A God Worthy of Praise

Q: What does the Bible say about praising God?

The Bible encourages praising God with our whole heart, acknowledging His marvelous works and righteousness. Psalm 9 teaches that we are to praise the Lord with our whole heart, which reflects a state of complete devotion and gratitude for His marvelous works. David expresses that true praise arises from a regenerated heart, where believers recognize the sovereignty and righteousness of God. This praise is rooted in an understanding of who God is and what He has accomplished through Jesus Christ, His Son. Praising God is not merely a vocal expression; it is an outpouring of a heart transformed by the Holy Spirit, which enables true worship and acknowledgment of God's greatness.

Q: How do we know regeneration is necessary for worship?

Regeneration, or the new birth, is necessary for worship as it gives believers a whole heart capable of truly praising God. Regeneration is the act of the Holy Spirit in giving a believer a new heart, as mentioned in Jeremiah 24:7, where God promises to give a heart to know Him. This new heart, which is whole and sinless, enables the individual to recognize and appreciate God’s glory. Without this transformation, worship becomes mere formality, lacking the sincere acknowledgment of God’s greatness. A believer’s ability to worship God genuinely comes from this new nature, which desires to honor and glorify God for His works and attributes. Thus, true praise is a manifestation of a heart that has been made alive in Christ.

Q: Why is Christ's accomplishment on the cross important?

Christ's accomplishment on the cross secures complete salvation and glorifies God, fulfilling His perfect justice and mercy. The accomplishment of Christ on the cross is paramount in sovereign grace theology as it represents the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan. On the cross, Christ glorified God by demonstrating His love, justice, and mercy. This act satisfied the demands of the law and allows for the justification of believers. As Jesus declared, 'It is finished,' He not only completed the work of salvation for His elect but also showcased God's attributes in perfect harmony. Therefore, understanding Christ's work is essential for recognizing the depth of God's grace extended toward sinners and forms the foundation for Christian worship.

Q: What does it mean that God is a refuge for the oppressed?

God being a refuge for the oppressed signifies that He offers safety and salvation to those burdened by sin and trouble. The concept of God as a refuge for the oppressed is vital in understanding His compassionate nature. In Psalm 9:9, God is described as a refuge in times of trouble. This imagery illustrates that God provides safety and deliverance for those crushed by life's circumstances or who are burdened by sin. Just like the cities of refuge in ancient Israel, which provided sanctuary for those in need, God offers Himself as a safe haven for sinners. When we flee to Him in faith, we find solace and protection, as He has already dealt with our sin through Christ’s sacrifice, liberating us from the judgment we deserve.

Q: How can we trust God's promises?

We can trust God's promises because He is unchanging and faithful, fulfilling His word through Christ. The assurance in trusting God's promises stems from His unchanging nature and faithfulness. In Psalm 102:12 and throughout Scripture, it is proclaimed that God endures forever, and He does not change. This immutability gives believers confidence that every promise He has made will be fulfilled. Since God cannot lie or fail, His promises are guaranteed. For instance, when Christ says He saves sinners, that promise is reliable because it is rooted in His finished work and character. As believers grasp this truth, they can find assurance in their faith, knowing that God will fulfill His word and not forsake those who trust in Him.

Morning, everybody. If you'd like to turn over to Psalm chapter 9. Psalm 9, we're going to consider the first 10 verses this morning. We'll read it once through. Psalm 9, pick up in verse 1. David writes, I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will show forth all thy marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee. I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most high.

When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. For thou hast maintained, and that word maintained, what that means is accomplished. Same word. For thou hast accomplished my right and my cause. Thou saddest in the throne, judging right. Thou has rebuked the heathen. Thou has destroyed the wicked. Thou has put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end. And thou has destroyed cities. Their memorial is perished with them.

But the Lord shall endure forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment, and he shall judge the world in righteousness, and he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. Now under the divine inspiration of God, David pens this psalm, and this is a psalm of praise.

And he relays good information. We can see the gospel right here, but really, really good information. Find out for the people of God, for every believer who we praise, why we praise him in the first place, and for what do we praise him for. All those questions are answered right here.

