Good morning. Open your Bibles
with me to Psalm 147 while you're turning. So let's
thank you for that special. Christ is sufficient. I couldn't
help but think Tom Hardy, I remember him preaching a message. And
he said, Christ is sufficient. And he said, if you don't know
what that means, It means he got the job done. Every time
I hear that, I can just hear Tom. I can just hear him saying
it. He got the job done. Well, Psalm 147, as Lindsay said, back in January,
we purposed to be here. And I planned on bringing a message
from Psalm 111. And then again in February, the
service got canceled, and that time for the snow and ice, and service was canceled again. But
it led me to a few scriptures, that storm. The Lord laid these
few scriptures on my heart, and I thought, I thought the snow
and the ice, it's now melted. It's gone. I didn't really see
a sign of it driving in here this morning. But I believe these
passages are still very much relevant. And it's my prayer
that Almighty God would enable me this morning, by the power
of his spirit, to declare the truth, to declare the gospel
from these few verses of scripture here in Psalm 147. Look beginning
with verse 16. He gives snow like wool. He scatters the hoarfrost like
ashes. He casteth forth his ice like
morsels. Who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out his word and melteth
them. He causeth his wind to blow and
his waters to flow. Now I'm not sure what things
looked like in Danville a month ago, but I can tell you back
home, everything, everything was covered in snow and ice,
and then I think it was covered in snow and ice again. And trees
fell on the road. Trees fell on power lines. The
electric was out. Schools and businesses closed. Things came to a halt in our
area. In fact, we canceled several
services. because we couldn't get to the
building for the trees that had fallen. We had a couple of fellas
that actually drove as far as they could and then walked out
to the building to make sure the water was turned off, that
nothing froze up. One night we met, one of the
men works in a school and he found a gymnasium that we could,
on a Wednesday night, go and worship at, to gather together. But you know, in a few days,
in just a few days, it was all normal. You know, all that snow,
all that ice had melted. And with the exception of a few
trees laying here and there, and you can recognize there's
no electric poles are straight instead of leaning over. There's
no sign that that even happened. I've got to say, I'm fascinated. I'm fascinated by the snow. I
just think that's a... I've read about it. I can read
about it in books, but... That's the Lord's. The Lord brings
that snow. And remember the Lord, he answered,
Almighty God, he answered Job out of the whirlwind. And he
asked him several questions. He said, where were you? Job,
where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Well,
doesn't that just send chills up your back? Almighty God said
that to Job. Where were you, Job? Well, we
know a lot, don't we? We know everything. Job, where
were you when I laid the foundations of the world, when it broke forth
and issued out of the womb? He said this to the sea. He said
this to the sea. Here's a shout, thou come, and
no further. You ever think about that when
you're, if you're ever at the ocean, those waves, the vastness
of that ocean, the power of that sea. You know, you watch those
ships raise up and down during a storm, and they disappear out
of sight when those waves roll up over it. Yet there on the
shore, even a little child can stand up there and play, and
that water comes to a point and no further. How is that? Well, God decreed that. That
ocean, it's like everything else in it. It's his. It's his. But in verse 22 of Job 38, he
asked Job, he said, have you entered in to the treasures of
the snow? The treasures of the snow. That which he hides in the clouds,
we don't even see it. It's up there in the clouds.
And we don't see it until he's pleased to send it. It's his. His sovereign hand in all things. Over in Romans 11, verse 3, it
says, the depths and the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge
of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past
finding out. It's hid there until he's pleased
to reveal it. Job, have you entered into the
treasures of the snow? And ultimately, that's what led
me to this passage here in Psalm 147. Well, consider the work
of our Lord in nature. Now, it's not written in scientific
terms. You know, all of us was in grade
school at one time, or junior high, and it was explained to
us how snow, how snows formed. Well, that was interesting at
the time, but that won't do us, that won't do us any good, will
it? I look this, I look this up. Snow forms when these ice
crystals and clouds, they stick together and they become snowflakes. And if enough of them stick together,
They become heavy enough to fall to the ground. That's what science
says. Isn't that interesting? Don't
you just love? Well, listen. What does God's
word say? Here's what I'm interested in.
It says, he gives snow. You know what I need to know
about snow? That's it right there. He gives it. It comes from his
hand. It says he scatters hoarfrost
like ashes. Every single granule of ice that
descends from the skies, it comes from God. It comes from his hand. He casts it forth like morsels. I looked that up. Just like David
cast out that stone out of that sling, There was one destination for
it, wasn't it? Right there between Goliath's
eyes. It's that certain. The path of
it, every crystal of it, the path is that certain. The path of it is ordered by
God. It's His. It's His eyes. That's what the Word declares.
