Let's open our Bibles again to
Psalm 146. I've entitled the message a Hallelujah
Chorus. You might remember as we read
it just a few moments ago, the Psalm begins with hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord is hallelujah. And no one has more reason to
praise the Lord than those who know him, those who are the objects
of his grace. I want us to look at this psalm
as a hallelujah chorus and see over and over and over again
different reasons that we're to praise the Lord. And first,
we're to praise the Lord simply because of who He is. I think
that one of the big problems with modern day religion is health
and wealth and fame and popularity. Religion, they get so caught
up in the blessings, praising God, thanking Him. They do what
they do so they can get what they get from Him. If God doesn't
give you and me one more thing in the rest of our life, He's
to be praised simply for who He is. Look what David says here
at verse 1. Praise ye the Lord. Hallelujah.
Praise the Lord, O my soul. While I live will I praise the
Lord. I'll sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
One of the things I love about David's writings, he always makes
his writings personal, doesn't he? Praise the Lord, oh my soul. I don't really care what other
people are doing. I don't care if people in religion misuse
these words, hallelujah, praise the Lord. No matter what they're
doing, I should praise the Lord. You know what the Bible says?
It says to me, it always says what it says to me. I should
praise God simply because of who He is. And using this term
hallelujah, praise the Lord, it's not a term we typically
use a lot because we don't want to be associated with the religion
of the day who misuse those words. But praise the Lord. Now that's
not just lip service. This is praise that comes from
the heart. What does David say? Praise the Lord, oh my soul. True praise can only come from
a new heart that God gives. It's a living heart. It's a heart
of faith. It's a heart that's full of thanksgiving
and love. That heart can praise God. So
really, you can praise the Lord without moving your body at all,
right? Because it comes from the heart. But usually, our bodies
are involved in worship and praise, aren't they? I told you that
a few weeks ago. Worship is not a spectator sport. We use the faculties that God
gave us to praise Him. God has given me physical life.
God gave it to me. I fully intend to use it for
His service, for His praise and for His honor. God's given me
a voice. I intend to use it to praise
Him, to sing His praises, to talk about Him. Now I like what
David says here. He says, I'm going to sing praises
unto my God while I have any being. Well, you know, he doesn't
mean I'm going to praise God till I die and then it's going
to be no more. It does apply to here on earth. The being that
I have, the flesh that I have, this body that I have, as long
as I got it, until it returns to my dust, I intend to praise
the Lord with it. But you know, that applies to
those who are already in heaven too. What we do in glory is just
gonna be a continuation of what we're doing right now. Worshipping
Christ, praising Him. The only difference is there
we're gonna have a perfect body. We're gonna do it in perfection
with a perfect body, a perfect voice. We're to praise the Lord
simply because of who He is. And that praise never ends. Second,
we're to praise the Lord because He's not like men. Aren't you
thankful God's not like us? Verse three. Put not your trust
in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom there is no help.
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth. In that very day,
his thoughts perish." You know, there are many men that we admire
and we trust. Men that we've known who have
been men of integrity. Men who have faithfully preached
Christ to us. But I'm telling you, don't put
your trust in them. Don't do it. Don't think more
highly of them than you ought to because they're still just
men. You know, when David talks about princes, he was a prince,
wasn't he? He means not just someone who
has a throne like David did, but he means the very best of
men, the best men you know. Don't you put your trust in him
now. And David means himself too. Now, David's a man after
God's own heart. He's a sweet psalmist of Israel,
but he's telling Israel, he's telling us, Don't you put your
trust in me. You trust in the Lord. Because
I don't care what man it is, how great or good of a man we
think he is. There's no salvation in him.
That word help David uses here. Don't put your trust in the son
of man in whom there is no help. That word help is salvation.
There's no salvation in men. You know all that's in men? Death. by man came death. Isn't that
right? In Adam, there's only death.
And there's only death and there's only disappointment in all the
sons of Adam too. So don't put your trust in them.
If you put your trust on a man, you know what you're doing? You're
putting your weight, you're leaning your weight against a pile of
dust. Now, you're not putting your
weight on a pillar, you know, Christ, the eternal rock of ages,
will stand forever. You're putting your weight on
a just a pile of dust, it'll fail, it'll crumble every time. I get amused at people that,
we just came from the beach, I just thought of this, people
building these elaborate sculptures, I don't know what
you call them, man, they're pure works of art out of this sand.