And if you had to sum it all up, it's all actually summed up in the title of this song. And if you look down in your text there, the title should be just above the first verse or included in the first verse. But keep this in mind, these titles that you see in the Psalms, these are inspired. They're in the original. This is God given. And this is the title of this Psalm of praise.

It says to the chief musician upon Methleben, a Psalm of David. I'm not a, uh, linguist, I don't speak Hebrew or anything like that, but I looked that up, and methleben, what that means in the Hebrew, literally means this phrase, the death of the son. David pens this psalm of praise. Every believer, who we praise, why we praise him in the first place, and what we praise him for, and he says if you had to assign a title to this, if we had just one phrase that says this sums the whole thing up, you get the whole message out of this methleben, the death of the son.

Who do we praise? God the Son. Jesus Christ, the second person of the blessed Trinity, blessed God forever. Eternal God, the same as the Father. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. There is no difference. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit expressed and contained in a man. 100% God and 100% man, a perfect divine God man. That's who Jesus Christ is, that's who we praise. What are we praising for?

The son died. The willingness of the father to sacrifice his only begotten son for us. The willingness of the son. Who shall we send? And who will go for us? Here I. send me the willingness of the son to go and die for the bride. God actually died. And the accomplishment of that, the full, complete salvation of everybody he died for. Why do we praise him? Because the son died. Why do we do it in the first place? It's because he dwells in us. Because his spirit, his heart, his person, his nature actually dwells in us. It's called regeneration. by the Holy Spirit. Every believer is given a new man in Christ Jesus. David calls it here the whole heart, the complete heart. That new man in Christ Jesus. And here's what Paul says about this.

This is Ephesians 1.13. You don't have to turn there, I'll read it to you. He says, in whom you also trusted.

And that's the effects of having a new heart. The Spirit of God dwelling in you. You actually trust the Lord Jesus Christ for everything in your salvation. You don't trust yourself for any of it. in whom you also trusted after you heard the word of truth. How does he give this new man, this new heart? The preaching of the gospel, made effectual, breathed life into his people. The gospel of your salvation in whom so after you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

This nature, this heart, this spirit, it was promised to you. It was promised to you because Christ promised He would be your shirt. He promised He would go to the cross. He promised He would redeem you and He did what He promised to do. And therefore, this is your nature. It has been promised to you.

It is sealed up in the eternities because Christ's work is eternal. It's eternally sealed. Which is the earnest of our inheritance. This is just the down payment. This new man in Christ Jesus. This is just the first thing we get. But when glory comes and the old man goes away, it gets so much better. We don't have to deal with the sinful nature anymore. That new man, he's going to stay the same. He's not going to change at all because he's perfect. But that flesh is just going to drift away and he's going to die and he's going to be gone. It's the earnest of our inheritance. It only gets better from here.

And finally this, until the redemption of the purchased possession unto praise of His glory. That's what that new man in Christ Jesus does. He praises Jesus Christ in the glory of His accomplishment. And it takes a new man, it takes that new heart to truly praise God.

That's just the case. And everything I just told you there, that's exactly what David has to say in this psalm. He just says it more particularly. So look down here, look at verse 1. Let's read it again. Just go line by line. He says, I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will show forth all thy marvelous works. What's a whole heart? What does that mean? It means a complete heart. It means a heart that doesn't lack anything.

It has everything it could possibly need. This is the new man in Christ Jesus. When the Lord gives a man a new heart, it's a whole heart. It's perfectly righteous. It's perfectly sinless. It's perfectly holy. It is full of faith. It is full of goodness. It can't get any better because it's the mind and heart of Jesus Christ himself. That's how real that union is. We have the very mind and heart of Jesus Christ dwelling in us. And it is a whole heart. It takes this whole heart to actually praise the Lord. True praise only comes from a whole heart, a life-given heart. a heart that can actually praise God.

