Let's begin our service opening
our Bibles to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah the 40th chapter. We'll read the first 11 verses.
Isaiah chapter 40. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith 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. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley should be exalted,
and every mountain and hill should be made low, and the crooked
should be made straight. and the rough place is plain,
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." The
voice said, cry. And he said, what shall I cry?
All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the
flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely
the people is grass. The grass withereth, The flower
faded, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Oh, Zion,
that bring us good tidings, get thee up into the high mountains.
Oh, Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings, lift up thy voice
with strength. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say
unto the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold, the Lord God
will come with strong hand and his arms shall rule for him.
Behold, his reward is with him. and his work before him. He should
feed his flock like a shepherd. He should gather the land with
his arm and carry them in his bosom. He should gently lead
those that are with young." We'll end our reading there. Let's turn in our hymnal to page
42. Page 42. I'm sorry, 52. 52. His head with radiant glory crowned,
His lips with grace o'erflow, His lips with grace o'erflow. than with him compare among the
sons of men. Fairer is he than all the fair
who fill the heavenly train. who filled the heavenly frame. He saw me plunged in deep distress
and flew to my relief. For me he bore the shameful cross
and carried all my grief. And carried all my grief to Him,
my, oh, my God. Now back to page 42, the one
I wanted to start with first. No, it's 42. All hail the power of Jesus'
name, let angels prostrate bow. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him He chosen seed of Israel's grace,
He ransomed from the fall. Hail Him who saves you by His
grace, And crown Him Lord of all. Hail Him who saved you by
His grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe,
on this terrestrial ball, to Him all majesty ascribe, and
crown Him Lord of all. To him all majesty ascribe, and
crown him Lord of all. O that with yonder sacred throne
we at his feet may fall, we'll join the everlasting song and
crown him Lord of all. Our scripture reading this evening
will be Psalm 111. Psalm 111. We first began the series here
in the Psalms. I had seven or eight Psalms immediately
come to mind. I thought, I can't wait to get
there and preach that Psalm. Psalm 111 is one of them. I hope the Lord will bless us
as we look at this glorious Psalm this evening. Praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my
whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.
The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have
pleasure therein. His work is honorable and glorious,
and his righteousness endureth forever. He hath made his wonderful
works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion. He giveth meat unto them that
fear him. He will ever be mindful of his covenant. He has showed
his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage
of the heathen. The works of his hand are verity
and judgment. All his commandments are sure.
They stand fast forever and ever and are done in truth and uprightness.
He sent redemption unto his people. He hath commanded his covenant
forever. Holy and reverend is his name. The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all
they that do his commandments. His praise endureth forever. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our great God, our holy, merciful,
gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we bow before you this evening,
a thankful people, thankful for your mercy and your grace, your
work of redemption for your people. We're thankful, Father, that
you have sent redemption to your people. We thank you for your
blessing to this congregation, how you've blessed your word
and been true to your word to reveal Christ to your people.
Father, we're thankful. And we pray that one more time
tonight that you bless us with your presence. Bless us as we
look into your word Enable us to see more of Christ our Savior. Reveal Him to our hearts this
evening that we might believe Him, trust Him and rest in Him. What we ask for ourselves, Father,
we ask for your people who all over this world meet tonight
to worship you. Bless your word, where it's preached.
Give glory to your name. Bless and edify and comfort the
hearts of your people. Father, we can't thank you enough
for your many, many, many blessings to us. If we would try to count
them, they're more than can be numbered. That was true in David's
day and just as true in our day. How gracious and faithful you've
been to bless your people. But Father, in this flesh, we're
a poor and needy people. We pray for your continued blessing. Don't leave us alone, Father,
but continue to uphold us with the right hand of your power.
