If you would turn with me to
Psalm 126. Psalm 126. This morning, I have
12 inspired words coming from one verse that I hope will convict
those of you that are yet without Christ and comfort those of you
that trust Him and Him alone. And oh, what volumes are spoken
in these 12 words of verse 3. The Lord hath done great things
for us, whereof we are glad. This wonderful psalm was penned
with reference to some great surprising deliverance of the
people of God out of bondage and distress. It speaks of deliverance
from captivity. Some of you here this morning
are still in captivity. Sin has made you captive and
you cannot escape unless God delivers you. You must be delivered
and there's only one who can deliver you out of this slavish
captivity in which you dwell. And that is Christ alone. He
is our message. He is our hope. He is our comfort. The amazing thing about your
captivity is unless God shows you your state and condition,
you'll never realize that you're even being held captive. I never
did. I never knew that I was captive
by my sin until God showed me. And the reason why is that I
had to be quickened Made alive as we read in Ephesians 2. And
you hath He quickened. That means made alive. They were
what? Dead. Dead. Now look at verse 1 of
this psalm. When the Lord turned again the
captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream." Now, I don't
know about you, but I dream often. I've dreamed that it was so real
that I woke up sweating. There were other times that I
dreamed and woke myself up. But I've always dreamed. But one thing about dreaming
is that while you're dreaming, you really don't know if you're
asleep or awake. It seems so real at times. You
really don't know if what you're experiencing is real or if it's
fantasy. But you can be assured of this,
dear friends, when the Lord God Almighty shows you your captivity,
you'll know that it's real and you'll desire to be delivered.
That's how sovereign grace works. Well, how does sovereign grace
work, Brother David? Well, it shows you that your
standing before God is desperate. It shows you that your condition
is needy. And by God's grace, our captivity
will cause us to seek deliverance. That's just how it works. We
cannot come to Christ except And I know we use these Scriptures
over and over. What wonderful truths to describe
our state and condition and desperate need before God. You cannot come
unto God except the Father which sent Christ to draw you. So we
establish right off this side by works of righteousness that
we've done, not by anything that we can do in order to come to
Christ. In another passage it says in
John, we will not come. That means we don't have the
desire to come. But, and unless, God make us
willing. That's the difference. Therefore,
all mankind, both men and women, born of woman, is in captivity
until the Lord does some great thing for us. And the more we
see of our sin, the more we realize just how great a thing that was
and that is. In Isaiah 45, 12, you don't have
to turn there. Our Lord said, I've made the
earth and created man upon it. I, even my hands, have stretched
out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded. That's
God. That's THE God. That's the real
God. That's the God of the Bible.
And he says in the very next verse, I've raised Him up in
righteousness. Now in the text, it refers to
King Cyrus, but it chiefly speaks of Christ. And when you read it with that
in mind, you say, I've raised Him up in righteousness. Who?
Christ. God's Son. The Lord God raised
Him up in righteousness. And He says, I'll direct all
His ways, and He shall build My city, and He shall let go
My captives. Not for price or reward, saith
the Lord of hosts. Now friends, we're not delivered
by price. We're not delivered for reward
or by reward, but by sovereign grace alone. Our Lord also said
in Isaiah 48, for my own sake, even for my own sake will I do
it. Will I do what? Set the captive
free. There's not anything in the captive. It's for my own sake, for my
own glory, for my own honor. I'll not give my glory to another. He says, will I do this? For
how should my name be polluted? And I'll not give my glory to
another. And when man takes the credit for salvation, dear friends,
God's name is polluted. It is. It's giving the glory
to man and not to God. So again, look at verse 3 in
Psalm 126. This amazing verse creates its
own outline. It just beautifully displays
itself in five wonderful points for us to consider. They're right
before our eyes here in verse 3. I'm going to break it down
in five things. Look at it with me. It's right
straight from the letter. The Lord is point one. The Lord. Point two, hath done. Point three, great things. Point
four, for us. And point five, we are glad. Isn't that beautiful? So let's
consider point one, the Lord. Now everything starts and finishes
with the Lord. That's right. The Lord is the
first cause of everything. The Lord is the last cause of
everything. He said, I'm Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end, the first and the last. The scriptures
declare the first words written in this marvelous book, in the
beginning God created. Hebrews 1.10 says, And thou,
Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of thine hands. People say all
the time, and you've heard me say it, well, I believe in the
Big Bang Theory. I say, who lit the fuse? God
did. God created the heavens and the
earth. He spoke them into existence. No big thing for God. Let there
be light. And what does the Scripture say?
