If you would open your Bibles
with me to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. I was thinking about this passage
of Scripture this afternoon. And in his prayer and his study,
Cecil Thornberry said what the very thing that's been on my
heart and on my mind. He prayed for our Bible school,
that children would learn these lessons this week. and they'd
remember them all their life. And that's what I've been thinking
about, praying for this week, that this week not be the end
of it, that the Lord apply these things to the hearts of our children
all their lives. In verse 14 of 2 Timothy chapter
3, the Apostle Paul tells young Timothy, but continue thou in
the things which thou hast learned. And it's been assured of, knowing
of whom thou hast learned them. and that from a child thou hast
known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good
works. I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, to judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in
his kingdom, Timothy preached the word. Be instant, in season,
out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lush shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables. But watch thou in all things,
endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof
of thy ministry. We'll end our reading there. Turn to page 39, page 39. This is my father's world and
to my listening ears All nature sings and round me rings the
music of the spheres This is my father's world. I rest me in the thought of rocks
and trees, of skies and seas, is when the wonders wrought. This is my father's world. Their birds, their carols raise. The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker's praise. This is my Father's world, He
shines in all that's fair. In the rustling grass I hear
Him pass, This is my father's world. Let's turn over now, 144. 144. Mark ten thousand harps and voices,
Sound the note of praise above. Jesus reigns and heaven rejoices,
Jesus reigns, the God of love. See, He sits on yonder throne,
Jesus rules the world alone. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia,
Amen. Jesus hail, whose glory brightens
all above and gives it worth. Lord of life, thy smile enlightens,
cheers and charms thy saints on earth. When we think of love
like thine, Lord, we own in love divine. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia,
Amen. King of glory, reign forever,
Thine an everlasting crown. Nothing from Thy love shall sever
Those whom Thou hast made Thine own. happy objects of thy grace,
destined to behold thy face. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Savior, hasten thine appearing
Bring, O bring the glorious day When the awful summons hearing
Heaven and earth shall pass away Then with golden harps we'll
sing Glory, glory to our King. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia,
Amen. Turn with me, if you would, to
Psalm 93, 93rd Psalm. The Lord reigneth. He is clothed
with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength,
wherewith he hath girded himself. The world also established that
it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of
old. Thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O
Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods have
lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier
than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of
the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure. Holiness becometh
thine house, O Lord. forever. That is a short psalm. I hope in a few moments we'll
see it's packed with the gospel. Let's bow together in prayer. Our father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverend, be thy matchless name. Father, I pray that this
evening by the power of your spirit that you would enable
us to lift up and extol your glorious name. enable us to lift
up the name of Christ, our Savior. Father, let us lift it up in
heart, in awe, in wonder, that salvation that you have so freely
provided your people and your son. Father, enable us in this
hour to worship thee, to not just go through the motions of
religion, but let us have a true prayer service. a midweek worship
service where we can gather together out of the world and worship
thee. To hear your word opened to us
in red. To hear your gospel preached. Father, I beg of thee that in
this hour you not leave me alone. That you enable me to rightly
divide the word of truth. That you'd uphold me with your
spirit. Enable your gospel to go forth in the power of your
spirit. Not in the weakness of human
powers and intellect and the ability of speech, but in the
power of your spirit. And Father, be with your people
as we listen. Give us a ready heart, a heart
that's been prepared by thee to receive the word that you've
prepared for us and enable us to lay hold upon the things of
Christ that we hear preached. And Father, we thank you that
this is the week appointed. We can have Bible school with
our children. We thank you for the good first
day that we had today. Father, I ask that you would
bless us the rest of this week. I ask that you'd be with the
teachers as they prepare and as they teach, that you'd be
with them in a special way. Be with our children, Father.
Prepare their hearts. Make them a good ground here,
because you've prepared their hearts to receive the word. Let
these things take deep root in their heart, that they might
hold them forever, that they might grow to faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ, that they might always look to thee and trust
Christ and Christ alone. Father, we're thankful for the
countless many blessings that you've so freely bestowed upon
us in this life. There more than can be numbered.
