If you would open your Bibles
with me to the book of 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 4. We'll read the first 11 verses
of 1 Peter chapter 4. For as much then as Christ has suffered
for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.
For he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that
he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh
to the lust of men, but to the will of God. For the time past
of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the
Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings,
banqueting, and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange
that you run not with them, to the same excessive riot, speaking
evil of you, who should give account to him that is ready
to judge the quick and the dead? For for this cause was the gospel
preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged
according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in
the Spirit. But the end of all things is
at hand. Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer, and above
all things Have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity
shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to
another without grudging, as every man hath received the gift.
Even so, minister the same one to another, as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him
do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God, all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and
dominion forever and ever. Amen. We'll end our reading there. Shawn, you can lead us in our
singing. If you would, please turn to
song number 255, Blessed Assurance. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. Heir of salvation, Purchase of
God. Born of His Spirit, washed in
His blood. This is my story, this is my
song, Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story,
this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, perfect delight,
visions of rapture now burst on my sight. Angels descending,
bring from above, Echoes of mercy, whispers of love. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior. all the day long. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission,
all is at rest. I in my Savior am happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking
above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. Okay, if you would now turn to
song number 431, I'd love to tell the story. I love to tell the story of unseen
things above, of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story because
I notice truth. It satisfies my longings as nothing
else can do. I love to tell the story, t'will
be my theme in glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and
His love. I love to tell the story, more
wonderful it seems, than all the golden fancies of all our
golden dreams. I love to tell the story. It did so much for me. And that is just the reason I
tell it now to thee. I love to tell the story. It will be my theme in glory
to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story, tis
pleasant to repeat. What seems, each time I tell
it, more wonderfully sweet, I love to tell the story, for some have
never heard the message of salvation from God's own Holy Word. I love to tell the story, it
will be my theme in glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus
and His love. I love to tell the story for
those who know it best. Seem hungering and thirsting
to hear it like the rest. And when in scenes of glory I
sing the new, new song. T'will be the old, old story
that I have loved so long. I love to tell the story. T'will be my theme in glory. ? To tell the old, old story
of Jesus and his love ? All right, let's open our Bibles now, if
you would, with me to Psalm 149. Psalm 149. Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto
the Lord a new song and his praise in the congregation of saints.
Let Israel rejoice in him that made him. Let the children of
Zion be joyful in their king. Let them praise his name in the
dance. Let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and
harp. For the Lord taketh pleasure
in his people. He'll beautify the meek with salvation. Let
the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their
beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged
sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the heathen and
punishments upon the people, to bind their kings with chains
and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute upon them
the judgment written. This honor have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord. Thank God
for his word. Let's bow together. Our Father, we bow before you. As the psalmist just told us,
we do shout hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Father, we praise
you for who you are, for your wisdom, your goodness, your justice,
your righteousness, your peace. We thank you for providing such
a savior for your people that fully and completely atones for
all of their sin, gives them forgiveness with thee, gives
them peace with thee, gives us acceptance with thee. Father,
how we thank you. Father, I pray that tonight you
would enable us from the heart to praise your matchless name,
to hear your gospel preached, to hear your word opened, to
be astounded and amazed one more time at your mercy and grace
to your people in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, let his name
be exalted and magnified so that we forget everything else but
him. Let us not rejoice in the instrument,
but in the message. Let us not rejoice in the means,
but in the Savior. Father, how we thank you for
this place that you've given us, a place where your gospel
is preached It's been preserved these many years. Father, we
pray that you give each one of us the wisdom to carefully protect
this gift, to earnestly protect the unity of your people, the
unity of the brethren, that this might be a place where your people
can continue to meet in peace and hear of Christ our Savior.
Father, we pray that this would be the the preeminent care on
all of our hearts, that Christ be preeminent, that he have all
the preeminence and everything that is said and done in this
place, this be the goal, that Christ be lifted up, that your
people may be able to see him and be drawn to him and worship
him. Father, we pray for those who
are hurting and who are sick, who need you, especially at this
time. We thank you for the good report
we've had in our brother Aaron and father pray you continue
to heal and strengthen him. Be with him. We pray for barb
joe. We pray for no fee father. There's so many that are difficult
cases to us, but not to the and we hold him up to the pray that
you would heal and comfort that you lead and guide that that
Your will would be done in all of these matters. All these things
we ask and we give thanks in that name, which is above every
name. The name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rock of Ages, cleft for me Let
me hide myself in Thee Let the water and the blood From Thy
wounded side which flow Be of sin the double cure Save from
wrath and make me pure Could my tears forever flow Could my
zeal no longer know These four sin could not atone Thou must
save and Thou alone In my hand no price I bring Simply to Thy
cross I cling While I draw this fleeting breath When my eyes
shall close in death When I rise to worlds unknown And behold
Thee on Thy throne Rock of Ages, cleft for me Let me hide myself
in Thee I sure appreciate Sean and Isaac
taking care of our song service. Doesn't that prepare your heart
to worship? I appreciate it, fellas. All right, if you would,
open your Bibles again with me to Psalm 149. I've titled the
message this evening, Privileges of God's Elect. Privileges of
God's Elect. Now, like all of the other Psalms,
I've tried to show you this in our study through the Psalms,
that this is the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, speaking. And the
Savior is telling his people to do some things here. And his
commandments are not grievous. These are not commandments that
put a great burden on us. It is the privilege of God's
elect to do these things that our Savior instructs us in here.
