A God Worthy of Praise

Q: What does the Bible say about praising God?

The Bible calls for the wholehearted praise of God for His marvelous works and righteousness. In Psalm 9:1, David declares, 'I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth all thy marvelous works.' This emphasizes that praising God is not merely a ritual but a heartfelt response to knowing His character and deeds. Believers are called to rejoice and sing praise, as their hearts are transformed by the new life given in Christ. This praise stems from the realization that all of salvation is found in Him, leading the believers to a place of grateful worship.

Q: Why is it important to have a whole heart in Christ?

A whole heart in Christ means possessing a complete, transformed nature that cannot help but praise God. A 'whole heart' refers to the complete new nature given by God to believers, as described in Jeremiah 24:7: 'I will give them a heart to know me.' This indicates that only God can transform our hearts to recognize and worship Him. The new man in Christ is perfectly righteous and possesses a heart that must praise God, no matter the struggles faced in the flesh. This transformation signifies a return to God, shifting our trust solely onto Him, leading to true faith and assurance of His promises.

Q: How do we know that Christ's work on the cross is sufficient for salvation?

Christ's work on the cross accomplished the complete salvation of God's elect and fulfilled every scripture. The sufficiency of Christ's work is grounded in the scriptural assertion that He accomplished the salvation of His people through His death on the cross, as noted in Psalm 9:4, where God judges rightly and maintains the cause of His people. This includes perfect peace made between God and sinful humanity, ensuring that all who trust in Christ are justified. The act of Christ is not just a potential salvation; it is an accomplished work that fully satisfies divine justice, demonstrating that all who come to Him in faith are guaranteed acceptance and are never lost.

Q: Why is trust in God essential for believers?

Trusting God ensures that believers rely on His grace and promises, affirming their salvation. Trust in God is fundamental because it is the means by which believers receive His grace and assurance of salvation. Psalm 9:10 states, 'And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee.' Trust reflects a recognition of our inability to save ourselves and an understanding that God is our refuge and help. This trust is not just an intellectual acknowledgment but a deep-seated reliance on His promises, ensuring that we are never forsaken in times of trouble and that we rest in the assurance of eternal life through Christ.

Morning, everybody. If you'd like to turn over to Psalm chapter 9. Psalm 9. I'd actually like to take our text from the first 10 verses this morning. I just want to read through it for the first little while. Let's get our bearing. And then I just want to stroll through it this morning. Let's take it verse by verse. Go to Psalm 9, pick up in verse 1 there.

Under divine inspiration, David writes this, and he opens with this. He tells us what the psalm is about. He says, I will praise thee, O Lord. This is a psalm of praise. That's the purpose of it. 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. That's his name. When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish, and listen to this word, at thy presence.

For thou hast maintained, that means accomplished, my right and my cause. Thou saddest in the throne, judging right. Thou hast rebuked the heathen. Thou hast destroyed the wicked. Thou hast put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end, and thou hast 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. 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 this is a beautiful psalm of praise that the Lord inspired David to write. He's praising the Lord.

And I want you to think about something for a second. If someone were to look at you and be like, hey, I want you to write a poem about this person. I want you to talk about how much you admire them. What would be a good title for that? How would you title that poem? Well, it could be The Great, whatever their name is, whatever you want to call it. There's a lot of options out there.

But this is the title the Lord tells David to give this psalm, this psalm of praise unto his name. And read the title, it's inspired. It says, to the chief musician upon Muthleben, a psalm of David. You know what Muthleben means? It means the death of the sun. In no other context would those two things correlate. Praise Him and death of the Son, but in the Gospel, these two things correlate beautifully.

In this psalm, David lays out very simply, number one, who is it that is worthy of praise? Who is truly worthy of praise? And he outlines what is he worthy of praise for? What did he do that he should be praised for? And three, he outlines everybody who praises him, why do they do that in the first place?

Well, here's the reason. the Son died. Who's to be worshiped and who is to be praised and who is to be honored and who is this about? This is about the Son. God the Son, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, this one who thought it not robbery to make himself equal with God. Why? Because he is actually God. Jesus Christ is God. He's the one that is to be praised. What did he do? What do his people praise him for?

