Good morning. I invite your attention to Psalm
66, the 66th Psalm. This is an extended trip for
me. God willing, I'll be here for
two Lord's Days today and next Lord's Day. And so, assuming
there were two messages on each occasion, I thought, well, I'm
going to bring a four-part series on the subject of the spiritual
biography of Jehovah's Saints, their spiritual history. Now,
I believe there are two messages today, one next Lord's Day, which
means that there will be one message still left in this short
series of four messages. But I would assure you and promise
you that I will be back as soon as I can in the will of God and
by your pleasure, and we'll continue at that time. Psalm 66, verse number 16. Come and hear all ye that fear
God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul." Consider
that subject. Now come, if you fear God, I
want you to listen to what I have to say. I have something to say
to you. To fear God is not to be in dread of Him. It is simply
to revere Him and honor Him and worship Him as we should. All
ye that worship God, come in here, and I will declare
what he hath done for my soul. We're looking at the subject
of spiritual history of Jehovah's saints. These are his saints. What are saints? The word saint
simply means holy one. That's what a saint is, a holy
one. And we are holy. The Scriptures
declare that we have been separated from the world and consecrated
unto God. That's what it is to be holy.
Separated from the world, consecrated unto God. We're told in the Scriptures
that all who believe are called saints. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse
10. All who believe. If you are a
believer in the eyes of God, you are a saint. Every believer
is a saint. Do you understand what I mean,
Saint Mitch? Saint! Every one of God's children,
all who believe, are saints. Now, it's a little bit different
in other religions. A saint, an ordinary Christian
cannot be a saint. You have to be holier than others,
or you have to be canonized and called a saint and officially
made one. But in God's church, every believer
is a saint on the same level. All are saints. Now, we're going
to look at their spiritual history. This is a spiritual autobiography. a spiritual history of Jehovah's
Saints, and it's all the same. We all have the same spiritual
history. The circumstances may be different.
Our physical histories are different. Some of us were born here and
there, but with regard to our spiritual history, it's all the
same. God has done the same thing for
every one of us who are saints. I would declare what God has
done for my soul. If you would declare what God
has done for your soul, you would say, huh, He did the same thing
for me, He did for you. And we all have the same history. The autobiography of every child
of God with regard to what God has done reads the same. Now, I will tell what He has
done for my soul. I am quite capable of doing so. I was there when He saved me.
I was there. I know what happened. And in
reading God's Word, I see what God has done. I will declare
what God has done for my soul. Come ye that fear Him. I will
delight in telling you what he has done. I do not need someone
to tell it for myself. I am capable of doing so for
myself. And I hope you are. Every saint,
every child of God should be capable and willing and ready
to declare what God has done for your soul. If someone should
say, what has God done for you? You should say, I'm glad you
asked. I have an answer to that. I would
declare what God has done for my soul. Well, we're somewhat
of a strange people in the world of religion, as
it were. We're somewhat strange because we say, I, will declare
what God has done for me. Others want to tell you, let
me tell you what I have done. It's about me. There, I hope
none of us are of that sort. But some want to say, I want
to tell you what I have done. And they are of two sorts. And
sometimes the two sorts are one person. Two sorts. Some want to tell what they have
done for God. And some want to tell what they
have done for themselves. The man who says, I've done something
for God, he's proud of what he's done. He thinks he has done things
that have profited God. We have no confidence in the
salvation of anyone who boasts of what he has done for God. Because our Lord Jesus himself
said, that at the final day, many will say to Him that day,
Lord, Lord, pardon me. They will say, Lord, Lord. You
repeat someone's name to get his attention. Lord, Lord, they
say before His throne. Have I not cast out demons in
Your name and preached in Your name and done many marvelous
works in Your name? Of course I have. You know what
I have done for you. And Jesus said, I'll say to them,
I never knew you. Well, of course you do. All the
things I did for you, yeah, you did not do it for me. You did
it for yourself. So we are not of those who boast
of what we have done for God. We boast of what God has done
for us. And then we do not boast of what
