If you will, I'd like for you
to turn back with me now to Psalm 68. I want to talk to you just a little
while this morning about the God of salvation. This is who David praises. This
is who and why we come here to worship. He is the God of our
salvation. And there's two verses here in
Psalm 68 I want us to look at this morning. Verses 19 and 20. He tells us in Psalm 68, 19,
Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits. Think about the benefits. Even
the God of our salvation. And then he says, Sela. Do you know what that word means?
It's a musical term. It means to pause and consider. Pause and consider what you just
read. Think what a wonder. Think what
a privilege, what a miracle of grace it is that the living God
should think on us. David said, he was but a worm.
But he said, the Lord thinketh on me. The Lord thinketh on me. Oh, that God should think on
us and take up our cause and daily load us with gifts of His
grace. Think about this, that He's given
us an interest in His Word. What a benefit! What a benefit! You know these things, These
things here in all kinds of shapes and forms, they decorate coffee
tables, they sit on bookshelves, they sit in people's trucks and
cars. We came home from the hospital
the other day and there was a fellow sitting on the hood of his car
and he was just sitting like this holding the Word of God
up. You think what a privilege it
is to have the Word of God. What a privilege it is. What
a gift of God's grace it is to have, not only to have His Word,
but to have an interest in it. What if we had no Bible? What
if the Bible didn't exist? What if you had no Word? Then where would we be? Left
to our imaginations, left to our superstitions, left to our
vain traditions. left to build shrines to visions
and hope in experiences and follow whatever images man's wicked
minds can conjure up. God has given to us His Word. His Word. He's made this Word
and translated this Word and preserved this world and put
it into every language under the sun. His Word. We're not left to ourselves to
think what we will, but we have before us a divinely inspired
book to show us the way. To show us the way. You don't have to rest in what
I say. You can look at the words that
I read to you from the book. Whenever I tell you something,
whenever I make a statement or a definition, I either quote
the Word of God or I have you to turn to it and look at it.
Why? Because this is the testimony
of God. Oh, what a privilege that we
have the word of God and that we have an interest in it. And
then secondly, God conquered those rebellious minds and hearts
and made us willing in the day of his power. What a benefit.
Huh? There was a time when I could
have carried less what you read in this book. I didn't want to
read it. I didn't want to be convicted
by it. I didn't want to be troubled
by it. I didn't want to have to explain why I did what I did. I didn't want to be bound by
it. I didn't want to go hear somebody preach about it. And
when any part of it, a rebel, rebellious mind, the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, he don't
want them. He don't want them. Why? Because
they trouble him. They convict him. They turn his
heart inside out. It hurts their minds and hearts. The Word of God. But God's conquered these rebellious
minds and hearts and made us willing in the day of His power. Willing to submit ourselves to
His Word. Willing to bow to His authority. Willing to be taught and instructed. Willing to be corrected. Willing
to follow and be led. He's given us His Word. And He's
made us willing. God has to make you willing.
I can't teach you anything until God makes you willing. When God
makes a man willing, he's easy to teach then. He's hungry to
hear then. And that door's open. He's here. He's here. Oh, God made us willing. And
then thirdly, He sends us pastors and teachers He calls them shepherds
in the Word of God who watch for your souls, men who care
for you, pray for you, intercede for you, warn you, and tell you
the truth about God. How shall you hear, that is,
hear His name, His saving name, find a saving interest in God?
How shall you hear without a preacher? And how shall he preach except
he be sent? And that's not even to mention
God's providence. What I'm talking about here is
verse 19. He's talking about the God of
our salvation daily loadeth us. We're loaded. Loaded with benefits. What of God's providence? What
of His daily interventions? What of His daily preservation
and daily watch-care over you? Even while the people murmured.