It's the privilege to have the opportunity to do. It's a privilege
to have the ability and it's a privilege to have the heart
to do these things. I see six things in this psalm
that it is the privilege God's elect to do. And the first one
is this, it's the privilege of God's elect to sing a new song. Verse one, Psalm 149, praise
ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song
and his praise in the congregation of saints. Now what is this new
song? Well, it's not a song that has
new words. It's an old, old song. It's not
a song that has a new subject. The subject of this new song
is eternal. The subject of the song is the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's a new song because God's
elect didn't used to sing this song, but now this is the song
they sing. They used to sing a song about
them. They sang a song about their works. They sang songs
about their morality, their sound doctrinal stains. They sang a
song about their theology. There's a song, I think it's
kind of comical, But it's an old country song. It's hard to
be humble when you're perfect in every way. That's our song,
isn't it? It's all about us. That song's got a lot of different
verses. It's got some different titles. But the subject is always
the same. Me. Me. But after the Lord does
a work of grace in the hearts of his people, God's people sing
a different song. It's new in that it's different
from the song that they used to sing. Now they sang the song
we just sang. They sing the old, old song,
the old, old song, the Lord Jesus Christ and His glory. That's the song we just sung.
I thought about this as we were singing it. It's the old, old
song, but the songwriter says, when it sings of glory, I sing
the new, new song. It'll be the old, old story that
I've loved so long. Sean had no idea what my text
was tonight, what my subject was. And that's a song he picked. And I thought about, Brother
Maurice Montgomery told me this years and years ago, when he
was the pastor, David Edmondson was his song leader. David would
want to know what Maurice's text is. Maurice said, I'll never
tell him. I just, I refuse to tell him. He said, I like it
better that the spirit leads him to pick out the songs, how
often they match the message. That's what happened tonight.
It's the old, old story. That, the new, new song we sing
in glory is going to be the old, old story. that we've been telling
here so long. It's the story of redemption
in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now God's people, they don't
sing about themselves anymore. They have a new song, a new subject. It's Christ and his glory. They
used to sing, praise me, praise me, I'm my own redeemer. Now
they sing, praise him, praise him, Jesus, my blessed redeemer. Look at Revelation chapter nine.
This is the passage that the songwriter was talking about.
That new, new song we're going to sing in glory, we're going
to sing it for a long time and we'll never get tired of it. Revelation 5 verse 9. And they sung a new song. Now
here's the lyrics to this new song. Thou art worthy to take
the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and
has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and
tongue and people and nation. has made us unto our God kings
and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and
I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the
beasts, and the elders. And the number of them was 10,000
times 10,000, and thousands of thousands. It's all of them singing
one song, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the land that
was slain. To receive power, and riches,
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing,
And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that
are in them, heard I saying, blessing, and honor, and glory,
and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and under the
lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. Now that's
the new song. It's a new song we'll sing with
an old, old subject, an eternal subject, but it's new in this
way. We didn't used to sing it by
God's grace. Now we do, but it's new in this
way too. This new song can only be sung
by the new man only. David said this song is sung
in the congregation of saints. You can only sing this song if
you're one of the saints. If you're in the congregation
of the saints, But we're not saints by nature, are we? No,
not at all. We're not holy by nature. So
we can only sing this new song if God makes us new, if he makes
us a new creature in Christ. If you look over a few pages
of Revelation 14, I'll show you that. Only the new man can sing
this new song. Revelation 14, verse three. And they sung, as it were, a
new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the
elders. And no man could learn that song but the 144,000, which
were redeemed from the earth. Now, that doesn't mean there
just can be 144,000 people in heaven. That 144,000 represents
the perfect number of God's elect, all together. Not one of them
is missing. They're all there together. And they are the only
ones who can learn to sing this song. You have to be given a
new heart before you can sing This new song. And that's the
heart that God gives. And God the Holy Spirit causes
us to be born again with a new heart. That new heart believes
Christ. That new heart loves Christ. And it's our privilege
to talk about Him. It's our privilege. I mean, we're
commanded, sing His praises. Shout hallelujah. Shout praise
the Lord. Well, all right. I love to do that, don't you?