And I'm only going to have you to turn to one scripture out of this whole thing, so keep your bookmark there in Psalm 9. But turn to Jeremiah 24. I want you to see this. We'll learn something about that whole heart. Jeremiah 24, and look at verse 7. He's gonna address this whole heart, this perfect heart. Verse seven of Jeremiah 24, he says, this is the Lord speaking, he says, I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. Now we can learn some things just by reading that short little passage of scripture there. This whole heart, this new man in Christ Jesus, what's the first thing he says about it? He says, I'll give it to him. It has to be given to you. It cannot be earned. It cannot be bought. It cannot be bargained for. It cannot be worked for.

This must be a free gift from God himself and he is sovereign in giving it. He must give this new heart. And here's the second thing we can deduce from it. It's a heart that knows that Jesus Christ is Lord. You remember the cross? Alongside of the Lord Jesus Christ, there were two other men who were being crucified that day. And those two men were railing on God, both of them the same. Both of them hated God. Both of them hated Jesus Christ. And they sat there and they railed on.

They did not know the Lord. They did not have a whole heart. He had not revealed himself to these men. And all of a sudden, one of them stops. And the other man, he keeps on his railings, and he keeps on with his mockings, but the other man stops, and he says, don't you fear God, recognizing we are in the same condemnation. Something happened in the last moments of that man's life. He was given a whole heart. And these were his dying words. This is the last thing he said on this earth. It begins like this, Lord. A minute ago, he didn't know that. A minute ago, he didn't believe that. A minute ago, he didn't love that.

He's the Lord. He's in absolute control. Salvation's in his hands. He's accomplishing salvation for somebody right now. That's what he's doing, dying next to me. My death is not an accomplishment in any ways, but his death is an accomplishment. He's the Lord. He has the keys to heaven. He has the keys to hell. He makes the decisions. He is the go-through. He is the one who does. He is the Lord. He didn't know that. He didn't love that. He didn't see that just a few minutes ago, but once he had the whole heart, it was very clear to him, Lord. And then he fuddles through, and he makes this, and forgive me for saying this, but it's the way I view it, a kind of ambiguous statement. And I understand that.

You ever have a hard time articulating the thoughts of your heart? There's something you want to say, you want to express it, and you just can't. It happens to me all the time. This man, he's fighting for the words. I know he is. He has these thoughts going through his heart and his mind, and he just says, Lord, how can I say it? How can I express what I need? Remember me when you come into your kingdom. That's what he had at the time. What does he mean by that? Just will it. Just think on me in favoritism. Have favor upon me. Have your grace upon me. Just will my salvation. You're the Lord. You can do whatever you want. Nothing's too hard for the Lord. Just remember me when you come into your kingdom and everything will be just fine. That's his last words.

And the Lord replied this way, and Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. That's what a new heart, a whole heart looks like. It knows that Jesus Christ is Lord. Last thing I see here, this whole heart, this new man. It returns unto God. That's what it said there in Jeremiah 24 7. And they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

You think about returning. Here's what I think of. You go somewhere and you're there and then you return back. That's what we think of returning, right? That's not what it means there. This return is being turned about. Being turned again. What happened in the fall? We turned from God. We had face-to-face communion with God. We lost that in the fall, the re-separation now.

Turned from being innocent, not having a sinful nature, having never committed a sin, to sinfulness, fallen, dead, evil nature. Turned away from Him, trying to hide our faces from Him, having no love for God naturally. That's what happened at the fall, but this new heart, this whole heart, it returns, it's turned to Christ, and it looks to Him only.

And that's why he says in verse 2 there, or I'm sorry, in verse one, he says, I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will show forth all Thy marvelous works. You see, this whole heart, it's turned, it's turned to look to Christ only, and whose works does this heart talk about? Does he talk about his own works? I've done this, and I've done that, and I'm planning on doing this. He says, this is the work I'm going to talk about. I'm going to speak of all your marvelous works. All I want the Father to see is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't look at my works. They're not good for anything. Look to his works.

