Last night I had a dream that
I got up for Sunday school and forgot to study and didn't have
any notes and everything. It's what I call my stress dreams. I have them all the time. So
I was thankful when I woke up. Psalm 95. O come, let us sing unto the
Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to
the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence
with thanksgiving. and make a joyful noise unto
him with psalms, for the Lord is a great God, and a great King
above all gods. In his hand are the deep places
of the earth. The strength of the hills is
his also. The sea is his, and he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land. Oh, come, let us worship
and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord,
our maker. For he is our God, and we are
the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Today,
if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation,
and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness when your fathers
tempted me, proved me and saw my work. Forty years long was
I grieved with this generation and said it to people that do
err in their heart. They've not known my ways, unto
whom I swear in my wrath that they should not enter into my
rest. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that we might be
enabled to do as this psalm has said, to enter into your presence
with joy and thanksgiving through the gospel of thy son. We pray
for your blessing. We pray that you would cause
your gospel to be preached in the power of your spirit. We
ask that you would give us hearing ears and receptive hearts. Oh,
Lord, bless us for Christ's sake. Lord, we're so thankful that
you know what we need, and we ask that you would be pleased
to give us what we need. Lord, we ask that you would cause
us to have a great need of thy son
and a great need of thy gospel that we might be blessed to be
among the poor and needy that your son has died for and keeps
and preserves. Lord, accept our thanksgiving.
We ask that you give us grace to love you more, to love one
another more. We're so thankful for the fellowship
we have in the gospel. Lord, we pray for your presence
wherever your people meet together. We pray that you would be pleased
to speak. Forgive us of our sins for the
Lord's sake. In his name we pray, amen. Now this particular psalm is
quoted in Hebrews chapter three and Hebrews chapter four. And
how many times did you notice the word, oh come let us, let
us, let us. Didn't there a bunch of times,
I didn't count them. The point is, this is talking about public
worship. Oh, come, let us sing unto the
Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to
the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence
with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. God
is glorified in public worship. And really, if I don't worship
publicly, I don't really worship privately. And the most intimate
private worship we ever experience really, is when we hear the Lord
speak to us in the preaching of the word. You know, that's
when I have assurance. When I hear the gospel, and I
know this is The gospel, I believe. Oh, what assurance is given in
that. So this thing of public worship,
come let us, let us, let us. The assembling of God's people,
the Lord has promised where two or three are gathered together
in my name. There I am in the midst of them. Oh, come let us sing unto the
Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to
the rock of our salvation. I'm gonna read a passage of scripture
from Colossians chapter three. You can turn there if you want. Verse 16, Colossians chapter
three, verse 16. Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. I love that verse of scripture.
You know, the way we express ourself, I suppose, the best
is singing in our hearts. When peace like a river attends
my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot,
thou hast taught me to say, even so, it is well with my soul. Isn't it a blessing to be able
to sing in your heart the hymns we sing to the Lord by yourself
with nobody else listening? We do so together, and we do
so in our hearts privately. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,
the King of creation. Oh, my soul, praise Him, for
He is thy health and salvation. It's such a blessing to be able
to sing with these spiritual songs, making melody in our hearts
to the Lord. I wish I could keep those kind
of hymns on my mind rather than singing some kind of silly songs
that get in my mind. of hymns of praise, singing and
making melody in your heart to the Lord. And notice he says,
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. I
love this thing of joy. Joy is so different from happiness.
Understand that happiness is all based upon circumstances
and there's plenty to make us sad as far as circumstances goes
There's there's plenty of problems in this world. There's plenty
of problems at our heart Seeing the ravages of sin. There's a
lot to make folks sad. There's no question about that,
but you can always have joy Because joy is in the Lord It's not based
on circumstances, it's based on who's on the throne. It's
based on he does all things well. And we can have joy in that respect. I love that scripture, the kingdom
of heaven. It's not meat and drink. It's
not do's and don't do's. It's righteousness and peace
and joy. in the Holy Ghost. If you believe
Christ is your righteousness, here's two things you're going
to feel, peace and joy. That's the kingdom of heaven. We read of the joy and peace
of believing the fruit of the spirit is joy. Now I want to
be someone who in my heart, when the Lord looks at me, he sees
someone who rejoices in him, has joy in him. Even if your
heart's sad, even if it seems like your life is falling apart,
you know he's in control. He's the first cause of everything.