I love to tell the old, old story. It's a privilege to know God. Not everybody knows God. It's
a privilege to know God. And the only way we can know
God is if God is pleased to make himself known to us through the
preaching of his word. Has he done that for you? That's
a privilege. It's a privilege to know him.
You just cannot overestimate the value of knowing God. What a privilege that is. And
those people that know God, they're the only ones who can praise
Him. See, you have to know who you're praising. You have to
know what you're praising Him for. What did He do? Why did
He do it? You have to know these things about Him before you can
praise Him. We're praising Him for the salvation
of our souls. We're praising Him for God's
sovereign mercy to us. We're praising Him for His wisdom
that He found a way to save a wretch like me and still be holy, still
be God. We're praising Him for who He
is. The only way we can praise God like that is if we're the
objects of his mercy. You can't praise God for sovereign
mercy unless you're an object of his mercy. Can't praise God
like that unless he teaches us who he is. What a privilege to
know God and be an object of his mercy. Those are the people
who can sing this new song. All right, number two, it's a
privilege of God's elect to be joyful children of God. Back
in our text, Psalm 149. Verse two, let Israel rejoice
in him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful
in their king. I hope we never forget what a
privilege it is to be a child of God. Child of God. To be able to say that the almighty
God, eternal father is my father. I'm his child. That's a privilege. I hope we never forget that.
Children of God are spiritual children. We're going to talk
about the king here in a minute, the kingdom of God. It's a spiritual
kingdom. We're spiritual children. I know we've got to live in this
world. We've got responsibilities in
this world, things that God's given you to take care of. You
take care of them. You take care of them. But we
need to remember this. Just don't get so caught up in the goings-on
of this world and just put too much energy and effort into it.
We're spiritual children. Spiritual children. In a spiritual
house, in a spiritual kingdom, going to a spiritual place. We're
children of God. Children are born from their
parents. Earl and I were talking about
this before. We get things from our parents. We can't help it.
We're like them. We just are. Children usually
look like their parents. They usually act like their parents.
My girls wonder why it is that their mother points out that
they act like me only when they're in trouble, you know? I mean,
I'm sorry, girls. It's just what they got from
me. We look like our parents. We act like our parents because
we got our parents' nature. I mean, my girls couldn't help
it. They got my DNA. I mean, you know, there's just
so far that can go. But God's children now, they're
born with the nature of their heavenly father. And you think
what a privilege that is, to be born with the nature of our
heavenly father. If you're a child of God, God
made you. He made you. He made you his
child. He created you. He made you a
partaker of the divine nature. That is such a privilege, this
mind will never be able to comprehend it. Children of God, some children,
fleshly children. They're blessed to be born into
homes where somebody's going to teach them. You all who are
teachers, I'm thankful for you. There's a lot of jobs I see I
could not do. I don't think I could be a teacher.
And it's not because I don't think I could communicate with
children. It's not because I don't love children and want the best
for them. What about when they're born
into home parents that don't care for them? I mean, they just don't
care for them. They don't take care of them. Oh my goodness.
But some children are born and blessed to be born into a home
where somebody is going to teach them. All of God's children are
born into a home like that. Our Father teaches His children. You know what He teaches them?
He teaches them to trust Him. He teaches them who Christ is.
He teaches them where mercy is found, where salvation is found.
He teaches them constantly Run to Christ. He teaches them that.
That's a privilege, isn't it? Everybody doesn't know that.
If you do, that's a privilege. Some children are blessed to
be born into homes of parents who can give them financial advantages. They can open doors for them,
you know? God's children have every advantage from our Father.
You talk about opening doors? He opens the door so that you
can come into His presence anytime. Anytime. God's children have
the advantage of eternal life. He gives it to them. He can afford
to give it to them freely. He gives them righteousness.
He forgives their sin. Oh, they're blessed. What a privilege.
Some children are born to parents who truly love them, and they'll
raise them right. They'll raise them right. It's
not going to be an ungoverned love. They'll raise them right.