And we beg your forgiveness for not being more grateful for the
many times where we murmur and complain and find ourselves full
of fear and doubts. After all you've done for us,
Father, forgive us, we pray. Father, I thank you for this
place you've given us that we can meet together and worship
in peace and unity, a place where we know we can come and your
gospel will be preached. I ask of you, I beg you that
you would preserve and protect this place as a place where sinners
can come and hear the Savior for many, many, many years to
come. Again, Father, I ask that you bless us in this hour and
enable us to set aside the thoughts and cares and responsibilities
of this life and enable us to worship thee. For it's in the
precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray and give thanks. He is Lord, He is Lord, sing
it with me. 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. The Fairest Of thousands in Jesus
I see, My Redeemer, my Savior, my Lord. King of kings, Lord of lords,
crowns we'll cast at His feet. Jesus, Savior, living Word, Precious
name, O how sweet! Anointed, triumphant, and sent
from above, He was chosen forever to reign. Worthy of power I turn, O Lord. O praise to the Lamb that was
slain. Sing it with me. Kings of peace, Lord of Lords, crowns will cast
at His feet. Jesus, Savior, living Word. Precious name, O how sweet. Precious name, O how sweet. ? And joy of heaven ? ? Precious
name ? ? Oh, how sweet ? ? Hope of earth and joy of heaven ? Heaven, precious land Oh, how
sweet Alright, let's open our Bibles
again, if you would, with me to Psalm 93. I titled the message
this evening, The Lord Who Reigns. I want us to describe and see
the Lord who reigns. Our Psalm begins, The Lord reigneth. Now that's a simple fact. The
Lord reigns. Each week I send Brother Mike
Bartram the title and the text of the message to help him pick
out songs for the worship service. And he texted me back, told me
he looked up this word reign. And he said that in the dictionary,
this is what it says, the sovereign, the queen of England reigns,
but does not rule. I'm thankful the Lord does both,
aren't you? He reigns. He rules. In a minute,
my little notification went off. Mike texted me again. He says,
what good is a sovereign if he can't rule? Well, our God can. And He does. It would be useless
to have a sovereign who can't rule. Our God rules. He reigns. He reigns over everything. He controls every event, big
and small, every event of human history. He controls it. He controls
it because He foreordained every event to happen just the way
it would happen before He created anything. So he controls everything
that happens because he purposed for it to happen from before
creation. The Lord reigns. That's a fact. And the fact that the Lord reigns
should never be preached like this is so whether you believe
it or not, it ought not be preached like that. Now it's true. The Lord reigns, whether we like
it or not, but such a glorious, comforting truth. should never
be presented that way. I preach this, I preach the whole
gospel this way. Tonight I'll preach this subject,
the Lord who reigns, in such a way I expect you to believe
it. For the life of me, I can't figure
out why somebody wouldn't want the Lord to reign. Across the
page here, Psalm 97, look what the psalmist says. The fact that
the Lord reigneth is cause for rejoicing, happiness, Psalm 97
verse 1, the Lord reigneth. Let the earth rejoice. Let the
multitude of the isles be glad thereof. See, this is reason
for rejoicing. The Lord reigns. And look at
Psalm 99 verse 1. The fact that the Lord reigns
is awe-inspiring. The Lord reigneth. Let the people
tremble. He sitteth between the cherubims.
Let the earth be moved. Let the earth be just awe-struck. This is all inspiring that the
Lord who rules and reigns over everything uses his sovereign
rule over everything to save a sinner like me. That's all
inspiring. The fact that God would do that
for a sinner like me is all inspiring. And here's cause for rejoicing
that the Lord would use his sovereign rule over everything to actually
accomplish. the salvation of sinners like
me. See, this is reason for rejoicing. And the psalmist here in this
psalm gives us a description of the one who rules and reigns. And I pray that the Spirit will
make this description both awe-inspiring and cause us to leave here this
evening rejoicing in Christ our Savior who reigns. The first
thing is this, the Lord who reigns is majestic. Verse 1, Psalm 93,
the Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. Now,
the Lord is clothed with majesty. He doesn't just have some majesty,
He's clothed with it. Well, who clothed Him? Who is
it that covered Him with majesty? Well, He did. Because He is majestic. Everything about the Lord is
majestic. And that word majesty there means
I lost my place in my notes. It means, well now, excellent things. Excellent. It means excellent
things. Everything about the Lord's character, all those things
are excellent. His character is majestic. His character, his primary attribute
is God's holy. Everything he does is holy. He is without sin. pure. That's majestic. God is just. He always does what is right. In his dealing with every son
of Adam, whether he saves him or whether he damns him, everything
he does with them is right. He never gives somebody something
they don't deserve. That's majestic. God is love. Now I know that's a catchphrase
in religion, God is love. But the whole, this is majestic.
