I would invite you to turn in
your Bibles with me to Psalm 145. Psalm 145. I'd like to read
beginning with verse 10. All thy works, that is the works
of God, shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory
of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power, to make known to the sons
of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The
Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raises up all those that
be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee,
and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine
hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. The Lord seemed to impress me
with these verses in the last few days, and I thought about
the conversation of the saints of God, what the saints of God
talk about, what they ought to be talking about as they live
out their days in this world. It begins in verse 10 here the
psalmist does, saying, All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord,
and thy saints shall bless thee. The works of God certainly do
praise the Lord. The Lord's works, all the works
of his hands, they're numerous. Who can describe them? But they
do indeed bless the Lord. The Lord's people, after reflecting
upon all the Lord's works, they cannot but bless the Lord. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the one God, the Lord
of heaven and earth. Blessed be our God. The saints shall bless thee. Do you bless the Lord? Do you
bless Him? Well, you ought to. You ought
to give praise and thanksgiving to Him because of the works of
His hands. And then verse 11, it says, They
shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power. My, what a statement of Scripture.
A saint will often be discovered, I believe, by his conversation. If you listen well, you will
hear sometimes a conversation that reveals and reflects the
fact that a certain individual is truly a believer, that they
are indeed a believer, and that they love the Lord and they respect
and reverence the Word of God. And when you hear that conversation,
this reveals that This is a child of God. They shall speak of the
glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power. Now, beloved, there's
very little difference about the outward appearances of men. You can see some, of course we
know that there are some who try to dress in such a way as
to influence people's thinking about them. They try to dress
in such a way as will draw attention to their religion and to the
fact that they set themselves apart in dress to make others
think well of them. But we know that really and truly
You'd have a very difficult time, if you lined up a group of men
and women in a building, you'd have a very difficult time being
able to select or choose which one of them were believers and
which ones of them were not, because of the outward way that
they dress. But, oh, their conversation makes
a world of difference, does it not? what they talk about, how
they talk about the things of God, how they talk about the
things of the Word of God. It is however much to be regretted
that true children of God often talk so little of Him. We know that the Bible says in
the book of Psalms that, Psalm 107 verse 2, it says, Let the
redeemed of the Lord say so. those that he has redeemed from
the hand of the enemy, those that God has redeemed, those
that he's brought back from the slave market of sin, those that
he's brought out of the horrible pit of sin, let them say so,
let them speak. But beloved, do we speak up for
the glory of God? Are we truly his witnesses in
this darkened world? Are we speaking for the Lord?
I believe that God's elect are the mouthpiece of God in every
generation in which they live. And I think it is our business
to be his witness and to be speaking of him. But what is the conversation
of half of the professors of religion this very present day? Well, is it not light and frivolous? Well, it's not the gospel that
they talk about. They're talking about politics,
and my, how many people today are caught up in the election
that is coming up in about a month. They're very much caught up in
that, and they are talking about it. The other day I was in the
restaurant in Fairfield, and there was a fellow who I know
and who I've talked with several times who does not share my view
of the doctrine of God's sovereignty, who pulled up a chair at the
end of the table and began to talk to me about the responsibilities
that we had as Christians to vote and to make sure that we
voted. And, of course, he knew exactly
what people that we ought to be voting for. He knew. He already
had it all figured out, and he knew exactly who I should vote
for. Well, as we talked it become
evident to me that he was more interested in the election and
who it was that that would win the election,
more that he was interested in talking about the God that would
determine who it would be that would be set on high and that
would be ruling among the kingdoms of the earth. Now, we know that
in Daniel chapter 4, and if you have your Bible, you turn there
with me. These scriptures here talk about,
they talk about God in his dealing with Nebuchadnezzar. And you
know, I think that we need to be aware that it is God that
rules among the kingdoms of this earth and the Lord will give
it to whomsoever He will. Look in verse 25. Now God was
humbling Nebuchadnezzar and bringing him down. And he said that in
verse 25, they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall
be with the beast of the field, and they shall make thee to eat
grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven.
Seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the Most
High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever
he will. God rules in the kingdom of men,
and he gives it to whomsoever he will. And then that is mentioned
again in verse 32. And they shall drive thee from
men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beast of the field.
They shall make thee deed grass as oxen, seven times shall pass
over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom
of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And then in verse 35,
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.