God's children have a father who loves them with an everlasting
love. and it's a governed love. It's
because of that everlasting love he draws to him, to himself. And children are heirs of their
parents. God the Father has some heirs. He's made his children to be
his heirs and they're gonna inherit absolutely everything that he
owns. Everything. The Father has made
his elect to be joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ, the only
begotten of the Father. The Father has put all things,
everything, into the hand of his Son. And you're a joint heir
of it, if you're in Christ. That's the children of God. God's
people, his children, inherit everything Christ deserves. They
inherit everything that Christ earned for them, and they inherit
nothing that they deserve. Aren't you thankful? What is
it that we deserve? the wages of sin's death. But
God's children inherit everything that Christ earned for them.
That's grace, isn't it? That is grace. Grace is something
that's not earned. It's inherited. You have that
privilege if you're a child of God. What a privilege. Then number
three, it's a privilege of God's elect to be joyful citizens of
the kingdom of God. Verse 2 says, let the children
of Zion be joyful in their king. In their king. Now this is something
that's sorely lacking in our day, and I bet you if you go
back and read all the old writers, they'll say it's sorely lacking
in their day too. In understanding that God is
king. He's king. Who does as he pleases. Always. He always does his will.
God's the king and he's got a kingdom. He's got a spiritual kingdom.
That's what our Lord told pilot. My kingdom's not of this world.
I have a spiritual kingdom. It's filled with spiritual people,
but you know, the only natural born citizen, the kingdom of
God is gone. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the only begotten of the father. He's the only natural born citizen
of that kingdom and he's the king of it. And every other citizen
in the kingdom of God was born in the kingdom of darkness. They're
born somewhere else, but God's translated them. He's translated
his elect from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of
his dear son and made them citizens so they belong there. It made
it right for them to be there. God translated his people from
the darkness of unbelief into the light of faith in Christ.
He's translated his people from the darkness of ignorance into
the kingdom of light so that they know Christ, they see. God's
translated his people from the kingdom of darkness of death
into life in Christ Jesus. God's translated his people from
the darkness of bondage, bondage to the law, bondage to the sin,
bondage to this flesh into the glorious liberty of the children
of God. That's the people in God's kingdom.
What a privilege. And God's kingdom is a special
kingdom, a spiritual kingdom. It's a kingdom of righteousness. Everything in that kingdom is
righteous. Everything and everyone in it,
it's all righteous. It's based upon righteousness.
But all of God's elect are born unrighteous, aren't they? And
there's a problem here. We're born unrighteous in Adam.
How is it we're going to get into that kingdom of righteousness?
How is it we're going to get there and it be legal, it be
right? You're not scaling the wall and
living in there as an illegal alien. How are you going to be
there? Well, God makes it so that his people are righteous.
He makes them righteous in Christ so that they're fit. They're
meet. It's right for them to live in his kingdom. And we don't
live in a kingdom. We live in a country, a powerful
country. But I would say everybody here
would say that you're glad to be an American. Are you glad
to be an American? I mean, I know our system of
government is flawed. It's corrupt. There's a lot of
problems with it. I know. I know. But aren't you
glad to be American? When I used to go to Mexico,
I told Isaac and Claire this, hoping that this would be their
experience. It was not when they came back from Mexico. But this
was my experience. Every single time I went to Mexico,
come back into the United States after spending a week in Mexico,
and got past some checkpoints. to get back into this country.
And I want to back in. I want to back in. I get there
with my passport, my boarding pass, and my luggage and things.
And they look at it. And it seemed like I always had
this giant 6 foot 5, 350 pound man. It's all muscle. He's standing
there, hat pulled down low, looks at my face. My passport, and
my picture never matched. I always had a goatee in the
winter. It was wintertime here when we went there. I had a goatee.
It didn't match my passport picture. And he's looking at me. Finally,
he closes up, and he smiles, hands it back to me. He says,
welcome to the United States of America. And I'm telling you,
I just want to jump and click my heels. Oh, that was good sounding
words. It's far from perfect. Boy, there's
no place else I'd rather live. I'm glad to be in America. I'm
thankful. And Americans, much to my chagrin,
and maybe it's just American right, I don't know, but we seem
to take a lot of joy in complaining. Complaining, just complaining,
complaining, complaining about our rulers, complaining about
this one and that one, and it's just... Maybe I'll be a little more thankful,
a little more thankful. How joyful should we be to live
in the kingdom ruled by the Lord Jesus Christ, our King. Oh, there
is never reason to complain under his wise rule. Never. He does everything perfectly. We should have such joy of being
in his kingdom. And Davis is something here about
showing us, us showing our joy that I think we should look at
in verse three. Let them praise his name in the dance. Let them
sing praises unto him with a timbrel and harp. Now what is this business
about dancing? I read a lot of the old writers
and bless their heart. I mean, I know they're the products
of their time and things. They twisted themselves, I mean,
horribly in this matter of dancing. And some of them actually said,
The scriptures say you should dance in joy. And then they said,
but don't you do it, because it's sinful. I mean, they just
couldn't help themselves. Don't do it, because it's sinful. Well,
now I can't explain everything as I know about that. But the
word of God never tells us to do anything sinful. And here
it tells us to dance in praise to the Lord. That's what it tells
us. You read it. That's what it says. So should
we be up dancing in the aisles? Should we? I mean, it says here
to sing. We sing. It says to dance. Should we be
dancing in the aisles? I can show you examples in scripture
where people danced. David danced before the Lord.