It's His eyes. And if we read on in our text, We read of His
cold. I'm not a big fan of cold. I
like warm weather. But He sends His cold, and it's
His. And He sends it where He's pleased
to send it. The scriptures declare the earth
is the Lord and the fullness thereof, the world and all they
that dwell therein. Well, you know, we're pretty
happy when it's 70, 80 degrees out. But listen, even this cold
is his. Spurgeon said this. He said,
when we feel the cold nipping our limbs and penetrating our
garment, it somewhat consoles us and makes us willing to endure
its hardness. When we remember this, it's his
cold. And he said it. And though we
may not like the cold, maybe even troubled by it, it will
accomplish his purpose. That snow that falls, it waters
the ground. That cold that he sent it, it
kills some of those bugs that would irritate us in the summertime. He accomplishes his purpose through
it. We'll read on. It says he sends
out his word. He sends out his, the thaw's
coming. Warm weather's, warm weather's
coming. And when it comes, rest assured this, it's because he
sent it. Almighty God sends it. He sends
out his word and melts them. He causes his wind to blow. You know, within a week or two
of that storm, I drove home with my windows rolled down. It was
75 degrees out. His providence in all things. And you know, if he'd just give
us just a little glimpse of it, wouldn't that be a blessing to
our hearts? Just a little glimpse of it. Give us grace to praise
him in all things. whether it's sunshine or whether
it's an ice storm. Well, consider the ease in which
he does these things mentioned here in this passage. He gives
snow like wool, like reaching into a bag of wool and just grabbing
a handful of it, and here you go. Those little flakes, he sends
it like wool. He scatters hoarfrost like ashes. Grabbing a, we burnt some trees
yesterday. Ashes don't weigh, they don't
weigh anything at all, do they? Think about this, like grabbing
those ashes and just casting them in the air. He casts ice
like morsels. I just think, we've raised laying
hens since the boys were just little. And they'd love to go
out. One, they'd love to go out and collect eggs. But they'd
love to go out and feed them. Because they'd just reach in
that bag of feed. I mean, just barely big enough
to get a handful of it. And they can cast that feed out. That's how our Lord, that ice
that, you think about how that ice, the biggest tree on our
land is laying on the ground because that ice fell on it.
Something that light, something that tiny, and he put it on that
tree, and it just falls over. These telephone poles, they look
like toothpicks broke into his ice. It's his ice. The salt trucks, we had salt
trucks driving by our house hour after hour trying to clear that
ice away. All that work, all that labor, isn't that what we do by nature?
Our sin, isn't that what we try to do? All that work, all that
labor to try to get rid of it. And we may be able to make it
look a little better, But there's still slick spots out there,
aren't there? We can't get rid of it all. Really, we can't even
make a dent in it. But in his time, he sends his
wind, and he just melts it all. He takes care of it. He puts
it away. Salvation is not in our labor. Salvation is not in man's doing
or dying. is of the Lord. Look at Mark
chapter 10. Look at verse 23. Mark 10, verse 23. Jesus looked
round about and he said to his disciples, how hardly shall they
that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. And the disciples
were astonished at his words, but Jesus answered again and
he said to them, children, how hard is it for them that trust
in riches to enter into the kingdom of God? It's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished. They
were astonished, out of measure, saying among themselves, who
then? If a rich man, if a man that has all the means to do
these things, if he can't be safe, who then can be safe? And
look at verse 27. Jesus looked upon them and he
said, with men. With men. With man's doing, with
man's dying, with man's works, with man's so-called keeping
the law with man's work, it's impossible. But not with God. For with God, all
things, all things are possible. He sends forth his word. here
in our text, back in the psalm there. The Lord sends forth his
word, and he, he melts it. This is true of our sin and all
of our work. Again, we might look better on
the outside, and our neighbors might think a little more of
us. I wonder about that sometimes. But listen, only Christ can save,
only when he sends forth his word, only when he sends forth
in his power and he melts it. The heathen raged, the kingdoms
were moved. He uttered his voice and the
earth melted. His word goes forth in power. Consider all the noise that man
makes. I think, again, I think about
that salt truck going by and those lights flashing and the
bump as it hits those little reflectors in the road and a
little patch of ice. A lot of noise. A lot of noise
and a lot of lights. Works religion. Again, it's works
religion. A lot of noise. Something to
catch the eye. Something to catch the ear maybe.