continue to lead and guide and bless. Father, for those that
you brought into the time of trouble, we pray for them. We
pray your hand of healing would be upon them, that you'd comfort
the hearts of your people. We pray a special blessing for
our brother Carter and Joyce, that you'd undertake in their
behalf, Father, be with them in these difficult times. And
others who need you especially, Father, we hold them up to thee,
knowing that by grace is sufficient and that you will do right. We
pray for the grace and the faith to rest in that and bow to your
goodwill, your good providence for your people. Father, we pray
for our country. We pray that you'd continue to
give our leaders wisdom and understanding that they might deal with the
many difficulties that we have in our country and in the world
today. Give them wisdom, Father, we
pray, to continue to provide the freedom and protection that
we have so long enjoyed in this country. Father, we ask this
blessing not because our country deserves it, far from it, but
out of your goodness, Father, we pray that you continue to
provide these safeties and blessings, freedoms that we enjoy in this
country. We know it comes from your hand. Again, Father, bless us as we
look into Your Word, we pray. Enable us to worship You. Enable
us to have a true hour of worship. In the precious name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, for His glory, in His name we pray. Amen. The song starts off with a chorus,
we all know, so sing along with me. And then you can do the course
of the main thing. He is Lord, He is Lord He is
risen from the dead and He is Lord Every knee shall bow, every
tongue confess That Jesus Christ is Lord The shepherd so gentle, so loving
to me, Rose of Sharon, a bloom in my soul. of thousands, in Jesus I sing. crowns will cast at His feet. Jesus, Savior, living Word, precious
name, O how sweet the sound! Anointed, triumphant, sent from
above, He was chosen forever to reign worthy. the power of eternal Lord. All praise to the Lamb that was
slain. King of kings, Lord of lords, Jesus, Savior, living Word, Precious
name, O how sweet! Precious name. Oh, how sweet. Oh, father and joy of him. Precious name. Oh, how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Alright, let's open our Bibles
again, if you would, to Psalm 111. I titled the message this evening,
The Crown Jewel of God's Works. This is, from what I read, the
first of seven psalms that are titled The Grand Hallelujah.
The psalm uses this psalm as a hallelujah to praise the Lord
for his works. He says in verse two, the works
of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure
therein. Verse four, he hath made his wonderful works to be
remembered. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion. Verse six, he has showed his
people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage
of the heathen. Verse seven, the works of his
hand are verity and judgment. All his commandments are sure. Each of these verses describe
all the works of God. Just whatever work of God you
want to think of and put in there, this will apply. That includes
God's work of creation. Creation is a great work. The
psalmist says here, the works of the Lord are great. Creation
is a great work, isn't it? It's great in its vastness. It's
great in its minute detail. You think how all the planets
stay in their orbits and their moons and they never crash into
each other. Think about how the ecosystem
just works in a giant circle to keep the earth full of water
and air. Only God can do something on
such a grand scale. That's a great work. At the same
time, it's great and it's just minute detail. Who designed an
ant to carry 50 times its body weight and just to work all the
time, sores and stuff? Who taught an ant to do that?
Who taught the caterpillar to weave a cocoon? I got two hands. I could never do that. Who taught
a caterpillar to weave a cocoon? Only God can do that. And those
works are sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. Scientists,
they spend their lives studying these things, and they never
learn all there is to know about it. These verses also describe
God's works of providence. read or study as much as I used
to, but I kind of fancy myself to be somewhat of a history buff.
It is fascinating to me to study history, because when you study
history, what you see is God's purpose just unfolding before
our very eyes. How often do you read about someone
seemingly insignificant, seemingly unknown, and suddenly that one
person does something that seems utterly impossible? It changes
the whole world. Nelson Mandela changed the world
from a jail cell. Martin Luther, just by himself,
stood in the face of false religion and changed the world. I mean,
you think of that. How could a person do that? God
used him to do it. That's how. How often has the
weather changed an entire military campaign, changed who rules the
world? Weather played a big role in
stopping the Spanish Armada. Everybody thought it was just
undefeatable. The weather came up and caused
them to be defeated. Napoleon and Hitler just steamrolling
the world were stopped by weather. Who sent just the right weather
at that exact moment in time? God did that. That's God's purpose
unfolding before our eyes. I mean, I could go on and on
and on and on. God's works are great, and they're
powerful. They're wonderful, mysterious,
beautiful works. But oh, there's one work. Now
there's one work. That work, the work of God, is
his crown jewel in all of God's works. All of God's other works
pale in comparison to this work. As a matter of fact, All of God's
other works are done for this one work. Work of redemption. Verse three says his work is
on all the other verses talked about his works. Here he says
his work is honorable and glorious. His righteousness endureth forever. So here we know David is talking
about the work, God's work of redemption, because he attaches
God's eternal righteousness to it. And all of God's other works
are done for this work. You know why God created the
world? So he could save sinful man out of it. I mean, just all
of God's works are done for this work of redemption. Now the whole
Bible is written to declare this work, God's work of redemption. In Habakkuk one verse five, we
read this, behold ye among the heathen and regard and wonder
marvelously For I will work a work in your days which you will not
believe. Though it be told you, you won't
believe it. This work of redemption is so
marvelous, it's so great, you won't believe it unless God gives
you faith to believe it. God's got to give us faith to
believe it because it's just too good to be true. And I know
that's what that's referring to because look over in Acts
chapter 13. I know this prophecy that I just read to you from
the book of Habakkuk is a prophecy of salvation in the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is God's work of redemption
in Christ. I know that so because the Apostle
Paul tells us this as he's preaching in Acts chapter 13. He says in verse 38, Acts 13,
Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and
by him all that believe are justified. from all things which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses. Now beware, therefore,
lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets."