And it's really pretty, I'm kind of glad they did it, but you
know what, not one of them lasted to the next day. The next day,
every one of them was gone. That's putting your trust on
a man. He's just going to fail every time. You know, Adam already
failed, didn't he? I mean, Adam already proved it.
He's the best we got. He already failed. Well, if you
put your trust in any of his sons, they're going to fail the
same way. But now we'll see this in a minute.
You can put your trust completely and confidently in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Salvations of the Lord. Well,
put your trust in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, because yes,
by man came death, but by man came life too. By man came sin
and by man came righteousness too. Almighty God became a man
so that He could save sinful men. I can say hallelujah to
that, can't you? Praise the Lord, thank God. Don't
put your trust in a man, he's just dust. And don't put your
trust in a man because he won't be here for long. What are you
going to do when he's gone? He may have some big plans. He
may be in the middle of a mighty work. But I'm telling you, at
the very moment he dies, his thoughts, his plans, and his
ambitions are going to die with him. Just like the fool who thought
to himself, I've got too much, I'd better tear down my barns
and build bigger. His plans died with him that very night. Put
your trust in Christ. He won't be around a while. He
ever liveth to make intercession for us. Third, we praise the
Lord because he is our God. Now again, this is personal.
By God's grace, the God of Jacob is our God. Look here at verse
five. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help. whose hope is in the Lord his
God. Now the name, the God of Jacob, we see that throughout
scripture, the God of Jacob. You know, that describes both
our God and his people, doesn't it? The people of God, they're
described as Jacob. They're chief, they're supplanter.
We're Jacob. We're born into this world with
no birthright, with no claim to any blessing of God, that's
us. But our God is the God of Jacob. The God of Jacob, who
is he? Well, he's covenant God, isn't
he? He has a promise to his people, to save his people through his
son. He's the covenant God. The only
way Jacob could be included in the family of God is if God's
a covenant God. God had a promise unto Jacob
before Jacob was ever born. Next God, the God of Jacob is
the God of electing love. God has made himself to be our
God because he chose us to be his. And he didn't choose us
because we're the best. We're Jacob, right? He chose
us because we're the worst. He's the God of electing love.
The only way God could choose any sinner is if he's the God
of electing love. And God has made himself to be
our God because he revealed himself to us. He reveals himself to
all of his people just like he did Jacob. If you know God, it's
because He revealed Himself to you. And God made Himself our
God by taking a personal interest in us, in our journey here below. Jacob said when he was old, he
said, my God has shepherded me all the days of my life. He's
fed me. He's shepherded me. He takes care of us. He orders
our steps all the time through our journey here below and never
one time abandons us. He's our God. Now I can praise
the Lord for making me His and making Him to be mine. He's our
God. Fourth, we praise the Lord because
Christ is our hope. Look here at the end of verse
five, whose hope is in the Lord, His God. Look at 1 Timothy chapter
one. Believers have a good hope, don't
we? Hope in Christ is a good hope. But you know, Christ our
Savior does more than just give His people hope. Christ is our
hope. If we could ever get a hold of
this, that Christ is all. He is our hope. We're not believing
in things and trusting in things and hoping in things. We look
to a person. We're saved by a person. Christ
is our hope. 1 Timothy 1, verse 1. Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior
and Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. Those words which is, you just
take your ink pen and cross them out. They're in italics. They
are added by the translators and they harm the meaning of
the verse in this case. The commandment of God our Savior
and Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. Christ is our hope. He's all
of the sinner's hope of salvation. And if Christ is your hope, if
He's all your hope, you've got a good hope. Look at 2 Thessalonians,
just back a page. It's probably the same page if
you've got the authorized version. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 16. Hope in Christ is entirely dependent
upon Christ. It doesn't depend on our flesh
in any way. Now that's grace. To be enabled
to trust Christ even though we don't deserve anything. Our hope
is a hope of grace. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 16. Now
our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, even our father, which
has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through
what? Grace. This is a good hope in
grace. Look at Titus chapter three.