That's a whole heart. That's what a whole heart does. It looks to Christ alone. And it's a rejoicing heart. Go back to your text. Look at verse two. David says, I will be glad and rejoice. Notice this. in thee. I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most high. This whole heart is a rejoicing heart. And where does it rejoice? He says, I rejoice in thee. I rejoice in Christ. More particularly, I rejoice that all of salvation is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the truth. The entirety of salvation is found in Christ. The father eternally loved a people. Was he arbitrary in who he loved? He said, well, I'm going to, I'm going to love some. I'll pick a few. We'll just bestow my love upon.

The father loves one man. We do well to learn that at some point, the father loves one man. He loves his son, Jesus Christ. And because every member of the elect, we share this eternal union with Christ. When the Father rained down His love on Christ, He loves us with that same love because we are one in Him. The Father chose the elect unto salvation. Nothing arbitrary about this. He chose one man. He chose Christ. He chose Him. He purposed Him to glorify the Godhead. And in choosing Christ, He got everybody who was in Him.

It was a package deal. I choose Him. I get them. That's the way it is. Christ agreed to be the surety for these same people. Was it arbitrary? He was surety for his bride, his eternal bride. And now he comes back in the presence of the father, having completely and utterly redeemed everybody. He went to the cross for them in him.

And we are accepted where in the beloved. Christ comes into the presence of his father and the father says, you are beautiful and you are acceptable. I couldn't be any more pleased. And that is our acceptance with God. That's how we come. I can't get to God. I can't approach unto him, but in Christ, when he approaches unto the father in full satisfaction, the father is satisfied with us because we are in Christ. And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.

You're rejoicing that. That is the rejoicing of a whole heart. The new man in Christ Jesus, all of salvation is found in him. Now, it also takes a whole heart to see something of the wickedness and the other utter sinfulness of the old one. Now we talked about that whole heart. That new man in Christ Jesus, he's perfect, he's holy, he's sinless, he's righteous, he's full of faith, he lacks absolutely nothing before God. That new man will not change when we get to glory. He's perfect because he's the very heart and mind of Christ himself. Now why am I so sinful? Because I don't do righteousness and I don't feel righteous. I feel, I think dreadful thoughts. I have terrible motives. Why is it that you say I'm like that and I have this whole heart, and yet that's not my experience?

Because that flesh is still there. That old man, that man that every man is born with, that old heart, he's not changed at all. And it takes the new man, the whole heart, to see that old man. That's the only way a man can come to the knowledge that he's a sinner. He's got a new man and a perfect man, and he sees the wretchedness of the old man. He says, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

And so we are walking contradictions, completely sinless, completely sinful, completely unrighteous and completely righteous, completely faithful, completely unfaithful. Completely zealous, completely blind and lazy. Two men with two completely separate attributes, and it all comes out of two eyes, and two hands, and one tongue, and one foot.

And I walk through this world, and we say with Paul, for that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. Is that not your experience? That's the healthy state of a believer. As miserable as that can be, that is the healthy state of a believer.

There can be no war inside here if there's not two men. How can two walk together unless they be agreed? Well, these two men who are inside of me, they are not agreed. They're at odds with one another. They love separate things. They hate separate things. They're not agreed and they're constantly at war.

And so we say, now I am this walking contradiction, but that's the healthy state of every single believer. Now, What do we praise him for? And I think David outlines five things right here that every believer, we praise the Lord Jesus Christ for these things. Look at verse three of your text. He says, when mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. That's the first thing we praise him for is his presence.

And I want to talk generally about that for a second. I am greedy for his presence. I want his presence. I want his hand of leadership and guidance on me. I want to be able to detect his presence. I'm very greedy for this. I don't want to be left in the dark. I don't want the Lord to hide his face from me. I want to be able to see his hand working in all things. I want to feel his hand of leadership.

So I have that confidence. I am greedy for this and I'm going to beg for this, but how often do we not feel it? How often does it feel just complete confusion that I'm leaderless, that Lord's turned his back on me, that I've been forsaken? Constantly. It constantly feels that way.

But I'll tell you what, whether I can detect his presence or not has zero bearing as to whether I have it or not, because we always have it. For all those people, he says, I'll never leave you and I will never forsake you. Whether I can detect or not has absolutely no bearing on his hand being upon me and his hand of leadership and protection on me. My circumstances just aren't a good judge of that.