And here he quotes the prophet Habakkuk. Behold, ye despisers,
and wonder and perish. For I work a work in your days,
a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you. This is the work, God's work
of redemption. It is so glorious, sinful man
just cannot believe it. It's too good to be true. We
can't believe it unless God gives us faith to believe it. And I
want to look at all of the whole Psalm, Psalm 111 in light of
God's greatest work, his work of redemption. Number one, I
see this God's work of redemption is to be praised. Verse one,
he says, hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord. I will praise
the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright
and the congregation. Now the assembly of the upright
and the congregation, that's God's church, it's believers.
And believers ought to be a thankful people. They ought to be a people
who thank God and praise God for all of God's works. I mean,
nobody can appreciate God's works like somebody that knows God.
Nobody can, I mean, a lot of people like nature, but nobody
can appreciate the beauty of creation. like a believer. Somebody knows God. If you know
the one who did it, you appreciate it all the more. A believer can
enjoy the beauty of God's handiwork and praise God for it, for his
wisdom and his beauty and the things that he's made. We praise
God for all the blessings we have of this life, our material
blessings, our health. If we get sick and God heals
us and all the provision we have of this life. God's people can
praise God for that, appreciate it, because we're in love. God's
the one who gave, but we wouldn't have it if he didn't give it.
Every gift comes from him. And I'm not minimizing our need
of those things, not at all. But let's never get caught up
in praising God for those things and getting just so focused on
those things that we forget the most important thing, that we
forget God's chief work, God's chief work. The work, God's glory
is seen in the crown jewel of God's work in redemption, the
redemption of his people. And that's the business of the
church. The business of the church is to praise God for this work
of redemption. David says, I'll praise the Lord
with my whole heart. And it ought to be our whole
heart, shouldn't it? Because anything less than our whole
heart is not worthy of God's work of redemption. Truth be
told, our whole heart's not worth it either. It's not worthy, is
it? But let's give everything we've
got our whole heart. I'll tell you something else
about our whole heart in this matter. God's work of redemption,
praising God for it and finding it out. You know, when we'll
find out God's greatest work, we'll see it. God said we'll
find it when we seek the Lord with our whole heart. That's
when we'll see his work of redemption. We'll praise God for it, and
we'll seek him for it with our whole heart. And this is the
responsibility of God's church, is to preach the gospel of God's
grace. There is a lot of issues that
are wrong in our society. And I guess on days you're not
here, deal with them if you want to. Be that one person who goes
out and change the world if you want to. But the business of
the church is not to correct those social ills. The business
of the church is to preach the gospel of Christ our Savior,
because that's what we praise God for, for his work of redemption
in Christ, for God's saving grace. Now we praise God for all of
his other works, but really, We can do without them. I mean,
if God withheld food and water and shelter and clothing from
us, these bodies would die. But I could still do without
those things. But we can't do without God's greatest work.
We cannot live without God's greatest work of the redemption
of our soul. That's why I say no other work
of God can compare to this one. His work of redemption. Then
let's just not waste our time preaching anything else. but
God's work, his grace and mercy for his people. Number two, I
see this, God's work of redemption is a great work. Verse two, the
works of the Lord are great, sought out of all of them that
have pleasure therein. Now, all of God's works are great.