And there was light. No big thing for God. And John
tells us in chapter 1 of his gospel narrative, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God, and all things were made by Him, and without Him
was not anything made that was made. The Lord. The Lord. Now I'd have you consider
this great truth. You think about this. You take
this home with you. You maul it around in your mind. If God the Father and God the
Son are the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, how can we not say that they are the first and last
cause of everything? Where has man gotten this idea
that they have something to do with their redemption? All things
begin and end with them. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. God the Father,
God the Son. Matter of fact, in Genesis it
says, let us make man in our own image. Doesn't it? Who's
he talking to? Who's God talking to? He's talking
to the Son. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. God in three persons. All things
work together for the good of His people, Paul tells us in
Romans chapter 8. You know why? Because all things
work according to His purpose. That's exactly why. He hath done
great things for us. Doesn't that make perfect sense?
Of course it does. But men hate the truth of it.
What did Satan tell Adam and Eve in the day of that great
and horrible fall when they disobeyed God? God gave them one thing.
He said, just don't do this. One thing. And they did it. And Satan was tempting them.
Eve told the serpent, but of the fruit of the tree which is
in the midst of the garden, God told us that we shall not eat
of it. And he told us not to even touch
it, lest we die. And the serpent said to Eve,
he said, you shall not surely die. And today, friends, the
same adversary says, why don't you go ahead and eat that fruit
of works of righteousness? You go on and do what you can
do. You shall not surely die. Why, you don't have to trust
in this Christ. You can work your way to heaven.
You shall not die. He's a liar and the father of
all lies, dear friends. And he told Eve, God knows that
in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and
ye shall be what? As gods, knowing good and evil. And you know what? That's exactly
what happened. All fallen children of Adam believed
that lie that the serpent told. You shall be as gods. Fallen
men and women think they know what's best for them, don't they?
I did. Well, I don't need no preacher to tell me what to do.
I'm my own God. I determine what's best for me. They've created a God of their
imagination. And yet, we're told that in Noah's
day, God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination, every one of every man, of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. In Genesis chapter 8, God said,
for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Jeremiah, we know that verse
very well. In chapter 17 verse 9, the heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That's a very picturesque edge
to desperately. When I think of desperate, I
think of the worst, the sorriest, the most needy, desperate. And your heart and mine is desperately
wicked. And who can know it? Only God.
Only God. And even when He reveals it to
us, we only see small glimpses of our desperate and deceitful
hearts. Desperately wicked. Jeremiah
18, it says the Lord said, return ye now everyone from his evil
way and make your ways and your doings good. But they said, or
they can also be interpreted, but they said, there's no hope.
We will walk after our own devices. And we will, everyone, do the
imagination of his evil heart. That's what they said. I will
not have this man rule over me. And I wouldn't, and you wouldn't,
until God intervened. And you know it's so. You know
it so. There's still some of you that
don't. Jeremiah 13.10, this evil people which refuse to hear my
words, which walk in the imagination of their heart. They trust the
God of their imagination. And He's no God at all. He's
a God that they've conjured up. And friends, if God does not
make us willing in the day of His power, we'll never be willing
to hear His Word and bow to His Gospel. God's got to make us
willing. Now, men brag a lot today on
their accomplishments. They like to talk about their
works, don't they? You know they do. You've heard
them. They like to talk about the decisions they've made and
the free will that they have. But where is the message of the
Lord? The Lord hath done great things
for us. Where is it? Can fallen man save
himself? Now listen, this gospel, this
good news is not about what we've done for God. It's not. And yet
that's all I hear from some. Tell you what we've done for
God. Let me tell you what we're doing for God. Let me tell you
what we're building for God. Let me tell you what programs
we have for God. The gospel is not about that.