And I was thinking of this. Remember 2 Kings 6. The king of Syria gets mad at Elisha, keeps foiling his plans. So he goes down to Dothan, where Elisha and his servant is at. He lines the hills with horses and chariots and soldiers. And Elisha's servant goes out there, and he sees all that, and he says, master, how shall we do?

There's a whole army out there, and they're coming for us. It's just me and you here. What are we going to do about this? Elijah said, there's more with us than with them. The servant, he can't see. He's just staring at this army out there, right? He thinks he's about to be destroyed. Elijah said, Lord, open his eyes that he might see. What did that young servant see? Thousands of chariots and horses and fire. I just like to think of Elijah standing there, and he sees this kid who's just terrified, right? Elijah can see all the chariots.

He can see the protection of the Lord everywhere at that time. His servant couldn't, and he had to always laugh at it, be like, he thinks we're in trouble right now. We're not in any trouble. The Lord opened his eyes that he can see, and then he saw all the provision of the Lord right there. My present circumstances, how I feel, have absolutely no bearing as to whether the Lord's with me or not. He's always with us. And that's just generally speaking, but there is a sense, a greater sense in which he is worthy of praise for his presence for us. And this scripture kind of unlocked it for me. I want to give it to you.

David says this in Psalm 68, 8, and when I'm looking for a commentary on a scripture, the best commentary on scripture is scripture. But I think more particularly, if you find the same writer, all scripture is inspired by God, but the Lord uses different men with different minds and different writing styles, and he works through that. So this is David providing commentary on what he just said. This is what he said. He said in Psalm 68, 8, the earth shook. The heavens also dropped at the presence of God. Even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. What happened on Sinai? That's where the Lord gave the law. It says Sinai itself was moved at the presence of Jesus Christ.

And here's what I thought of. You and I will all stand before God's holy law. God's holy law is perfect. It is perfection It is the written down righteousness. It's absolutely beautiful in all its ways. Nothing wrong with God's holy law, but all that law is designed to do is simply to condemn us and declare our guilt. That's it.

And we will all stand before God's holy law. We will be judged justly. He's a God of justice and judgment. But every believer, every member of the elect, he stands in the law's presence with us. I'm not saying for us, as in our place. He stands with us. We stand before the law in him.

And the law looks us over, looks over Christ, and it's moved. It's moved to say, I finally found one. I found one who has never done anything wrong. I have found one that's always done that which is right, and the law is looking at Jesus Christ, but he's looking at every member of the elect because we are all in him.

He is our presence before Sinai, before God's holy law. I'm so thankful, and he is praiseworthy for that presence, isn't he? Now look at verse four. We praise him for his accomplishment. For thou hast maintained, accomplished my right and my cause. Thou saddest in the throne, judging right.

What did Jesus Christ accomplish on his cross? The first thing he accomplished was the full glorification of Godhead. And we need to recognize that and it needs to be talked about first because this is the purpose of God. This thing of salvation, we are the beneficiaries of that. We gain much by that. But this whole scheme of salvation, this is for one purpose. This is to glorify the Godhead in the person of Jesus Christ. And that's exactly what happened on the cross.

All the attributes of God were showcased in the death of Jesus Christ. You saw God's love for a people so much he would send his only begotten son. You saw the love of Christ for a people that he would voluntarily go to that cross. You saw the justice of God that when sin was found on his only begotten son, he wouldn't spare him. You see the mercy of God in all that, that everyone he died for is completely and utterly spared.

You see every attribute, the wisdom of God. You got to go a layer deeper though, to see the true accomplishment in all this. He found a way, didn't find it, it's always been. He saw it and he did it. A way to be just and justify the ungodly. to do mercy and justice in a single stroke, outside human ability. We can't do that. I talk about that all the time. It's impossible in the human realm to do both. It's absolutely impossible. We can come close to doing one or the other, but we cannot do both with one single stroke.