Remember, they were bringing the ark back. And when they first
tried to bring it back, David got a fellow killed because they
were pulling the ark pulled by a cart, you know, by an oxen. And the oxen stumbled, and the
ark fell, and the fellow reached up there, you know, steady. Nobody
wanted the ark of God falling down in the mud, but God killed
him because he touched the ark. The ox must be carried on those
staves by the priest. Only the priest can do this.
Well, now they're bringing it back right. And boy, they took
a few steps. I mean, they literally just took
a few steps, maybe seven steps. And David stopped everything
and they slaughtered an animal. They slaughtered an oxen and
sacrificed it to the Lord and took a few more steps and offered
another sacrifice. And David was so overjoyed. They're bringing the ark back
to Israel. He danced before the Lord. Israel
set free from Egypt. They went through the Red Sea.
Pharaoh and his host were killed in the Red Sea. Every last one
of them was dead. Everybody trying to kill them
was dead. And Miriam danced before the Lord. She danced. They're
free. Can you blame her? Can you blame
David for dancing? Should we be dancing too then? Well, the key to this instruction
is let them praise his name. Let everything you do, in all
of your life, especially in here, let everything you do be done
to the praise of the name of our Savior. Let everything you
do lift up and exalt the name of our God. In verse six, David
says, let the high praises of God be in their mouth. That word
high means uplifting. Let everything that comes out
of your mouth Be uplifting, uplifting his name, glorifying his name.
Now in our culture here and in our rather conservative culture
here at 13th Street or at Hurricane Road Grace Church, the conservative
culture a lot of us grew up in, somebody dancing in the aisles
would draw attention, wouldn't it? I mean, that would draw attention. It would draw attention to themselves.
It wouldn't draw attention to the Lord. I can assure you that's
true of me. I got like three dance moves.
I only show them to Janet in the kitchen because she's the
only one I could see and still love me. If I was trying to dance
up here, y'all be laughing. There is no way you could worship
and praise the Lord with me dancing up here. So here's the key. It's let them praise his name.
Now, if you can dance, you can put the attention on the Lord,
not on you, have at it. Otherwise, dance in your heart. We're told to sing and sometimes
it's not appropriate to sing. Right now, y'all ought to be
quiet and not be singing. You could sing in your heart.
See, when David's here talking about dancing, he's not, I don't
think, specifically talking about dancing. The whole point of this
is joy. Dancing expresses joy and gladness. Singing expresses joy and gladness. There's time to do that out loud.
There's time to do it in your heart. Be joyful in the Lord. Be joyful in the Lord. And then
just apply that rule to everything we do in the worship service.
Do it to praise the Lord and not draw attention to yourself.
That's true of singing. It's true of praying. It's true
of preaching. It's true of doing something
to help others. It's true of whatever it is that
you can think of to do, do it so that the focus is on Christ.
Do it so that the focus is on worshiping Christ and people
praising Him, not praising you. That's just a good rule of thumb.
And a child of God is, listen, don't do it as a show of religion. If you want to do something to
make a show of religion, to think, oh, people are going to see how
religious and how orthodox and how devoted I am. If that's what
you're thinking, don't do it. Don't do it. We don't need a
show of religion. We need to worship God. We're told here
to praise the Lord. And a child of God has the privilege
to do that, because God's given us a heart to do it, a heart
to do it. Then do it whenever God gives you an opportunity.
to praise His name, to draw the attention to Him, draw it away
from us and draw it to Him. It's hard to tell people, look,
look and live, look to Christ while I'm wanting them to look
at me. That's just a good rule of thumb. I believe that's pretty
good understanding of this business of dancing that David talks about
there. All right, here's the fourth thing. It is the privilege
of God's elect for the Lord to take pleasure Look what he says
here in verse four. For the Lord taketh pleasure
in his people. He will beautify the meek with
salvation. Now, the Lord takes pleasure
in his people. That's a truly amazing statement.