The gospel is about what God has done for you. The Lord hath
done great things for us, not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. You want
to know how He saves us? According to His mercy. The Lord
hath done great things. We didn't choose God. Salvation
didn't begin with us. Why, our Lord Himself said so
plainly in John 15, 16. He said, You have not chosen
Me. You've not chosen me, but I've
chosen you and I ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit. We didn't choose God. Paul wrote, God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Who did? God did. Salvation is
of the Lord. He's the first cause of everything. The first point, the Lord. The
second, the Lord hath done. hath done." The Lord hath done. Now it doesn't say that the Lord
has tried. That's what many preach today.
The Lord wants to save you. He wants you to give Him your
heart. It doesn't say that the Lord hath attempted and failed.
It doesn't say that the Lord wants to and can't. It says the Lord hath done. Isn't that what it says? Does
your Bible say that? The Lord hath done. You know,
I've thought about this often and I'm sure you have too. The
first words we find recorded of our Lord and Savior, Luke
chapter 2, you remember when they They went to Jerusalem and
they left and they traveled, I think, a couple days and they
realized that the 12-year-old Christ was not with them. And
they went back and they found him in the temple and his mother,
I can just hear her, and you mothers would have too. Well,
you ought to have pulled that belt out or something. I said, do you have any idea
how much trouble you've caused us? Do you not have any idea
how worried, sick we've been about you, young man? Can't you
hear?" And you know what he says? First
of all, he asks a question. He said, how is it that you sought
me? That's a good question. That's a whole message in itself.
You know why it is that you sought him? It's because he first sought
you, that he called you to seek him. But that's not the point
I'm trying to make. He said, didn't you know that I must,
I must be about my father's business? Twelve years old. Didn't you
know that I must be about my father's business? And then,
do you know what the last words our Lord spoke before his death? It's finished. What's finished? My father's work. My father's
business. It's finished. The Lord hath
done. Just like Gary said a few weeks
back, you see signs on churches and on billboards, try Jesus,
let go, let God. What was the one you saw, give
God a chance? Give God a chance? Oh my. Christ said it's finished. That
sounds like a successful Christ to me. That sounds like a Lord
that's done great things. That sounds like a sovereign
Savior to me. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. They shall! I came down from
heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me. Now
listen, that of all which He hath given me, I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. The
Word of God asks this question in Genesis 18. Is anything too
hard for the Lord? I ask you that question. Is anything
too hard for the Lord? There are some that I love with
my whole heart that have not yet come to Christ. And I think,
Lord, Will they ever come? And then God's word says, is
anything too hard for me? Well, where is our God? What's
He doing? David said, our God's in the
heavens. He's done whatsoever He's pleased. The Lord hath done. great things. It's always at
His discretion. The Lord is gracious to whom
He'll be gracious, and He shows mercy on whom He'll show mercy.
Exodus 32, 18. And Paul reiterated those words
in his letter to Rome. I'll tell you what, old Job,
he knew something about what God could do. How did he learn
it? Well, my goodness, you know the
story. God took everything he had. Everything. His children. All his possessions. And he was a wealthy man. Took
his health. That's what it says. And he answered
the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do anything. And that
no thought can be withholden from thee. That's the God we're
talking about. That's the God we're dealing
with here. This is the God that you're going to go out and meet
in eternity. Why do you remain indifferent?
