Turn with me to Psalm 99. Psalm 99. The Lord reigneth. Let the people tremble. He has his way in everything. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou?
The Lord reigneth. He sitteth between the cherubims. Let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion. Now he's great apart from Zion. And what he's talking about there
is their opinion of him. He's great in Zion. That's how they see him. He's 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 executest judgment and righteousness
in Jacob. the Lord our God, and worship
at His footstool, for He is holy. I invite you to turn back with
me now to Psalm 99, the book of Psalms is a collection
of hymns and poetry inspired by the Spirit of the Living God
to set forth the coming of the Redeemer, and it does so as much
as any other book in the Bible. You know, we come in here, we
worship God, we read the Scriptures, we pray, And then we sing hymns
and then we have the preaching of the gospel. These hymns that were given of
God, inspired of God, they are as much the foundation of faith
as the book of Jeremiah or Isaiah or any of the New Testament epistles. Paul said this. He said, let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching
and admonishing one another in Psalms. And that was it. Teach one another and admonish
one another in Psalms and in hymns. and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord. That's Colossians 3
verse 16. And it's my desire and my prayer
to God that as I preach and teach from this divine book, that God
will enable us to do what his apostle defines this book to
be for. I want to admonish you, I want
to teach you, I want to inspire you. And to do this, I'm to do
it from the Psalms as well as anything else in this book. Now
I preached to you from many of the Psalms. According to sermon
audio, I preached 41 sermons from the book of Psalms. The
most memorable to me were the Psalms of degrees. I preached those both here and
away, and they were the most memorable
to me. May the Lord give me the ability
in the heart this morning to add this to the list. Turn with
me to Psalm 99, and every word of this blessed psalm is precious. Every word is divinely inspired. divinely directed, divinely made
effectual to the believing saints. But this morning, I want to confine
all of our thoughts to the first three verses of this psalm. And in these three verses, the
outline given to us by the Holy Ghost in four statements. And I want to follow His outline.
You can't outline the Holy Spirit. You can't outdo it. He said it
here exactly as it needs to be said. He tells us, first of all,
that the Lord reigneth. He reigneth. Is that important
to know? Oh, my soul. It's critical to
know. He said, secondly, the Lord sitteth
between the terribles. He tells us that the Lord is
great in Zion. And then He tells us, let us
praise His great and terrible name, for it is holy. So let's begin where the Spirit
directs us, the Lord reigneth. We're gathered here this morning
as a band of believers who have vowed to and willingly have surrendered
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And our inmost desire is to be
under His rule. We're not opposed to it. We see
it for what it is. It's a loving rule. It's a rule
set up for the salvation of your souls. He said to his disciples as he
stepped on the cloud to ascend into glory, he said, All power
in heaven and earth is given unto me. Now you go preach. You go preach. He says in his high priestly
prayer before he ever went to the cross, Father, glorify me
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was, as
you have given me power over all flesh to give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given me. That's what this power is
all about. And our most desire, those who
understand it and know what it is, is to be under his rule and
beneficiaries of his divine lordship. And in the sense of his deity,
he was always Lord. As God, he was always omnipotent. Did you know that creation is
a statement of God's absolute omnipotence? With the spoken
word, he brought out of nothing an entire universe. Huh? He spoke, and it was done. He
commanded, and it stood fast. And he said, and we know, we
know by faith that the things which are seen were not made
of things which were. There was nothing there, and
God made everything from it. And in one swoop, in one action,
in one creation, He declared forever His omnipotence. He's
God over everything that is. He reigneth. None can stay his
hand. None can question what he does.