we have done for ourselves with regard to our salvation. Now,
we hear some who do that as well, but we do not. I'll give you
two reasons why we do not boast of what we have done for our
souls. First, everything I ever did for my soul was bad. Second,
nothing I ever did for my soul was good. Everything was bad. Nothing was good. Therefore,
I cannot boast of what I have done for my soul. I would say
to you that everything I did was bad for my soul because of
my native depravity, the state in which I was born. I believe
what the scriptures say about me, and it is not a pretty picture. I was conceived in sin and born
in iniquity, Psalm 51, verse 5. I departed my mother's womb,
estranged from God, and going forth speaking lies. Psalm 58
verse 3. I was abominable and filthy and
drinking iniquity like water, Job 15, 16. From the crown of
my head to the soles of my feet, I was sick and covered with putrefying
sores from which my depravity unceasingly oozed, Isaiah 1,
verses 5 and 6. And I was a sinner by birth,
by nature, by choice. Folks, that's every one of us
by nature. Every one of us. Who can bring
a clean thing out of an unclean? None can do it. Oh, I was completely
incapable of doing anything good because of my native depravity. And furthermore, I was unable
to do anything good for my soul because of my spiritual bondage
when the Lord saved me. According to 2 Timothy 2 verse
26, I was in the snare of the devil, having been taken captive
by him to do his will. That's where I was. Oh, Satan's
got a snare and I was in it. I was his captive. I was his
slave. He told me what to do and I said,
yes sir, and I did it. Furthermore, I sinned because
I was a slave of sin according to Jesus in John 8, 34. He who
sins is a slave of sin. Why do people sin? They're slaves
to it. They do what their master says.
I sinned because the devil was my father, and I desired to please
him. For did not Jesus tell those
in his day, You are of your father, the devil, and the deeds of your
father you want to do? Yeah, he was my father, and I
had great pleasure in making him happy, because doing things
that made him happy, yeah, my old nature enjoyed that as well. How could I do anything good?
The devil told me not to, and I said, yes sir, would not. Furthermore, I walked according to the course
of this world, according to Satan, the prince of the power of the
air. the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
I conducted myself in the lusts of my flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and was by nature a child of
wrath, just like the others." Ephesians 2. Folks, that's me. And if you're honest with yourself,
that's you. In your native state, in your
native state, How can anyone in such a state as that do anything
good? It is impossible. Everything
done by someone in that state is bad. I could do nothing good because
I was dead in trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2.1. And preachers said, and Jesus
said, come to me. come to me, preachers exhorted
me, flee to Christ, and Jesus tells me, you will not come. You will not come. My will would
not permit it. He says, you cannot come. Not only will you not come, you
cannot come unless my Father grants it to you. How can anyone
in such a state as that do anything good? Oh, how blessed is the
day when we finally realize what sinners we are and what a sinner
is. I can do nothing for my soul. Oh, but He can. God can. We boast of what He has done,
but we do not boast of anything that we have done. I am not of
those who say, I'll let God save me. I've heard some make that
boast, I'll let God save me. You will not hear that boast
from me. I'll give you three reasons. God is absolutely sovereign
over all things and He does not require my permission. I let God save me. You mean He
needed your permission? Furthermore, not only is He absolutely
sovereign, He is omnipotent and does not need my help, does not
need your help. In His sovereignty, He does not
need your permission. In his omnipotence, he does not
need your help. And no one could restrain him
from doing so. The mightiest monarch of his
day, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, proud as a peacock,
strutting on the walls of Babylon. Look at Babylon that I have made. Let me tell you what I have done."
That's Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. And the Lord said, let
me show you what I can do. And one minute Nebuchadnezzar
is strutting around the wall of Babylon and the next minute
he's out eating grass in the field for seven years. Seven
years. Until the light dawned on him.
Read his testimony, Daniel chapter 4 verse 35. God rules in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his
hand or say to him, what are you doing? You cannot even question
God. He won't listen to it. I tell
you, someone says, I let God save me. I think you need to
come face to face with the God of Nebuchadnezzar. I fully expect
to see that man in glory. That was quite a confession.
