Alright, let's begin our service
opening our Bibles to Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah the 6th chapter. In the year the king Uzziah died,
I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,
and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims,
each one had six wings. Between he covered his face,
and between he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And
one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that
cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, woe
is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes
have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the
seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had
taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon
my mouth and said, lo, this have touched thy lips and thine iniquity
is taken away and thy sin is purged. Also, I heard the voice
of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, here am I. Send
me. And we'll end our reading there. Turning our hymn onto page 28,
number 28. so Holy God, we praise thy name. Lord of all, we bow before thee. All on earth thy scepter claim. All in heaven above adore thee. Infinite thy vast domain, everlasting
is thy reign. Hark! the loud celestial hymns
Angel choirs above are raising Cherubim and Seraphim in unseeing
Chorus praising fill the heavens with sweet accord. Holy, holy, holy Lord. Oh, the apostolic train joins
thy sacred name. Prophets swell the glad refrain,
and the white robed martyrs follow. And from morn to sed of sun,
through the church the song goes on. Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy
Spirit, three we name Thee, while in essence only one, undivided
God we claim Thee. And adoring bend the knee While
we sing our praise to Thee. Bless the Lord and sing his praises. Bless the Lord now, O my soul. Join the song all heaven raises. Let the anthem loudly roll. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord for love victorious,
love that conquered on the tree. For His grace so great and glorious,
flowing out from Calvary. Bless the Lord, O my soul, Bless
the Lord, O my soul, Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that
is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, He walks beside
me, And He lights the path before. Every need is now supplied me,
From His bounteous heavenly store. Bless the Lord, O my soul, Bless
the Lord, Lord, O my soul, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all
that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord for truth he's
given, for the word of prophecy, that has drawn the veil from
heaven and revealed my destiny. O my soul, bless the Lord, O
my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Let's open our Bibles now to
Psalm 99. Psalm 99. The Lord reigneth, let the people
tremble. He sitteth between the cherubims,
let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion, and
he is high above all the people. Let them praise thy great and
terrible name, for it is holy. The king's strength also loveth
judgment. Thou dost establish equity. Thou
executes judgment and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt ye the Lord our
God, and worship at his footstool, for he is holy. Moses and Aaron
among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his
name. They called upon the Lord, and he answered them. He spake
unto them in the cloudy pillar. They kept his testimonies in
the ordinance that he gave them. Thou answerest them, O Lord our
God. Thou wast a God that forgave
us then, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.
Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill, for the Lord
our God is holy. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our Father, we thank you that
you've given us another opportunity to come together in this middle
of the week, out of the world, and come together to worship
you. Come to sing your praises, to
gather together with our brothers and sisters, and to hear your
gospel preached, to sing your praises, to call upon you in
prayer. Father, I pray that this evening
you would give us the spirit of worship, that you'd speak
to us through your word, Father, that you enable us to hear, that
you enable us to, by faith, see the Lord Jesus Christ sitting
upon his throne high and lifted up and to fall down at his feet
and to worship him and to leave here trusting him. Father, I
pray you give us the faith to leave here this evening trusting
the Lord Jesus Christ, our King, in our Savior. Father, we thank
you for this place that you've given to us. What an awesome,
awesome privilege. We are so humbled to think that
you would put your gospel here in our town when you have left
so many other places alone and you've given us your gospel here.