He doeth according to his will the arm of heaven among the inhabitants
of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What
doest thou? Now I've mentioned to him these
verses and said we need to look to God. We need to pray. We need to look to God that rules. the God that controls all these
events and the outcomes of them. And of course, he was, he has,
as I told you a minute ago, that he doesn't appreciate my views
on the sovereignty of God and on man's inability. And so, but
he said, but we have this responsibility. Now, and I said, well, I know,
but we need to look to God to rule and overrule in the matter.
He said, we need to go vote. Well, I said, that's okay, that's
well and good. But the reflection must be on
the God that rules. Now, beloved, as I told him,
there's a foundation. And that foundation is the God
that reigns. And we need to settle ourselves
on that foundation. What are you going to do on November
the 3rd if the one that you voted for does not win? What are you
going to do? Well, I tell you what we must
do, and that is we must trust the God of heaven to rule among
the inhabitants of the earth. That's what we must trust. We
must believe God. We must trust him. And so let
our conversation not be light and frivolous and about this
and the pros and cons of politics, but let it be of him, the king,
who is in his kingdom, who rules over all. Now, we believe that
the gospel ought to be talked about. We believe that the gospel
ought to be preached. We believe that proper conversation
will minister grace to the hearers. And we believe that a man ought
to be more acquainted with the gospel than he is his politicians. That he ought to know the gospel
and he ought to be able to talk about it intelligently if he's
a believer. and should be able to present
the gospel. How little do we hear of Christ
in this world? We hear so little, truly, of
the Sovereign Christ of the Bible. The Sovereign Christ of the Bible.
Now you may hear a whole lot about a doormat called Jesus
that men can wipe their feet on anytime they get ready, but
a Sovereign Christ, how much do you hear about Him? Well,
the scripture here says they shall speak of the glory of thy
kingdom and talk of thy power, the glory of the kingdom of God,
the glory of God's kingdom, the fact that he reigns and his glory
is that he brings to pass his will, that he does whatsoever
he pleases among the inhabitants of the earth, and that he does
as he pleases in the inhabitants of heaven, that he rules over
all. Now, we read earlier this morning
from the book of Malachi chapter 3 and verse 16, how that the
Lord's people, they that feared the Lord, how they spoke often
to one another and how that the Lord hearkened and how that he
heard. He hearkened and heard what they
were talking about. You say, well, I don't know that
it's so important that we be talking about the right things.
Well, I think it is. I think that God hears what we're
talking about when we're out in the world. And when we go
from this place to another, I think the Lord hearkens to what we're
talking about, what we're saying. And I think we need to be very
careful, seeing that we shall all give an account of every
idle word, it is very necessary that we be careful what we're
talking about. That God will have his people
to speak of him and of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
how can we talk about the things of God, someone will ask. It
is not polite. one will tell you. It is not
polite to talk about God and to talk about religion in the
world. Well, they may say it's religion,
but I say it's Christ, and it's the gospel, and it's the glory
of God. And somebody would say it's not
good, adequate, and it's not fashionable, certainly, for anyone
to be talking about the things of God in the world. Well, why
not? Men talk about everything else.
They talk about everything else. They talk about things that ought
not to be talked about. And, of course, men by nature,
there's no question that they're going to be talking about things
that have to do with man and things that have to do with their
own deceitful and corruptible life. But all Christians ought
to agree, do you not think so, on the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You ought to be able to talk
to men and women who claim to believe the gospel about the
things of God, and they ought to have a reverence for them.
But my friend, you'll find that many, many times they do not. Even though they're professing
believers, they have no reverence for God and his word. Well, beloved,
here is indeed a subject for conversation, the glory of Christ's
kingdom. In the twelfth verse here, let
me read it. To make known to the sons of
men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. What a subject, the glory of
Christ's kingdom. The glory of a kingdom depends
very much upon the achievements of that kingdom. Think of the
mighty acts of the Lord, and when we talk about the things
of God, how that we teach men and women, how we make known
to the sons of men His mighty acts and the majesty of His kingdom. Now, I think the Lord has done
great things for me personally, for which I am glad, and I'm
always glad to be able to talk to others about the great and
glorious things God has done for me. But I reflect upon the
scripture and what the scripture says forth that God has done,
And in the Old Testament, you remember how he routed Pharaoh
and how he slew the firstborn in one night in Egypt, all in
order that his people Israel might be delivered from Egyptian
bondage. He overcame Amalek. and smoked
Moab. He cut off those heathen nations
that warred against Israel. Now, beloved, we know that these
were mighty acts. They were mighty acts indeed.