But listen, it cannot. That salt truck can't put away
that snow. Go look out on the hills afterwards
and see. That snow doesn't melt. That snow's not going until the
Lord sends His word, until He sends His wind, and then He puts
it away. We can make all the noise we
want. We can make all the racket. We can do all these things that
men say we should do. But it will not put away sin. That sin's going to be there
until he's pleased to put it away. The Lord sends forth his. Think about this. Think about
the works of our Lord. Right now, this world spins at
1,000 mile an hour and listen. Not a sound. Not a sound. It's effortless. He does that. He does all these. He does all
these things. At his will and command, the
frost and the snow disappear. And then we've seen it here this
morning. Walking in, those flowers start budding up out of the ground.
They spring forth. The birds, we hear the frogs
at night, and then we hear the birds start chirping. Well, I
didn't bring you here to talk to you about nature this morning.
Listen here. Consider the spiritual application
in this text. Again, we read back there earlier
that the heavens declare what? The glory of God. And the firmament
showeth his handiwork. Look at verse 19 and 20 back
here in Psalm again. He showeth his word unto Jacob,
his statutes and his judgments unto Israel, He hath not dealt
so with any nation, and as for his judgments, they have not
known them. Praise ye the Lord. He showeth his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. This speaks of his
people. Supplanter. Thief. The man, if he walked by, you'd
immediately reach for your billfold, right? That's who God's pleased
to save. He sends forth his word. He showeth
his word unto Jacob of all folks. Boy, doesn't that give us hope?
Doesn't that encourage our hearts? Jacob have I loved. Esau, have
I hated? The question is not, how could
God hate Esau? The question is, how could God
love Jacob? Only by His grace. Only by His grace. Consider His
word. He sent forth His word. That's what we just read there.
The living word. That word which heals, that word
which gives peace to the heart, that word which goes forth in
power, his word which abides in his people, the living word,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He sent forth his word. He sent
forth his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That word which was made
flesh. and dwelt among us. And we beheld
him as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth." Consider the revelation of his
word. It says he showeth his word. He reveals his word to his people,
to his elect. He sent forth his word to Israel,
to Jacob, Paul writing to the Thessalonians, he said, you who
are troubled, you who are troubled. That gets
my attention. Does that speak to you? You who
are troubled. Those who are troubled. We can
identify with that, can't we? That's who Paul's talking to.
He says, you who are troubled, rest. Just rest. Rest with us. when the Lord Jesus
Christ shall be revealed." My friends, unless the Lord's pleased
to reveal Christ to us, all the work in this world will never,
will never give us rest. There's always something more
to be done. But when He sends forth His Son, when He sends
forth His Word and the power of His Spirit, He says, rest. Just rest. Rest with us. When the Lord Jesus Christ shall
be revealed. Think about Simeon when he was
there in the temple. He was waiting. Waiting. He was waiting for the consolation
of Israel. He was waiting on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when Christ was revealed to him, he took him up in his arms and
he said this, he said, let thy servant depart in peace, for
mine eyes have seen thy salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ was revealed
to him. He saw Christ. The thief on the
cross. You know, he saw a man named
Jesus, just like that other thief. And he railed on him. They both railed on him, along
with everybody else that was there that day. But you know,
something happened. Something was revealed to that
thief. Not to both of them, but to one of them. That one thief, he said to the
other, he said, don't you fear God, seeing that we're in the
same condemnation? And we justly, we deserve, we
deserve to die. We're guilty. That other thief
didn't see that, but he did. Something was revealed to him
about who he was and what he was, a sinner condemned to die. And again, he said justly, we've
got this coming to us. Something was also revealed to
him about the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, this man, he's nothing
to miss. He's perfect. He's the spotless
lamb of God. We're guilty. But he's not. You know, there's thinking about
this, do we truly need I know we need a savior, but do we know
we need a savior until we see something of our own guilt and
shame and need for him? You know, I don't make a habit
of going to the doctor unless I'm sick, unless I'm in need. Something was revealed to that
man. I'm going to die. I should die. I deserve to die. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the
spotless lamb of God, he had done nothing amiss. That thief's cry was this, Lord, remember me. When you come into your kingdom,
remember me. The revelation of Jesus Christ. And what did he tell that thief?
He said, today. this very day, you'll be with
me in paradise. Over in 1 Peter 1 verse 13, I
won't have you turn there, but we read, wherefore gird up the
loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace
that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the revelation of him. Turn over to 1 Corinthians
chapter one. 1 Corinthians 1, look at verse
21. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believed. That's why
we preach Christ. That's that he might be pleased
to reveal himself through the preaching of his word. That he
might be pleased to reveal Christ in us and Christ to us through
the preaching of his word. Well, back to our text, Psalm
147. We read of his praise. He hath not dealt so, verse 20,
he hath not dealt so with any nation. And as for his judgments,
they've not known them. Praise ye the Lord. Praise him for his electing grace. Jacob have I loved. He could have passed us by. He
could have passed Jacob by. He could have passed any of us
by and been just and right and doing it. He was pleased to save
a few. Praise Him for revealing His
Word, His truth to us. Praise Him for delivering us.