Muthlaban, the son, died. Willingly, voluntarily, fully understanding what it would take, fully understanding the horrors of being made the sins of his people, fully understand the horrors of the reign of the father's wrath coming down upon him for that sin, bleeding and dying to do what?

To ransom his chosen people, his bride. No victim in this thing, but our champion. He went full throttle, knowing what it would actually cost. And he said, I'll do that just for them. What do we praise him for? Because the son died. And why do we praise him in the first place? Every believer.

For some reason in us, because we've seen this wonderful thing and we've come to this conclusion that he's worthy of it, is for one reason, because he causes us to. because he gives us a new heart, and a new man, and a new mind, and what that new man does, it must praise God.

It must sing his praises. You read those first two verses, David says, I will do this, I will do that, and you know, you can only read those as the words of Christ truly, because he's the only one who can say, I will do this, and it's gonna happen, right? But David could say that too. He said, I will praise him. I'm going to praise his name because that's what the new man in Christ Jesus does. He can't not. He can't not praise the name of the Lord. And that's exactly where David begins here. Read verse one again. He says, I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. Now what does he mean there?

This whole heart. When we think about doing something wholeheartedly, what do we think about? Think about, give it your all, right? With every fiber of my being, with everything I've got, I'm gonna do this wholeheartedly with my whole heart. And that's not what's actually meant by this. What he means by a whole heart is a complete heart. He says, I'm gonna praise you with my complete heart.

This new man, this new nature you've given me, it's complete. And this is the nature the Lord gives all of his people. It's his nature and it's complete. And it lacks absolutely nothing. If you have a new nature, if you have this whole heart in Christ, the very mind of God himself, you lack nothing. That new man in Christ Jesus is perfectly righteous. He is perfectly holy. He is perfectly acceptable unto God. He believes God perfectly. He's perfectly repentant. He is perfect in every which way, shape, and form.

And when we get to glory, nothing is going to change about that man. Yes, faith will turn to sight, and hope will turn to experience. All those things are true, but that new man in Christ Jesus, he's not gonna change at all. What he's gonna change is, we're gonna put away this flesh. All this sin and all this death is gonna go away, and we will be perfectly conformed to his image. But this whole heart that David talks about, this is what the Lord gives all his people.

If you have this whole heart, it's complete. It lacks absolutely nothing. And Jeremiah has a good commentary on this whole heart. Turn over to Jeremiah 24. Remember, we're talking about this thing of a whole heart. Look at Jeremiah 24 and look at verse seven when you get there. Jeremiah 24, seven, he says, Lord speaking, and 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, just by reading that, we can take about four things about this whole heart that David is talking about, that Jeremiah is talking about right here. And here's the first thing.

Only the Lord can give man this whole heart. This is exactly what he starts with. He says, and I will give them an heart to know me. It can't be bought, it can't be earned, It's not even striped for. It can only be freely given as a gift of His grace. And the perfect example of it is the one that Don gave just a few minutes ago.

Lazarus. Lazarus is dead. Lazarus is so dead that his body is rotting and they can smell it coming out of the tomb. That's how dead Lazarus is. Lazarus wasn't begging for mercy. He wasn't begging for life. He wasn't doing anything. Lazarus was dead and the Lord came to him where he was at and He said, Come forth. And he who is dead came forth.

That's the giving of a whole heart. It's the giving of life. And here's the second thing that we know about this whole heart. Is this whole heart? It knows that Jesus Christ is God and Lord. That's what Jeremiah just told us there. And I thought about this. The example I really like on this is the thief on the cross. And you've read through the gospels of the account of the Lord's crucifixion.

It's in all four of them. But in two of them, it points out those two malefactors, that thief and the other one. They're there and they're railing on the Lord, and they're both hurling accusations at him and saying horrible things to him the entire time.

Neither one of them know who the Lord is. Neither one of them have a whole heart. And then all of a sudden, in the midst of all this jawing back and forth, one of them shuts his mouth. He says absolutely nothing. The other malefactor, he keeps on railing on the Lord, but the other one shuts his mouth.

And he looks over and he says, don't you fear God? recognizing that you're in the same condemnation. And we indeed justly, for we receive the due rewards of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. Now just a moment ago, he is railing against this man, Jesus Christ. He is blaspheming his name, he has no knowledge of him, and all of a sudden he looks over and he says, that's God.