We just ought to stop and think about that. I mean, I got to
this point in my study. I just sat. It was quiet and
thought and looked at that. Almighty God takes pleasure in
his people. The Lord does not take pleasure
in his people because they do everything right. The Lord does
not take pleasure in his people because they say all the right
doctrinal statements. The Lord does not take pleasure
in his people because they have the right religious ceremonies,
that they have the right order of service. You know, they're
conservative, they don't dance enough. The Lord doesn't take
pleasure in His people because they live right in the earth.
Live right. I mean, you understand, I'm not
telling you it doesn't matter how you live. It matters how you
live. Live right. But that is not why the Lord takes pleasure
in His people. Because we can't do anything well enough to please
God. We can't do anything perfectly. We're nothing but sin. So the
Lord doesn't take pleasure in His people because of anything
about us. Anything about our nature or
what we do. So how does the Lord take pleasure
in His people? Well, the Lord takes pleasure in what he has
made his people. He has made them meet. He has
saved me. He has made them his child. He
has made them citizens of his spiritual kingdom. He takes pleasure
in his people and what he has done for them, not what they
do. David says the Lord beautifies
the meek with salvation. Well, God's elect are ugly. by nature, by their birth, they're
fallen in sin, they're fallen in Adam, but God makes them beautiful. He makes them meek and he saves
them. God makes them beautiful, he
makes his people beautiful by giving them a new spirit, a spirit
of meekness, not a spirit of pride. The Lord makes his people
beautiful by making them meek. so that they bow to him, so that
they bow to his rule over him. Being meek is simply this, it's
knowing that whatever God does with me is right, and it's best,
even if I don't understand it. The Lord makes his people beautiful
by making them meek so they'll bow. They bow to him. The Lord
makes his people meek, and then he takes pleasure in their meekness,
in what he made them. Lord saves his people by his
grace, and then he takes pleasure in their salvation, that they're
justified, that they're righteous, that they're holy. God makes
his people beautiful by taking his beauty and putting it on
them, and then he takes pleasure in it. It's all in what he has
done for his people. The Lord makes his people meek,
and then he rewards them for their meekness. Blessed are the
meek, for they shall inherit the earth. That's a privilege,
isn't it? But it's because of what the
Lord did for us, not what we did. Now, where does the Lord
take pleasure in His people? In Christ. It's in Christ. The Lord can only be pleased
with us in Christ because we can only be perfect in Christ. So the Father took His elect
and put them in Christ so that He's pleased with them. Now,
what a privilege. What a privilege. I wish I could say I'm never
pleased with myself. Unfortunately, I am at times. And those are the times that
I'm wrong. It's fleshly. It's pride. It's wrong. I should
be far less pleased with myself than I am. But even I can't be
pleased with myself all the time. And the father is pleased with
the likes of me. Wayne, that can only be because
he put me in a position. It's the only reason. He is as
pleased with his people as he is with his son. What a privilege. What a privilege. The pleasure of the Lord prospers
in his hand. And the father put everything
in the hand of his son so that he'd be pleased with them there.
Isn't that a blessing? That's a privilege. Then here's
the fifth thing. It's the privilege of God's people
to sing upon our beds. Verse five. Let the saints be
joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their
beds. Now when David here talks about our beds, I think he mostly,
what he's talking about here is privacy. Privacy. Bedroom's
a private place. Up to now, David's been talking
about praising the Lord publicly. Now he's talking about doing
it privately. We're not just making a show of religion here.
This is real. It's in the heart. It's where
the believer lives. He reminds us we're to praise the Lord privately
too. on our beds. Now, on our beds
could refer to different times of day, different times of life.
God's elect had the privilege to praise the Lord when we wake
up in our bed in the morning. Thank you, Lord, for seeing me
safe through another night. Thank you, Lord, for giving me
another day in your service. Lord, would you enable me to
do that? Will you give me another day in your service? Would you
enable me to do it? Lord, would you enable me to live for your
glory today. Would you enable me to walk away? Watch over me, lead me, and guide
me. Lead me not into temptation today.
Lord, would you be gracious to me today? Would you forgive my
sin today? I've already sinned for Him,
God, I beg. Lord, would you forgive my sin today? You know, that's
praising the Lord, acknowledging our need of Him, thanking Him.
Then God's elect have the privilege to praise the Lord in our bed
at night. We lay down in bed, it's dark, it's cool, we've got
a fan on our room, everything's white noise. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for a place of rest.
Thank you, Lord, for bringing me safe through this day. And
would you watch over me when I sleep? Are you ever more defenseless
when you're sleeping? Lord, watch over me while I sleep.