Father, how can we ever thank you? And I pray that you would
cause us to be faithful, faithful stewards of the grace, the gospel
of your grace that you've given us. That we not take it for granted,
but that we protect it and it be enabled by thy spirit to both
preach it and boldly and to believe it and cling to it all the days
of our life. Father, preserve and protect
this place. until Christ's return, if it
could be thy will. But this would be a place where
sinners can come and hear the Savior, where your sheep can
come, wounded and weary, come to be fed and comforted by Christ
our Savior. And Father, we pray a blessing
for those that you've brought into the time of trouble and
trial. We freely admit you've blessed
us beyond people, beyond all the people on this earth, beyond
measure, how you've blessed us. And we're so thankful. Yet we
also admit we are constantly a poor and a needy people. We
need you every hour. And for those who need you, especially
at this time, in darkness and sickness and deep waters and
great difficulty, Father, be with them. Comfort their hearts
with your presence. Teach them what you'd have them
to learn and deliver them if it could be thy will. Heal and
comfort your people and give us the grace and the faith to
wait on thee. All these things we ask and give thanks in that
name which is above every name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you would turn with me 141,
I'd like for you to help me on the last line of the song. Each verse. Look, ye saints, the sight is
glorious, See the man of sorrows now. From the fight return victorious,
Every knee to him shall bow. Crown Him, crown Him, crowns
become the victor's crown. Angels crown Him, rich the trophies
Jesus brings. In the seat of power enthrone
Him, while the vault of heaven rings. ? Crown Him, crown Him
? ? Crown the Savior, King of kings ? ? Sinners in derision
crowned Him ? ? Walking thus the Savior's claim ? ? Saints
and angels crowned Him ? Crowd around him on his title, praise
his name. Crown him, crown him, spread
abroad the victor's fame. Hark those bursts of acclamation,
Hark those loud triumphant chords! Jesus takes the highest station,
O what joy the sight affords! Crown Him, crown Him, King of
kings and Lord of lords. All right, if you would open your
Bibles with me again to Psalm 99. The title of the message this
evening is The King's Character. Our psalm begins, the Lord reigneth. Let the people tremble. That
word tremble means to be afraid and to stand in awe. A people
are to fear the Lord, to worship the Lord who reigns as king. God's people don't fear the Lord.
worship Him, reverence the Lord and worship Him because they
have to, because they don't have any other choice. No, they want
to. But I'll tell you what a believer
is afraid of. Now, you know, we normally talk
about fearing the Lord. We talk about reverence. But
there are some things that God's people are afraid of. A believer
is afraid to not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We are afraid
to trust anything other than Christ. The believer is afraid
to be found outside of Christ. God's people want to worship
the Lord. They want to come before Him
and worship Him. And it's because of who He is. You know, people hear about wicked
kings of the past and things and people bowed to them or so,
you know, reverential around them and stuff because they're
afraid of Him. God's people want to worship Him. They need to
worship Him. It's because of who he is, because
of his character. We stand in awe of the King's
holy, gracious, just, and true character. And the psalmist here
in Psalm 99 lists three characteristics of the Lord our King that are
very, very different than human kings. Number one is this, the
Lord our King rules in mercy. The Lord reigneth, but the people
tremble. He sitteth between the cherubims.
Let the earth be moved. Now the Lord our God is King
of Kings. And before, we need to understand
this, we need to understand He is the King, the Sovereign. Because before He will ever be
our Savior, He's gonna be our King. That we'll bow to and worship
Him and beg Him for mercy. The Lord is King of Kings. He
rules over everything. He is the highest authority. And just like all kings, he has
a throne. Now, you know, an earthly king,
you never know what's going to happen when you come before the
throne of an earthly king. That king, if he's a true king,
can do with you as he pleases. He may agree to see you. He may
not. He may see you and give you what
you need. if he's in a good mood. Or if
he's in a bad mood, he may just have your head chopped off and
nobody can say anything about it. It just all depends on whether
he got up on the right side of the bed that morning or not.