Do you remember I read that to you here in Psalm 68? David went
immediately back to the wilderness and talked about the rebellious
also, didn't he? Huh? The rebellious also. Even while the people murmured
and complained, God watched over His flock. He cared for them. He watched over them. He provided
for them. The Lord Himself daily loatheth us with benefits. And
then look here at verse 20, Psalm 68, 20. He that is our God is the God
of our salvation. Unto God the Lord belong the
issues from death. Now my friend, God is God, and
there are issues between men and God. Those issues must be
settled. We go about, I listen to these
religious men talk, and I listen to what I hear, and I read things
that they publish and set out at the hospitals, and I read
these things, and they talk and act and preach like there's no
issues between men and God. There's issues. There's issues. And the chief of these issues
is sin. Man's dead, the scripture said,
in trespasses and sin. Let me give you a few Scriptures
that I don't often quote to you. Here's one from the book of Job
chapter 15 and verse 14. In verse 14, God the Holy Spirit
asked this question. He said, What is man that he
should be clean? What is he that he should be
clean, and he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous?
Behold, God putteth no trust in his saints, In His saints,
He putteth no trust in them. God putteth no trust in His saints. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in His sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man that drinks iniquity like water. Here's a glass of water a while
ago. I took it and I drank it. I drank it without remorse. I
drank it without thought. I drank it without fear of contamination. I drank it without fear of reprisal. And I tell you, we drink iniquity
like water. That's how we do it. And we drink
that iniquity to satisfy our wicked thirst. Our death is a
spiritual death. It's a death of the whole being
by one man's sin entered into the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men for that all have sinned. And there's issues between God
and men and these issues are issues from death, from the fact
that man is dead. These are the issues that was
given to God the Lord. Now you know without me telling
you, Any time he says God, the Lord, he's talking about the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what are these issues from
death? Well, judgment. Judgment. That's the issue from
death. It's appointed unto men once
to die, and after this, the judgment. In Romans 5, verse 18, he said,
As by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Just like the nature of wheat
is transferred through its seeds, so the nature of sin and condemnation
falls upon the whole of mankind. How do we get it? How do we get
to be sinners? In Adam. In Adam. They are described in Romans
5, verse 19 as through one man's disobedience being made sinners. Made sinners. What does that
mean? That means they were formed that way. That's what that means.
David said in the Psalms, I think it's Psalm 51, verse 5, Behold,
I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. Now, what will God do for men? Man can't do for himself. Will
God leave these issues with him to deal with in his depravity?
Will God leave him to himself to make his own decisions, to
turn over new leaves, to reform himself? What will God do? Will
God leave man to himself? What will God do of these issues?
There are issues here. God is a holy God and man is
dead in trespasses and sins. There are issues from that death.
What will God do with these issues? Isn't that what the controversy
is about? Somebody said, well, man has a free will. Man has
to make decisions. Man has to do this. Man has to
do that. Has God left these issues with
man? What are these issues? Well, they are issues of judgment.
Will God wait for man to save himself? Will He dangle before
him possibilities? Will He leave him to his sins?
He'd be just if He did. He'd be just if He did. But no,
for the glory of His name, He'll take up the issues from death. Now, look at this. It doesn't
say issues of death, although that's inclusive in it, but He
said issues from death. From death. And to every thought of free
will. Every thought of decisionism and self-righteousness may please
the Lord this morning to block them out of your mind and press
these words deep into your hearts. Unto God the Lord belong, they
belong to Him. God gave them to Him. There He
is. Belong the issues from death. I'm going to give you five things
that I know from the Word of God concerning these issues and
He to whom they belong. Know this first, that these issues
from death are in the hands of your sovereign. Isn't that what
the Lord tells us in Romans chapter 9? He said, I will have mercy. Moses said, show me your glory.