That's God in the flesh. And you know what? As far as me goes, whatever happens to me, whatever he does with me, it's exactly what I deserve. This death I'm experiencing right now, this death on this cross, I deserve even worse. If I wake up in hell, that's exactly what I deserve. But this man right here, he hasn't done anything amiss. This man is perfect. This man is righteous. He has never done anything wrong. He is absolutely perfect.

How did he know that? Because just a minute ago, he's railing on the Lord, and now he says, don't you fear God. How did he know that? Because in the last moments of his life, the Lord gave him freely, sovereignly, as a gift of his grace, a whole heart to know him. So that he would turn and say, that's God. Didn't know it before, but I know it now. And then he had this beautiful statement that starts with this.

Lord, you're the Lord. I know what you're doing right now. There's no failure in your death. You are dying for your people. And whatever it is you set out to do by this, you are going to accomplish it. I know that. You are the Lord. You have the keys to heaven and hell. If anybody's saved, it's going to be up to your will. You hold everything in the power of your hand. And remember, this is a whole heart. It's a perfect heart, but it's a young heart.

He's had this just a matter of moments. And he fumbles through the statement. He says, just remember me when you enter into your kingdom. What does he mean by that? He means everything. Lord, save me. Lord, you're about to go be glorified before your father. You're about to march into heaven, the reigning king, and you're gonna receive all honor and all glory.

And when you get there, just remember the little guy. Just remember me. Remember him in my name. Remember he is some measure of favor and goodwill and happiness and joy and love. If you would just do that, I'll be saved. You're the Lord. There's nothing you can't do. Just remember me.

That's his last words. And he fumbles through those last words. But I tell you what, these are the last words he hears. And think about hearing these as your last words. The Lord looked at him and said, today, you'll be with me in paradise. Now, I can't imagine that my last words are going to be any count whatsoever. But imagine hearing those as your last words from God himself.

I want you to understand this, though. If you're a believer, all you got is Christ. Whether you hear those words or not, you're not going to hear them audibly. Whether you die in a measure of happiness and joy or terrified, he says those words to you today. You're going to be with me in paradise. That's what he says to all his people. How did he know all this? Just a matter of minutes, how did he know this? Because the Lord freely gave him sovereignly this whole heart. And this whole heart, He returns unto God.

That's what Jeremiah had said. You think about a return. We think about returning from somewhere. I'm here, and I go here, and I return back to here. And that's not what it means at all in the context of what Jeremiah is saying. A return, a turning again. When the Lord gives that whole heart, that new man in Christ Jesus, he returns. He turns away from himself. of any hope of salvation rooted in what I've done, what I intend to do, anything about my works, he's turned from himself, and he's turned to Christ, and he looks solely to him.

I think a beautiful example, if you want a man who was turned to Christ, and he had a beautiful thing to say, a God-inspired things to say, you imagine when the Lord looked at the 12, and he says, will you also go away? That had to be hard. They're seeing all these men leave. And he looks at the 12 and he says, are you going to go too? Because there's the door. Go ahead and go.

And Peter, as the spokesman of all of them said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life. And we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's what you're turned to, Christ. You know what I like about what Peter had to say there under divine inspiration? He doesn't say, and Lord, we know that you've saved us, and we know that we're elect, and we know everything's gonna be just fine for us.

That's not what he said. He said, where else am I gonna go? I don't know if I'm elect, I don't know if Christ died for me, I don't know anything. All I know is this, is that you are God's Christ. That you are the one he sent to save his people, and you're gonna do exactly what he sent you here to do, and our only hope, you are eternal life, is that you do this for us. Where else could we go? You know what he said to him?

Blessed are thou, son of Barjona, Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you, but my Father in heaven. I tell you what, folks, I don't know if I'm elect, I don't know any of those things. All I know is Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And my only hope that what he did, he did for me. Where else am I gonna go? Returned, turned from self, and turned to Christ.

And this whole heart, it's a rejoicing heart. Go back to your text, look at verse two. David says in verse two, I will be glad and rejoice, where? In thee. This whole heart rejoices in this, in Christ, particularly that all of salvation is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, can you say amen to this? I'm a sinner. All my salvation is found in one place. All of God's acceptance, all His favor, it is found for me in one place, in Christ and because of Christ. Is that your hope? Can you say amen to that? In Christ we rejoice. Why do I love by God?