Like I said, introducing this message, all of his works are
great, but God's work of redemption, that's his greatest work. The
work of redemption is great in its excellency because redemption
reveals God's greatest glory. God's greatest glory is sovereign
mercy to sinners. And that's revealed in this great
work of redemption. The work of redemption is great
in its design. God and his wisdom designed to
save sinners in justice. God designed a way to save sinners
consistent with the character of God. This is great in its
design. Redemption is great in its wisdom. God found a way that will allow
him to be both just and to justify the ungodly. Redemption is great
in its cost. What did the redemption of sinners
cost? Free to you, isn't it? Free to
me. But it's not free. It cost God something. It cost
the blood of God. In order to redeem sinners, it
cost God the death of his son. Oh, that's a great cost. This
work of redemption is great in who it saves. It saves great
sinners. The greatest, the chief of sinners.
This work is great in its scope. It saves all of God's elect. And that's a mighty big number
because none of us can count it. It's great in its scope.
Redemption is great in its length. It's eternal. It doesn't have
a beginning, it doesn't have an ending. It's great in its
power. David says in verse 6, He has
showed His people the power of His works, that He may give them
the heritage of the heathen. This work of redemption reveals
God's power to make a dead sinner live. It reveals God's power
to make a sinner to be righteous, or made the righteousness of
God in him. The work of redemption reveals
the power of Christ the Savior to take a sinner and bring them
into the presence of God, accepted before God's throne. This work
of redemption is great in its peace. It gives peace with God. Redemption gives God's people
peace that passes all understanding. We just can't understand all
of it, just such peace. And it's great and it's joy.
It gives the objects of God's mercy and grace, joy unspeakable
and full of glory. And God's people have pleasure
therein. And you know where you find them? They're constantly
seeking it out, constantly seeking to learn more. Let me hear more.
Let me hear it again. I know it's too good to be true.
Let me hear it again. Let me hear of Christ one more time.
See, doesn't hearing all these ways that God's work is great,
doesn't that make you want to seek it out? Doesn't that make
you want to know it? Study it, study it just in the
closest detail that you can. The more that you will learn
of God's work of redemption, the greater it'll seem to you.
The more that you learn about the works of men, you know, I
told you I have kind of a History buff. And those things you hear,
you know, about certain characters in history. Then you get a little
older and you look at them more closely. That ruins somebody
really good to me, you know. The more closely you look at
men and their works, the more disappointed you'll become. But
the more you learn of God's work of redemption, the greater it'll
be to you. It's a great work. Third, I see
this. God's work of redemption. is
an honorable work, verse three. His work is honorable and glorious,
and his righteousness endureth forever. God's work of redemption
is so great, it honors all of God's attributes. Redemption
honors God's holiness. Holiness is God's chief attribute. All the other characters, all
the other attributes of God hang from this attribute, this characteristic,
God's holiness. So when God saved sinners, he
did not ignore his holiness. He didn't set his holiness aside
in order to save unholy sinners. No, not at all. So you know what
God did? Those people he chose to save,
you know what he did with them? He made them holy. He made them
holy in his son. God made his people honorable. This is an honorable work. Redemption
honors God's justice and God's mercy at the same time. Now those
two to the human mind are opposed to each other, justice and mercy.
How can you have justice and mercy at the same time? God's
work of redemption shows us that. God can show mercy to his people,
and when he does, he does it in justice because he punished
Christ, our substitute, for the sins of his people. Now that
honors God's mercy and enables him to show mercy because he's
just. He still punished sin, but he did it in the substitute.
Now he can be merciful to his people. And I tell you how much
that honors God's mercy. The father would crucify his
own son so that he could show mercy to sinners. That's amazing, isn't it? And
the more you look at that, the more you'll see you haven't reached
the bottom of it yet. Redemption also in Christ honors God's law. You know, when God saved sinners,
He didn't set aside the holy, perfect requirements of His law.
No, God saved His people through the law. Through the law. Through Christ's obedience to
the law. Not through our obedience, through Christ's obedience to
the law for His people. When Christ came, that's exactly
what He did. He was made flesh, born under
the law, and He kept the law so well. Do you know what the
Father said about Him? He honored the law. He magnified
it. God's work of redemption is honored
God's righteousness. David says here, God's righteousness
endureth forever. Now that means God's righteousness
is eternal. God has saved his people in eternal
righteousness. Now that means this. God never
has changed toward his people. He never has and he never will
change towards his people. There was never a time that God
was angry with his people and then something changed to make
him not angry with his people. That cannot be. That can't be
so because God can't change. He can't. God saved his people
in righteousness in eternity before anything was created.