When the Lord Jesus Christ was made the sins of his people and he died under the wrath of God, those sins were put away to where the justice of God could ask no more from us. We're now sinless and now the mercy that is poured down upon us by the Father, it's just mercy. It's not just that the Father now has the option to show mercy if he wants to. It's that the perfect justice of God, he must do what is upright and what is just and what is right. It demands the salvation of every one of God's people because there is nothing left to condemn us for. That's real. That's praiseworthy. What an accomplishment. cross. The very glory of God was accomplished on that cross. What else did he accomplish?

The fulfillment of the scriptures. How many times you read in the scriptures, it happened because the scripture said it was going to. That the scriptures might be fulfilled. That's what happened on that cross. He was fulfilling every promise of those scriptures. All these promises made out was all fulfilled on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the accomplishment of salvation.

You remember on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter and James and John, and they go up there and they see Moses and Elisha and they see the Lord Jesus Christ and they're having a conversation. And that's good. What a blessing it is to be able to sit around and listen to wise people talk and hear what they have to say and what they talk about. And there were two wise men there. Men who had been given God, given wisdom. And the third man was wisdom himself. And here was the conversation. Here's what they talked about while he was there. The decease he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

Truly, for every member of the elect, for every believer, salvation was accomplished on that cross. That means it's over. And I wish I could Fully understand the depth of that. Salvation is over. It's done. It is finished. It truly is. Said by the words of a God who cannot lie. It's over for everybody who's looking to him. There's nothing you need to do. There's nothing you can add. There's nothing you can subtract. You can't mess this up. It is finished.

And finally this, he accomplished victory over his enemies on that cross. Look at your text, look at verses five and six. David says, thou hast rebuked the heathen. Thou hast destroyed the wicked. Thou has put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end. And thou has destroyed cities. Their memorial is perished with them.

Of all those people that were gathered around the cross that day, I have no doubt that Satan and his entire army and every enemy of God was gathered around that cross and they were looking down and they said, we've finally done it. We've schemed, we've manipulated, and finally we're going to get what we want. He is completely overthrown. We've turned everybody against him. Everyone's against him. They're crucifying. They're putting him on this cross. We've won. We beat him. We said we were going to do it. We're going to do it." They had absolutely no idea that what was going on right then was their undoing. This was Christ saving his people. This was justice and mercy being done. This was the glorification of the Godhead. This was victory over his enemies.

Death, hell, sin. all put away through the blood of his cross. The accuser of the brethren, in that moment when Christ died, lost all his power of accusation. There was no more accusations that could be made against any of God's people because the reason for accusation, the sin, had been completely and utterly removed. And now with no accusation, he has absolutely no power.

It says in Revelation 12, 11, and they, the people of God overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of the testimony, and they love not their lives unto death. How do we overcome? Blood of the lamb. That's it. What's our testimony? My only hope of overcoming? The blood of the lamb. That's it. And this life, this old sinful flesh, I don't love it. I don't want anything to do with it. I don't want God to see it. I want my works to be known. I want away from that, just him, the blood of the lamb. That's all we've got.

And here's the third thing we praise him for, his endurance. Look at verse seven. But the Lord shall endure forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment. the endurance of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? What's that talking about? Let's give a clarifying scripture here. This is Psalm 102, 12. But thou, Lord, shalt endure forever, and thy remembrance unto all generations. This has something to do with the memory of God, and more particularly, his memory of his purpose and his promises.

This has something to do with his immutability, the fact that he doesn't change. When you think about you and me, we change constantly. We change with our circumstances. We change with the seasons. And we can be very trustworthy one day. And our word can be worth not a plug nickel the next day. That's how much we change.

But he changeth not. He cannot change. He cannot lie. He cannot promise and not deliver. I've heard it said before, if he did, if he did lie, if he failed to deliver, he would cease to be God. God can't cease to be God. That's impossible. God is God. That's it.

What that means is it is impossible for him to promise and not deliver. It is impossible for him to lie. He cannot do it. It's out of his realm of ability. You don't think about God having limited ability where there is a limit here. He can't lie. And he can't promise and not deliver. That's who he is. That makes him absolutely trustworthy to every single promise. He is the only one who can actually be trusted.