Those of you that are without Him. Our Lord thinks it and it
comes to pass. He purposes it and it always
stands. Isaiah 14, 24. Our Lord of hosts
hath purpose, and who shall disannul it? His hand is stretched out,
and who can turn it back? Isaiah 14, 27. Our Lord does
according to His will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth. who will stay his hand." Daniel
4.35. Oh, Lord God, behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the
earth by Thy great power and stretched out arms, and there
is nothing too hard for Thee. Jeremiah 32.17. Friends, it's
the Lord who predestinated us, who predetermined us according
to Him, who worketh all things after the counsel of His own
will. That's the God we're talking about. Our Lord is the potter.
We are the clay. Brother Ray mentioned that in
the men's meeting. The potter has what? Power over
the clay. And of the same lump, he's able
to make one vessel of honor and another unto dishonor. Romans
9.21. The Lord hath done. Bow to it. Third thing, the Lord
hath done great things. Great things. Everything the
Lord does is great. Samuel the prophet said, only
fear the Lord and serve Him in truth and with all your heart.
For consider how great things He has done for you. Have you
considered this morning how great things He's done for you? If
you hadn't, maybe you should. There's no greater thing that
can be done I don't think, than to raise the dead. The Lord raised
the physical dead on several accounts in the gospel narratives.
While Lazarus, he lay in the grave four days, Christ said,
Lazarus, come forth. And he came forth. That young
man that his widow mother was carrying to the grave at the
gate of the city of Nain, he was already in the casket They'd
already had the regular services, they came out to the graveyard.
What about J.R.' 's daughter? They said, leave him alone, your
daughter's dead. Probably said, she's not dead,
she sleeps. They laughed him to scorn. Well,
she's dead, this guy's lollies off his rocker. She touched her hand, spoke to
the damsel and she arose. No greater thing than to raise
the dead. But the great things that God
has done for us, we read it in Ephesians 2. He quickened us
when we were dead. Dead in trespasses, dead in sin,
without God, without hope in this world. There's no greater
thing, dear friends, that the Lord could do for sinners. Christ
came into the world to what? Save sinners. Save us from eternal
damnation, eternal death. To chosen, wicked, vile, desperate,
needy sinners, God does a great thing for them. You know what
He promises to His people? He says, You shall be holy For
I the Lord your God am holy." Now what does that mean? I'll
tell you what it means. It means in order to make us
holy, God became what we were that we might become what He
is. That's substitution. It says, I the Lord have spoken,
I've done, I've kept, I've caused, I've created, I've delivered,
I've searched, loved, hated, called, hurt, redeemed, performed,
willed, quickened. It's all through just the book
of Isaiah alone. I the Lord. Look at it sometime. I the Lord do all these things.
Acts 15, verse 17. To those of you, now listen,
who have a great need this morning, I take my words from Job 5. It
says this. I don't know that I ever read
this. It says, I would seek unto God. What's your advice, Brother David,
for my desperate condition? I would seek unto God. And unto
God would I commit my cause, I'm reading this word for word,
which doeth great things, and unsearchable. Marvelous things
with our number. The Lord hath done great things
for us. In Mark chapter 3 it says, A
great multitude followed our Lord when they heard what great
things He did, and they came unto Him. Friends, have you heard
what great things Christ has done? If you have, come unto
Him. Come unto Him. It's said of that
old demoniac of Gadara, I don't know if that's Gadara or Gadara,
but in Mark chapter 5 it says, after the Lord had cast the legion
of demons out, He said, when He'd come into the ship, that
that one that had been possessed with all the devils prayed Him,
it says, came unto Him, begged Him. You know what He begged
Him? He said, that I might be with you. Lord, can I go with
you? That was his prayer. And you
know what Christ told him? Christ said, suffered him not,
but said unto him, you go home to your friends, and you tell
them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath
had compassion on thee. And friends, we can't be with
Him right now, not where He is, even though we are with Him and
in Him and in heavenly places. We can't be with Him right now,
but we can tell others the great things that He's done for us. Notice the choice of words our
Lord used. He said, Go tell them what great
things the Lord has done for thee. For thee. And that's the
fourth thing. The Lord has done great things,
what? For us. for us. The great things that the Lord
does will not profit me at all if He doesn't do them for me."