Because all of the Father's love is in one place. It's in Christ. And that's where we've always been, every believer. We've always been united to Him. Why did the Father elect us? Because we were in Christ. He elected Christ and he got us. Why did Christ go to the cross for us? Because we are his bride. We are in Christ.

Where are we accepted? We are accepted in the Beloved. Do we have any action taken in any of that? Do we do anything in that? We do absolutely nothing. It's simply who we are in that does all the work. And that whole heart rejoices in that. He's going to get all the glory because he's going to do all the work. And finally this, this whole heart is a struggling heart. I'm going to tell you what I mean by that. Turn over to Genesis 25. Read verse 22. Pick up in verse 21. And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

She had life in her. And the children struggled together within her. And she said, if it be so, she's saying if I have life in me, If it be so, why am I thus? Why do I have this struggle going? And she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. Prior to this, prior to her having life, there was no struggle in her, but when the Lord put life in Rebekah, what happened? The struggle began. I thought of this scripture.

This is Amos 3.3.

It says, can two walk together except they be believed? A man who is unconverted, a natural man who has not been given this whole heart, there's no struggle in him because there's only one man walking in him, and that's the flesh. That's the natural man. And he's agreed. He walks in agreement. God can be manipulated. I'm not that bad. Salvation is some way dependent on me. Therefore, we're all good. I'll just make the right decision or I'll just do the thing and everything's fine. There is no struggle.

But in the believer, somebody who's got this God-given whole heart, he is struggling with that old man that is in us because they are polar opposites. That old man never believes God, not one iota. That new man, he does nothing but believe God. That old man is completely and utterly sinful. He does nothing but sin. That new man in Christ Jesus, he's perfectly righteous. That new man is white-hot with zeal for God.

The old man, lazy, apathetic, wants absolutely nothing to do with him, and there's just a fight, and a fight, and a fight, and so that we are walking contradictions. And we are not agreed. How can two walk together unless they be agreed? Well, I got two men and me, and they're not agreed at all. They're at war. And everything that old man does, I don't condone it. Everything he thinks, it's not right. His faithlessness, I don't condone that. And so we are in this walking contradiction.

We say things like, Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. But this is how great it is for the people of God, truly, that all things are working together for our good. That old man serves us just well. He keeps us constantly looking to Christ. That new man in Christ Jesus sees the wickedness of the old man. He says, we've got no hope inside here. We've got to look one place. We've got to look to Christ alone. That's it. Struggle. The only man who can truly struggle this healthy way, believer, is somebody with a whole heart.

Now he's going to go on for the next little while and talk about praising the Lord. And particularly, he gives about five things that we praise him for. Now, if you're not there, go back to your text and look at verse three. Verse three, David says this. He says, when my enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. The Lord's praiseworthy for his presence.

You think about this, I'm sure you do the exact same way. I am covetous of his presence. I want his hand. I want his leadership. I want his direction. I want his protection. I want him to be with me. And I'm covetous of this. I want to know I have it. I want to be aware of it. I don't want to be kept in the dark constantly. And the beautiful thing about it is though, whether I can detect it, whether I think I have it or not, if I have this whole heart, if I'm a believer, I have it. It's always with me.

And the perfect example of that is 2 Kings 6. You remember the Syrian king, he gets mad at Elisha, so he goes down to Dothan, where Elisha lives, and he surrounds him, his entire compound, with horses and chariots, and Elisha's servant comes out, and he says, Master, how shall we do? It's just me and you, and this whole Syrian army is against us. And Elisha looks at him, he says, there's more with us than are with him. He says, Lord, open his eyes that he can see. And the Lord opens the servant's eyes and he sees chariots of fire, all the Lord angels just round about Dotham there in protection. He couldn't see it. That servant couldn't see it, but they were there just the same. I will never leave you and I will never forsake you. We are never actually in any real danger whatsoever. It doesn't exist for the Lord's people.