Lord, would you allow me to have some rest? Would you allow me
to have some rest so I can get up and serve you again in the
morning? That's thanking the Lord. That's praising the Lord
by thanking Him. Being God's elect, I have the
privilege to praise the Lord from our sickbed. Then somebody
says, wait a minute, wait a minute. You had me in the morning. You
had me at night. Praise the Lord from my sickbed?
How about praise the Lord when He makes me well? How can I praise
the Lord from my sickbed? Well, you can. You can praise
the Lord from your sickbed. The flesh can't do it, but we're
talking here about the privilege of God's elect. God's children
can do it. Well, how do I praise the Lord
from my sickbed? Well, I thought of a few things.
I praise the Lord for my sickbed by submitting to God's will for
me. I don't understand this, but
somehow this is for my learning. Somehow this is for good. I praise
the Lord for my sickbed by seeking healing. from the Lord, if I'm
gonna be healed from this thing, Lord's gonna do it. And seeking
grace for the hour. I think this is one of the most
important things in a time of trouble. Asking the Lord for grace for
the hour. Maybe the Lord will be pleased
to deliver me, maybe he won't, I don't know. But he has promised
me this, grace for the hour. When I was so sick last year,
I prayed that the Lord would heal me, but I also prayed for
grace for the hour. Grace until the Lord see fit
to deliver us. We praise the Lord from our sickbed
by praising the Lord that in this he showed me I'm his child. If you're without chastisement,
you're a bastard, not a child. This chastisement showing me
I'm his child. I'm his child. I never once spanked
a child that wasn't mine. God's child. I can praise the
Lord from my sickbed by thanking Him that in this I'm seeing I'm
learning something. I'm learning something in this
sickbed I could not have learned out there running around sunshine.
I'm learning from this trial to trust the Lord more than I
ever learned before in a different way than I ever learned before.
That's praising the Lord from our sickbed. And only the elect
can do it. Only the elect can really do
it. Then God's elect had the privilege to praise the Lord
from our deathbed. I feel pretty confident in saying
this, that nobody here tonight wants to die. Nobody's saying,
you know, I want to die tonight. If you're a believer, I know
you're not afraid to die, but you're probably particularly
not wanting to die at this very moment. I know the Lord can bring
us to that point. And many times he does. But it's
not something that you necessarily thinking that you want to do
tonight. But I do know this. This is what the believer knows.
To live is Christ and to die is gain. Look at Philippians
chapter one. Philippians chapter one. Verse 23. Prime ministrate betwixt two,
having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far
better. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful
for you. I can praise the Lord from my
deathbed by saying, you know, there's a part of me that wants
to stay here and help you. There he is. There he is. I'd
like to stay here and be a husband to James. I really would. I'd
like to stay here and be a father to my children. I'd like to stay
here and help you as your pastor by pointing you to Christ. I'd
like that. But I sure am ready to depart
and be with the Lord. There's a part of me that that's very
true. I'd love to depart and be with
the Lord. I can tell you this, it's a whole lot better there
than it is here. I can tell you that. And that's a privilege
that only God's elect can have. That's what we praise Him from
our deathbed. Now lastly, it is the privilege of God's people
to have the Word of God. Verse 6 in our text, Psalm 149. Let the high praises of God be
in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand. Now what
is this two-edged sword David's talking about? Everybody here
knows it. You know it's not a carnal weapon. It's the Word of God. The Word
of God is a two-edged sword. It's all edge. No matter which
way it goes, it cuts. It cuts and it heals. It kills
and it makes alive. And we need this weapon, because
we're in a spiritual warfare. This is something I think is
very important to point out in our day. We're not in a carnal
warfare. We're not. We're not in a political
warfare, trying to straighten up the way this country is run.
We're in a spiritual warfare. A spiritual warfare. And since
we're in a spiritual warfare, the only weapon we need is the
word of God. psychology and logic and things
like that, trying to get people to see our way and run their
lives the way we think we ought to run them. The Word of God
is the only weapon we need in this warfare because it's a spiritual
warfare. It's not our reasoning. It's
not our anger and our yelling and trying to make our point.