He's brought us from death to life. He delivered us from the
wrath to come. In the dead of winter, winter's kind of an ugly time,
you know, there's no leaves on the tree, there's no flowers,
in the dead of winter, We just read that in Psalm 1, which he
causes, even then, he causes his wind to blow. Turn to John
chapter 3, verse 8. John chapter three, in verse
eight. The wind. See that in verse eight? The
wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but thou canst tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.
So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. His wind, he calls
us his wind. His wind, his spirit, it's invisible. Can't see it. Now you see the
effects of it, but we can't see the wind blowing. But you can
see the effects of it, you can feel the effects of it. His wind,
his spirit is sovereign. The wind is beyond man's control. The wind doesn't consult with
us or ask us where it should blow. It blows where it listeth. It blows where it pleaseth. Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he. He does what he pleases in earth,
in heaven, and in all deep places. The wind, the spirit of God,
it's irresistible. You know, when the wind blows
in its power, It can knock over everything in its path. It conquers
everything in its path. And when the Lord, when Almighty
God, when He's pleased to send forth His Spirit, Even the most
rebellious. Boy, he can put us on the dirt,
can't he? He can knock, put us down, and
then he raises us up. The Lord does these. He does
these things. He can break our pride. He can
conquer our will. He can cause us to fall at his
feet. Well, turn with me to one more
passage of scripture over in Ezekiel 37. He is wind. Ezekiel 37, look beginning with
verse 1. hand of the Lord was upon me
and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in
the midst of the valley which was full of bums and caused me
to pass by them round about and behold there were very many in
the open valley and lo they were very dry. I remember Henry preaching
a message one time he said if a dog walked by he wouldn't even
pick up one of those bums just so it's so dry, it's dead. A valley of dry bones, no life.
Look at verse three. And he said unto me, son of man,
can these bones live? What a question. What a question. Can these old, dry, dead bones
live? Job asked, he said, if a man
die, can he live again? Can these bones, can they live?
What's the answer? Look at the rest of verse three
there. Oh, Lord God, thou knowest. There's one who knows. He knows.
He's the one who gives life. And the Spirit of the Lord said,
preach to them. Listen, not give them something
to do. Imagine if he would have said, just tell those bones to
take a step. That's foolishness, isn't it? No, he said this. He said, preach
to them. Declare the truth to them. Declare.
And the Lord God said, I'll cause breath to enter into them. I'll give life. Where there was
nothing but death, now there's going to be life. Look at verse
6, he said, I'll lay sinews upon you, and I'll bring up flesh
upon you, and I'll cover you with skin. I'll put breath in
you. Two things here. The results
of what, listen, he does. Be very clear about that. This
work is the work of salvation. It's his work. And he said, you
shall live. and you shall know that I am
the Lord. Verse seven, I prophesied as
I was commanded, preach to those dry bones. It pleased God by
the foolish, isn't that what his word says? It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them to believe. One of the last commands he gave
that prophet, he said, say to the wind, Whose wind is it? It's his wind, isn't it? Say
to the wind, come from the four winds, and breathe, oh, breathe
and breathe upon these slain that they might live. That word
breathe, it means blow. Isn't that what we just read
here in Psalm 147? He causes his wind to blow. Breathe
and blow upon these slain that they may live. And he said, I
prophesied as I was commanded, and breath came unto them. And what was the result? Life. They lived. They lived. He caused his wind to blow. And the result was life. God
gave life. He gives life through his Son,
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our life. Turn back there
to Psalm, one more time with me. Psalm 147. Verse 16 again. He giveth snow like wool. He scattereth the hoar frost
like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like
morsels. Who can stand before his cold?
He sendeth out his word and melteth them. he causeth his wind to
blow, and the waters to flow. Well, may he be pleased to continue
to send forth his snow, and ice, and cold, But may he also be pleased to
continue to send forth his wind to blow. I was thinking about
what your pastor used to talk about that fork. He said, hang
on to your fork, right? Something better, something better's
coming. Well, in the cold and dead of
winter, which we experience not just in what we call winter,
year round, we would be encouraged by this, spring's coming. Spring's coming. He's going to
send forth, and when that spring comes forth, there's life. We see life. He causes his wind
to blow. And when he sends forth his word
and the power of his spirit, There's life. He that hath the
Son hath life. I pray He bless His word to our
hearts here this morning.