But there's something greater here. David's talking about the blessing of the Lord's presence. He is praiseworthy for his presence. And I like to look particular authors where they use the same concept. It kind of sheds light on it. And this is what David said in Psalm 68a, about this thing of the Lord's presence. He said, 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. Sinai. The law. You think about this.

If you and I were to stand before God's holy law outside of Christ, it does nothing but declare our guilt. But we stand in Christ. Him, his presence before that law, and we are in him, and the law melts before him. It says, I see you and I see perfect righteousness. I see perfect holiness. I see a man who has never done anything wrong and has always done that which is right. He stands in the presence of the law with us and for us. And the law looks him over and he says, that is a perfect man. And when it's speaking to Christ, it's speaking to everybody in him. We are perfect and acceptable before the law in him because we have his presence. Look at verse four. David says, for thou hast maintained, and that means accomplished, my right and my cause, thou saddest in the throne, judging right.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, where Peter and James and John saw the Lord transfigured before them with Elijah and with Moses, do you remember the topic of conversation on that hill? The deceased he should accomplish at Jerusalem. His death wasn't an accomplishment, but the question is this, what did he accomplish?

And it's many, many things. First is this, the full glorification of the Godhead. He accomplished glory for the Godhead, the pinnacle of it, through the offering of himself to the fulfillment of every single scripture. How many times we read in the scripture, this happened that the scriptures might be fulfilled. God is no liar. Everything he wrote down in this book is going to come to pass.

But three, what happened on that cross? What did he accomplish? Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, sayeth your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." What happened on the cross?

Our warfare, the warfare of every single member of God's elect, it was accomplished. Peace was accomplished. Perfect peace was made between a holy God and a sinful people by putting away their sins, so much so that they are never heard of again. we will never plumb the depths of God being just and the justifier of the ungodly. We'll never plumb the depths of that. We'll never plumb the depths that on that cross what was happening was perfect justice, so much so that every one Christ died for, the very law of God and the very perfect justice of God. It doesn't just suggest they should be saved, it demands they must be saved.

Now read verse four again, it'll make perfect sense. For thou hast maintained my right and my cause. You've made it to where it's only right that God the Father would receive me, because it's a just salvation. You have maintained my right and my cause, thou saddest in the throne, and you're judging right. When you look at me and you say, mercy, I'm going to show him mercy, it's not I'm sweeping something out of the cover. This is just mercy. It must be that we receive him, because Christ put away his sin. That's true justification.

What else was accomplished on that cross? Look at verse five of your text. Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end, and thou hast destroyed cities, their memorial is perished with them. What did he accomplish on the cross?

Complete victory over all his enemies. Satan, demons, all the forces of hell, all the forces against God were gathered around that cross, and they all thought, finally we won. Finally we put him to death, we got everybody to turn on him, finally we won. But this was the great undoing. Through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, it took away the one power the devil actually had, the power of accusation.

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather than is risen again, is seated at the right hand of God, who maketh intercession for us presently right now.

Because the sin is gone, all the power of accusation is gone, and he made complete victory over all his enemies. Now look at verse seven. David says, but the Lord shall endure forever. He hath prepared his throne for judgment. We praise him for his endurance. Now, what does that mean, the endurance of God? Let me read this to you. This is Psalm 102, 12. David says, but thou, O Lord, shalt endure forever in thy remembrance unto all generations. The endurance of God has something to do with the memory of God, and in this sense, him remembering his promises and always keeping them.

He is not like you and me. We are mutable, we change, we lie, we go back. God is absolutely nothing like that. When he makes a promise, he must keep that promise. I've heard said before, if he were to break his promise, he would cease to be God. God can't cease to be God. That's impossible. He can't lie. He can't break a promise. That's outside his ability. That means everything he said in this book Whatever he's promised, it absolutely is going to be held to. He is absolutely going to do it. And he gives us a promise in this psalm. 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. Everybody who knows his name, the thief was given that whole heart. He knew his name, Lord. Everybody who knows his name, they'll put their trust in him. They're going to be made to. They're given a whole hearth, that whole hearth that returns unto God. But listen to the promise in all this. This is the promise. For thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. You know what that means?

There will never be anybody who trusts Christ alone for everything in their salvation that he doesn't receive. There is never going to be anyone, whoever wakes up in hell, trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise, for any reason, cast out. And someone says, am I allowed to look to Christ?