You just never know what's going to happen when you come before
an earthly king. But when sinners like you and me, who deserve
to be condemned, when we come before God, we approach a God
who sits upon a throne of mercy. The Lord our King rules to give
mercy to his people, to give mercy to the miserable, the guilty,
the undeserving. The Psalmist says there, let
the earth be moved. Let the earth be staggered, just
staggered in awe that almighty God would rule in mercy, mercy
for the miserable. When the Psalmist says here that
the Lord sits between the cherubims, what he's talking about is the
mercy seat. The mercy seat that was over
top of the Ark of the Covenant with the wings of the cherubims
over it. He's speaking here of the mercy seat. And he calls
the mercy seat God's throne. This is where God sits, enthroned. God rules his people in mercy. In mercy for their sin. In mercy
for their weakness. Now worship Him in awe. Oh, how thankful, how thankful
should we be to be able to come before the God of all the earth,
the King of all, and find mercy from Him. And you don't ever
have to worry, it'll be any different. If you're a sinner, if you need
mercy, You don't ever have to worry that the Lord will not
give you mercy just because he got up on the wrong side of the
bed that morning and he's in a bad mood. The Lord always rules
in mercy for his people because that mercy has been bought by
the blood of Christ that was sprinkled on that mercy seat
by the high priest every day of atonement. That mercy has
been purchased by the blood of God's son. So God's people, will
always be accepted. They'll always find mercy because
of the blood of Christ. Christ, our Savior, he suffered
and he died for the sin of his people. And now he's risen and
he is arisen to sit upon the throne as the mediator for his
people. There he sits, pleading his blood
for the sin of his people. He sits there on the throne to
dispense the mercy that he bought for his people and to give it
to them freely, richly, abundantly. Now let the people tremble. The
word there means to quiver, quiver with joy and awe that Christ
would sit upon the throne, ruling everything to give mercy to his
people. Let the earth be moved with wonder
that God would show mercy to sinners by sacrificing His Son
in their place. Isn't that amazing? That's something that we say
in one form or another in every single message. God help us to
never get over that glorious truth. God shows mercy to sinful
people because He sacrificed His Son, His only begotten Son
in their place. Oh, stand in awe. of the character
of God, that He would satisfy His holy justice by sacrificing
His Son so that it would be right for Him to show mercy to sinners
like you and me. That's unimaginable, indescribable
love that God has for His people. And you won't find any earthly
king to compare to Christ our King. Look at verse 2. The Lord
is great in Zion, and He is high above all the people. The Lord
is high above all the people. He is beyond comparison. And
where is he? Where is he seen as the greatest?
In Zion. Zion is his church, God's people. And God's people esteem the Lord
Jesus Christ as great. He is great and he is greatly
to be praised. He's great in his mercy. He's
great in his love. He's great in his power and his
wisdom. He's great in his glory. He's
so great we cannot describe how great our God is. We can't describe
how much higher he is than us. Isaiah said, as the heavens are
higher than the earth. Well, he's higher than that.
He's higher above us than even that. We can't describe how much
higher he is than us. Yet. He doesn't despise the lowest
sinner. Isn't that just breathtaking?
He doesn't despise the lowest sinner. He welcomes the lowest
sinner who comes before his throne seeking mercy. And he always
gives them what they want. Mercy. Oh, he rules. Our king rules in mercy for his
people. Number two, our king rules in
holiness. And this is the theme of this
psalm, and I thought about titling the psalm Holy, Holy, Holy, but
I chose the king's character. But this is the heart of this
psalm, that God our king rules in holiness. Verse three, he
says, let them praise thy great and terrible name, for it is
holy. Now holiness is God's chief attribute. That means that there's no sin.
There's no fault. There's no defect in God. There's
no deficiency in him. He doesn't lack anything. The
angels we read about to open the service that Isaiah saw flying
around the throne of God cried, holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. Now they didn't cry, love, love,
love is Lord of hosts. They didn't cry merciful, merciful,
merciful is the Lord of hosts. They didn't cry gracious, gracious,
gracious. They didn't cry just, just, just. All those things would have been
true about him, wouldn't they? But they cried holy, holy, holy. Because holiness is God's chief
attribute. And what that means is just this,
that everything God does has to be holy. Everything God does
will be holy first. Every time God displays one of
his attributes, It will always be done in a holy way. Now, it's
easy to see how God would be just, how he would be holy in
damning us for our sin. Nobody could say a thing about
that. That's what our sin deserves. God would be holy and just if
he did that. But if God is merciful to a sinner, he's got to be just
as holy in showing mercy to a sinner as he does damning a sinner.