He's too wise to err. He's too kind to be cruel, and
whatever he does is right. Joy. Oh, come, let us sing unto
the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to
the rock of our salvation. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Deuteronomy chapter 32? Give ear, O ye heavens, and I
will speak. And hear, O earth, the words
of my mouth, my doctrine. shall drop as the rain. My speech
shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender
herb and as the showers upon the grass, because I will publish
the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God." And
look at this, he is the rock. Unmovable. The salvation of our
souls. His work, is perfect, for all
his ways are judgment, absolute justice and righteousness. A
God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. Isn't that a wonderful passage
of scripture describing our Lord? Look in this same chapter in
verse 31. For there, Rock, The rock of false religion is
not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. They'll
say, well, my God's not like that. I know he's not. I know
he's not. But this is the God of the Bible, our rock. Now, go back to Psalm 95. Let us come before his presence
with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. First Thessalonians chapter 5
verse 18 says, in all things giving thanks for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Whatever it is, it's God's
will concerning you. I'm so thankful for that because
I would be Tempted to not be thankful. I wish it was better.
No, it's best. God is in absolute control. Salvation is always by grace. Salvation is always in Christ. And there's always a reason to
come into his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto
him with psalms. Aren't you thankful for the psalms? The Psalms express what I feel
better than I can express. The feeling toward sin, the feeling
toward God, the feeling toward His grace. I'm so thankful for
the Psalms. David called himself, under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the sweet psalmist of Israel.
And he is that, isn't he? I love David. I love David's
Lord. He says in verse three, for the
Lord, is a great God and a king above all gods. Glorious in holiness. Fearful in praises. I love the language of that,
don't you? Fearful in praises, do in wonders. He's a great God. He's great in all of his attributes.
He's great in his character. He's great in his person. He's
great in his salvation. He is great in his creation.
He's great in providence. Everything he does is perfect.
He controls everything and how great he is in his salvation. He's a great God, a great king
above all gods. Now that doesn't mean that there
are other gods. Look in Psalm 96 verse Four, for the Lord is great and
greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all
gods for all the gods of the nations are what? Idols. Idols. Man-made gods. There's one God. And every false
concept of God is nothing more than an idol. Turn to Psalm 115. Verse three, our God is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Their idols are silver and gold. The work of men's hands. They
have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see
not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but
they smell not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet have they, but they walk not. Neither speak they
through their throat. They that make them are likened
to them. And so is everyone that trusteth
in them. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord." All these false
imaginations of gods, man-made gods, that's what they are. And
the Lord is far above them. Turn back to Psalm 95. He's a great king above all gods. Now, I love this verse, verse
four. In his hand are the deep places of the earth, the depths,
things we don't see. They're in his hand. The strength of the hills, in
my marginal reading, says the height of the hills is his also. Now here are things that we kind
of know what it means, but we can't really put the depths way
deep down. There he is. The heights. There he is. Verse five, the
sea is his and he made it. His hands formed the dry land,
the creation of the Lord. I love singing that hymn. We
sing, this is my father's world. This is my father's world. The
earth is the Lord's. and the fullness thereof, the
world and they that dwell therein." Everything is his. He formed the dry land. And then
he says in verse six, Oh, come let us. There's that word, let
us again. That's so special. This thing
of public worship together. Isn't it a blessing to be with
people right now who believe the same gospel you believe?
who trust the same Christ you trust, who believe the same God
you believe. Let us, let us, let us. And he
says, oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before
the Lord, our maker. Now it's only the believer that
can worship in the first place. Let us worship. The Lord, an
unbeliever, a natural man cannot worship God. You see, God is
spirit. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus. God is spirit. That means he is not confined
the way you and I are by space and time. He's eternal. He is spirit. And they that worship him must
worship him in spirit. And that means the Holy Spirit.