The holy God has the capacity, the ability to love sinners who
sinned against him and save them by the sacrifice of his son.
That's majestic. The Lord is at the same time
merciful, gracious, wise, and just. only God could find a way
to be merciful and gracious to sinners and still save them in
justice, not violate his holiness, not violate his justice by sacrificing
his son, by punishing his son as a substitute for the sin of
his people. Now that's majestic. If God ever gives us a view of
faith that the Lord Jesus Christ was sacrificed for my sin, You'll
never hear anything more majestic than that the rest of your days.
The salvation of a sinner is majestic. Salvation is so grand. It can't be comprehended by the
human mind. I mean, this is not something that that, you know,
we believe because it can be comprehended. No, we just believe
it because God gives faith. It can only be believed. And
I hate hearing false prophets bring salvation down to a decision
that a sinner has to make. When somebody does that, you
know what they've done? They put salvation down in the gutter
where we are. Not up in the heights of heaven
where God is. That's where it belongs. The
salvation of a sinner is majestic. is majestic. I don't even know
a better word to use. This is an excellent thing. God,
the Father, chose to save a sinful people. God, the Son, agreed
to be their surrogate. He agreed to come and work out
a righteousness for those people, to make them righteous. He agreed
to die for the sins of those people. And God, the Holy Spirit,
moves in a mysterious, powerful way through the preaching of
the gospel, through the preaching of God's Word, and uses that
word, the word of God as the seed to give life and faith in
Christ. He uses that word as a seed to
give a new heart and a new birth. That's majestic. And we can't
comprehend that. But by God's grace, we believe
it. I want you to think about how majestic this is. The Lord
who reigns over everything is the same one who is the righteousness
of this people. the Lord who reigns. He used
his power to humble himself to become a man. So as a man, he
could obey the law as a substitute or a representative of his people,
doing what they could not do, obeying the law for them. He is the righteousness of his
people. Can you lose it? Not if the Lord who reigns is
your righteousness, you can't. He reigns to ensure it. The Lord
who reigns over everything is the same one who bore the sins
of his people in his body upon the tree. He humbled himself
and agreed willingly to be made sin for his people, to take the
sin of his people away from them and to put it away, to pay for
it, by sacrificing Himself, by shedding His blood to pay for
their sin. Now, that's majestic. Well, can you lose that salvation?
Not if the Lord who reigns is your Savior, you can. See, this
is good news. It's majestic. The Lord reigns.
Then secondly, the Lord who reigns has all strength and power. Verse
1, Psalm 93, The Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty, The
Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself.
The world also established that it cannot be moved. Now the Lord
clothed himself with majesty and he clothed himself with strength. Nobody gave it to him. All strength
and power is his because of who he is. He's the Lord and he has
all strength and all power. So His reign is unchallenged. His rule is unquestioned. Nobody
can take God off the throne and nobody can make Him do anything. Nobody can get Him to do something. He reigns. Because He has all
strength, His reign is unquestioned. The Lord reigns in power, in
absolute power over everything. So everything He's established
will never be moved. The earth cannot be moved because
the Lord established it on the floods. Here's something majestic
and powerful. The Lord rules all, who has all
strength. You know what he did? He became
weak for his people, for the sake of his people. Now, when
I say that, don't think for a moment that there was ever a time our
Lord Jesus Christ had no strength. and no power. He always had all
strength and all power because He is God. It's not like the
Lord Jesus is God. He is God. See, you can't say,
well, at this point, He didn't have any strength or power because
He's God. He always has all strength. But
when He appeared in human flesh, He didn't use His power as God
for His own benefit. He used it for the good of his
people. He used his power to honor and magnify the law. He
used his power to put away the sin of his people, but he never
used his power for his own benefit because he's the representative
of his people. You can't work a miracle to benefit your own
flesh. Well, then he limited himself to not do that for himself
because he's your representative. He never worked a miracle for
himself. You think about when he got thirsty, what did he do?