He's got to be just as holy. It's got to be holy for God to
show mercy to the likes of you and me. Well, how's he going
to do that? How's he going to do that? God
shows mercy to his people, to his sinful people by punishing
their sin in Christ, their substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ took the
sin of his people away from them and he made it his and he suffered
the full wrath of God against that sin. And now, God's wrath
is gone. God's wrath against the sin of
His people is gone. It was all poured out on His
Son, Christ our substitute at Calvary. Sin's paid for. So now, God can be holy and show
mercy to sinners. He's got to be holy when He does
it. Everybody talks about God's love. Contrary to what people
say today, God does not love everybody. When God loves a sinner,
it's got to be holy. Got to be. If God loves you,
it must be right, holy for God to love you. Got to be. Well,
how can that be? God's holy. He's indescribably
holy and I'm a sinner. I'm indescribably sinful. God is so much higher above me. How can it be holy for God to
love the likes of me? It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In order for God to love a sinner, God must take away the sin that
he hates, and God must make that sinner what he can love. God
has taken away the sin of his people through the sacrifice
of his son, and he's given his people a new holy nature that
God can love. Now, only the king can do that. Only the king can take away sin
and pay for it. Only someone with the power of
the king can give life, a new, holy life that cannot sin, that
will never sin. Only the sovereign can do that.
God the king rules to do just that for his people. Oh, worship
him in reverence and awe. And all of God's character is
holy. The psalmist tells us here in
this psalm that God is holy in three Different ways. It's like
the angels crying, holy, holy, holy. The psalmist here cries,
holy, holy, holy. First he says God's name is holy. Let them praise thy great and
terrible name for it, God's name is holy. Now the name of the
Lord tells us who he is. His name describes his attributes. Well, God's name is Jehovah.
God, my savior. So His name tells us He is the
Savior of sinners. His name is Jehovah Sidkinen,
the Lord our righteousness. His name tells me He is the righteousness
of His people. His name is Jehovah Jireh, the
Lord will provide. His name tells me He will provide
everything for His people that His Father requires of them.
That's good news because I can't provide anything, but He provides
it all. His name is Jehovah-Raya, the
Lord, our shepherd. Well, His name tells us that
the Lord is the shepherd who goes out and finds that lost
sheep and puts them on His shoulders and carries them on. The Lord
is the one who leads and guides His sheep and protects them and
keeps them. His name is Jehovah-Rapha, the
Lord who healed it. His name tells us it's the Lord
who heals all of our spiritual wounds, our bruises and putrefying
sores. He heals them by washing us in
His blood. His name is Wonderful, Counselor,
the Everlasting Father, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace. His
name tells us it's all in Him. His name tells us. He has so
many names in Scripture and His name, all those names put together
tells us He's everything we need. Salvation is all in Him. And
when I hear the names of God describe all of his attributes,
I'm left with no doubt. He's able to save a sinner like
me. I'm just confident of it. The psalmist tells us the name
of the Lord is great. It's the highest, most noble
name. The name of Christ is the name
which is above every name. The name of Christ the Savior
is the name which is above every name. And every knee is going
to bow to that name. Every knee. Aren't you thankful
he's made you bow now? Aren't you thankful he's made
you bow willingly? What a blessing to know that
great name. Salvation is knowing that name,
knowing who the Lord is. The name of the Lord is terrible,
and that word means it's to be had in reverence. Let's always
be careful to use the name of our Savior with reverence. and
with worship because his name is holy. It's holy. And that
holy name is tied to the mercy. We talked about a minute ago.
