Here is one of the most powerful
of all of the Psalms, declaring things that are essential to
the welfare of our souls, and describing for us in unbelievable
language the worship of the natural man as contrasted to the worship
of God's children. The Lord's children begin like
this. Remember what we just said in
regard to praising God? It has to do with glorifying
Him. Praise waiteth for thee, O God. Praising ourselves is not worshiping
God. I fear that most churches are
engaged in that exact manner. Not unto us, O Lord. Not unto us. But unto your name
give glory, for your mercy and for your truth's sake." So in
Psalm 85 and verse 10, mercy and truth are met together. Here's
how they meet. Why should the heathen, why should
an unbelieving world say to the Lord's children, where is now
their God? Where is their God now? Obviously
something has taken place which causes people who do not know
God to say, man, something must have happened to their God. Where
is He now? This person is sick. This person
is dying. This person has lost all his
earthly possessions. On and on one could go to describe
the things that mark the experience of human flesh in life in this
world. But believers, do not look at
those things like unbelievers. I'm not saying that we always
pass such a test in flying colors, mind you, but it is a world apart
from a man outside of Christ. Where is their God now? And believers
say, but our God is in the heavens. He's unmoved, unchanged. He's always the same. Our God
is in the heavens. What is he doing? He has done
whatsoever he is pleased. Whatever he pleases, that's what
he does. Man cannot frustrate God's purpose. God does as he pleases. He does
it with me and with you and all other people. And everything
he has ever done can only be characterized as being right. I may die before I finish speaking
to you this morning, but that ain't going to change this. Now
in verse 4, we get a look at the other side, man by nature,
by the which we all start out in this same boat now. Don't
misunderstand me. We're all alike involved in the
rebellion of this world that was begun by our father Adam
in the Garden of Eden. We all start out rebels against
God. And now most folks ain't ready
to understand this, but I'm going to tell you the truth We begin
as idol worshipers. We are idolaters, all of us. And it doesn't matter if you
name him Jesus. Until we are born again, we are
idolaters. And the Jesus that we claim to
love is not the same character that's found in this book. So
instead of talking about somebody else, let's change the pronouns
and just talk about ourselves. Psalm 115, verse 4. Our idols
are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. Whatever that
idol is, which is anything and everything except Christ, whatever
that idol is, here are the characteristics of that idol. Now remember, this
is describing our God before we came to know the true and
living God. Here's his character description. They have mouths, these false
gods have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they
see not. You never subscribe to this,
that God has no feet but yours, no hands but yours, and no this,
that, and the other but ours. Come on now. I suspect very strongly
that you either did or still do one or the other. These idols
have ears, but they can't hear. God's going to do anything in
our world. We're going to have to do it for him. That's what
this God says. That's exactly what this God
says. Noses have they, but they smell not. God only sees me when
I want him to see me. That's an idol. He can only do
what I let him. That's an idol. Are you telling
me you didn't used to have this God? I did. This idol has hands,
but they handle not. Feet have they, but they walk
not, neither speak they through their throat. They that make
them are like them, like unto them, so is everyone that trusts
in them. O Israel, trust you in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. O house of Abram, trust in the
Lord. He is their help and their shield. You that fear the Lord, the God
of the Bible, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you that fear the
Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. You that fear the Lord, trust
in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Verse 12, the Lord has been mindful
of us. That is the understatement of
the century. God has been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless
the house of Israel He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless
them that fear the Lord, both small and great. The Lord shall
increase you more and more, you and your children. You are blessed
of the Lord which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the
heavens are the Lord's, but the earth has he given to the children
of men. The dead praise not the Lord. That is, the spiritually dead
do not praise God, either when we're physically alive and spiritually
dead in this world, or when we're both physically and spiritually
dead in eternity. The dead praise not the Lord,
neither any that go down into silence, but we will bless the
Lord from this time forth and forevermore. If you ever have,
you still are, and if you still are, you always will. Praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord. Our reading begins with verse
1, Isaiah 46. Two of the idol gods of the Babylonians
is immediately referred to in the first verse of Isaiah 46,
and if you will remember, the kings of Babylon incorporated
the names of their gods in their own names, such as Belshazzar
and Nebuchadnezzar. Bel bows down, Nebo stoops. Their idols were upon the beast,
the beast of burden, and upon the cattle. Your carriages were
heavy-loaded. They are a burden to the weary
beast. They scoop, they bow down together. They could not deliver the burden,
but themselves are gone into captivity. Sarkon unto me, O
house of Jacob." Speaking of Jacob going into Babylonian captivity,
and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are born by
me from the belly, from the womb, which are carried from the womb."