He asked a sinful woman for a drink of water. The one who spoke and
created the oceans didn't create a glass of water for himself.
He asked a sinful woman to get it for him because you and I
can't do that. And as a man, he obeyed the law
and he did it in all the weakness of our flesh. He got tired just
like we did. We got home from Bible school
today, me and Zane, and I told him on the way home, I said,
I need to get some work done. I gotta have a nap. He said,
who to? We laid down and took a nap.
We're exhausted. Our Lord got tired. He got hungry. He got thirsty. But he still
obeyed the law perfectly. The weakness of the flesh did
not stop him from obeying the law perfectly. Because he was
doing it as a representative of his people. Because that's
the only righteousness they'll ever have. See, he did that in
his strength, yet in the weakness of human flesh. This man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
fully, completely God, and fully, completely a man, had the strength
to take the sin of his people away from them and to bear it. unspeakable load of sin, that
mountain of sin didn't crush him. He bore it. He held it up and he bore it
away from his people so it wouldn't damn him. That's why, even though
he had the strength to come down from the cross, he didn't do
it. Remember the scribes and the Pharisees mocking him saying,
come down from the cross and we'll believe you. Well, he had
the strength to do it, but he didn't use it. He used his strength
to put away the sin of his people by his death as their substitute. Now, aren't you glad he's got
all strength, all power? And right now, nothing's changed. You know what he's doing right
now? He's using his strength and his power to give eternal
life to his people. In his high priestly prayer in
John 17, the Savior said that the Father had given him power
over all flesh. that he should give eternal life
to as many as the Father hath given him. And that's what he's
doing right now. He's doing it through the preaching
of the gospel. He's calling out his people.
And through the preaching of the gospel, he's giving life
and faith to everyone for whom he died. Now that's a mysterious
thing, isn't it? Spiritual life, faith, something
you can't see, something we can't touch. only the power of God
can give it. And he gives it in the hearts
of his people. And the Lord who rules over all is going to keep
this earth established. It won't be destroyed until all
of his people are saved out of it. He's using his strength and
his power to ensure the salvation of his people. And think about
this. The Lord, who is our shepherd,
the Lord who is our protector and our redeemer, That same one,
our father, our elder brother, reigns over everything. Then nothing can harm his people,
can it? Whatever it is that would harm
his people is going to have to go through him first. Well, nothing
strong enough to do that. Our Savior has all power. Our Redeemer who reigns over
everything has all strength and all power to preserve and protect
his people, and nothing can harm them. Nothing. All right, here's
the third thing. The Lord who reigns is eternal.
Verse two, the psalmist says, thy throne is established of
old. Thou art from everlasting. The Lord's throne has been established
of old a long time ago, long before human history started,
long before creation, because his throne is eternal. There's
never been a time the Lord has not reigned. Now that means something to his
people. There's never been a time the Lord has not reigned. That
means his people are secure. Now God is eternal. If God's
eternal, that means God cannot change. So God's elect, if God
cannot change, If you're justified, God's always seen you as justified.
Because God can't change. An event in human history, even
the death of Christ, didn't change God. He's always seen his people
as justified. They've been justified in his
sight, and that's all that counts. Now the transaction had to take
place. The payment must be made in human time. But God has always
seen his people as justified. They've always been in Christ.
And then God created the world and put man in it. And do you
know why Adam sinned? Adam didn't sin because Satan
came, made something happen God didn't want to happen. Satan
didn't come and make something happen that surprised God that
was outside of his plan. Adam sinned because the Lord
was still reigning. Adam sinned. It was wrong. He
did what his wicked heart wanted to do, but It was according to
God's eternal will and purpose so that God's elect would be
saved by the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. Where was
God when Adam was sinning in the garden? Ruling and reigning, reigning
over that, over that sin to ensure the salvation of his people.