They were the acts of God's kingdom. And those things should be told
out. Those stories should be told
to your children. They should be set forth to the
sons of men that they would know of the glory of our God's kingdom. And then the victories of the
Savior himself. Oh, how we should tell out the
victories of the Savior, all his foes, how that he overcame
them, and how that he provided eternal redemption for his people,
how that he is now seated at the right hand of God, having
been raised from the dead, having been seated at God's right hand
to make intercession, for his people. What a glorious, glorious
message we have of the victories of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. And then as we've been going
through the book of Revelation, it becomes evident that the Lord
Jesus Christ is the ultimate victory over all things and that
he will ultimately triumph over all of his foes and all of his
enemies and his enemies will indeed be made his footstool. The victories of our Savior,
we ought to talk about them. I would have you that are making
notes to write down Isaiah chapter 12 and read it carefully sometime
when you have opportunity, because of the time I won't read that
this morning, but Isaiah chapter 12 speaks of the victories of
our Savior, and then the majesty of his kingdom, the many crowns
that he wears on his head. the majesty of the kingdom of
God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
central figure in the kingdom. All attention and eyes to be
upon this one and his eternal majesty. In verse 13, let's talk
a little bit about the duration of his kingdom. Now it says,
Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Well, beloved, do we
not understand that from the beginning, everlastingly, the
kingdom of God has existed? And he says his kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom. It's going to continue to exist,
beloved, as long as God is his kingdom. That is the sphere of
rule. God's sphere of rule will continue
everlastingly. and His dominion throughout all
generations. Somebody said, well, you know,
preacher, you talk about God having power over all flesh,
that He might give eternal life to as many as the Father's given
to Him. But do you suppose it'll be that
way until the end of time? Absolutely it will be. Never
going to be any different. You say, isn't that an antique
gospel you have? That salvation's of the Lord
from the beginning to the end? Isn't that antique? Well, you
call it whatever you want to, but His dominion endureth throughout
all generations. God's dominion endures, and that
is the crown of that kingdom. It's an everlasting, enduring
kingdom, and you can trust God. You say, well, you know, really
and truthfully, and this fellow implied it the other day that
I was visiting with, We are living in a different day now than Nebuchadnezzar
was living. But as I pointed out to him,
the kingdom of God is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures
throughout all generations. So the Lord is ruling today and
he's working his will among the inhabitants of the earth. And
I want you to reflect upon that and think upon that as things
begin to unfold in the next month or two. We do have some serious
and great problems for this nation to be solved. Whether they'll
ever be solved is in the hands of God. I think sometimes that
these matters will probably go unsolved until the very end. But now, it's wonderful to see
that God has eternal thoughts of love toward his people and
this kingdom that he has. What a wonderful kingdom it is,
and the people of God having known the Lord Jesus Christ,
having the blessing of God upon them in life, and certainly will
have it in death, and certainly will have it throughout all eternity,
is because his kingdom endure forever. And then we read where
that they shall talk of his power. They shall talk of his power.
Now there are three kinds of power that I want to mention
to you right quickly. And that is, first of all, Christ
upholding power. Notice that, if you will, here
in the 14th verse. The Lord upholdeth all that fall,
and raiseth up all those that be bowed down." So the Lord's
power is an upholding power. And when you're talking and visiting
with people, you tell them that the Lord is the one that upholds
you, that holds you up. He is the one that keeps you
from falling. And when you do fall, when Satan
puts his power and puts his foot upon your back and pushes you
down, as he often does the poor, weak children of God in this
world, beloved, God will raise them up. God will raise them
up. He will raise up all those that
be bowed down. The upholding power of the Lord.
Talk about God holding up his people. The poet said, he that
is down needs fear no fall. He that is low, no pride. He
that is humble ever shall have God to be his guide. And so the
Lord will support his people. And then he has an exalting power. The Bible says in Peter that
we're to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and He
will lift us up. Humble ourselves. God raises
us up. And as we said, Satan always
is trying to push the child of God down, but God raises him
up. Speak of that. Talk of that.
Bless God for His power that raises up His people. And then
the providing power of God in verse 15 and 16. Look at this,
if you will. Verse 15 and 16. The eyes of
all wait upon Thee. Who do they wait on? Well, they
wait upon God. Men wait upon God. When a man
gets hungry, well, there's a calling upon God when men get hungry. And thou givest them their meat
in due season. Now, in the day of plenty, as
we know that exists now, you find very few people asking for
daily bread. But beloved, listen. The eyes
of all wait upon God. He provides for people. And whether you recognize it,
and whether you talk about it or not, here's another thing.
It's true that God raises up and gives you everything you
need. What's on your table, God has
blessed you with it. It's the blessing of God. It
has the blood mark of the Lord Jesus Christ upon it. I remember
a story that I heard long ago over in Ireland during the potato
famine whenever people were hungry, mighty hungry, and they were
just scrounging to find anything to eat. And one fellow had a
bunch of little nubbins. Nubbins, if you know what they
are, they're just little potatoes that never did grow up. And so
they were going to have one last meal. of these nebbins, his family,
and so he invited the neighbor to come over to share in this
last meal. And so the neighbor came over
and they sat down and so the head of the house gave thanks
to God and thanked the Lord that every one of those nebbins had
the blood mark on them, that they'd been purchased by the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And beloved, you may not recognize
it, and you may not say anything about it, but your provisions
came from the hand of God. That's where they came from.
And you ought to bless God and give Him glory for everything
that you have in this world. He says, the eyes of all wait
upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season. You
know, I do hope And I would love to see many, many turn to the
Lord in our day. All of God's sheep are going
to come. All of them will turn to the
Lord. But brethren, I believe that
men and women are going to have to be brought down and brought
low before they're going to look up. This is a prideful generation. This generation doesn't need
God. This generation doesn't want to acknowledge God. But
the day will come, maybe, in this world when you'll find the
eyes of men directed toward the Lord. when they're hungry, when
their bellies are empty, and when they're in need. Ah, he
says, thou givest them their meat in due season. And certainly
he wasn't only talking about men here, but he was talking
about the beast of the field. How that God opens his hand.
Look at verse 16. Thou openest thine hand and satisfies
the desire of every living thing. So God is the one who provides
for men and beasts. Well, why do Christians talk?
Well, they're to talk, one cause is, I think, when they're talking
about the kingdom, is that they talk about it because the kingdom
and power of God is the kingdom of their own king. Their own
king. Now, you know, it may be important
to some that there's a king in England. Well, the king in England
is not my king. And I'm certainly glad that they
have one, but he's not mine. My king is in the heavens, and
my king is the king, the king of kings and the lord of lords.
And why should I talk about his kingdom? He's my king. That's
the reason. And so I speak of him as my own
king. And then because of all those
victories were won for us, not just, you know, you talk about
the victories of Christ and you may say, well, they were won
for all Christianity. Well, but what about when we
get down to us? As individuals, they were one
for us. So speak of the victories of
our Lord as if they were your victory. His death being your
death to sin. Speak of His resurrection as
you being raised in Him. Speak of His being took up to
heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father as you being
taken there to be seated in Him. It's His victory, but you share
in that victory being joined to Him. Now, if Christ is in
the heart, the truth, I believe, must come out. I've never believed
much in secret Christians. I believe if truly these victories
of Christ are yours indeed and you've laid hold of them by faith,
then you'll be speaking of them and you will be blessing God
for them. Well, what inherently would be
the effect of our talking more of Christ's kingdom and power?
Well, I believe that the world maybe would at least take notice
that we do truly, sincerely, honestly believe something. Now you know I once heard a man
who, and well actually told me this, he said, I don't believe
the thing you believe, but I know you believe it. I can tell you
believe it. Well, I think that's the way
it ought to be for Christians, don't you? The world may say
we don't believe what you believe, but we know you believe it. And
I think when you talk about these things, and when you're blessing
God and praising God, and when you're acknowledging God and
honoring and reverencing God, I believe that the world will
have to take note. And if you would quickly turn
with me to Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5. Let me read a
couple of verses here to you. In Acts chapter 5 in verse 30
through 33. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew
and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his
right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we, in verse 32, are
his witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost,
whom God hath given to them that obey him. And when they heard
that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.
So here's my point. My point is, as we witness faithfully,
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and as we tell out his
victories and rejoice in them as we should, when men hear what
we have to say, they will be cut to the heart if God the Holy
Spirit is in our witness, and they will take counsel against
us. They will take counsel against
us. They will say, well, they apparently believe what they're
saying. They will hear what you're saying,
and it will affect them. Oh, I often think about how God
can bless just a fragment of Scripture, and how He can use
that fragment of Scripture in the hearts of men and women.
When the Word is spoken faithfully, when it's declared, how that
one little sentence can just stab the heart. and bring that
individual to a saving knowledge of Christ. And then I believe
this, that if we talked about the kingdom and power and glory,
majesty of the kingdom of God more, that we would grow more
in the Lord, and I believe that we'd be a tad happier people
than what we are now. It says in the book of 2 Peter
3, verse 18, but grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory
both now and forever. and forever, amen. So I believe
it'd be good for us to grow up in the Lord, don't you? Grow
up in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think by speaking of Him,
the more we speak of Him, the more we're going to understand
the Gospel ourself, and the better it will be embedded in our own
souls, and we'll be able, I think, to grow and to be more joyful
in the Lord. And the joy of the Lord, by the
way, is our strength. And then it would make us more
useful in the kingdom of God, in the salvation of souls. I read anew this morning from
Romans chapter 9, where Paul said that he would be accursed
from Christ for the sake of his kinsmen. And I read also how
that he said that he endured all things for the elect's sake
that they might obtain the salvation which is in Christ with eternal
glory. And I believe, as it states in
2 Corinthians, and if you have your Bible, turn over there to
chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians, and I want you to look at this scripture
with me. I believe we would be more useful in the hands of God
if we'd speak up. and testify of the grace of God
and of his salvation. Be more useful. Paul went about
speaking. He said we use great plainness
of speech. Sure he trembled as he spoke,
but he would speak of the Lord Jesus Christ and preach Christ
and him crucified among men. In 2 Corinthians 5 and verse
20, Paul said, now then we are ambassadors for Christ. We're
out there as the ambassadors. We've been sent by Christ. We've
been commissioned by Christ. He said, go into all the world
and preach the gospel. And baptizing men in the name
of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. And lo, He said, I'm
with you to the winding up of the ages. Go and speak and preach
the gospel. And so we are ambassadors for
Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's
stead be reconciled to God. Well, beloved, that ministry
cannot be carried on without you opening your mouth. You must
open your mouth if you're an ambassador for Christ and you're
beseeching men and women, telling them that they ought to repent,
that they ought to trust the Lord Jesus Christ, they ought
to believe in Him. You're there in Christ's stead.
Your mouth is His mouth. You're speaking as His mouthpiece
to the generation of men and women around you. And you need
to speak out the Word of the Lord. Be ye reconciled to God. How can a man be reconciled to
God? Through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. God was satisfied
when Jesus died on that cross and when he paid the debt of
sin on the behalf of his people. Be you reconciled to God. Be
ye reconciled to God. That's our word. And I believe
if we'd speak up, testify more of the glory of his kingdom,
that we certainly would be blessed of God and used of God as an
instrument in God's hands. Sometimes people may think we're
against being used as an instrument. But beloved, I'm not against
being used as an instrument in God's hands. I believe that's
the very purpose of the church and certainly the purpose God's
church in the world There's a verse in Corinthians that I wanted
to share with you At the close of this meeting here this morning,
and I don't know whether I think I'm going to find it here just
a moment but I hope that we're able to digest some of the things
that were said here this morning and in 2nd Corinthians 13 verse
11 I want you to look at this verse,
and I give you this in parting with you this morning. In verse 11 it says, Finally,
brethren, farewell. Be perfect. That word perfect
there is mature. Grow up in the Lord. Be men.
Be women in the Lord. Be full grown in the Lord. Grow up in the Lord Jesus Christ. Be of good comfort. Be of good
comfort. Be comforted yourself by the
nearness and presence of God and by God's blessing and also
be a source of comfort to those around you and to each other. Be of one mind. Be of one mind. Keep ever in your mind and heart
the gospel of the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ, what you're
about, that you're one in Christ, and that you're one in the message
of Christ, His doctrine, and one in the purpose of God. And
your message is the gospel and the mission is to go forth, spread
the gospel, preach the gospel, be used of God in this world
to bring in the lost sheep. Live in peace. Live in peace. And the God of love and peace
shall be with you. I'm going away for a while, and
hopefully we'll be back by the first part of November. But pray for me as I go, and
I trust that I'll be able, I'm supposed to preach next Sunday
morning in Wisconsin. They're trying to establish a
new church there, have 35, 30 to 35 people gathered. and so they've asked me to come
speak there and then I'll be going on down to Indiana where
that I hope to be able and it looks as though I will be able
to visit our son Mark in prison and then to preach for the Church
of Providence Baptist in Danville, Indiana. So remember us as we
go. Brother Aaron will be speaking
here And if he needs any help, I'm sure that Brother Randy and
Brother Mitch will be glad to assist him. But farewell, brethren. May God bless you. Be comforted.
Live in peace. Be of one mind. May God's blessing
go with you.