God put those people in his son and he saw them in his son, and
that made them eternally righteous. God's never seen them as unrighteous.
He's always seen his people in his son. Now, that's the truth
of eternal justification, eternal righteousness. And that's the
only way a sinner can be saved. I mean, it's just it's silly
to me that people argue about that. It can't be any other way
because God cannot change. And I'll show you how that honors
God's righteousness. God has always seen his people
as righteous. He's always seen his people in
his son. And then in the fullness of time, Christ came incarnate. He came as a man. And as a man,
he worked out a perfect righteousness. And that perfect righteousness,
that honors God's righteousness, it satisfied the father. And
then in time, That righteousness is applied to the hearts of God's
people in the new birth. And all of that, Christ coming
in time and the spirit coming to the hearts of God's people
in time, all of that is God doing just what he determined to do
from eternity. See, salvation in Christ, our
righteousness that honors God's righteousness, just like it honors
every attribute of God. It's an honorable work. Then
I see this. God's work of redemption is a
covenant work. Verse four. He hath made his
wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion. He hath given meat unto them
that fear him. He'll ever be mindful of his covenant. This
ties to what I was saying a moment ago about eternal justification.
In eternity, the father put his people in his son and Christ
our sheriff. And at that time, if you can
say time, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they entered
into a covenant of grace. That covenant of grace is God's
promise. A covenant means a promise. It's
God's promise to save his people by his grace through this great
work, the work of redemption that is in Christ Jesus. It's
through the redemption that Christ earned for his people by his
obedience to the law and that he purchased for his people.
with the blood of his sacrifice. Now, David says here that God
has made his wonderful works to be remembered. And God does. He brings those things to our
mind from time to time to make his wonderful works to be remembered.
He brings them to our mind or he gives us a message on those
things from his servant, causes us to remember those things.
But David means a whole lot more than that here. It's not just
that God makes his people to remember his wonderful works.
God Himself remembers His covenant works. He remembers His covenant
of grace for His people. Do you know why God, in time,
individually, one at a time, do you know why He reveals Himself
to the hearts of His people? Why He reveals Christ to them?
Why He gives them life and faith to believe Christ? Why He causes
them to love Christ and run to Christ and cling to Christ? And
why He causes them to love the Gospel? Do you know why God does
all that? because he remembers his covenant
grace, his covenant verses. He doesn't forget and he comes
to all of his people just at the appointed time he always
determined to do. God reveals himself to his people
in saving grace because he remembers this great work, the work of
redemption that was purchased with the blood of Christ. Now, the father can never forget
that work, can he? He can never forget the work
of his son. He sacrificed himself and gave
himself his life to redeem his people. The son sits at the father's
right hand with the scars still in his body from that sacrifice. The father never forgets that.
And God saves his people and he gives them life because he
never forgets his son died for him to give him life. And God's
covenant of grace, his promise of grace, That is the guarantee
that all of God's elect shall be saved because it's God's covenant,
his promise. God is a covenant God. Everything
God's doing in time, everything God ever has done in human time,
everything God ever will do in human time is not a reaction
to what we're doing. You know, it's like he's watching
us run around down here on earth like a bunch of ants. And he
thinks, oh, I've got to, you know, kind of reposition things.