Now God's elect have always eternally, eternally justified in Christ.
But that's not our experience, is it? In our experience, we're
born dead in sin. And somebody's going to say,
well, what if one of God's elect dies before they're brought to
faith in Christ? You don't have to worry about
that. I mean, we've got enough things
to worry about that could happen. You don't have to worry about
this. It's impossible. Do you know why? Because the
Lord reigneth. The Lord reigns. Nothing is going
to stop the purpose of God. The Father put His people in
Christ a long time ago, eternally. The Lord Jesus Christ came and
died for those people 2,000 years ago. And the Lord reigns to ensure
their salvation. What God has eternally purposed,
He brings to pass in time. Those people are going to be
born again by His power. in His time, at the very time
He purposed from all of eternity. In human time, all we see being
carried out in our lives is God's eternal purpose. It's just being
carried, no events are happening randomly. Human history is God
carrying out His eternal purpose. And His purpose is the redemption
of His people. And He's using all these events
to guarantee the redemption of His people, to the praise and
the glory of His Son who reigns. Now, fourthly, the Lord who reigns
controls the waves and the floods. Verse three, the floods have
lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their
voice. The floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier
than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of
the sea. Now, it's impossible to control water. It's impossible
to control the sea. It's impossible to control floodwaters. I see these poor people out in
the West and they do everything. They know the flood's coming.
They do everything they can do to prepare for it. And it seems
like no matter what they do, that water comes in and destroys
everything. I mean, it's just... That's so
sad to see. But you can't control it. You
can't control those floodwaters. That water goes where it wants,
when it wants, and the pressure that goes with water. Water is powerful. Wayne told
me one time about the amount of pressure per square inch or
something of water, those kinds of things. He knows I don't.
But I do know this. It didn't take very much water
to destroy our parking lot out there. A little bit of water
comes through that pipe and gets backed up for just a minute,
shot that pipe up through the blacktop, destroyed the blacktop.
Just a little water did that because of the pressure, the
power of that water. But the Lord easily controls
those things. The oceans, the floods, He easily
controls them because He reigns. But now listen, this goes a whole
lot deeper than H2O. Look back at Psalm 69. There's
several things these waters represent. And the first one are our sins.
Psalm 69. Verse 1. Save me, O God, for
the waters are come in unto my soul. That's not talking about
H2O, is it? The waters come into his soul.
And he's saying, save me. This is talking about his sins.
Remember when Peter was walking on the water. He told the Lord,
bid me come to thee on the water. And the Lord said, come on. Peter
began walking on the water to go to the Lord. And he began
to look around him. And he saw the wind and the waves. And he began to sink. And Peter
cried the same thing the psalmist cried here, Lord save me. Lord
save me. I'm afraid how often we complicate
our prayers. Lord, save me. Save me. It doesn't require a lot of explanation,
does it? Lord, save me. But if Lord ever enables us to
see the sin of our souls, we know it's going to damn me. The
instinctive cry of our heart will be, save me, oh God. Save
me. Because you're the only one who
can. Nobody has the power over sin to remove the guilt of it.
and the stain of it, and the power of it, but the Lord Jesus
Christ. He reigns over these waters. And we can't control our sin
any more than we can control the ocean. I mean, we can't stop
sinning. I mean, we think, I'm just not
going to do that anymore. That just almost guarantees you're
going to do it right away. We can't stop sinning because
our nature is a sin nature. You can't control it. It's just
going to sin. I told the children in Bible
school this morning, we have a will. You beings have a will. You can decide to sit here or
sit there, wear this color jacket tonight or a different color
jacket tonight. But that does not mean we ever have the power,
the ability to quit sinning. It can't be done. The only thing
we can decide to do is next way I'm going to sin because we've
got to sin nature. Preacher, that sounds pretty
bleak. Why don't we just give up? No, wait a minute. We're
not going to give up. Keep looking to Christ. He's the one with
the power over. Keep looking to Christ. Keep
trusting Him. He's the only one who has the
power to take sin away. So keep looking to Him. And we
don't have any power to control the sin nature of our children. We do our best to teach them
to behave. People used to tell me what pleasant
girls we had when they were little. And the only way I knew to respond
to that was, well, at least they don't embarrass us out in public.