Hope in Christ is hope as a sure hope of eternal life. Hope in Christ is a living hope.
Our Lord said, because I live, you live also. It's a living
hope. Titus 3 verse 7, that being justified
by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of
eternal life. And one more scripture, Colossians
chapter 1. Hope in Christ, it's a hope of
grace. It's a hope of eternal life,
a living hope. And hope in Christ is a sure
hope of glory, a sure hope of being glorified with Christ in
heaven. Colossians 1 verse 25, whereof I made a minister according
to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill
the word of God, to fully preach the word of God. Even the mystery,
which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now
has made manifest to his saints. whom God would make known what
is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, Christ in you, Christ
dwells in a believer. And brethren, if Christ dwells
in you, you can be assured the fathers can accept you. When
a sinner is born again, there's a new man born in that person.
And that's the very man that one day God's gonna take the
glory. That man's gonna be set free from this tomb of flesh
and he's gonna go to glory. He's a man. He's born in you
a man just like Christ. Now that's a good hope. I can
praise God for a good hope. Fifth, we praise the Lord because
Christ our Savior is the creator. Look at verse six, Psalm 146.
which made heaven and earth and sea and all that therein is.
And so many times in scripture, God is identified as the creator. And that's important because
whoever created all this, that's God, whoever created it. And
a child of God enjoys seeing that. We enjoy thinking of it.
We enjoy seeing the hand of God in creation, the hand of God
ruling this world. We were at the beach, we were
sitting there, you know, And we just sit and read all day
until we decide where to go each. And that's what we do. We're
sitting there reading and Janice says, I just want you to look.
And you know, you just look and there's this ocean as far as
you can see. And she said, God created all
this. I mean, this tide's coming in
and the waves are blowing because God is in control of all this.
And she moved her hand back over, you know, where you all were
to the east. And she said, and all that too
at the same time. A believer, a child of God, loves
to think about, our God created all this. He's in control. Now if you look back at Psalm
121, David took comfort in this. Our God's the creator. He says
in verse 1, I'll lift up mine eyes into the hills, for whence
cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord.
which made heaven and earth. David took comfort in knowing
his God is the creator. But I'll tell you the real blessing
in this. It's not just knowing that our God controls the wind
and the tide and the rain and the seasons and these things,
although he does. But the great blessing, great comfort to believer
is this. God spoke this world into existence.
There is nothing. And God spoke it into existence.
I think it was Scott Richardson that said, if God's going to
create something else, he's going to have to create nothing and
then he'll make something from it. He just spoke it from nothing. That's a comfort to the child
of God. Because God used that same power to speak, to create
a new man and all of his people from nothing. God didn't take
a man who was already there and renovate him and fix him up and
prop him up. No, God spoke a new man into
existence, the power of His creation. I'll show you that in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. The same power that it took to
say, let there be light, and it was so. Let the waters recede
and let the dry land appear, and it was so. Let the animals
appear, and it was so. That very same power of creation
created a new man in all of God's people. 2 Corinthians 4 verse
5. in whom the God of this world
has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." You know, only
God has the power to give life in the new birth. And we can
praise God because he used that power and mercy and grace to
create life in us. If we have life, spiritual life,
God gave it. Praise the Lord for that. Sixth,
we praise the Lord because he's our truth. Look at Psalm 146
at the end of the verse six, which keepeth truth forever. Now truth, The truth we believe,
it's not a set of doctrines somebody's written down on a piece of paper.
The truth we believe, the truth of God is a person, the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what he said in John 14
verse 6. I'm the way, I'm the truth, and I'm the life. No man
cometh unto the Father but by me. He's the truth, he's the
way, he's the life. That's what Adam lost when he
fell. When Adam fell, all men lost truth. We lost the way to
God. But God sent His Son as a man
to be the truth so that sinners can come back to the Father by
Him. Christ is the truth of the gospel because Christ is the
gospel. You know, whether we say we're
preaching the gospel or we're preaching Christ, they're both
the same thing because Christ is the truth of the gospel. The
gospel consists of this, declaring the person of Christ. The good
news that God saves sinners in and by and through his son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the truth of God. He
is the revelation of God. The writer of Hebrews said he's
the express image of God, the exact image of God. All you and
I will ever know, even throughout eternity, all we'll ever know
of God is Christ. That all we'll ever see of God
is Christ. Do you want to know what God
looks like? Look to Christ. He's the express image. He's
the truth of God. And then Christ is the truth
of man. You know, we don't see any truth about ourselves comparing
ourselves with each other. All that is, is one maggot comparing
himself to another maggot. That's no point of reference.