And there's a beautiful promise in this psalm here. Look down at verse 10. It says, And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee. For thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. What's his name? Jesus. Savior. Thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus, Savior, came into this world to save sinners of whom I am chief. I'm a sinner and he's a God who cannot lie. You know what that means? That means he came and he saved me. He didn't attempt to save me. He didn't promise and not deliver. He came and he saved me.

And I take him at his word by his grace. I simply trust him and I seek, simply seek this. I just want to be found in Christ. Is that what you want? Take him at his word. He says, I'm the savior of sinners. It's all finished. Are you a sinner? He accomplished your salvation. Is he worthy of that trust? Absolutely. Put it in him. Do you seek to only be found in Christ? Well, this is the promise of all this. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. He will not forsake anyone who puts their trust in him.

There will never be anyone who comes into heaven Proclaiming this, my only hope is Christ and Him crucified. That's all I've got. If you're looking for anything else, you won't find it. All I've got, all my hope, all my eggs are in this one basket, Christ and Him crucified. He says, I will not for any reason forsake that man. It's never once happened. It never will happen.

And he is a God who is absolutely trustworthy. He is to be praised for his endurance, his mutability. Look at verse eight. David says, and he shall judge the world in righteousness. He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. We're just thankful that God is upright, that he is good and he is righteous. I think about often, what if God was not like he is? What if he was sinful? What if he was mean? What if he was unjust?

What a terrible place this would be. And there is no true justice in this world. Let's get that out. There's no true goodness in this world. Our laws, our rules, they can be circumvented if you have enough money or if you have enough manpower or if you know the right people. There's no true justice here.

We love shades of gray because it gives us wiggle room. That's not how he is. There's no shades of gray with him. He is no respecter of persons. Everything is black and white, just or unjust, sinful or righteous. Good or evil, that's the way it is with him. I love that. And he is always upright. He is always righteous in all his judgments. He will never call good evil and evil good. He won't do that. He calls it what it actually is. Even when he reckons something, he reckons it that way because that's the way it actually is. When he imputes, he simply imputes what is already there. That's the way he works.

It is all black and white. And he is upright in all his judgments. He is upright in the salvation of his people. It's a just salvation. We just talked about it. There's no sweeping anything under the carpet with God. Every time he shows mercy to one of his people, it's a just mercy because the sin was punished and put away in Christ. But we need to recognize this too.

He's upright in salvation. He's just in that. And he is upright and he is just in the damnation of the wicked. Now, Look over verse 16 and this provides a commentary on that. Maybe let us enter into it a little bit deeper. It says, the Lord is known by the judgment which he executes. He's known by his justice. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.

Now notice here two words, higion and silo. We see silo a lot in the Psalms, right? It means stop, reflect on that. Higion means meditate on it. And so we get a double here. It says you need to stop here. You need to stop reading, you need to stop thinking, you need to clear your mind, and you need to consider this for a second. You need to meditate on this.

The wicked is snared in his own hands. If a man is saved, God is absolutely sovereign. And if a man is saved, it'd be completely unto the sovereignty of God. Sovereignly, he elected him. Sovereignly, Christ went and redeemed him. Sovereignly, the Holy Spirit gave that man life. Has nothing to do with man, completely and utterly the work and the will of God. In that same vein, he is sovereign in the damnation of a man. But I want you to understand something.

A man goes to hell, it will not be because God didn't love him. And it won't be because God didn't elect him. And it won't be because Christ didn't die for him, and it won't be because the Holy Spirit didn't give him life. A man will go to hell because he sinned against God. He was caught in the snare of his own hands, of his own doing. He sinned against God, he refused to bow the knee to Jesus Christ, and he refused to trust Christ alone.

The general call to all of humanity has always been the same. Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else. That is the general call to all of humanity and fallen human nature every single time rejects that. I will reject grace simply because if salvation is by grace, there is no glory for me in that salvation. The natural man will reject the sovereignty of God and salvation because he thinks it robs him of some sort of free will that he doesn't actually have. It will always be rejected.