You and I can't worship God without the Holy Spirit. It's only by
his spirit that we worship him. Paul said in Philippians chapter
three, verse three, we are the circumcision, which worship God
in the spirit. What's that look like? That means
you rejoice in Christ. You glory only in Christ. Well, what's that look like?
You have no confidence in the flesh. Those three things always
go together. We worship God in the spirit,
we rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence in the
flesh. They that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth. There's no worship of God apart
from the truth. It's not some kind of ethereal,
Ooey gooey thing, you worship God according to the truth of
his word. Oh come, let us worship and bow
down. Let us kneel before the Lord,
our maker, for he is our God. Now what a reason for thankfulness.
This God of glory, He's my God. He's the one who's for me. If
God be for us, who can be against us? He has entered into covenant
with me to be mine. I am his, I am his, and he is
mine. What could possibly better than
that? To have God as your God. You bow down. You worship him. You believe him to be who he
says he is. You rely only on him and you're
glad he is who he is. You rejoice in all of his attributes.
You wouldn't change him if it were in your power. You worship
him for who he is. He is our God and I love this. We are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand. He's the great shepherd. He's
the chief shepherd. He's the good shepherd who gives
his life for the sheep. And I like being just a sheep.
Sheep, they're dumb. They're easily led astray. They can't defend themselves.
They don't have claws. They don't have fangs. They're
easy prey to anybody. And their only security is the
shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Sheep. What's the evidence of
being a sheep? You believe the gospel. You believe the gospel, you're
a sheep. You're his sheep. The sheep that he laid down his life
for. You remember when those fellows said to the Lord, how
long make us doubted down? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. He said, I told you plainly and you believe not.
He said, you believe not because you're not my sheep. He didn't
say you're not my sheep because you don't believe. He said, you
believe not because you're not on my sheep. As I said unto you,
my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. We are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you will hear his voice. God speaks. He's the God who
speaks. And I can't hear his voice unless
he gives me ears to hear. I realize that. The Lord said,
he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. But I want to be one
of those people who hear his voice in the gospel. Not just hearing a preacher's
voice. If the only voice we hear is my voice, it will do us no
good at all, but to hear him speak from his word. Today, if
you will hear his voice, the voice of God in the gospel. It takes years he's given to
hear it, but oh, I don't want to be one of these people who
never really hears his voice. I just hear the voice of a man.
I follow a man. No, I want to hear his voice. Today, if you will hear his voice,
what's he say? Harden not your hearts. That very thought just scares
me. To harden my heart toward the
voice of God in his gospel. What do you got to do to harden
your heart? Nothing. Nothing. That's it. Harden not your heart. I, I fear
I don't, I don't want to hear the gospel with a hard heart
to you. I want to have a soft heart, a pliable heart, the heart
that God has given. That's the way I want to hear
the gospel. I don't want to hear it with a hard heart where it just bounces
off of me and it's meaningless to me. Hearing the gospel is
old news rather than news. Now when I hear the gospel, what
a blessing it is. And you know this as well as
I do. Isn't it glorious when you hear the gospel just like
it's the first time you've ever heard it? It's the best news
you've ever heard. It's new, it's fresh, it's glorious. And how difficult it is to hear
the gospel with a hardened heart, where it's just not speaking
to you. Maybe it's speaking to somebody else, but it's not speaking
to you. I love that hymn by Fanny Crosby, Pass Me Not. O tender Savior, hear my humble
cry, while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by. Harden not your hearts, and notice
he speaks of two events in the Old Testament. Harden not your
hearts as in the provocation, as in the day of temptation in
the wilderness when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw
my work. 40 years long was I agreed with
this generation and said, it's a people that do air in their
heart. They've not known my ways. Now he's speaking about two events. The first event is that event
in Exodus chapter 17, where the Lord's brought him out of Egypt.