But I'll tell you when we see the truth of man, it's when we
compare ourselves to Christ. Then we see, oh, when I see Christ,
now I don't have any problem understanding the truth that
I'm totally depraved. I know that because I've seen
Him. Once I see Christ, I don't have any problem believing I
don't have any righteousness of my own. All my righteousnesses
are filthy rags. I have no problem believing that
truth once I see Christ and compare myself to Christ. Once I see
Christ, the truth that I need Christ to save me or be damned
is absolutely no problem at all. I understand that. Once I see
myself compared to Christ the truth, I've got no problem believing
Christ is my only hope. I'm going to go to Him and stay
at His feet and beg Him to save me because He's my only hope.
And that makes me praise Him. Christ came to save sinners. Sinners like me. He came to give
hope to a sinner like me. I can praise him for that. Then
we praise the Lord because he has removed God's wrath from
his people. Verse seven, which executed judgment
for the oppressed. That word executed means finishes. Christ has finished judgment
for his people because he was judged in our place as our substitute. He finished judgment for His
people because He satisfied God's justice by suffering everything
God's justice required for the sin of His people. And we need
that, don't we? Aren't we the oppressed? Is anybody
here oppressed by sin? Sin is an oppressive taskmaster. I mean, it never takes a moment
off just constantly oppressing us. But Christ came and set His
people free from their sin by being made sin for us and suffering
the judgment, the condemnation that we deserve. And no believer
has to fear judgment. You know, people make up these
movies in the end of time and they try to scare people half
to death with the judgment. If you're in Christ, you don't
have to fear judgment. He's finished it. He's already
finished judgment for His people. He suffered in our place to put,
to finish judgment for us. Hallelujah. Oh, I'm so thankful. Then we praise the Lord because
he's our bread. Verse seven, which giveth food
to the hungry. Now, you know, God feeds all
life on this planet. I was walking down the beach
the other day and I saw this I don't even know what it was,
but it had all these little spiny things sticking out of it. You
know, I had no clue what it was, but I thought, dang, I like that. So I picked it up, you know,
and said, look what I found. And she said, it's moving. You
know, those little spiny things, about that long, they're moving,
you know? And I thought, oh, yeah, that's pretty cool. And
then I went and put it back by the water, figured it needed to be in the
water. And I thought, I wonder what that thing eats. Whatever
it eats, God gives it food to eat. I don't even have any clue.
But that thing's living. God gives it food to eat. And
I can understand God feeding that thing. The thing that amazes
me is men are rebels against God. Just utter rebels. And God
feeds them anyway. I mean, that's God's goodness.
And if God sends a time of famine, who can blame him? Can anybody
blame him? But he seldom does. That's God's
goodness. But this is talking about more
than physical bread. God always feeds his people spiritually. God's children will never starve
to death spiritually because Christ is our bread. Christ is
the bread of life. And the only requirement for
it is, are you hungry? Are you hungry? Are you hungry
for righteousness that you don't have? Are you hungry for forgiveness
of sin? Hungry for meat that will satisfy
your soul, then come to Christ. He'll fill you. And the only
requirement is you're empty. You're hungry and you need Him.
If you're empty, you come to Christ. He'll fill you. Now you
think about that. I can praise the Lord for that.
If I'm hungry, He'll feed me. Feed me with Him, with His Son.
Hallelujah. Then ninth, and this is kind
of what drew my attention to this psalm in the first place.
We praise the Lord because he's our great emancipator. At the
end of verse seven, the Lord looseth the prisoners. If you
look in Isaiah chapter 61, Christ came to set his people free. And this Psalm 61 is the text
that he used in his first public message, declaring to people
his sovereignty. He came to set his people free.