God knows us before we are born. Our very conception is His doing. Verse 4, he starts early, And
he never, ever abandons his people. We, on occasion, do abandon him,
but not him, us. No. Look what he says. Some of
us can testify to this one, talking about aged believers. And even
to your old age, I am he. Even to hoary hairs, to white
hairs, Will I carry you? I have made, I have made you
and I will bear, I'll carry you. I will carry and will deliver
you. To whom will you liken me? To whom do we dare compare the
God of heaven and earth? To whom will you liken me and
make me equal and compare me that we may be like? That is,
God is like this, or like so-and-so. These comparisons are impossible. Now, this reminds you of Psalm
115. They lavish gold out of the bag,
and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith, and he
makes it a god. They fall down to this idol made
of gold and silver. Yea, they worship. This idol,
they bear Him upon the shoulder. You see, the God who is an idol,
we have to help Him and do things for Him. He cannot do them for
Himself. We have to carry Him instead
of Him carrying us. They bear Him upon the shoulder.
They carry Him and set Him in His place. And he stands from
his place, shall he not remove? Yea, one shall cry unto him,
yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble. Remember
this, remember this, and show yourselves men. Bring it again
to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there
is none beside me declaring the end from the beginning and from
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My
counsel shall stand, I will do all my pleasure." Whatever God
plans to do, He does. If he's purposed it, just go
ahead and count it done. It's coming. If it's not already
done, it will be. It will be done in his time,
in his way, and he will do it. I will do all my pleasure. God helping us. Let these words
never cross our lips again. God wants to do this, that, or
the other. God is trying, and he needs our
help. Whatever this God is, He ain't
God. It's but an imagined God. It
is an idol. The God of the Bible says, I
do all my pleasure, everything I purpose, I accomplish. There's no such thing as defeat
or frustration or disappointment. These things are impossible with
the God who is God. My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure. Now watch this, and I remind
you Well, let me just ask you to flip. You may not have to
flip, but I do on mine because of where it is on the page. Back
in chapter 45 and the last verse of chapter 44, we are introduced
to a man by the name of Cyrus. who became king in Babylon after
the children of Israel were already in captivity, and God chooses
this pagan king by the name of Cyrus. This king does not know
God. Yet, I'll guarantee you, he could
not tell you why he did this. He set them free. Set them free. Gave them the stuff that Babylon
had stolen out of the temple in Jerusalem. and sent them on
their way. This is ridiculous. This man
ought not act like this, but God told him to do it and he
did it. And the clincher is Verse 4 of chapter 45, the reason you
are doing this is for Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel my
elect. Now watch this statement. I have
even called you by your name, Cyrus. I have surnamed you, though
you have not known me. God not only does what he will
with his He does what he will with every living thing, including
people. For some turkey to say that this
man's too difficult, God can't do anything with him, that's
just absolute absurd. It's the height of absurdity.
Now, with the mention of Cyrus, look what it says at the end
of chapter 46, beginning at verse 11, calling a ravenous bird. That's what he calls Cyrus, from
the East, the man that executes my counsel. Remind you now, a
man that does not know this God. God knows all about him and is
using him, but he's not his child. This is a pagan king, and when
everything's said and done, he's still a pagan king. But God used
him, just like he uses everything, everything in this world every
day that rolls by. Now you hold on to your seat,
even the devil himself. When you ball it all down, he
does one thing and one thing only. What? God lets him do. If that's too big a God for you,
that's just how it is. This is who he is. Calling a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel
from a far country, yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring
it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. Hearken unto me, you stout-hearted. God can't do that. I won't let
him. Listen to me, you stout-hearted that are far from righteousness. I bring near my righteousness.
God's righteousness is a person. His name is the Lord Jesus. I
bring nearer my righteousness, it shall not be far off." That's
what Hebrews 10 says. It's near you right now. It's
as close as your ear. This precious gospel of Christ,
it's not buried somewhere in a cave. It's being preached. I bring nearer my righteousness,
it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry. And I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel, my glory. And he still does that for his
Israel to this very hour. Now, I want to talk to you this
morning, goodness me, in the little bit of time that's left,
taking these two chapters, Psalm 115, Isaiah 46, sort of as a
background passage. I want to talk to you about six
stubborn statements concerning this God who reveals Himself
in this book. Six stubborn statements. Number one, God is absolutely
sovereign in all things, or He ain't sovereign in anything.