And they said, why have you brought us into this mess? We don't have
anything to drink. We were better off in Egypt and
here we are out here. And that's when the Lord, had
Moses strike the rock and the water came out of the rock, but
they murmured at him. And the next thing he's referring
to is there in Numbers chapters 13 and 14, when they finally
entered the promised land and Moses sent 40 spies. Did the
Lord tell him to do that? I don't think so, but he did
it. The Lord told him the land was good, but he sent 40 spies
to check out the land to see if it was good. And they come
back with this report. It was just as good as the Lord
said. However, there are giants in the land and we're like grasshoppers
before them and they'll kill us. And then all the people started
moaning and crying. The Lord brought them out of
Egypt. The Lord parted the Red Sea. Why couldn't he bring them
in? They just didn't believe. And
here's what the Lord says of this. He said, well, you've 40
days. Well, I'm going to give you 40
years in the wilderness. 40 years long, was I grieved
with this generation? And I said, here's his description
of these people. It's a people that do air in
their heart. Now, the heart is where real
business is done. And these people, ere they go
astray, he said, in their heart, they have not known my ways. The way of grace, the way of
Christ, I am the way, the way of the gospel, They've not really
known or loved, is the word. They've not really loved my ways.
And you'll remember that of this group, could have been several
million. I've heard estimates two to three
million of the people that came out of Egypt. Of the individuals
that left who were over 20 years old, and that would have had
to have been a million anyway, how many entered the Promised
Land? Two. Two, Caleb, the faithful dog, and
Joshua, the Savior, they were the only adults who entered the
promised land because of unbelief. Unto whom I swear, verse 11,
in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest. Like I said, this is quoted in
both Hebrews three and Hebrews four, but would you turn with
me in Hebrews four? Verse 19 of chapter three. He's
talking about these multitudes that didn't enter into the promised
land. We read in verse 19. So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. Unbelief is such an evil sin.
It's the sin, it's irreverence, it's failure to believe God.
And how wicked is that? To not believe Him who is absolutely
trustworthy? To not believe Him who is absolutely
glorious and not believe Him? To call Him a liar is what you're
saying if you don't believe Him. It's to not trust Him. It's to
have no respect for Him. It's to have no reverence for
His person. Unbelief is the sin of sins. It's the mother of all
other sin. They entered in, not in because
of unbelief. Verse one, chapter four. Let
us therefore fear. Lest a promise being left us
of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short
of it. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them,
but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed
with faith in them that heard. Four. We which have believed
do enter into rest. As he said, as I've sworn in
my wrath, if they or they shall not enter into my rest, talking
about the people who didn't, didn't enter in. And then he
makes this statement. I love this. Although the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. Everything has
already been finished before time. There's nothing that's
going to happen that the Lord has not already purposed, decreed,
and done. Verse four, for he spake in a
certain place on the seventh day, on this wise, and God did
rest the seventh day from all of his works. Talking about him
resting from the works of creation. And in this place again, if they
shall enter into my rest, or they shall not enter into my
rest, is the way that could read. Seeing therefore it remaineth
that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first
preached entered not in because of unbelief, again he limiteth
a certain day, saying in David, what we just read, today, after
so long a time, as it said today, if you will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts. For if Jesus, Joshua, talking
about the Old Testament, had given them rest, Then would he
not afterwards spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore
a rest, a Sabbath of rest. There remains, it's very real,
a Sabbath of rest for the people of God. For he that is entered
into his rest, what do you do? He ceased from his own works. Have you ever done that? Have
I ever done that? Ceased from your own works and trust his
work alone. And that's what it is to rest
in Christ. It's to cease from your own works as God did from
his. God, when he finished creation, he said, it's very good. When
we rest in Christ, we believe that what he did is very good,
and we need nothing else. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. I don't wanna be presumptuous. I don't wanna take this for granted.
I don't wanna fall. I wanna labor. to enter in to
His rest.