No. Everything that is happening in time is exactly what God purposed
to happen throughout human time. All human time is, is the carrying
out of God's eternal purpose. Aren't you glad his purpose is
to save his people? You'll never forget it. All right. Fifthly, God's work of redemption
is a gracious work. David says here at the end of
verse four, the Lord is gracious and he's full of compassion. God is gracious and he's full
of compassion because that's God's character. His character,
his personality is to be gracious and compassionate to sinners. And it is great grace, great
compassion. That God would save sinners who
have done nothing but sin against him. who shook their fist in
the face of God and said, I'll not have this man reign over
me, crucify him and give us Brabbit. Those are the very people God
saved. Now Bob, that's grace. That's grace. Ask compassion for almighty God
to see a sinner lost and dead, filthy in their sin, and to compassionately,
tenderly, Reach way down and pick them up and wash them in
the blood of His Son. Clothe them in the righteousness
of His Son. Give them the life of His Son. Make them just like His Son and
bring them to be with Him forever. Now that's compassion. That's
the kind of compassion that I need. Oh, I love when David says God's
full of compassion. That gives me hope there could
be something for me. Of salvation. is by grace alone. If that were
not true, if salvation were not by grace alone, I mean 100% of
grace, there'd be no hope for sinners. There'd be no hope whatsoever. Salvation is not by works of
righteousness as we've done. That can't be. All our works
are sinful. We can't use something sinful
to make ourselves holy, can we? No, it has to be all of God's
grace without any of our works. You don't need to turn to this,
you're so familiar with it, but the book of Ephesians, chapter
two, the apostle says here in verse eight, for by grace, it's
by grace, by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God. And just to make sure you
understand what Paul's saying there, it's by grace, by faith,
not of yourselves, he says this, just to clarify, just in case
anybody don't recognize it, Not of works. Not of works. It's
100% of grace. Not of works lest any man should
boast. The one who's going to get the
glory in this great work of redemption is God himself. Christ is going
to get all the glory in this. And salvation by grace, that
gives a sinner rest and hope and peace. See, our works, if
salvation were by our works, if we had to use our works to
earn it, if we had to use our works to keep it, we'd never
have anything but worry and doubt and fear and ultimately condemnation
because our works would never be good enough. But if salvation
is by grace, we've got a good hope. And that hope is an expectation. It's an expectation of receiving
everything God promised by his grace. Oh, this is a gracious
work, isn't it? Then six, I see this. God's work
of redemption is a work of truth. Verse seven says the works of
his hands are verity and judgment. All his commandments are sure.
They stand fast forever and ever and are done in truth and uprightness. Now, the key words here are verity
and judgment. Truth and uprightness, those
are the four key words, and they mean truth. They mean reliableness. They mean justice and rightness.
God is a God of grace. He's a God that's full of compassion. But everything God does is truth. Everything God does must be truth. It must be holy. It must be right. God cannot show grace. He cannot
show compassion. He cannot show love toward a
sinner at the expense of his truth, the truth of his character.
See, when God shows grace, when God just pours out his compassion,
he must be right to do it. It's got to be right. You know,
you hear about unconditional love. There's no such thing. There's no such thing. Even God's
love is not unconditional. God's love is conditioned on
Christ, isn't it? It's conditioned on Christ. It
must be true. And this work of redemption is
such a great work because God made it right for him to show
mercy and compassion to his people. And he made it right for him
to do it by sacrificing his son for their sin in their place,
giving his son everything that they deserve. And the Lord Jesus
Christ, the perfect holy man, put away the sin of his people
by his sacrifice, made it so it doesn't exist anymore. Now
sin's gone. That which is contrary to God
is gone under the blood of Christ, right? Then it's right and it's
just for God to show mercy to sinners by seeing them in His
Son. See, salvation that is accomplished
in justice. Salvation that is right for God
to show to sinners. That is something you can rely
on. That's one of these words means reliability. You can rely
upon, you can hang your soul upon salvation in Christ because
it's right for God to show mercy to his people. Salvation is done in truth. Now,
justice is on your side. See, for a sinner, justice is
against us. But if Christ died for you, now
justice is on your side. Now God's justice demands that
you have eternal life. This work of redemption is a
work of truth. God made it right to show mercy
to his people. Then seventh, I see this. God's
work of redemption is an applied work. Verse nine says, he sent
redemption unto his people. He hath commanded his covenant
forever. Holy and reverend is his name. In eternity, the father
elected a people to say he purposed their salvation. And there can
be no salvation without God's electing love. But election is
not salvation. No, that salvation must be accomplished. It must be purchased in time. And that's why the father sent
the son into this world to accomplish the salvation of his people,
to purchase it for his people. And that's just what he did.
But then That salvation that the Father purposed and that
the Son purchased, that salvation must be applied to the hearts
of God's elect. So the Father sends the Holy
Spirit to apply the blood of Christ to the hearts of His people,
to give them life and faith. And when the Spirit comes, He
brings salvation freely. It's 100% free, postage paid
in full. And the best example that I can
think of of this is the Emancipation Proclamation. President Lincoln
issued the Emancipation Proclamation, signed it into law, got the President's
signature on it, and it said every slave is free. Well, that
next day, all those slaves down the South did not go free. They
weren't going to be set free. So you know what President Lincoln
did? He sent freedom to the in the persons of General Grant
and General Sherman, and they brought freedom to those slaves.