All right, Moses. He said, I'm going to hide you
in the cleft of the rock. And I'm going to pass by before
you, and I'm going to declare my name. I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and upon whom I will I'll harden. I, too,
I am. I'm God. These issues from death
are in the hands of a sovereign. It's not poor little Jesus who
came and was defeated and rose only to be disappointed because
nobody will accept Him or follow Him or do what He bids them to
do. The Christ of God is the King
of glory and He sits on a sovereign throne which His Father gave
to Him. He sits at the right hand of
God expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. And thousands
of blind men stand in their pulpits today, and they say to those
dead assemblies over which they're shepherds, God has done all He
can do. Now it's all up to you. You know they're saying it, and
so do I. And I'm telling you this, if that statement's true,
you're as sure for hell as if you was already there. If God's
done all He can do, and you're yet in your sins, you're as sure
for hell as if you're already there. If this thing is all up
to man and God's done all he can do, then we have nothing
to look forward to except a certain fearful looking forward of judgment
and fiery indignation. Thank God he did not leave the
issues of death in the hands of fallen, depraved man. But
he says in Romans chapter 9, so then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
These things, John, are in the hands of a sovereign who's unquestioned,
whose power is irresistible. Well, preacher, how do you explain
the hundreds that you've preached to over the years who walk away,
never to be seen again? How do you explain those who
hear you and laugh you to scorn? How do you deny the free will
of man in light of those who choose not to believe what you
preach? The same way our Savior explained it. He said, My sheep
hear My voice. Isn't that what He said? Sure
it is. He said, You believe not because
you are not of My sheep. As I said unto you, My sheep
hear My voice. They hear it. They bow to it. They love it. They rejoice in
it and they follow it. They obey it. They bow before
it. I tell you this, the issues of
death are in the hands of a sovereign. He is the resurrection. He said,
I am the resurrection. There'd be no resurrection without
me. You're not coming out of that spiritual death without
me. You think you can stand and convince a man by worldly counsel
and worldly reason? You think you can stand there
even with the Word of God and convince a guilty sinner that
God is willing to save his worthless soul? That God has a man seated
at his own right hand in whose hands he's put all power? You
think you can make a natural man believe that? You try it.
You just put it on. See if it works. Christ said,
I am the resurrection. I am the life. To Him belong
the issues from death. There was thousands probably
gathered around the tomb of Lazarus there and they're weeping and
wondering where this man was. And Christ came up, the only
one there, Russell, who had the power, the ability to call that
man out of that tomb. Why? Because in his hands are
the issues from death. That's why. They belong to him
as the sovereign mediator of God. Hannah prayed, the Lord
killeth and the Lord maketh alive. He bringeth down and lifteth
up. Paul said, whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the
Lord's. In his hands belong the issues from death. And then secondly,
to him belong the issues of death because it pleased God to give
them to him. God gave them to him. That's how he got them.
He's the head of the body, Paul said, the church who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have
the preeminence. That's Colossians 1.18. It pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. God chose
us in Him, predestinated us unto everlasting sonship in Him, set
Him up from everlasting, trusted all things into His hand. I tell you, it wasn't the unfair,
callous decision of an indifferent God, but the all-wise purpose
and will of a loving Father to save His elect from eternal death. You read in the book of Ephesians,
as we studied it and went through it verse by verse, the very first
thing I pointed out to you is that God is referred to there
as the Saint's Father. He is the Father of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and through Him, He's adopted all who believe. It's the love of God that sent
His Son to die for chosen sinners. He predestinated us in love. Some folks say that verse ended
in the wrong spot there. It should read, in love having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself. And I tell you this, He did it,
it says, according to the good pleasure of His will. It pleased
God to do it. It is the Father's good pleasure
which gave these issues of death to Christ on our behalf. And
then thirdly, he alone has these issues from death because he
alone can address the issues. What are we going to do about
it? We won't even acknowledge that
we have a problem. But if we did acknowledge it,
what are we going to do about it? Isn't that the first thing
you discovered when God convicted you of sin and convinced you
of sin? You said, what am I going to
do about it? Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard
his spots? Then may ye also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. Can you reform yourself? Can
you, by determination and decision, convert yourself into godliness? You can't do it. You can't do
it. Can you produce a new nature,
bring about a new creation, be born again of your own will?
John 1.13 says, those who received Christ and became His beloved
sons and believed on His name were born, not of blood, nor
the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. In James 1.18, he said, the great
Father of life, from whom come all every good and perfect gift.