Look over in Exodus chapter 33. That holy name is tied to his
mercy. When Moses asked the Lord, show
me your glory. Moses found out their sovereign
mercy in God's holy name. Exodus 33. beginning in verse
18. And he said, I beseech thee,
show me thy glory. And he said, God said, I'll make
all my goodness pass before thee. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee. Now when he proclaims the name
of the Lord, this is what he proclaims. I'll be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. And I will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy. Now the way God described His
name, His holy name, is sovereign mercy. I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. I'll show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. And when He does, it will be
done in a holy way. One old writer, I can't even
pronounce his name so I didn't try to write it down, but this
old writer said about verse 3, this verse describes salvation
in the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. The name of the Father, he said,
is great. He's the source of everything.
The name of the Son is terrible. God can only be worshipped by
bowing to the Lord Jesus Christ. God is worshipped by worshipping
the Son. The name of the Holy Spirit is
holy. The Holy Spirit is the one who
bestows holiness on God's people in the new birth. Now that is
cause for rejoicing, cause for worship, to stand in awe of him. Holy, holy, holy. God's name
is holy. The second holy is God himself
is holy. His character is holy. Verse
five, exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool
for he is holy. Now God is holiness. God is perfection
itself. He is holiness personified. And
David says to worship at God's footstool. Now, what's God's
footstool? What's the earth? The Lord told
David, David wanted to build God a building, a house. And God told David, he said,
heaven's my throne. Earth's my footstool. What house
you going to build me? Earth is my footstool. Now God's footstool is something
he reigns over. Isn't that right? He reigns over
his footstool. Well, God chose to save a people
from that place He reigns over. He chose to save a people from
every nation in His footstool. And He allows sinful people to
approach His throne and to worship Him. To fall in the dust before
Him and worship. He allows that. The Lord allows
dogs to come. and kneel at his feet and to
lick his feet. He allows dogs to do that. And when they come there at his
footstool, worshiping as a dog licking his feet, right there is where God shows
them mercy. He shows them mercy. You think
how glorious that is that God would show mercy to dogs coming
and licking his feet at his footstool. He's worthy of our worship. And
it's God's holiness. He is holy. And you think it's
God's holiness that would keep sinners away from him. But God
says his holiness is what draws people to him, to worship him.
David said, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Worship
him in the beauty of his holiness. Worship the Lord in all of his
attributes because all of his attributes are holy because he's
holy. God's justice is beautiful because it's holy. It's beautiful
to me how God satisfied his holy justice in Christ my substitute
and killing him in my place. That's beautiful to me. God's
mercy is beautiful because it's holy. It is beautiful to experience
God's mercy in Christ. How thankful is that dog licking
his feet to receive mercy, to receive mercy? God's love is beautiful. It's beautiful because it's holy,
not because it's wasted on people that are not going to love him
back, but it's holy. It's beautiful to experience
God's love for sinners in Christ. And His love always has an effect. Always. It accomplishes their
salvation and makes them love Him in return. It's beautiful.
God's Word is beautiful. God's Word is holy and it reveals
the Holy One, our Savior. It reveals Him who is our holiness. Our Holy King is worthy to be
worshiped. He's beautiful in His holiness.
Holy, holy, holy. The third holy is this. God's
hill. His dwelling place is holy. Verse
9. Exalt the Lord our God and worship
at His holy hill. For the Lord our God is holy. God's holy hill is Zion. It's
His church, His people. Now get a hold of your seat here.
I'm going to give you something that the human mind can never
comprehend. has made his people holy. He says here his holy hill, this
dwelling place he has with his people. Those people are holy. God's made his dwelling place
holy. Well, where does God dwell? In
the hearts of his people. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
3. If God dwells in you, you're his temple and you're holy. 1
Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 16. Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Now if any
man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the
temple of God is holy. Which temple you are. That's God's holy hill. God's
made His people holy. Look across the page here at
chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians verse 18. Flee fornication. Flee every
sin that a man, or every sin that a man doeth is without the
body. But he that committeth fornication sinneth against his
own body. Of what? Know ye not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which
you have of God? And you're not your own, for
you're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your
body and your spirit, which are God's. Your body is God's. He's
made you holy. So exalt the Lord, lift him up
in worship and praise because he's done the unimaginable. He's
made his sinful people to be holy. Now you think of that.