It says in Philippians chapter 2 when he's talking about the
mind of Christ that he thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. That's a statement ain't it? But in this precious psalm, he's
not speaking of his omnipotence as God, but his lordship given
to him by the Father to give eternal life to his elect. God has a people, a people divinely
chosen in Christ to be blessed of God from all eternity. And
perhaps the cheapest of all these blessings is the anointing of
our Lord as King in Zion. He speaks of that more than anything
else. And in spite of man's rebellion
and unwillingness to bow, yet God says, I've set my king upon
my holy hill in Zion. I've declared the decree, Thou
art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And the God-man Mediator
is the man on the heavenly throne. He's a representative man, a
redeemer and substitute, and a man called the second Adam. came into this world to save
sinners and glorify God in the process. And when he died, he
died to satisfy divine justice, and by way of satisfaction was
raised from the dead, escorted into glory, and crowned the Lord
of Zion to the glory of God the Father. And every knee's gonna
bow in that day, and that's what they're gonna confess, Jesus
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. He's glory to the
intent that God made him Lord. He's glory to the intent of God's
purpose in making him Lord. And he's glory in the sense that
he performed it, he accomplished it. And before our Lord went
to the cross of Calvary to accomplish this redemption, he spoke to
the Father and said that very thing. The Lord reigneth. He sits on the throne of glory,
arranging all things, bringing all things to pass, conquering
all of His enemies, destroying all invaders. And this reign
is to give eternal life to His elect, and it's a necessary reign,
a life-giving reign, a blessed reign. And the fact is, no matter who
you are, He reigneth. And He reigns in your life. The Lord reigneth. He's Lord
of the dead and the living. And whether we live, we live
unto Him. Whether we die, we die unto Him. Secondly, He says
here, He makes this statement, He dwelleth between the cherubims. I've always read about this.
Wrote it off to a statement of His heavenly presence. It does
mean that, but its meaning goes a whole lot deeper. We need to
learn who the cherubims are, don't we? What's that mean? He sitteth between the cherubims. Who are the cherubims? Well,
we first read about the cherubims in Genesis chapter 3. At the
close of this chapter, and after he drove man out of the garden,
he placed at the east of the of the garden, cherubims with
a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of
the tree of life. The purpose of the cherubim is
to keep the way. They're guardians of the way.
They're one way, one way into the presence of God, and these
cherubims guard the way. What do they have in their hand?
The Word of God, flaming sword. Turns every which way. There's
no coming in or going out. They're just that way. And they
guard that way. Somebody said they're there to
keep the way. And Brother Mahan said one time,
to keep it open. To keep it open. Oh my, what
a thought. They weren't there to keep men
out. They were there to keep the way. To keep it open. God guarding was Eastward from
Eden, and Eden means a dwelling place of God. The garden is a
place where man's fall took place and God's reconciliation was
set forth and first manifested in the garden. Everything was
in the garden. And east of the garden is where
the cherubim were first put. And a sword, it said, a fiery
sword given to keep the way of the tree of life. Now, eternal
life is to know God through the person and work of Christ. That's
what it is. We know that the Son of God,
John said, has come and given to us an understanding that we
may know Him that's true, that we're in Him that's true. This
is the true God and eternal life. That's what it is. It's to know
God, 1 John 5, 20. The way to the tree of life is
the way of Christ. Christ crucified. He demonstrated
that in the garden, didn't he? He set forth the way in the garden. These cherubims are going to
guard the way. Just for the unjust that he might
bring us to God. Now, in the tabernacle in the
wilderness, this is where we first read about it back here
in Genesis. Well, we don't hear too much more about it, though
I'm sure they were preached all through. All these old men of
God preached these things right down through time. But now comes
Moses. He delivers Israel out of Egyptian
bondage, and he brings them out into the wilderness, and God
gives them instruction to build a tabernacle. And he said, now
you're going to wreck this tent. That's what a tabernacle is,
a tent. Going to be so long, so wide, so on, and you're going
to make curtains for the inside. When you go inside this thing,
here's what you're going to see hanging, all these curtains.
What's on the curtains? Cherubim. What do you see when
you walk in the tabernacle? They got crosses in it? No crosses
in there. Got a shepherd boy up there on
the wall? No. They got cherubim, cherubim all
the way around, cherubim. Every curtain, all the way around.
Between the holy place, where the table of showbread was and
the candlestick and all of that, the altar of incense, where that
was, you've seen this, and then there was a huge, heavy veil
that separated the holy place from the holy of holies. You
know what was on that veil? Cherubim. Then, the high priest would go
in one time a year with blood. And he's going to pour his blood
out on the mercy seat, Winston. What's above the mercy seat?