You know, we've taught them to behave out in public. But we
can't control that sin nature. And we don't have the power to
save their souls. I reckon if you ever want to
feel helpless, have a child and to begin to pray. Lord, save
them. Lord, save them. You have no
power over it. Your only cry can be, Lord, save
them. Lord, have mercy. We don't have
any power to control that sin nature and our precious babies.
Well, don't give up. Don't give up on them. Keep teaching
them Christ. Keep teaching them the scriptures.
That's what the mornings of this week are all about. That's what
their Bible classes every Sunday are all about, to teach them
the scriptures. That's what every service is
about. To point both young and old,
the youngest to the oldest, to point them to Christ. You look
to Christ. Now that encourages me to keep
preaching the gospel because the Lord reigns. The Lord reigns. In spite of my depression, after
every time I preach, this is my comfort. The Lord reigns. He's going to oversee everything
I said wrong and didn't say just right. He's going to save His
people. I can't do anything for you,
but God can. That's who we preach. He reigns.
He reigns over our sin. Second, these waves that flood
and lift up themselves against us, our own conscience. Our own
conscience tells us I'm a sinner. My own conscience tells me I'm
guilty, yours does too. And a troubled conscience is
impossible to quiet. Unless it becomes seared and
it's dead, a troubled conscience is impossible to silence. Aren't
you thankful our Lord reigns over those troubled waters? There
is one who can quiet the conscience. Lord Jesus Christ. He quiets
our conscience. The Spirit quiets our conscience
by pointing us to Christ, by looking to Christ. And when I
look at Christ by faith, and I see He died for my sin. If Christ died for my sin, my
sin's gone. He shed His precious blood for
my sin. It's got to be gone. Then my
guilt's gone too. God's not angry anymore. He took
out all of His anger on Christ my substitute. and I have peace. The conscience
is quiet because it doesn't have anything to bother you about.
Sin's gone. The Lord reigns over those waters
of a troubled conscience. And thirdly, the waves and the
floods that rise up against us are our troubles and our trials.
Look over at Psalm 124. Psalm 124. Next time you think the waves
and the floods of trouble and trial are going to overflow you,
just turn to Psalm 124. If it had not been the Lord who
was on our side, now may Israel, his people say, if it had not
been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against
us, then they'd swallowed us up quick when their wrath was
kindled against us. Then the waters, the waters of
trouble and trial, Those waters would have overwhelmed us. The
stream had gone over our soul. Then the proud waters had gone
over our soul. Oh, but blessed be the Lord who
has not given us a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as
a bird out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken
and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the
Lord who made heaven and earth. Our help is in the name of the
Lord who rules and reigns over his creation. The waters of trouble
and affliction, that's tough stuff. Deep waters, Brother Henry
used to say, they're deep waters and they're plenty powerful enough
to sweep us right away, aren't they? Well, that makes me thankful
the Lord reigns over those troubles and trials. The Lord controls
the heat of the trials. He controls the duration of the
trial. He controls the strength of his
people. He gives his people strength in those things. And eventually
he'll deliver him from them because he reigns over all those things.
And then fifthly, the Lord who reigns is revealed in his word. Verse five, Psalm 93. Thy testimonies
are very sure. Holiness becometh thine house,
O Lord, forever. Now, how do we know the Lord
reigns? How do we know this is cause
for rejoicing? This is awe inspiring. This is cause for thanksgiving.
How do we know that if God is on the throne, his people don't
have anything to worry about? How do we know that? The word of God. His testimonies. When the psalmist here talks
about thy testimonies, he's talking about the word of God. It's the
Word of God that testifies and tells us who God is. Now, we
can't count on what we see happening around us. We can't make judgments
by what we see happening around us because we don't have the
whole picture, do we? Never do we have the whole picture.