Isaiah 61, verse one. The spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
into the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening
of the prison to them that are bound. Now that's good news,
but everybody doesn't appreciate it, do they? You know who appreciates
that good news? Prisoners. prisoners who are
slaves to sin and in bondage and they cannot escape. They
love this news. At the end of the Civil War,
you know who loved Abraham Lincoln most of all? Slaves. You know what they knew? They
might not know much about the struggle between the states and
all the different things that precipitated it, but you know
what they knew? Because of Abraham Lincoln's determination, because
of his just, he was not going to quit. They were set free.
That's what they knew and they loved him for it. They absolutely
loved him. Other people didn't. When Jan
and I were first married, I mean, how many, 120 years after the
Civil War. We lived for a time in Florence,
South Carolina. And I'm telling you, I heard
it. It's one of those things you
hear about, you don't really believe until you see it. I'm telling
you, there's people in Florence, South Carolina still fighting
the Civil War. To that day, they hated Abraham
Lincoln. And I was shocked. I always thought,
you know, he's one of our greatest presidents. I mean, I just loved
him. hated him to that day. But those slaves didn't. And
those descendants of those slaves did. They loved him. You know who loves Christ the
Emancipator more than anybody? A slave. A slave who's in bondage
that Christ has made free. And we're born in bondage, aren't
we? We're in the prison house of the law, and we can't get
out. We can't keep the law. We can't
please God by keeping His law, so we can't escape the requirements
of the law. And the requirement of the law
for us is you've got to die. You've broken the law, you've
got to die. There's no escaping it. But Christ
came to set His people free from the law. Christ set his people
free from having to produce an obedience to his law because
he kept the law for us as our representative. He set his people
free from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us.
He set his people free from the condemnation of the law by dying
in our place as our substitute. I can praise the Lord for that.
Free from the law, happy condition. Hallelujah. He set his people
free from the law We were born in bondage to sin. You know why
we can't quit sinning? Because we're in bondage to it.
We've got a sin nature and we're in bondage to that nature. And
no matter what we do, we can't set ourselves free from it. We
can't set ourselves free from the presence of sin, from the
ruling power of sin, or from the condemnation of sin. But
Christ came and set his people free from bondage to sin. by
being made sin for us, putting that sin away with His blood
and giving us His righteousness. Then we're born in bondage to
death. The soul that sinneth shall surely die. Look in Hebrews
chapter 2. Christ came, set His people free
from death. Set them free from the fear of
death by dying for them in their place. Hebrews 2 verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also likewise himself took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
hath the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them,
set them free, who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage. He set them free. And then there's
coming a day that this body, this body you're looking at standing
up here, One day there's going to be a prisoner to the grave.
I'm going to die. You all are going to have service
for me. I wish you'd have a party. I know you won't, but I wish
you would. And you're going to put this body in the grave and
walk away and go home. And there I'll stay. Won't be
able to escape it. Nobody can escape the grave because
we're dead. We don't have any power or ability
to do anything. We're dead. But you know, there's
another day coming. That's not the end of the story.
There's another day coming when this very body is going to be
set free from the grave. Job talked about it. We looked
at that a couple of weeks ago. This body is going to be set
free from the power of the grave by the power of Christ. He's
going to speak and say, come out and all who are dead and
in the grave, they're coming out. He's going to return and
set his people, he's going to set everybody free from the grave.
He's going to bring his people home to be with him, both body
and soul forever with the Lord. Hallelujah. He set his people
free. Then we praise the Lord because
Christ is our light. He gives spiritual light to his
people. Verse eight, the Lord opened
up the eyes of the blind. Now, you know, during his earthly
ministry, the Lord healed more blind people than any other single
disease. And he did that to give us a
picture of our great need. When Adam fell, we died. And dead men are blind. They
can't see God. But when we talk about seeing
here, it's not seeing a physical vision, it's understanding. Notice
here, the eyes of are in italics. He's not really talking about
that. That's just been added by the translators. What David
literally wrote is, the Lord openeth the blind. He gives understanding
to those who are spiritually blind. Well, this is our problem. By nature, we don't understand.