He said, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." Oh, but you say, preacher, if
all these issues of death belong to God the Lord, then why preach?
Why do you preach? If these things are all in His
hands, and God raised Him from the dead, and given all power
into Him, and seated Him at His own right hand, and none can
resist Him, none can do anything contrary to His will, then why
preach? Because that Sovereign who sits
at the right hand of God was pleased to do this through preaching.
That's why. And that's the only reason. I
didn't sit at home and say, now, reckon how we can do this. I
got an idea. I think I'll go pray. No, that's
not how it worked. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. It pleased the Lord
who holds these issues to save dead sinners and call them to
life through the preaching of the gospel. Well, my daddy said,
oh, does he hold the issues of life? then you better not listen
to them. You better not listen to them. My sister told me, does she have
the issues of life? Who has the issues of life? That's
who you want to listen to. Well, my church said, my Bible
said, my this said, do they have the issues of life? Who has them? Huh? God the Lord. God the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, let
me tell you something. God the Lord, to Him belong the
issues from death. And the Scripture said we're
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. Whereunto He called you by our
Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. all of the issues from death,
the providence that affords the opportunity, the hearing of the
gospel, the new birth, faith and repentance, appetite, hunger
and thirst, revelation and understanding, perseverance and preservation.
He is the God of our salvation. And unto Him belong all the issues
from death. God the Lord belongs to all the
issues from death because He alone can address the issues. And to Him alone belong the issues
from death because He alone has the ability to please God and
justify those who come to Him. Nobody else can justify you.
Oh, how many times have I been to the front of that old Nazarene
church and that preacher and those elders that gather around
me and pat me on the head and tell me I was okay. Now you can't
be okay unless you're justified. You ain't okay unless God justifies. It's God that justifies. It ain't
to the front you need to come. It's to the throne of glory.
That's where you have to go. That's the only one who can justify
you. And to him alone belong these issues from death because
he alone has the ability and power and grace to please God
and justify believers. God has set one apart from all
others to be the propitiation for our sins. One appointed as
our representative and as our substitute, one to stand in our
stead and deal with God concerning these issues from death. Now
wait a minute, preachers. Are you one of them guys that's
saying you've got to be a master theologian to be saved? Is that
what you're trying to tell us? Are you one of them preachers
that believe you've got to be converted to Calvinism to be
a believer? No, sir, I'm not. I'm not. But I'm telling you this. The
scripture warns us that there is another gospel being preached,
another Jesus, by another spirit. The Scripture warns us that there
is a Christ and an Antichrist. The Scriptures tell us plainly
that if any man, though he were an angel from heaven, come preaching
any other gospel than the one Paul preached, to count him as
accursed of God. And John said, if they come to
you and bring up the doctrine of Christ, let him be accursed. Don't even bid him good day.
Don't tell him, well, the Lord bless you. Don't tell him nothing.
Don't let him in your house. Don't cross the street. If you're
walking on the same side, go to the other side. Leave him
alone. That's what the Lord said. There's only one Christ. He's
the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God, whom God has
set forth. God set Him forth. How did He
set Him forth? He set Him forth to be the propitiation
for our sins through faith in His blood. Why did He do that? To declare His righteousness. His righteousness that He might
be just and justifier. And this man-be-pan-be-Jesus
that this world is in love with ain't the Christ of God. He's
not the Christ of God. You can hold sympathy out for
him if you want to, but David blessed the God of salvation.
Isaiah warned those in his day. He said, you pray to a God who
cannot save. He can't have his will in the
salvation of his elect. That's an idol. And David blessed
God because God gave to him the issues of death. Let me ask you
something. You and I are going to be dying
pretty soon, some of us sooner than others.
And we're plainly told that it's appointed unto man once to die,
and after this, the judgment. How will you face God in judgment? How will you face Him? It's not
going to matter then about your parents. It's not going to matter
then about your denomination. It's not going to matter then
about your childhood. We're just talking about you
and God. And you're standing before God,
not who men say He is, but who He is in reality, standing before
the Prince of Life. How will you stand? How will you stand before Him? How will you face God in judgment?