Either God does as He pleases in everything, For He does not
do as He pleases in anything, if one or the other, there is
no middle ground. This is simply who He is, who
He is. People, many people, will say
that God is sovereign in creation. Some people will say that He's
sovereign even in day-to-day things, what we call His providence. Some people even say that He
used to be sovereign, but He's not now. He's decided to limit
himself and to give up his sovereignty. But this is ridiculous. This God is either totally and
absolutely sovereign or he's not sovereign at all whatsoever. But the critical issue in which
this must be understood is that God's sovereignty is in the realm
of His grace and mercy in Christ because God is sovereign in salvation. Explained, that means He saves
whomever He pleases, and He doesn't ask for your permission nor mine. He does as He pleases in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of men. Oh no, that
makes man nothing. Doesn't make man anything, he's
already nothing. We are nothing, have nothing
and can do nothing. God is absolutely, absolutely
sovereign. You can find this verse in Romans
chapter 9 and verse 16 and it's talking about salvation. Now
if you can get across this bridge, the rest of it is a piece of
cake. If you ever come to understand and love the truth that God's
mercy sovereign mercy. God's grace is sovereign grace.
Those other things, they'll take care of themselves. But this
is the real issue. Romans 9, 16 says, speaking about
salvation, it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs,
but rather it is of God who has mercy. He told Moses in Exodus
33 when Moses begged God to show him his glory. He said, my goodness
is my glory. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
This is simply who God is. Therefore, whatever God does
is a reflection of himself. It is a manifestation of himself. If you would kindly turn on this
one, please, to Ephesians chapter 2. Here is, next to the sovereignty
of God, this has to rate a close second. Ephesians chapter 2.
Now, these six stubborn statements, here's the second one, these
six statements, all stand and fall together. If one is true,
they are all true, and I declare to you that this book everywhere
proclaims them to be true. Now, I have faithfully read to
you this morning Psalm 115 and Isaiah 46. And those two passages dovetail
just as wonderfully and as smoothly as if they consulted each other
before they were written, because it is God's revelation of Himself. And everywhere we go in this
book, we will find Him to declare Himself to be precisely as He
is. Here's the second stubborn statement. Man is fallen in Adam when Adam
rebelled against God in the garden, leaving Adam and all the human
race, his entire posterity, leaving all of us without exception,
Christ alone excepted, leaving us dead in trespasses and in
sins, spiritually dead. Adam began to die physically,
but he died just like that spiritually. God told him, in the day that
you eat the fruit of that tree, you shall surely die. And he died. Have you found Ephesians
2? Let's just read two or three
verses, maybe four or five. Chapter 2, verse 1, Paul is describing
to the Ephesian believers what God has done for them in His
grace. And you has He quickened. God has made you alive in Christ
by His grace. Well, He couldn't make you alive
if you were already alive. That would be God taking credit
for something He didn't do. That won't hold water. You has
He quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins, wherein
in time past You walk according to the course of this world,
yes we did, even the religious world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, that's the devil. The spirit that now
works in the children of disobedience used to be the very spirit that
worked in us, a satanic spirit, among whom, among the children
of disobedience also, We all had our manner of life in times
past in the lust of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature
the children of wrath just like everybody else. So when you boil
it all down, the difference is not in us. The difference is
in God, in his grace, in his mercy. You and I are truly believers
and followers of the Lord Jesus. It's because God came to us.
We didn't come to Him. Raised us from a spiritual grave
to life in Christ. Marvel. Marvel indeed. All right, the third statement.
Third stubborn statement. I say I want you to turn to one
Scripture. Just to your right, 2 Thessalonians. Remember all five of the books
in the New Testament that begin with T. are in consecutive order,
and the first two of those are 1 and 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Here is the third stubborn statement. Number one, God is absolutely
sovereign in all things, especially in grace. Number two, man is
dead in trespasses and in sins. And number three, God elected
a people to salvation. He either did that or there is
no such thing as election. And the utterly Absolutely contemptible
view that God looked ahead of time to see which ones were going
to believe, and those are the ones He chose. That's the most
insulting to God of any possible view whatsoever. That's saying
that God takes credit for what God didn't do, and that will
not hold water. Our problem in understanding
these things is a denial that man is spiritually dead. If our native and natural and
original condition is to be spiritually dead, then all of these things
have to be true or there is no such thing as salvation. The
third stubborn statement, God elected a people to salvation
or else he did not choose anyone. Psalm 65 verse 4 says, Blessed
is the man whom God chooses. and causes to approach unto himself. And 2 Thessalonians chapter 2
verses 13 and 14 declare it in these words, Paul speaking of
the believers in Thessalonica, but we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord." Paul, why
are you thankful for them? Because God has from the beginning,
that is, back in old eternity, God has from eternity chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. He called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul tells these people, God
chose you from the beginning to be his children in Christ,
in that eternal covenant You were given to Christ before the
world began, so that when He came into this world, He came
as your representative, as your substitute, as your sacrifice,
your sin offering. Christ is made unto us everything,
everything that God demands and everything that we need. The
next stubborn statement, number four, Christ effectively and
successfully redeemed all of his elect, for he did not redeem
anyone at all. Now remember what we read in
Psalm 115 and Isaiah 46 and a host of other places, that all that
God purposed, all that He planned, all that He ever intended, He
does. He does. And so when we come
to the death of Christ, we do not dare view the redeeming work
of Christ with any kind of skepticism, with any man-made limitations,
or man-made expansions. We say that Christ died for a
particular people, and that redemption's work was perfectly, fully, and
completely done. when he said, it is finished. Alright, two quick scriptures.