If you believe the Lord Jesus Christ, you're a saint. This
is as much as people talk about Saint Peter and Saint Paul. You're
a saint. Holy. Because a saint is a holy
person. God's made his people holy because
he made them partakers of his holiness. When he made them one
with Christ. And somebody's thinking, well
see that's what that says. But I don't see myself as holy.
And to that I say, Well, good. I mean, that's true. I mean,
something would be really wrong with us if we saw ourselves as
holy because we're not. But the Lord calls his people
holy. Then we are, even if we still
see our sin, even if we still see ourselves as all we see about
ourselves as sin, we're holy if God says we are, because he's
the only one that counts. So he rules in holiness. Alright, here's the third thing
about God's character. God, our King, rules in truth,
fairness. Everything he does is right.
Verse 4, Psalm 99. The King's strength also loveth
judgment. Thou dost establish equity, thou
executes judgment and righteousness in Jacob. Now God, our King,
everything he does is right. He rules over every event in
human history. So whatever it is that happens
is right. It's right. You read the newspaper
or watch the news and you see the horrible, horrible violence
going on in our country. Mass shootings, the hatred, the
calling for more. Otherwise, people while they
condemn these things, call for somebody to go shoot up the other
side. Who can explain it? I don't understand it. Do you?
I don't understand it. But it's right. It's right. Things going on in your life.
So many of you are on my heart just Every waking moment, how
I pray for you, I know the things that you're going through. And
I cannot explain it. If I ask, I could not explain
it. I can't. But I know this, it's right. It's right. And when we cannot
understand, we can trust. What he's doing is right. It's
right. I want to trust him, don't you?
I want to trust him and just leave it right there. But primarily
what the, I just felt like that needed to be said, but didn't
want to go down a rabbit hole, but that needed to be said. Primarily
what the prophet here is speaking of is spiritual things. The word
judgment he uses means a right verdict. Now God is holy. So of course he loves a right
verdict. Of course he's going to give a right verdict. God
can't call the innocent guilty. And God can't call the guilty
innocent. He can't pretend something's true that's not. So every verdict
that God gives is right. And in judgment, whether he damns
somebody or he glorifies somebody, in judgment, every verdict will
be right. It will be exactly what that
person deserves. No more, no less. Now for sinners,
that sounds like bad news, doesn't it? That sounds like bad news.
Except the psalmist says that the Lord establishes equity. And that means the Lord sets
up truth, things that are right. He makes provision for things
that are right. Now we've seen this, the Lord's
holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And he requires
his people be holy. He cannot accept us unless we're
holy. So the Lord executes judgment and righteousness in Jacob. See that? In Jacob. Jacob is a chief. Jacob is a
scoundrel. Jacob is a sinful man. And that
describes all of us right well, doesn't it? We're sons of Jacob.
But Jacob is also a type of God's people. God calls himself the
God of Jacob. God set his love on Jacob, of
all people, Jacob. I can't think of a more undeserving
candidate, an unlikely candidate for God's love in Jacob. Can
you? Unless his name's Frank, who is the son of Jacob. But
God executes righteousness in Jacob. He makes sinners like
Jacob to be holy, to be righteous, He makes all of his Jacobs to
be what God loves. He makes them holy. So the only
right verdict for God's Jacob is not guilty. Because God found
a way. He shows mercy. And he accepts
them for Christ's sake. It's right. It's holy. It's the
just judgment. The right, accurate judgment.
Because the sacrifice of Christ took their sin away. and made
them holy, made them not guilty. Now stand in awe, just be shaken
and tremble. Who else but our King would or
could do such a thing? Only our King. And look at verse
six. Moses and Aaron among his priests
and Samuel among them that call upon his name. They called upon
the Lord and he answered them. He spake unto them in the cloudy
pillar, They kept his testimonies and the ordinance that he gave
them. Now, these men listed here, I know that these are men that
are highly, highly esteemed in the church of God. But all these
men are weak, flawed, sinful men. Moses struck the rock twice. Aaron, Aaron, the high priest. made a golden calf so Israel
could worship an idol at the very moment Moses was up there
on that mountain getting a law from God. Can you imagine such
a thing? Samuel, Samuel, I guess you could
say was Eli's protege. You'd say that, wouldn't you?
