll be satisfied because
God's justice is satisfied. And they'll be especially satisfied
with the head of the house. He's altogether lovely. Now,
that's just one verse. Can you believe one verse in
the Bible? Not apart from God's grace. Not
apart from the Spirit of God giving you a heart to receive
it and have some understanding of it and believe it and love
it. But if you can, you will. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, and causeth to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts. We," David says, I'm one of them,
"'we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even
of thy holy temple.'" Our Father, this day we give
you thanks and praise for mercies beyond our ability to comprehend, for everlasting love, for electing
grace, for predestination by which you ordain all things,
especially concerning these, your beloved. for all that you have made Christ
to be to your people. We give you thanks. We praise
you in Him. We ask, Lord, that you take your
word, and wherever you by your Spirit
and providence cause it to be heard, make it good news to the Cause them to receive it like
a letter of reprieve and good news from a far country, water
in a dry and thirsty land, food in the empty stomachs of their
soul. Bless your people everywhere, because to you goes all the honor
and the glory, worlds without In Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.