Cherubim. Cherubim. What's he trying to
say? He's trying to say there's one
way. There's one way. And it's between the cherubim. The cherubims wherever we are
present in the tabernacle of worship reminding us that the
way of God is the way of Christ and the way of grace. In Numbers
chapter 7 verse 89 it says, The Lord spake unto Moses in the
tabernacle from between the cherubims, and no speaking to God except
through the way, and about the way, and of the way. God got
nothing else to say to you. Or He told me to, God told me
to go over here and build a statue. Somebody did, but it wasn't God. God speaks to men about the way,
and He speaks through the way, which is Christ. The Lord spake to Moses in the
tabernacle from between the cherubim. The Lord meets with His people
there. Isn't that what He said? I'll meet with you between the
cherubim. That's what He told them when
He built the tabernacle. He speaks to His prophets there. And then
in 1 Samuel 4, it says the Lord of hosts dwelleth between the
cherubim. He dwells there. Wherever the
way is, that's where He dwells, because He is the way. In Him, Paul said, dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him.
In 1 Chronicles 28.18, the Holy Ghost speaks of the chariots
of the cherubims. Huh? The chariots of the cherubims. And I forget, I've researched
and read so much on this. Three or four days I've been
reading about this all over the Bible. But I think it was on
the chapters of the columns in the temple. I could be wrong.
It could have been something else. But it seemed to me like
on the chapters of the columns there was a cherubim and a chariot,
and a cherubim and a chariot. And he calls them expressly there
chariots of the cherubims. What are these chariots? What's
chariots in the Bible? What are they recorded to have
done? What do you do in a chariot? Well, chariots were used to deliver
critical intelligence to those chosen to receive it. How are you going to know what's
going on out on the battlefield? A guy on a chariot, he's going
to ride back there and he's going to tell you what's going on.
Secondly, chariots are recorded in the scripture to carry royalty. What did Pharaoh down in Egypt
and Joseph right behind him, what was they riding in? Chariots. If I ain't mistaken, they called
them the royal chariots. They were made and used to carry
royalty. And then thirdly, chariots are
recorded in the scriptures as instruments of war, a means to
carry men into battle. Pharaoh had so many chariots
and he followed hard after Israel and he took those chariots right
down into the sea and God buried him down there. And then fourthly, at the end
of Elijah's stay on earth, the Lord sent a chariot of fire and
as a whirlwind carried him up into glory. These are the chariots. What are these chariots symbolic
of? I believe they're symbolic of
the Holy Ghost as he works in the church. He works in the church
of Christ bringing judgment and wrath upon all who oppose him
and eternal life to all who receive him. How does he do it? He passes critical information
to those chosen to receive him. You see what I'm saying? There's
a body here between the chariots. There's a body. And this body
is the chariot. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And Paul said they were made able ministers of the gospel. That's the way, isn't it? The
gospel. That sets forth the way. Well, they were made able ministers
of the gospel by the Spirit. Royalty? All my soul. Christ was given the Spirit without
measure. Without measure. Critical information? How can you hear without a preacher?
Instruments of battle? He said our weapons are not carnal,
but mighty through God. to the pulling down of strongholds
and casting down of imaginations. But chiefly here I want us to
see that these chariots, and you can read this in Habakkuk
chapter 3 and verse 8, are chariots of salvation. That's what he
calls them. Chariots of salvation, they're
expressly called the chariots of the cherubim. Those who are
appointed to guard the way, transport the way, which is Christ. And
in Ezekiel 10, he speaks of a man in fine linen descending from
a throne and being one with the chariot, one with the Holy Ghost. He came between the wheels with
a handful of coals of fire from between the chariots. Who's that? That's Christ, descended from
the throne. And in Psalm 68, he speaks of
these chariots being, it says the chariots of God are 20,000
and thousands of angels. What's that mean? On board this
chariot, in this body, in this church, one with the Holy Ghost,
there's angels. In what sense? Angels are those
sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation,
aren't they? He calls his pastors in Revelation
angels. They're the angels of the churches.