Well, we'll do just one. 2 Peter, I think I can remember
the other one. 2 Peter chapter 3, Galatians
3.13 is Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being
made a curse for us. Now here in 2 Peter chapter 3,
And verse 9, 2 Peter 3, 9, ìThe Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness.î Some people look
at God and say, ìWell, heís not doing all he wants to do. He
canít accomplish all that he wants to accomplish.î The only
reason we say that is because weíre blind. God is not slack
concerning his promise. The previous statement in verse
9 says that I can't even get my eyes to focus. That one day
is with the Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand years is
a day. We want to total things up too quickly. God's not through
yet, but I'll guarantee you this, He's always on time. Our Lord
never came in the incarnation until the fullness of time was
come. So verse 9 of 2 Peter 3, the
Lord is not slack concerning His promises, as some men count
slackness, but His long-suffering to whom? Not to everybody. God is long-suffering to a people
described as us-ward, toward us. Who's us? It's the Apostle
Peter and the persons to whom this letter is written. It is
not all men without exception. The reason we misunderstand this
book, we try to make it say what it doesn't say, and we get goofed
up by not looking at what it does say. Just totally ignoring
the word usward, and you say, well, God's trying to save everybody
because of the statement that follows. But if you take the
whole verse, it makes perfect sense. and there's no contradiction
whatsoever, it not only will not allow us to say that Christ
somehow has not redeemed all that he intended to redeem, it
will make us say that the Lord Jesus is perfectly satisfied
with his redemptive work. All of God's elect are saved
when he died on Calvary's tree. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promises. Some men count slackness. but
is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any that any of
the usward should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And I tell you, every single
one of God's elect will be brought to repentance. There will not
be any person God purposed to have in glory that will be said
to be missing. There will not be a vacant seat. And it's just pure poppycock
for people to talk about, well, will the circle be unbroken?
I just about used profanity. No, absolutely not. It ain't
going to be broken. It will be perfect. It has to
be. It's like God. It's complete
and whole. Oh, goodness. Finally, I've got
two more. Number five. I'm just going to
have to skirt these and you'll have to forgive me. The fifth
stubborn statement is that God's Holy Spirit successfully, victoriously
calls every one of God's elect to faith in Christ. Now this book is full of examples
and illustrations of that truth. Found Zacchaeus up the tree.
Zacchaeus come down. Salvation is coming to your house
today. I'm going to your house. Same thing with Lydia by the
riverside. Heard Paul preach. talking about
Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened. Just Old Testament, New Testament,
the four Gospels, the letters, the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts
chapter 8. Just all in all in all. God effectively
calls His sheep to faith in Christ by the power of the Spirit of
God. Blessed is the man not only that
God elects, or chooses, lest is the man that God chooses and
does what? Causes to approach unto himself. Isaiah 65 verse 4. Finally, number
six, the sixth stubborn statement. God's elect will all persevere
to the end. Our Lord said in the Gospels,
he that endures to the end shall be saved. Didn't he? Absolutely. Then either they will all persevere
or none of them will, because you and I are not the secret
to perseverance. It's called being divinely preserved
of God. God keeps us and enables us thereby
to keep ourselves. But if keeping depended on me
or on you, wouldn't any of us make it? Here's why I say that.
Either all believers will continue to the end or there is no hope
that any of them will. Ecclesiastes 3.14, whatsoever
God does, it shall be, how long? Forever. Forever. Nothing can
be put to it and nothing taken from it that we might be brought
to fear him. Whatever God does is just like
himself. It's eternal. If salvation is
like God, it's eternal salvation. Don't talk about a life in Christ
and call it eternal life and say, well, now, if you don't
do certain things, it's not going to be eternal for you. That's
foolish. That's just ridiculous.