And Samuel watched God kill Eli's sons because Eli did not discipline
them. That is the very reason, Scripture
says, that's the reason Eli's sons acted the way they did.
Eli restrained them not. He watched that happen. That
happened because Eli did not discipline his sons. And Samuel
turned around and did the exact same thing. He didn't discipline
his sons and made them judges in Israel and they perverted
judgment. They took bribe, they perverted
judgment, they did all kinds of unclean things. because Samuel
did not discipline his sons, and he didn't stop it when it
was going on. Yet, God dealt with all these men in mercy. God enabled them to be faithful
and faithfully serve Him. He enabled them to make intercession
for Israel. Moses was a weak, sinful man,
prone to fits of anger. But boy, he made intercession
for Israel, didn't he? Don't wipe them out. Don't destroy
them all. I can't excuse what they did. But don't let the heathen say
you didn't bring them to the promised land because you couldn't do
it, you're weak. Lord, if you're going to kill
all of them, block me out of the book that you've written.
Oh, He made intercession for the people. God met with these
men. He talked with these men. He
revealed Himself. He enabled these men to write
His Word. God used them to preach the Gospel,
to serve Him and lead God's people. That's something else, isn't
it? Well, you want some good news? God hadn't changed. God
still saves sinners. God still accepts sinners. Don't bring any of your good
works with you. He won't accept self-righteous. But He always
accepts sinners. So what's the question? The only
question left is this. Are you a sinner? Are you? Then what's stopping you from
coming to Christ. This man receives sinners. Oh, and accepts them. Now, verse
8. Thou answerest them, O Lord our
God. Thou wast a God that forgavest
them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions. Now, there's
no denying this truth. There are consequences for our
sin. Sin is why we experience sickness
and death. The Lord sent trials to correct
His children. There's consequences for our
sin. I mean, just drive down Winchester Avenue about 80 miles
an hour time or two and see. There are going to be consequences
for that. God won't damn you for it, but there are going to
be consequences and you're going to pay Him. But one of those consequences
for our sin is never condemnation. Ever. Because Christ was already
condemned for His people. So the Lord always gives a right
verdict to His people. When He forgives the sin of His
people, it's a right verdict because He's doing it for Christ's
sake. He's forgiving that sin because the blood of Christ blotted
out. The blood of Christ paid for
it. Now I know the Lord sees our sin. We're not going to hide
our sin from God and He's not pleased with our sin. Yet He
forgives it for Christ's sake and He's right to do it because
He rules in truth and justice. He's right because the Lord Jesus
Christ has paid for the sin of his people. So worship him. Let's worship him together. Let's
tremble before him in awe and reference. You will not find
another king like our king. That's his character. All right.
Let's bow together in prayer. Our father, our king, our master,
Lord, we bow. before your throne, giving thanks
that sinful men and women, boys and girls like we are, can come
before your throne and find a throne of grace, a throne of mercy,
to find grace to help in time of need. And O our King, we are in need. We're poor and in needy people. We stand in need of your mercy
every moment of every day. and how we pray that you'd be
merciful to such dead dogs as we are, undeserving, no claim
on any of your goodness, on any of your mercy, except your promise
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We plead his blood. We plead
his obedience. We plead him and beg that you'd
accept us in him, that you'd see us in him. Father, thank
you for your mercy. and your grace. Thank you for
ruling all things well, right, not leaving our circumstances
and the results of our circumstances up to our ingenuity or if we
do right or if we do wrong, but you're ruling it. You're reigning
over it. You're controlling it. And Father,
we're thankful. I ask that you would only and
always see us in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his blessed name
we pray and give thanks.