Also in Ezekiel 1, he tells us that there were creatures, living
creatures, who had the appearance of a man. Now, they had If you
looked at him, you got the sense of a lion and of an ox, and he
gives you all these different things, all these different faces,
so to speak. But what he's telling you is,
this is how this man appears. And he tells us that there were
living creatures with the appearance of a man. And they're spoken
of separate from the man in linen, although they're one with him
also in the same church. And these living creatures, or
pastors, or preachers, sent of God, and they had the appearance
of lamps, and they had the appearance of
burning coals, and their fire was bright, and out of the fire
came forth lightning. It might be Ezekiel's vision
of these living creatures is what prompted their daddy to
call these two boys of his that God called to preach, sons of
thunder. Might be. It said when they went
and returned it was like lightning. It's like unexpected. Unexpected. A flash of light and then it's
gone and they're back. And then he speaks of the wheels
of the church. And these wheels are symbolic
of the church. This gospel shall be carried
in the spirit by the church. That's what this chariot's all
about. The church is the light of the world in the sense that
they are the pillar and ground of the truth. They carry the
truth. They carry the way. And they appeared as a wheel
within a wheel. What in the world? I read that
in Ezekiel. I thought, what on earth is he
talking about? A wheel within a wheel. And I've
looked at that for years until I started getting on the path
of it, which I believe God's teaching me something here, teaching
you. It was like a wheel within a wheel. What churches, local
churches are what? A church within a church, aren't
they? His church universal. His church from the beginning
of time, the invisible church. Well, what's this local church?
It's a wheel within a wheel, isn't it? That's what he's talking
about. And he said in these wheels were
eyes. In this little church. He calls
it a ring. In this tiny ring within the
wheel. It's full of eyes. Well, what's
so unique about the church of the living God? They all have
eyes. Huh? Blessed are your eyes, they
see. Your ears, for they hear. They're
full of eyes. They can see in eternity past
because God's unveiled it to them. They can see into eternity
future. He's unveiled it to them. They
can see what's going on in the presence. They're full of eyes. And this church, as it moves
along, it's full of eyes. It has a purpose. It understands
the purpose. It's doing what God sent it to
do, and they can see it. They can see it. They appeared as a wheel within
a wheel. And it says they went straight
forward. Now watch this, whether the Spirit was to go. You see
now why I said that? It's a vision of the Spirit of
God as He works in the church. And they went straight forward
whether the Spirit was to go. Wherever the Spirit led them,
that's where they went. Verse 18. Ezekiel chapter 1. It says that these wheels were
so high that they were dreadful. They were dreadful. Oh, I tell
you, men don't see it. They don't see it. They tremble.
Felix's knees knocked together when Paul prayed to him. Men
don't see it as a rule. They don't see it. They laugh
at the scorn. They walk out the door. They
laugh at you. That man's nuts. Much studying
has made thee mad, Paul. That's what they told me. But
those who see it, they understand this church and its function
is dreadful. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. It's certain. It's certain. You can't stop
it. Who's gonna stop the church?
Huh? God's in the church, isn't He? Holy Ghost, omnipotent God in
the church. Who's going to stop it? You going
to stand in front of it? It'll crush you. It's high. It's high. There's no explaining
it. And it said they went straight
forward where their spirit was to go. Ezekiel 1.12. All the while I sing the glory
of God. Verse 20, Whithersoever their
spirit was to go, they went. Thither was their spirit to go,
and the spirit of the living creatures were in the wheel. They were one with the chariot. Wherever the chariot went, they
went. And happy to do it. Whether so ever they went, these
went. Where these stood, they stood.
Where these were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted
up over against them. Verse 24, Ezekiel chapter 1,
And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the
noise of great waters. Great waters, the noise. What's
the wings used for? To transport us. Now listen, like the noise of
great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, as the voice of speech, and as
the noise of a host. And when they stood, they let
down their wings, And there was a noise from the firmament that
was over their head, and above the firmament that was over their
heads was the likeness of a throne, and upon it the likeness of a
man, the God-man mediator. And they stood. And above it
all, the likeness of a rainbow, the covenant bow over the throne
of the living God. And of it all was the appearance
and likeness of the glory of the Lord. You can read it for
yourself right there in Ezekiel chapter 1. In the midst of the
cherubims, a chariot, the body of believers, and under it, and
between the wheels, the God-man carrying the whole thing, bearing
the weight of it all. His church. He is the head of
the church. Its motion, its energy, its purpose
and end, all revealed by the Spirit of the living God. He's
the way. He's the truth. He's the life.