We don't understand anything spiritual. We don't understand
God. We don't understand who He is. We don't understand His
holiness and His justice. We don't understand His grace
or His love. We don't understand our sin. We don't understand
the law. The law does not just give us
a few things to do. If we keep them outwardly, you
know, we're a good boy, a good girl. The law is spiritual. It refers to the heart, to the
thoughts and the intent. We don't understand Christ, that
He's our righteousness, that the only way we can ever be righteous
is in Him, not through our obedience to the law. We don't understand. No natural man understands that. And no one but God can make that
dead, blind sinner understand. Nobody but God. You know, we
preach, and we do our best to make it plain, don't we? But
we can't make anybody understand. We point men to Christ, but only
God can give eyes that see. Only God can give an heart that
understands. But when God moves in power,
When he shines the light of Christ into that dead soul, when he
creates that new man with his power of creation, we see, we
understand. What do we see? We see Christ. We understand. Now I understand. He was there all along. I just
never saw him. He was there all along. I just
didn't understand. Now I understand. How God can
save someone like me? It's only in the sacrifice of
His Son. That's the only hope blind Bartimaeus
had. You know how he wanted to see?
He kept crying to the Son of David. And they said, just be
quiet and we'll deal with you. We'll come give you a quarter
in a minute. No, he wouldn't be quiet, would he? Because his
only hope of his heart's desire was Christ. And he kept crying
to Him. You and I, sitting here this
evening, still only have that one hope. Cry to him. Just cry to him. This always
gets me. The cry of that blind, dirty
beggar. Stop the son of God in his tracks.
If you're blind and you need Him, you cry. Your cry will stop
the Son of God in His tracks. And He'll come give you sight.
He'll give you understanding. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.
I'm so thankful. Then look at this. We praise
the Lord because He lifts up the low. Verse 8, the Lord raiseth
them that are bowed down. Now those prisoners that the
Lord sets free, You know, they're bowed down. They're bowed down
under a heavy burden. They're bowed down under a load
of sin. They're bowed down under the
burden of their guilt. And Christ lifts them up. He
lifts them up by taking that unbearable burden away from them. He takes the burden of their
sin away. And you know what he gives them
in exchange? His righteousness. He raises
up the low by taking away the burden of that guilt and bearing
it himself, bearing it away forever. And you know what he gives in
exchange? The light yoke of his love. Christ raises them up that
are bowed down. He raises up that poor and needy
beggar. He raised them so high, he sets
them among princes. Well, hallelujah. Now, do you
have a burden that's just crushing you? Is the burden of your sin
weighing you down, just crushing you? Well, we just sung it. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. He raises them up that are bowed down by
taking their burden away. Then next, we praise the Lord
because He loves the righteous. Then in verse eight, the Lord
loveth the righteous. Now here is the power and the
character of our Savior. We know God's holy. God can only
love the righteous. Isn't that right? He can never
love us in our sin. He can only love the righteous. Yet scripture tells us there's
none righteous. There's none. None good. No,
not one. Well, we're not lovable. So God
made his people righteous. He made them righteous in his
son. And he did it because he loved
them. Now the reasons for God's love, they're only ever found
in him. God doesn't love us because of
anything in us. It's always and only something because of what's
in him, because of his character. God only loves those who are
in his son. God doesn't love everybody. He
loves the righteous. He loves those who are in his
son. The only way we can be righteous is by being in Christ. And you
know, that love is eternal. In eternity, when there was only
God, God loved his people. When he created the world, God
loved his people. When he saw us fallen in Adam,
God still loved his people. His love didn't change because
Adam fell. God loved his people when he sent his son to Calvary
and put our sin on his son. He did that because he loved
his people. When we are shapen in iniquity, conceived in sin,
God loved His people, even then He loved us. And we were born
in our rebellion and we stumbled through the darkness of unbelief.
He loved His people. One day when He sent the gospel
to us and revealed Christ to us and in us, He did it because
He loved His people. And after our conversion, we
have so many failures and slip ups, don't we? His love's unchanged. He still loves his people. And
when the day draws that we lay on our deathbed, don't think
God's forsaken you and doesn't love you. You're there because
he loves you. He's getting ready to take you
home, to be with him forever because he loves you. Praise
the Lord. Only God can love sinners like
that. Then we praise the Lord because He preserves the strangers.