He does according to his will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. Some say I accepted Jesus. I do not say
so. One good reason is, he did not
need my acceptance, but I needed his. I needed his. You search
the scriptures in vain, you find no one who says, I accepted Jesus. It's not there. They received
him by a divine act. But I do not speak of, I accepted
Jesus. One good reason is, no man in
his mortal state would accept Jesus. We reject him by nature,
none would accept him. He is despised and rejected by
men, Isaiah 53 verse 3. Jesus is him whom man despises,
him whom the nation abhors, Isaiah 49 verse 7. Jesus confesses himself
to be a reproach of men and despised by the people, Psalm 22 verse
6. Even his own countrymen, who more than any other people were
acquainted with whom and what he is, rejected him. And therefore,
no one in his native state ever accepted Jesus. Never did. But I will tell you this. He accepted me. I would declare
what God has done for my soul. He accepted me. Because before
the foundation, the world, God chose me in Christ predestined
me to be like him, then highly favored me to be what? Accepted
in the beloved. Before the foundation, the world,
God chose a people and Jesus said, put them in me. I accept
them. They're mine. We are accepted
in the beloved. You will not hear me boast. I
decided for Jesus. Think about that for a moment.
I decided for Jesus. Salvation has become a mechanical
process. Becoming saved is like going
to Baskin Robbins and deciding which one of the 31 flavors you
want. Mechanical process. Not at all
like that. It's not a human decision. Rather, salvation is by divine
decree. I will declare what God has decreed
for my soul. It is not what I decided God
would do. It is what God decreed for me. I will declare what God has done
for me. You will not hear me boast. I gave my heart to Jesus in order
to be saved. It is true that every child of
God, every regenerate child of God, will obey the admonition
to give me your heart. But that heart I was born with, Jesus did not want it. I would
assure you Jesus did not want it. Why is that? My heart was like that of every
person, is native state, deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked." Jeremiah 17, verse 9. Do you think Jesus wants a heart
like that and says, you know, that looks like the kind of heart
I want. My heart was a polluted and defiling
fountain of evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts,
Covetous and wickedness and lewdness and an evil eye, according to
Jesus in Mark 7, 21. I gave my heart to Jesus in order
to be saved. No, he doesn't want that kind
of heart. It's not something he wants to
wear around his neck as a charm. No, not at all. And you will
not hear me boast, I let Jesus come into my heart. You just
heard the description of it. But I will tell you what God
did for my heart. He did a glorious thing for my
heart. He says, I will give you a new
heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of
stone, that old heart I was born with, I will take it out of you
and give you a heart of flesh, a heart that tender and beats. I'll take that old stony heart
out of you. In conversion, God does a transplant,
takes the old heart, that deceitful heart, that wicked heart, that
evil heart, takes it out, puts a new heart in. In conversion,
a heart, and he says, I will put my spirit within you. I will
cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments
and do them. Well, he did it. He did it. He took my old heart away from
me, put a new heart in me. He said, now you will do what
I say. And my heart said, yes, I will. And then Jesus occupied
that heart. The heart that God gave to me,
I would declare what God has done for me. Took the old heart
out, put a new heart in, and Jesus sits on the throne of that
heart. You will not hear me boast, I
made Christ my Lord. I made Jesus Lord. I did it, some
say. Not me. Not me. None of Jehovah's
Saints. We declare what God has done. I made Him my Lord, some say. And that's to verse 36. God has
made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. God made
Him Lord. Jesus is not very highly exalted
if I ever put him on a throne. Not that I would, and not that
I could, but what kind of a throne could I put Jesus on? God has
made him Lord and Christ, and God made Jesus Christ to be every
man's Lord. God also has highly exalted him,
given him the name which is above every name. that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow. Now watch this. God has given
to Jesus the name that is above every name. What is the name
above every name? Jehovah. God declares Jesus is
Jehovah. He declared Him to be both Lord
and Christ by the resurrection from the dead. He already was
Lord and Christ, but now God has declared it. And then He
says, that's My Son, Jesus, and He is Jehovah. I declared it, and every knee shall bow to Him.