The Lord has done great things for us. Who's the us here? Well,
it's His people, His elect, His chosen. The Lord has done great
things for us. Did He do great things for everyone
in the world? That's not what it says. Not
everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord. He answered that
question Himself, Gary. Not everyone. Not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Psalm 47 verse 4 says, He shall choose our inheritance for us. He chose my inheritance. And
I'm adopted into the kingdom of His dear Son for us. Our Lord
Jesus in John 17 says, I pray for them. Not for the world,
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me for their life." For us. The Lord has done great things
for us. Trust in Him at all times, the
psalmist wrote. You people, pour out your heart
before Him. God is a refuge for us. All the Scriptures go on, and
on Isaiah 26, 12, Lord, Thou will ordain peace for us, for
Thou also has wrought all our works in us. Christ lived, died
perfectly. In my work before God is now
perfect. Christ renamed peace for us,
and Christ wrought the works of perfect righteousness in us.
Christ did. He's done great things for us. In Romans 4, when Paul speaks
of Abraham, he says he staggered not at the promises of God, and
he goes on to say, being fully persuaded that what God had promised
him, he would perform. You're familiar with the passage.
He said, therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. He
said, now it was not written for his sake alone. It wasn't
just talking about Abraham, it was imputed to him. And then
it says these four words, but for us also. But God commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died.
Who did he die for, friend? for us. The Lord has done great
things for us. Worms. Maggots. For us. He who is even at the
right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us. It just
goes on and on. Oh, the Lord has done great things
for us. And His love is particular. He's
done it for us. Fifth and last thing, and we're
glad. We're glad. And why wouldn't
we be? Why wouldn't we be? This is the
blessed state of every chosen, redeemed child of God. We're
glad. We are glad. Old Scott Richardson
used to say, I heard him say this with my own ears, I'm so
glad that I got to be around some of these godly men that
have passed on into glory. But I heard Brother Scott say
one day right in Cherokee, North Carolina, he said, I haven't
heard any bad news. You can hear him, can't you?
since I heard the good news. We're glad. Really, have we heard
any bad news since we heard the good news? Everything's going
to be alright. What a mess this world is in
and yet we're glad. Why are we glad? Everything's going to be alright.
We know how it ends. We know how this thing ends.
And we're glad. We're glad that God crossed our
path with the good news of redemption. We're glad that He didn't leave
us to ourselves. We're glad that He showed us
what and who we are and what and who He is. And Christ has
done great things for us. And we're glad. Therefore my
heart is glad, the psalmist said, and my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall rest in hope. I'll be glad and rejoice in thy
mercy." We're glad because of His mercy. One thing worth mentioning
before I quit. When they falsely persecuted
the Lord Jesus Christ, you know they brought Him before Herod.
And in Luke 23 it says, And when Herod saw Jesus, verse 8, it
says, When Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad. For he
was desirous to see Him for a long season, because he had heard
many things of Him, and listen to this, and he had hoped to
have seen some miracle done by Him. That's a different kind
of glad. That's a different kind of glad. You see, religion produces many
who are glad today. It's false. It's for the wrong reason. Some
are seeking for material things. You know, God's a great investment. You know, you throw in a thousand,
you get back ten. That's the reason some people
are glad. Others are seeking for miracles. If you don't believe
me, you turn on TV and watch some of these yahoos healing
people. They come by the droves, don't
they? They lined up for miles. Harry
was glad. It seemed he was desirous to
see some miracle of Him. But you know why God's people
are glad? The Lord had done great things for us. Therefore, we're
glad. We're glad. Aren't you glad this
morning that the Lord crossed your path in grace and in mercy? He didn't have to. He could have
passed you by. But He didn't. To those of you
that are still without Christ, I don't know who you are. I'm
not preaching to anyone in particular. I'm just saying you know who
you are. It's not too late. It's not too late. Oh, may the
Lord have mercy on us.