You are not allowed, you are commanded, you must. This is the call to all of humanity. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. Look at verse eight. And he shall judge the world in righteousness. He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. He is worthy of praise, and we praise him for his absolute uprightness. And you think about the uprightness there is in salvation. We just talked about it.

You know, if I owed you money, and you came to me and you said, and I'm just going to forgive you that debt, free and clear, it's gone. Thank you. But I better stay on good terms with you. Right? Because if things sour between me and you, what can you do? You can call that debt back into a question. Be like, yeah, I forgave it the other day, but I'm calling you on it today. You owe me that money. Pay up, right? Better hope that relationship stays good.

The uprightness of God's salvation. If somebody comes along and they pay that debt for me, that means that debt can never be called again. That means I am free and I owe absolutely nothing. And that's the truth of the gospel. That's the truth of justification. This is a just salvation. Our sins can never be called into question again. Nothing could ever be brought up again. It is erased from the memory of God himself because our sins truly are gone. That was the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are free in Christ.

He is upright in salvation. And listen to me on this. And he is upright in the damnation of the wicked. And he is praiseworthy in both. And somebody says, that's hard to get hold of. You're saying he's praiseworthy in the damnation of a man. He is. And the Lord gives us a scripture here to help us with this. Look at verse 16. Verse 16 says, the Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth. He is known by his just judgment in all things. This is who he is. This is how he rules. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth. Listen to this. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Notice the words after that. Higgion, Selah. It's basically Selah doubled. Meditate on this, stop. Meditate on this, stop. This is important. Pay attention to this.

If I'm saved, it is for one reason. It's because God loved me in Christ before the world began. It's where he elected me in Christ before the world began, because Christ went to that cross bearing my sins, establishing my righteousness before the law, and the Holy Spirit called me and gave me a whole heart and gave me life, and I was excluded from all that. If I'm saved, it is all the fault of God himself.

If a man goes to hell, understand this, he is trapped in the snare of his own hands. Man doesn't go to hell because God didn't elect him, and Christ didn't die for him, and the Holy Spirit didn't give him life. Man goes to hell because he sinned against God, and he refused to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The external call to all of humanity has always been, look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved. And all of humanity in one accord says, no, we will not.

If a man is saved, it's just, it's absolutely just. It's all up to the Lord, it's all his doing. If a man goes to hell, it's all that man's fault. It is perfectly his responsibility. And he's upright and he's praiseworthy in both ways. Look at verse nine, we'll finish up. Final praiseworthy thing David speaks of, he says, the Lord also will be a refuge but listen for who it's for, for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. He is praiseworthy for this.

He is refuge for a particular type of person, the oppressed. And that means the absolute crushed, people who can't get out, people who can't fend for themselves. And this is how David uses the word in another place when he's talking about this, Psalm 74, 21. He says, Oh, let not the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise thy name. Who is he refuge for? For the poor and the needy.

He is not refuge for a man who can provide for himself. He is not refuge for a man who has something he can offer unto God. He is refuge for one particular group of people, people who are poor, who have nothing before God. People who are needy, who need him to do everything for them because they can't do anything for himself. And he doesn't say, I've made myself a potential refuge, or I've given them the opportunity for refuge. He says, for the poor and needy, for people who sit right here today saying, Lord, I have nothing to bring before you.

Lord, I need you to do everything for me. It's not that you have the opportunity for him to be your refuge, he is right now your refuge, and he always has been. Right now, you are in the house with the blood over the door. You are perfect before God, you have been perfectly justified. Now, look to him, trust him, and take him at his word. He's not gonna put anybody away that trusts in him. He is a God truly worthy of praise for his presence, for his endurance, for his accomplishments, his uprightness in all things, and the simple fact that he is the refuge for us poor and needy sinners. Amen.

A God Worthy of Praise

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about praising God?

Why is it important to have a whole heart in Christ?

How do we know that Christ's work on the cross is sufficient for salvation?

Why is trust in God essential for believers?

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A God Worthy of Praise

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about praising God?

Why is it important to have a whole heart in Christ?

How do we know that Christ's work on the cross is sufficient for salvation?

Why is trust in God essential for believers?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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