God's people are simply to preach the Word of God. What if you
did get the government fixed up in whatever way it is you
think it ought to be going? What if you did? What if you
did? What if you got society running
the way you think it ought to run? What if you did? What good would it do? I mean,
I ask you, what good would it do? Eternally, that much. That much. I'm telling you. Our
job is to preach and to believe. the Word of God, the Word of
God. You cannot overestimate the value
of the Word of God, of hearing it preached, of believing it,
because in this Word, Christ is revealed. In this Word, salvation
is revealed. In this Word, this is the Word,
the seed that God uses to give life to his people. It's this
Word that feeds God's sheep, that instructs God's sheep, that
comforts God's sheep, Look at the effect the word of God has,
verse 7. To execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments
upon the people, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles
with fetters of iron, to execute upon them the judgment written,
this honor have all his saints. Hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord. Now I'm sure that these verses
are not talking about going around and killing our enemies and you
know, we're going to show them here on earth and we're going
to defeat them and show them how we rule over them. I know
the wicked will be judged by this word, but this, this I'm
sure means more than that. This is the saving effect. The
word of God has on God's people. This word tells us how God's
vengeance was poured out against the sin of his people on Christ
our son. Christ satisfied the justice
of God by being punished for his people. Now that's a privilege
that only belongs to God's elect. Christ didn't suffer and die
for everybody. He died for those that the Father gave him. And
all of those people are eternally justified, delivered from God's
wrath and vengeance. This word shows us who's the
king. You know, if we just would get
this one simple thing, Fixed in our mind. There's one simple
issue fixed in our mind. It straightened up a whole lot
of our theology. Who's the king? I mean, let's just get that established. Who's the king? When you're raising
children, Joe Terrell told me this one time. He said, every
baby born in this world is born thinking they're king, and their
parents got to spend the rest of their lives teaching them
otherwise. You get that issue settled in your home. Who's the
boss? Home's going to run a whole lot
better. as long as it's the parents are the ones that end up, everybody
understands the parents are the ones that's in authority, the
home's gonna run better. Our theology would be pretty
much straightened out if we understand this. Who's the king? Who's the
king? We're born into this world thinking
I'm king. If it's up to me to decide whether
to accept or to reject Jesus, sounds to me like I'm the king.
All the powers of the decision making is up to me. But the word
of God, takes care of that situation and humbles God's people and
shows them that Christ is on the throne. And we bow to him. We bow to him. It's the power
of the word of God that binds God's people to Christ our King. So we will not leave him. That's
the word of God. And this is the honor that God
has given to all his saints, to every one of the people that
he's made holy and perfect in Christ. Now that's your privilege
if you know Christ. That's your privilege. And that
enables us to praise the Lord. Let's bow together. Our Father,
how we thank you for this passage of your word that shows us all
the privileges that your people have in Christ our Savior. Father,
I pray that you would move in power, that you give us faith
to believe that you give us faith to rest in Christ our Savior
and to have true heartfelt joy in knowing him. And Father, that
you might be pleased to use us in your service to show forth
the praises of our Savior to our generation. That you be pleased
to call out your people. Call them to our Savior. We know you will. We know you'll
not leave one sheep lost. You'll not leave one of your
elect out there on their own, unsaved, unwashed, unregenerated. But Father, if you'd be pleased,
would you be pleased to use us in that service to call out your
sheep? How we thank you, how we praise
you. Father, bless us as we go back
to our homes and go back out into the world tomorrow. Bless
us and cause us to be able to carry This joy in our heart as
we go back out to all of our different responsibilities out
there in the world. All these things we ask and we
give thanks and that name which is above every name. The precious
name of Christ our Savior. Sean. OK, if you would. Turn to page
464 and please stand as we sing. When I saw the cleansing fountain
open wide for all my sin, I obeyed the Spirit's wooing when He said,
Will thou be clean? I will praise Him, I will praise
Him, praise the Lamb for sinners slain. Give Him glory, all ye
people, for His blood can wash away each stain. Though the way seemed straight
and narrow, all I claimed was swept away. My ambitions, plans,
and wishes at my feet in ashes lay. I will praise Him, I will praise
Him, praise the Lamb for sinners slain. Give Him glory, all ye
people, for His blood can wash away each stain. Then God's fire upon the altar
of my heart was set aflame. I shall never cease to praise
Him. Glory, glory to His name. I will praise Him, I will praise
Him, praise the Lamb for sinners slain. Give Him glory, all ye
people, for His blood can wash away each stain. Blessed be the name of Jesus. I'm so glad He took me in. He's forgiven my transgressions. He has cleansed my heart from
sin. I will praise Him, I will praise
Him, praise the Lamb for sinners slain. Give Him glory, all ye
people, for His blood can wash away each stain. Glory, glory to the Father. Glory, glory to the Son. Glory, glory to the Spirit. Glory to the three in one. I will praise Him, I will praise
Him, praise the Lamb for sinners slain. Give Him glory, all ye
people, for His blood can wash away each stain.