No man cometh unto the Father, he said, but by me. But by me. Can you see that? That's just
as clear to me as a bell. Now I've read a lot of scriptures
and I've given you some of them, but you can find them. Just get
your concordant, look up chariot, look up wheels, you'll find it. It's everywhere. It's all through
the prophets. They all talked about it. They
all understood the vision. Alright? He said, The Lord reigneth,
and he sitteth between the chariots. Well, what's between the chariots? Where's he sitting in the chariot?
He's in the chariot. Alright, here's the third thing
he tells us. Psalm 99. Verse 2, Psalm 99. The Lord reigneth.
to give eternal life, he sits between the chairmen. And he said, the Lord is great
in Zion. Zion is the church of the living
God. He's ascribed as great in the
church. He's never spoken of as poor
little Jesus boy. Not in his church. He's not some
defeated reformer in his church. When they speak of him, they
speak of his greatness. Of his greatness. He's never
spoken of as defeated, as coming close, but he did all he could
do. No, he did all he was sent to do. And he's never once mentioned
in familiarity in anybody in his kingdom. Me and Jesus got a good thing
going. Ain't that what they sing? The greatest man born of woman,
John the Baptist. The Lord come down and got ready
to be baptized and John said, I have need to be baptized of thee.
I'm not worthy to bend down and unloose your shoelaces. Didn't sound to me like he's
on a first name basis. He knew who he was. Behold the
Lamb. The Lamb of God taketh away the
sin of the world. He's great in Zion. He's high
above all the people. And I know that we're one with
Him and that we're in union with Him. But we're not equal with
Him in His office. He's Lord. He's Lord. And when Isaiah saw the Lord,
how did he see Him? High and lifted up. Ain't that
what it says? Oh my soul. His train filled
the temple. He ain't talking about a choo-choo
train. He's talking about the excess of His robe filled the
temple. And people talk about the Lord
appearing to them and all these lowly visions and so forth. Isaiah
saw Him on the throne. And he looked at the seraphims,
who are they? Well, all along he's had seraphims,
and they're guarding the way. Who are these seraphims? These
are the same who guarded the way, but now, now they're in
his presence, exalted, having satisfied God, being victorious,
he sits up here on the throne, and now these seraphims stand
in His presence. It's the only place in the Bible,
Isaiah 66, where you're gonna find the seraphims talking about.
I believe they're just cherubs, just the cherubs that was put
back yonder in the garden, but now they've seen the way, and
the way has been established, and it'll never be reversed,
and it's secure forever, and they stand there with their eyes
covered and covering themselves, and they just cry, holy, holy,
holy. He's the Lord of hosts. The whole
earth is full of His glory. He's the creator of it, the maintainer
of it, the reason of it. And it's a witness of His power
and Godhead. The whole earth is full of His
glory. He's high and above all the people. But His height is
not a terror to them, it's the very heart of their hope. Where
do you run when you have need? Where do you run when you fear?
You run to a sovereign Christ, don't you? Lord help me. Lord help me. He's great in Zion,
high above all the people. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
I can't preach man lower than he is, nor Christ higher than
he is. And then lastly, here's the result
of the first three things. Let them, them over whom He reigneth,
To whom the way is revealed, to them who see him as he is,
high and lifted up, sitting at the right hand of God, sitting
there victorious. Let them praise his great and
terrible name, for it is holy. It is holy. God's name is a full
declaration of his character. His name is the revelation of
his person and the glory of his character that constitutes his
very being as God. And this glory is manifested
in the salvation of chosen sinners through the person and work of
Christ. Paul tells us he set forth throughout
the whole of the Old Testament as the propitiation for our sins. What's that mean? There's endless
definitions for it, but the one I like the best is satisfaction. He did what you can never do.
He satisfied God. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. And he's the complete satisfaction
of a holy God concerning our sins and declares his righteousness
for the remission of sins even in Old Testament saints. Through
faith in his blood and to declare at this time, he says again,
his righteousness. Oh, may the Spirit of the living
God help us this morning to praise his great and terrible name.
For He is holy, and He reigneth, and He sits between them.