What will you plead? What will you offer? Will you
just throw yourself down before Him and hope for the best? Well,
I'm telling you this, the Scripture said, He will by no means clear
the guilty. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. Throwing yourself down before
Him and just hoping for the best ain't going to get it done. God,
that's not going to change God one bit. One bit. Will you plead your good intentions
but lack of ability? Well, God is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of your heart. Neither is there any creature
that's not manifest in His sight. But all things are naked and
open under the eyes of Him with whom you have to do." My friend,
there's only one way you can face this God with any kind of
hope in judgment, and that's in Christ. In Christ. That's it. That's it. It's in the Christ of God who
accomplished our salvation through His life and death as our substitute. And the man who don't know this
don't know God, and he's yet in his sins. I don't care how
many aisles he's walked. I don't care how many wafers
he's swallowed or creeks he's been baptized in. 1 John 5.11
said, This is the record that God hath given to us the eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath
life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. He got religion. That's what
he's got. He got a false hope. He got a
sister, a broken sister that holds no water. He said, the Son of God hath
come. Now listen, and given to us an
understanding. An understanding of what? Of
these issues between God and man. How God can be just and
still justify a sinful man? How God can save sinners? The
Son of God hath come and given us an understanding that we might
know Him that's true. You're going to go and meet the
true and living God one of these days. You're not going to meet
the God of this world. You're not going to meet the
idols of this world. You're going to meet the true
and living God. And there ain't but one way you can know Him,
and that's in Christ. It's in Christ. Even in His Son, Jesus
Christ, and this is the true God and eternal life. Let me end this message with
a solemn warning. He who willingly gave His face
to the spitters and gave His back to the whip, He who willingly
bore our sins before God, he bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. He who gave himself to God to
justify and save his elect will not spare anyone in the day of
God's wrath. He will be as consistent in his
judgment of unbelievers as he is in the justification of those
for whom he died. Now that's what Paul, when Paul
preached over there in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, isn't that what he
said? Huh? We all must stand before the
throne of Christ. Ain't that what he said? He'll
be as true to the character of God in judgment as he is with
the salvation of sinners. That's why these issues from
death were given to him. That's why judgment was given
to him. Nobody's going to be saved apart
from His righteousness and His atonement, His intercession and
glory. And He'll be as strict in His
judgment of sinners. In Acts chapter 17, when Paul
preached to those theologians and those wise men there on Mars
Hill, those philosophers, he said, God hath appointed a day
in which He'll judge this world in righteousness by that man. Ain't that what he said? And
in that same man, he said, whereof he is given assurance unto all
men, in that he raised him from the dead. There's only one hope. Only one hope. God set His King
upon His holy hill in Zion, and He hath committed unto Him all
the issues of death, even the judgment of this unbelieving
world. Just one hope, he said. Kiss the Son. Ain't that what
David said? What a great thing. Why do we
find that so hard to do? Him who angels fall down and
worship, why do we find that so hard to do? Kiss the Son.
Kiss the Son lest He be angry and you perish from the way when
His wrath is kindled but a little. Oh, He said, blessed are all
they that put their trust in Him. Those who put their trust
in Him, there is therefore now no condemnation in them. No condemnation. None whatsoever. No fear in death. The sting of
death is gone. The dread of death is taken away. We know Him. We know Him. And I tell you, wherever He is,
whatever it is, It's so much better than this world it's not
even worth talking about. There's not even a comparison
of it. He takes the most precious thing
that man can imagine on this earth and describes those things
in picture as the very streets that you walk on. Gates of pearl,
streets of gold. The things that men just are
astounded by and give their lives for. They're just common things
and glory. Why? Because of His glory. That's
why. Our Father, we pray this morning
that You take these words, simple though they be, take these words,
use them for Thy name's honor and glory. We ask it for Christ's
sake.