They brought victory. That's what God does for his
people. He sends salvation to them. It's coming. They're going
to have it. They're going to receive it freely
of his hand because he's sending it to them. God didn't purchase
this great work for his people. and then leave it up to chance
to see if they might find it or they might want it or they
might decide to accept it. No, sir. He sends it to them
and they're going to have it. And then last, I see this. God's
work of redemption is a sovereign work. Verse nine said, God commands
his covenant forever. God commands his covenant because
he's king. God sovereignly commands His
people to have what He purposed for them to have, the salvation
of their souls. And He's commanded it. What's
going to stop them from having it? Absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing can
stop them from having it. And this will let you put your
head down on your pillow tonight and go to sleep. Nothing can take
it away from them. Because the sovereign has commanded
them to have it. See, of all God's works, this
is his crown jewel, isn't it? His work of redemption. Now,
let me give you this in conclusion. Especially you young people,
you students, I would advise you, study all of God's works
that you can. I mean, study them all. Study
God's work of creation. Study his work of nature and
science. Study those things. You just
study them and learn everything you can about them. And if you
got any wisdom about you whatsoever, if you study science and nature
and creation, you know what you'll see? You'll see something about
God's majesty and God's wisdom and God's beauty that he would
create all this and make all this work together like that.
You'll see that if you got any wisdom about you. And study history. Be a history buff and study some
of God's history, the history of man. And when you do, and
you know what you'll see? You'll see God's providence.
There'll be things in the history you see God's finger had to do
that. It couldn't have been any other
way. And you study those things, study science and nature and
history, study those things. If you do that, people call you
smart and they won't be wrong. People call you smart, but don't
just seek to be smart now. I know some smart fools don't
seek just to be smart and know some facts, but seek wisdom. Seek wisdom. And true wisdom
comes from this revelation of what I've been telling you about.
God's greatest work, his work of redemption. See that in verse
10? The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. A good understanding have all
they that do his commandments. His praise endureth forever. Now it says here the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That doesn't mean that
the fear of the Lord is the start of wisdom. That word beginning
means the chief part, the principal thing. That's what the word means.
So the chief part, the principal thing in this thing of wisdom
is the fear, the reverence of the Lord. Wisdom is not just
knowing the facts, but wisdom is knowing the eternal value
God's greatest, most important work, his work of redemption,
and then seeking it out. Wisdom, you know, knowledge is
knowing. Christ Jesus came to this world
to save sinners. Wisdom is seeking Christ out. Wisdom, the wise man, the wise
woman, seeks God's mercy. God is gracious. He's full of
compassion. A wise person seeks grace, seeks God's compassion.
Wisdom is knowing God has this great work, this work of redemption,
and seeking it out, seeking it out in Christ. If God show us
his greatest work, oh, we'll be blessed. We'll be blessed
and we'll be wise if God will reveal his greatest work, his
work of redemption in Christ our Savior. All right, let's
bow together and pray. Our Father, how we thank you
for this great work, the work of redemption, chief among all
of your glorious, wonderful works, your work of redemption, that
you would purpose to save the chief of sinners, the worst of
the worst, and that you would save them through the obedience
and through the sacrifice of your only begotten son. Father,
how we thank you. And I pray that you take this
message, as it's been preached tonight, and bring glory to your
name. Enable your people to see the
glory of your work, the work of redemption, the work of the
salvation of your people from their sins. And cause us to give
you all the praise, all the glory, and all the thanks for it. It's
in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ we give thanks.
Amen. All right, Mike, you can lead
us in a song. Let's stand and sing number 62. Number 62. the Lamb upon His throne. Mark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him
who died for thee. And hail Him as thy matchless
King through all eternity. Above, behold his hands and side. Rich moon Jeff, visible above,
In beauty glorified, No angel in the sky. can fully bear that sign. A downward bend's his wandering
eye, that mystery so bright. Who triumphed o'er the grave,
Who rose victorious to the strife, O'er those He came to save. His glories now we sing, Who
died and rose on high, Who died eternal life to bring, And lives
that death may die. One with the Father known, One
with the Spirit through Him given, From yonder glorious throne.