Verse 9, the Lord preserveth the strangers. You know, people
don't like strangers. I remember the first time I ever
went to Dingus, West Virginia. I wasn't going to the church,
I was going on business. And I stopped and asked directions
and this fellow just looked at me, he was chewing tobacco, you
know, he spit. He looked back, he never answered
me a word. I thought, uh-oh. I was a stranger. You ain't from
around here, are you? We say that because we don't
like strangers. Racial prejudice is so strong because we don't
like strangers. We don't like somebody different
from us. The Jews, they hated strangers. They called the Gentile
strangers dogs. They hated them. Look in Ephesians
chapter 2. I want you to see how God treats
strangers from Him. Ephesians 2 verse 11, Wherefore remember that ye being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcised
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. But now, In Christ
Jesus, you who sometimes were far off, you who at one time
were strangers, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. The Lord's
gonna preserve those strangers. He's gonna protect them and take
them all the way to glory. Praise the Lord. Then we praise
the Lord because he brings relief to the helpless. Verse nine,
the Lord preserveth the strangers, he relieveth the fatherless and
widows. but the way of the wicked, he turneth upside down. You and
David's time, widows and orphans, they were so helpless. They didn't
own anything. They couldn't do anything. They
couldn't go get a job to support themselves. They had no means
to earn enough money to put a roof over their head or food on the
table. Can you imagine the pressure that you live under being an
orphan or a widow at that time? Just every day, pressure to survive
every day, just anxiety because nobody cares about you. And human
nature is so hard. God had to make it, this is part
of God's law. He gave Israel laws that you
have to do, things you have to do for the orphan and the widow.
They're related to these folks. And they're so hard hearted,
God had to make a law that you got to take care of. Christ has come and he's fulfilled
the law for his people. And when he fulfilled that law,
he brings relief to the orphan and the widow. Christ is the
father of that orphan child. That child whose father Adam
is dead, Christ our father comes and gets him. And he relieves
the pressure. He takes away the anxiety of
that helpless child. He takes that child in his arms,
puts them on his lap. He said, nah, it's all right.
Everything's taken care of. He takes care of that orphan.
And the widow, Christ is the husband of that woman. She's
been given the bill of divorcement and kicked out. That's what happened
to us in Adam. We're given a bill of divorcement
and thrust out of God's presence, but in love. Christ our husband,
he comes and gets his bride. And He takes her in His arms,
those strong arms, and He assures her, I love you. I'm gonna protect
you. I'm gonna provide everything
you need. She's eternally secure in Him. Well, hallelujah. What a husband we have in Christ.
And like I said earlier, God's love not for everyone now. His
love's for His people. He makes everything right for
His people. But the way of the wicked, he
turns upside down. Eric preached on that Sunday.
He turns the way of the wicked upside down. They may prosper
for a while now, but not for long. Their foot's gonna slip
in. And then lastly, we praise the Lord because he reigns. The Lord shall reign forever.
Even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations, praise ye the Lord. You know the Lord's reign is
absolute. is under his direct control. And you know what that means?
That means he's going to accomplish everything he's promised in this
psalm for his people. Because nobody can stop him.
Nobody can ask him, what are you doing? Or stay his hand because
he reigns. Christ will indeed set his people
free from judgment. He's going to feed them. He's
going to set them free from sin and death. He's going to give
them sight and understanding. He's gonna raise them up by taking
their burden away. He's gonna make them righteous.
He's gonna preserve them. He's gonna give them relief from
all their trouble. Hallelujah. I'm so thankful he
reigns. You know, that's what the Hallelujah
Chorus is all about. It's praise to the Lord because
he reigns. For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah. King of kings and
Lord of lords and he shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. All right, let's
bow in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. And how we pray that you would
accept our praise and our thanksgiving. What comes from these lips and
these tongues is so frail, so insufficient for who you are. But you know the hearts of your
people. And Father, we do praise you. We praise your matchless
name for who you are. And we do praise you and thank
you for everything that you've done for your people in your
son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And I pray you get glory to yourself
through the preaching of your word. Bless your word to your
honor and your glory to the comfort and edification of your people.
Father, we're thankful. In the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, we pray.