Think about old Joseph. Poor old Joseph. His brothers
treated him so badly. They sold their younger brother
into slavery to ISIS. The traveling marauders, that's
who they are. Just like ISIS today. They sold
their brother to those people. Well, where was God when this
was going on? Huh? Where was God when Joseph
got thrown into prison for a crime he didn't commit and rotted there
for years? Where was God when this was going
on? on the throne. God was on the throne. Joseph
knew it. He told his brothers, you did
this for evil. I know why you did it. But you're
not the cause of this. God did this. He meant it for
good. God's the one who brought all
this to happen because God's on the throne. God brought all
this to happen to accomplish God's purpose. And the same thing
is true about you and me. You know, these stories we read
about these giants in the faith in the Old Testament, they're
not some super Christian that's different than us. They're the
same. They're just exactly the same
as God's people today. God's in control of our troubles
and our trials, and we can't see the end of it. We don't know
what God's going to accomplish in this thing. We never know
what God's purpose was in something until it's done, until it's over.
But what can we do? We can trust the Word of God,
can't we? We can trust the Word of God. God's reigning in this
thing. God's ruling in this thing and
He's bringing it about to accomplish His purpose. So where is God? In all my heartaches, in all
my troubles, when I think this is so bad, I can't get out of
bed in the morning. I can't sleep at night and I
can't get out of bed in the morning. Where's God while this is going
on? He's on the throne. That's exactly where he is. He's
on the throne. And I know that from the word
of God. We can trust it. I can't trust
my experience. I can trust the word of God. Where was God? When the Lord
Jesus Christ was put into the hands of wicked men and they
were doing to him whatever they wanted. Where was God when the
Lord Jesus stood in that mock trial, falsely accused? Where
was God when his son was laid down on that cross and had his
hands and feet nailed to it? Where was God as he hung there
on the cross crying, I thirst? And those scribes and Pharisees
were mocking him and making fun of him. Where was God? He was
on the throne. He was on the throne. Brother
Nyberg says the crucifixion, the sacrifice of Christ is the
most God-like thing we'll ever see. God was on the throne, doing
everything according to his eternal will and purpose. Those men did
what their wicked hearts wanted. Peter told them, man, you did
what you wanted to do, but God raised him from the dead. God
was doing all of that. God was the one who afflicted
his son. God was the one who thrust the
sword of justice in the heart of his son for this purpose,
his eternal purpose, to accomplish the redemption of Israel. That's
why the father did that. You see, God is holy. Holiness
becomes God. Now, do you imagine for a minute
that the holy God who reigns over all would ever allow his
son to die in vain? Can you imagine such a thing?
Because that would be unholy, wouldn't it? If Christ died for
somebody and God sends him to hell, that's unholy because he
punished the same sin twice. Can you imagine for a moment
that God would let anyone for whom his son died to perish in
hell? Of course not. That cannot happen. Because the Lord reigns. He reigns
to ensure the salvation of his elect. And I'll tell you this. The Lord reigneth. That's cause
for rejoicing. That's cause, oh, what comfort.
That brings the hearts of God's people. The Lord reigneth. And
I know the earth may not rejoice. I know the natural man won't
rejoice unless God does something for him. But I tell you, let's
us rejoice. Let's rejoice. Let's honor him
by trusting him. The Lord reigneth. We know that,
don't we? Then let's trust him. to rule and do all things well. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we thank you that
you reign, that you reign on high, that you alone accomplish
your eternal will and purpose, that none can stay your hand
or say unto you, what are you doing? Father, speak to our hearts. Speak to the hearts of your people
this evening. Cause us to rejoice in our Lord
who reigns. Bring comfort and calmness and
assurance to the hearts of your people that the Lord reigns. And let us sing this last song
and let us leave here this evening. Go home and get ready for bed
and lay down rejoicing that the Lord reigns. It's in the precious
name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's stand and sing 442, 442.
Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer. Sing, O earth, His wonderful
love proclaim! Hail Him! Hail Him! Highest archangels in glory,
Strength and honor give to His holy name! Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard
His children in His arms. He carries them all day long. Hail Him! Hail Him! Tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and
bled and died. He our Rock, our hope of eternal
salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the
Crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus, who
bore our sorrows, Love unbounded, wonderful, deep, and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, hell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals, loud with hosannas
ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet
and priest and king. Christ is coming, over the world
victorious, power and glory unto the Lord belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful