Would you turn to the 99th Psalm.
Psalm 99. reigneth. Let the people tremble. He sitteth between the cherubims. Let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion and
he is high above all the people. Let them praise thy great and
terrible name, for it is holy. The king's strength also loveth
judgment. Thou dost establish equity. Thou executes judgment and righteousness
in Jacob. Exalt ye the Lord our God and
worship at his footstool for he is holy. Moses and Aaron among his priests
and Samuel among them that call upon his name. They called upon
the Lord and he answered them. He spake unto them in the cloudy
pillar They kept his testimonies and
the ordinance that he gave them. Thou answerest them, O Lord our
God. Thou wast a God that forgave
us them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions. Exalt the Lord our God and worship
at his holy hill For the Lord our God is holy. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that we might be
enabled to enter into this psalm that you've given us. Let us see who you are as you're
revealed in this psalm. Let us see the glory of your
son. Enable us to. Worship. Lord, we thank you that. You
are a God that forgives sin. And yet. You take vengeance upon
that sin in the cross of your son. And we. Lord, we fear you
in such a way as we would only look to thy son for everything.
Lord, meet each need here according to your will. We pray that you'd
be with all your people wherever they meet together, wherever
your gospel is preached. And Lord, we pray for your blessing
upon this assembly for Christ's sake. In his name, we pray. Amen. And this is the fourth time. And I guess the last five or
six weeks we've read this phrase, the Lord reigneth. And I love the fact that it doesn't
say he has the right to reign. Lord's got the right to reign.
He does reign. He's reigning right now. He's
always reigned. This is speaking of his sovereignty. He exercises absolute sovereign
control over all the free and uncoerced actions of men. That covers everything. It's either that or it's not
that at all. The Bible lets us know that he reigns. He's in complete control of everybody
and everything. He brings his will to pass exclusively,
constantly. Actively and irresistibly, the
Lord reigneth. He is in absolute sovereign control
of everything, every event, everybody. The Lord reigneth. His will is always done. The example is creation. He willed creation into existence.
Providence, everything that takes place under the sun is his will
being done. And I realize there will be some
people that will say, well, what about the bad things? What about
the evil things? Are you saying the Lord reigns
in those things? Yes. Yes. Unequivocally, yes. He always brings good out of
evil, always. Now, we trust his character. We don't understand everything,
but we trust his character. He always brings good out of
evil. Look in Psalm 93, verse one. The Lord reigneth. He is clothed
with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength,
Psalm 97. The Lord reigneth, let the earth
rejoice, let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof. Psalm 99, the Lord reigneth,
let the people tremble, tremble in awe. The Lord reigneth, let
the people tremble. He sitteth between the cherubims,
let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion. He's
high above all the people. Let them praise thy great and
terrible name for it's holy. Now this is one of three times
we read this statement in this song. The Lord is holy. The Lord is holy. The Lord is
holy. Holy is his otherness. His being apart. He is so infinitely
separate from his creatures. That's what that's talking about
when we're talking about the holiness of God. He is infinitely separate
from his creatures. That's who he is. There's an
infinite difference between the creator and the creature. Now I want us to think about
the Lord. He is utterly independent. He's the only one who's like
that. There's no one else like that. He has no needs. He is omnipotent, all powerful. He's omniscient. He never learns
anything. He knows everything. He's omnipresent. Only he is omnipresent. He's
everywhere. You can't go anywhere where he's
not. I've even heard people say hell is the absence of God. No,
it's not. It's his justice that fuels the
fires of hell. You can't go anywhere where he
is not. He's immutable. He cannot change. He's unique. There's none like
him. He said, there's none like me.
There's none like him. That's why idolatry is so evil
because anytime we take an image of anything and say, well, God's
like this. No, he's not. He's incomparable. He's utterly unique. And to try
to bring him down to our level is what that is doing. Oh, the
Lord is so glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. Every attribute of God is holy. Yes, we rejoice in his reign,
but we also tremble. We tremble. What an awesome God. Now look in. Verse one. The Lord. reigneth, let the people
tremble in a sanctified fear, not the fear
of unbelief or the fear of mistrust, but just a being overcome with
his awesome glory. Tremble, tremble. But look what it says next. He
sitteth between the cherubims. Let the earth be moved. Let the
earth staggered this. He said it between the Germans.
Now he's everywhere, but there's a place we find where he's sitting
and you can always find him here. The place between the cherubims.
Now, according to the scriptures, that's talking about the mercy
seat, the mercy seat. Now that was the lid that was
placed over the arc of the covenant where the broken law was. We
had broken it. And the high priest would come
in once a year with blood, the blood sacrifice, and sprinkle
it on that mercy seat to signify God's acceptance of the people
because of the sacrifice. And he sits there. He's always
there. Turn with me to Romans chapter
three. Verse 24, being justified. Don't just read over that and
not think about what it means. It means if he justified me,
he made me to where I've never sinned. That I stand before him
without guilt. A holy God looks at me and sees
one without sin if I'm justified. What a staggering thought. What
a staggering thought that that could be so because of the Lord
Jesus Christ being justified freely. Here's the next word
I want us to notice, freely, without a cause in me. That's
the only hope I have, that justification is freely. And then the next
phrase is by his grace. This is a gracious act of God.
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation. Now this word propitiation, it's
also translated a mercy seat, a mercy seat. That's the sin
removing sacrifice of Christ. That blood is sprinkled on the
mercy seat. And God said, that's where I'll
meet you. That's where I'll commune with you. Listen to this scripture
from Exodus chapter 25 verse 22, and there will I meet with
you and commune with you from above the mercy seat, the blood
of propitiation. Now, this is the way a sinner
like me, a sinner, can come into God's presence, a holy, sovereign,
glorious God, and have him embrace me and have communion with me
and accept me. Now, there he sits at the mercy
seat. He sitteth between the cherubims,
let the earth be moved, let it be staggered at the thought of
God giving his son to be a propitiation for the sins of the world. Be
staggered, be amazed. Now that's the way the response
to the gospel is, to be staggered, to be amazed by this. Now look
in verse two. The Lord is great in Zion. And he is high above
all the people. Now, Zion is the church in the
church and really only in the church as far as their apprehension.
He's great. He's great. No one outside the
church in the church remembers God's elect. That's every believer. That's all who look to Christ
only in the church. He's great. He's high above all
the people. That's the way all of his people,
um, see him without exception. The Lord is great, infinitely
great and Zion. He is high above all the people. Verse three, let them praise
thy great and terrible name for it is holy. Let them praise thy
great and terrible name. I don't know of anything that
is more irreverent than an irreverent praise of the Lord. When I see people use that kind
of praise of the Lord, and it's a religious show, That's not
good. That's not praising the Lord. But oh, how beautiful it is when
one of God or all of God's people from their hearts say, praise
the Lord. He's altogether worthy of praise. Praise the Lord. Let them praise
Zion. Let them praise thy great and
terrible fearful name for it is holy. Now, like I said, this
is the first of three times in this Psalm, he speaks of the
holiness of the Lord. Let them praise thy great and
terrible name. Fearful name is what the word
means for it is holy. Now, what does it mean to fear
the Lord? It means that you have such respect
for him that you would not dare come into his presence apart
from the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ, apart from his
sacrifice. Abel demonstrated that to us,
didn't he? When he came into God's presence, he came with
what? The blood sacrifice that pointed to the coming lamb, that
he wouldn't come any other way. And the scripture says God had
respect to Abel and to his offering. Now, how did God have respect?
I tell you this, Abel respected God. He would not dare come apart
from the sacrifice. And through him doing this, he
demonstrated his respect for God. And you don't want anybody
that respects God, he respects them. Isn't that amazing to think
of God respecting me through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Verse four, the King's strength loveth judgment. The King's strength is the Lord
who reigns. He loves judgment. He loves judgment. Thou dost establish equity. And thou execute judgment and
righteousness in Jacob, exalt you, the Lord, our God, and worship
at his footstool for he's holy now. The gospel is a thing of judgment
and righteousness. Yes. It's the thing of grace.
Yes. It's a thing of mercy. Yes. It's a thing of forgiveness.
There's it. Thank the Lord. I want to say reverently praise
the Lord for that. But it's a thing of absolute
righteousness. Romans 1, 16 and 17, Paul says,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God to
salvation to everyone that believeth. to the Jew first and also to
the Greek for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. And that's what's being spoken
of here. Thou lovest righteousness, you execute judgment. The cross
is the greatest exhibition of the absolute justice of God that
could possibly be seen. When sin was found on Christ, that just God killed him. Is there any greater exhibition
of the justice and righteousness of God than in the cross? And here's what is so glorious
in this. Because my sin was put away by what Christ did, I now
stand before God without guilt in a way that honors the justice
and law of God. God says to me, and everybody
Christ died for, you don't have any sin. Come on in. You're accepted. You're perfect. And that is what
the scripture says. Don't you love this? The king's
strength is absolute. Omnipotence also loveth judgment. He loveth judgment, judgment,
justice, or the habitation of thy throne. Thou dost establish
equity. Thou executes judgment and righteousness
in Jacob. Oh, what a reason to exalt the
Lord our God and worship at his footstool, for he is holy. Now, I love the way the scripture
exhorts us to worship God, to worship him. The first time the word worship
in our King James Version is used in the scripture is in Genesis
chapter 22 verse 5, where Abraham said, I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again unto you. And you remember God said,
you take your son, your only son, whom you love and go offer
him up as a burnt offering, slay him and offer him up as a burnt
offering unto me on a mountain that I'll show you. Wow. Well, what does Abraham say? I'm the ladder going yonder to
worship. Now I've heard people say this
and I want to, I want to be careful. I've, I've heard people say worship
is obedience. Christ's obedience. I want to be obedient, but when
I think about my personal obedience and the worship of God, I know
there's no real worship there. Worship is offering up the sacrifice
and believing what God said. He said, I and the lad will go
yonder and worship and return to you. You see, God said this. Promisee will come through Isaac,
even though I kill him, God will raise him from the dead, and
me and Isaac are gonna come back to you while you're waiting on
us. Now that is worship, worship through the sacrifice. I show no real reverence and
respect for God unless I see the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ as everything in my acceptance before God. Do you see that?
Do you see that? Moses, verse six, Moses and Aaron
among his priests and Samuel among them that call upon his
name. They called upon the Lord and
he answered them. Now he speaks of Moses, Aaron,
and Samuel as people who called upon his name. Now that is what
every believer has in common. We call upon his name. Romans
10, 13 says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. And really, this is so simple.
I don't know if simple is the right word, but I'm going to
use it anyway. You call upon who he is to save
you. There's nothing simple about the Lord in the sense that he's
glorious, he's infinite. If I could understand him, there
just wouldn't be much to him. He's altogether glorious, but
when we call upon his name, we're saying, Lord, save me by who
you are. Save me in a way that is just,
that is righteous, according to your righteousness. Save me
by your grace. Save me by your holiness. Save
me by your mercy. Save me by your power. I'm calling
on the Lord to save me because I can't save myself. Lord, save
me. That's what I'm doing when I'm
calling on his name. I'm calling on who he is to save me. It's Lord, save me as an act
of your will. That's calling on his name. You
know what the scripture says? He answered them. Anybody who calls on his name,
He answers. You can't call upon his name
and him not answer you. The leper. Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. Isn't that calling on his name?
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. What'd the Lord say? I will. Be thou clean. What about the thief on the cross?
Lord, Remember me when you come into your kingdom. He answered
him. Barely I say unto you today,
you'll be with me in paradise. When he says he answered him
from the cloudy pillar, that's talking about Moses entering
that cloudy pillar and the Lord speaking with him face to face
as a man speaks with his friend and says, you found grace in
my sight. That's the Lord speaking from
the cloudy pillar. Verse seven, he's speaking to
them in the cloudy pillar. They kept his testimonies and
the ordinance that he gave them. That's believing the gospel. We keep His ordinances when we
believe. And let me say this, we've kept every ordinance in
Christ. I've kept the law. That's why I'm not afraid of
the law. I love the law, because I've kept it in Christ. When
He kept it, I kept it. I was accepted in Him. Now, verse
8. Thou answerest them, O Lord our
God. Thou wast a God that forgavest
them, though thou tookest vengeance on their inventions. For a long
time, that verse of scripture scared me
because I thought, well, he's gonna forgive me, but he's gonna
punish me for my sins in this life. And I would look at that
scripture and it would frighten me. And that's kind of what it
sounds like on the first appearance. It is true that I cannot sin
without some kind of consequence in this life. That's just true.
That's just true. There's a hardening that takes
place. There's nothing good about the commission of sin. And I
love what John said, these things I write unto you that you sin
not. Don't you love that verse? And you know what? Well, I would
never sin again. I would never commit a sin again. I would be perfectly conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ in all things. But if this is
saying, you forgive him, but boy, you're
gonna punish him. Like that. Here's what he's saying. You
forgave their sins, but their sins were not unpunished. Jesus
Christ bore the full vengeance of God on the cross, and those
scenes were not just swept under the rug. Vengeance was taken
against those sins by the holy God in the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, thou forgave us them. Aren't
you thankful the Lord forgives sin? He said, I will be propitious
to their iniquities. That's all about the mercy seat.
That's where that word comes from, through the mercy seat.
I will be propitious to their iniquities, to their unrighteousness
and their sins and iniquities. I will remember no more. And this boggles my mind. But when I'm in heaven, God's
not going to be saying, I remember what you did. I remember what
you thought. I remember how you failed me.
He's going to see someone who has never sinned. That is the glory of being a
believer. This is the glory of what Christ
actually accomplished in behalf of every one of his people. Thou
answers them, O Lord, our God. He always answers. Thou was a
God that forgave us them, though thou took us vengeance of their
inventions. That's their deeds, their sins. Every one of them, God got full
vengeance against. in the person of his son. That's
why Christ cried, my God, my God, why is thou forsaken me?
Because he was forsaken because of our sin that he took upon
himself. Now, he says in verse nine. Exalt. The Lord, our God. And worship at his holy hill
there, we have the third reference to his holiness. Holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty,
all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. He's holy. And we bow before
him. And the way I know somebody really
believes God's holy, they don't want to have anything to do with
God apart from Jesus Christ. That's acknowledging His holiness. Exalt the Lord our God in worship
at His holy hill for the Lord our God is holy. And we can give thanks at the
remembrance of His holiness.