And every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Jehovah
to the glory of God the Father. Why? God made him Lord. God did it. Every knee shall
bow. Well, by God's grace, my knee
already has bowed. I have bowed. He is Lord. He is Lord. He is risen from
the dead and He is Lord. And they who in this life, God
forbid, but they who in this life will not bow their knee
to Him and confess Him as Lord, they will do it at the final
judgment, but not to their salvation. Oh, I would hope that everyone
here today can say, I have already bowed my knee to Him whom God
made to be Lord. I confessed Him as my Lord. You will not hear me boast, I
made Jesus my personal Savior. But again, for the same reason,
I'm not capable of doing so, completely incapable of doing
so. But God did, for God has exalted
Jesus to his right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins, Acts 5.31. I confess that
God made Jesus to be my Savior. My Savior. God who made Him Lord
over all has made Him to be the Savior to me. My Savior by God's
decree. Now we could go on and on in
this. Bonar has written Not what my
hands have done can save my guilty soul. Not what my toiling flesh
has borne can make my spirit whole. Not what I feel or do
can give me peace with God. Not all my prayers and sighs
and tears can bear my awful load. You see the point that I'm making?
The psalmist rightly says, I would declare what God has done for
my soul, because I have done nothing for God,
nothing that would suit His law, would satisfy His demand. I've
done nothing for God. I'm incapable of doing so. I've
done nothing that benefited my soul. Every deed I have ever
done was sinful. Every word I ever uttered was
sinful. Every thought I ever imagined
was sinful. Sin from the crown of my head
to the sole of my feet, from my skin into the innermost part
of my heart. If God does not do something
for me, I'm doomed. I'm doomed, but he did. I will declare what God has done
for my soul. The prophet Jonah has given us
some, shall we call it, fish belly theology. God told him, go to Nineveh and
preach. Jonah looked around, he thought
God had turned his back, so Jonah went the other way. Ha ha ha,
he told me to go to Nineveh, I'm going to Tarsus. And God's watching him. Oh Jonah, going to do things
his way. Yeah, he's going to end up shipwrecked. God sent a storm Jonah admitted his fault. The men threw him overboard,
and God prepared a fish to swallow him. And there in the belly of the
fish, Jonah made one of the most glorious
declarations that could be made. Salvation is of Jehovah. Salvation is of Jehovah. Four little words. And that fish
said, I cannot stomach this and spit him out. And Jonah went
to Nineveh to preach. Now think about that. Salvation
is of Jehovah. From beginning to in and throughout. Salvation is of Jehovah. I will declare what God has done
for my soul. Salvation is of Jehovah. Salvation in no way is of me. Not a, not a whit. None at all. We include the salvation of our
souls when we confess that of Him, and through Him, and to
Him are all things, to whom be glory forever and ever. Consider,
of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. That includes
my salvation, all things, that includes my salvation. Creation
is of God, through God, and to His glory. Salvation is of God
because it's from Him, through God because it is performed by
Him, and to Him because He will be glorified in it. Of Him and
through Him. and to Him are all things. Each of us acknowledges that
salvation is to me in the sense that we are recipients
of God's grace. In no way is salvation of me
or through me. Rather, my salvation is of God
alone in its origin, through God alone in its performance,
and to God alone in its praise, and I will praise Him forever."
Now, this concludes, this is the introduction to this message,
and we'll conclude a little later. Looking at this subject, I would
declare what God has done for my soul, the spiritual history
or autobiography of Jehovah's Saints. It is not of me in any
way. It is of God. It is of God the
Father in its origin, God the Son in its purchase,
and God the Spirit in its application. And I would declare what God
the Father has done for my soul what God the Son has done for
my soul, and what God the Spirit has done for my soul, because
that's what we do. I will declare what God has done
for my soul. Oh God our Father, how glorious
you are and how insignificant we are. incapable of doing good and capable
only of doing evil, and yet it pleases you to save such sinners
as we are. Let us be mindful to give to
you all the praise and glory and to give none to ourselves.
To your glory in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.