It's not because God didn't love him and Christ didn't die for him. The Holy Spirit didn't regenerate him. If he's damned, it's simply because he sinned against God. He hated Jesus Christ and he refuses to come to Christ. He snared in the net of his own hands.

And here's the point. God is upright in all his doings. He is upright in salvation. It's a just salvation and he's upright in the damnation of the wicked and he is worthy of praise both ways. Look at verse nine. It's the last one. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. First, he's worthy of praise because of who he's a refuge for, for the oppressed, those who are crushed.

I watched a funny surveillance video a couple of years ago. This guy was stealing catalytic converters. And he jacked up this car, and he got underneath there with a Sawzall, and he's cutting off the catalytic converter, and the jack failed. And so this car comes down, and it crushes him, right? And it was funny, because he was just crushed underneath there, and he couldn't move. And so his buddy comes over and lifts the car off of him, and they kind of scamper off in the darkness. And he was doing bad things, so I didn't feel that bad about it. But it was funny to watch for a little while. But for a moment, that man was crushed.

He couldn't move. There's nothing he could do. He was absolutely stuck. There's nothing he could do to help himself. If he didn't have somebody else there, he was going to die. That's the way it was. The Lord is the refuge for one people, the oppressed, the crushed. Those crushed under the burden of sin, and you can't do anything for yourself. You can't help yourself. You don't have any ability. You need somebody to come and do something for you. He's the refuge for sinners.

And he is greatly to be praised for that. And the illustration of that, I think, Beautifully, he's the refuge, is the cities of refuge. You remember that? So if a man accidentally killed another man, that man's family that died, they could bring up an avenger of blood, someone from the family. He could go after that manslayer and he could kill him. That's what the law says. Blood demands blood, an eye for an eye. That's what the law said. And the Lord set out and he put six cities of refuge, three on the east of Jordan, three on the west, meaning no one had any excuse. Can't say I couldn't get to the city of refuge. The river blocked me. Nope. Nope. There were three on this side, three on that side. They were all free. They were all open. There was all free access.

If you'd killed a man unawares, you go and you flee to that city of refuge. The Avenger of Blood, he's right on your heels there. And as soon as you got to the city, you know what happened? Immediately, judgment. Immediately, they held a trial to find out what actually happened. If you'd actually murdered the guy in cold blood, They said, no, you got to die. But if you did this unawares, you come in, you get inside there.

And they bring you inside that city of refuge. And as long as you were inside the city of refuge, you were safe. The avenger of blood could not get you. If you stepped outside, you were gone. And you had to stay inside that city of refuge until the high priest died. And as soon as the high priest died, you were free. You were set at liberty to go home. It says that he's a refuge in times of trouble. When's the time to trouble? Right now. Right now is a time of trouble.

We are sinful men and women living in this world, holding onto mortality by a thread. And on the other side, we go to be a holy and a just God who demands perfection. The time to flee to Christ is right now. There are no obstructions and there are no excuses. Six cities, three on this side of the river, three on that side. Flee to Christ and get in Him. And this is the beauty of it.

In Him, judgment has already taken place. Already been judged at the cross. You're free because the high priest, our great high priest, he's already died. You're free, the law has nothing to say to you. that justice of God has nothing to say to you other than justified, perfect, lacking nothing. You're free.

And he said that to Bartimaeus. He said, go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. What did Bartimaeus do? He says he followed Jesus in the way. That's what that whole heart does. It just wants to be with him. We have a God who is greatly to be praised. Why? Well, for his presence, for his accomplishment, for his endurance, for his uprightness, and the fact that he is the refuge for the center. I've enjoyed being with you this morning.

A God Worthy of Praise

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about praising God?

How do we know regeneration is necessary for worship?

Why is Christ's accomplishment on the cross important?

What does it mean that God is a refuge for the oppressed?

How can we trust God's promises?

Sermon Transcript

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A God Worthy of Praise

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about praising God?

How do we know regeneration is necessary for worship?

Why is Christ's accomplishment on the cross important?

What does it mean that God is a refuge for the oppressed?

How can we trust God's promises?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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