Evening, everybody. If you'd
like, turn to your text. It's going to be Psalm 115. Psalm
115. We're going to consider the first eight verses,
Psalm 115. Let's start by reading them. Verse one. Not unto us, O Lord. Not unto us, but unto thy name
give glory. For thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? When 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 with any authority. And they that make them are like
unto them. So is everyone that trusteth
in them. A question. What is the issue with our fallen
race? And we have many issues, many
sinful and wicked issues, but what is the overreaching issue
that outshines all other issues? Is it this, Jeremiah 17 9, the
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? It says it's
deceitful. The heart. You know what the
heart is. You guys have been listening to the same man preach for the
last 30 years I have. The heart is every aspect of the man. It
is the origin of every aspect of the man. Every thought. Every
action. Every motive. Every intent. This is the heart of man. It
says, number one, it's deceitful. That means it's polluted or poisoned. Poisoned by sin. And it's desperately
wicked. You know what that means? It
doesn't mean anything to me. It means incurable. Incurable. There's nothing you can do to
reform it. You can't make it any better. You can't shape it
up. You can't make it good. You have
to have something new. This is why David said in Psalm
51, Create in me a clean heart, O Lord. Renew a right spirit
within me. You have to have something new. But is this the issue? No, unfortunately it gets much,
much worse. Turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and look at
verse 6. Romans 8 verse 6 says, For to
be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Now to be carnally minded, what
that's referring to is the heart. That same wicked, evil nature
we were just talking about Each one of us are born with. It's
the exact same thing. This is what the scripture has to say about
it. It's death. It's death. You can take that two ways. Number
one, it leads to death. If the Lord does not come to
me where I'm at, and he does not give me a new man, a new nature,
he does not give me life, I'm going to die. And I'm going to
suffer the wrath of God justly for what I've done, for what
I've said, for what I've thought. It leads to death. But also this
is the second thing. It's a dead nature. It cannot
meet the demands of God, the spiritual demands. It cannot
believe God. It can't. It won't. It cannot
love God. It cannot love its people. It
does not repent. It will not change its mind.
It's obstinate. It's dead. In contrast, you hear, but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace. This is the new man.
And it's life. The Lord gives you his nature.
His Spirit, you have life. You have life everlasting. You'll
never die. But it's an alive nature. It's
a nature that can. It believes. It can't do anything
but. It may be weak faith, but folks, it's faith. You believe
God. And it's not that you made a conscious decision to repent.
Well, I'm gonna change my mind. Your mind's been changed. You
can't think any other way. I used to think this about God. I know
now He is the other way. I used to think this is the way
He saved. I now know it's the other way. And here's the reason. but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace. The reason you're
given it is because there is peace between you and God. It's
because the Lord Jesus Christ made your peace long before you
ever knew you needed it. Now, back to the original question.
Is this dead nature, the deadness and inability of our nature,
this heart, is this the chief issue? Unfortunately, no. There is one overreaching issue
that goes past all this, and it's actually found in verse
7 there, if you look down. Because the carnal mind is enmity against
God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. The word enmity means opposed. This is how bad we are by nature.
This is the overreaching issue that outshines all other issues.
is that by nature we stand in opposition to God and the way
He saves sinners. Now here's a question. Why? Why
does he stand in opposition of God? Why does the natural man
hate God? And I recognize that the natural man is foreign to
this belief. He does not know that he hates God. It's because
he's never come in contact with Him. Because the Gospel is preached
so rarely nowadays. The Jesus they hear of is not
the Jesus of this Bible. Therefore, the Jesus that is preached to
him, he loves. He's comfortable with him. But
if he ever comes in contact with the God of this Bible, he will
find that he hates him, and he hates the way he saves. Why? Why? There's two reasons. They're
actually both located in our text. Look at verse one of your
text, Psalm 115. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give, what is that word? Glory. For thy mercy. For thy true sake. This is the first reason for
the enmity. This is the first reason that the natural man hates
God. Because the manner by which the
Lord saves a sinner is a manner by which he gets all the glory. It's called salvation by grace.
And in that manner of saving, there is no glory to be had for
man. Here's a statement. Every aspect
of God's salvation glorifies God alone and refutes any argument
for the glory of man. Now let me tell you what I'm
talking about here. I'll give you some examples. Consider the love of God for
his people, his chosen people. When did that love begin? It
has always been there. The Father has always loved the
elect, His chosen people in Christ. He's always loved them. He loved
us long before we ever had a consciousness, before the worlds ever began,
before we could do any good or evil, where there was ever an
opportunity to earn the love of God. Before we had that consciousness,
He loved us, had nothing to do with us and everything to do
with who we were united to, His Son, Jesus Christ. Where is glory
for man in the love of God? Where is boasting? is excluded. But the election, the choosing,
God sovereignly choosing His people. Once again, this took
place before the world began, before we ever had a consciousness.
And it was all for one reason, because we were united to the
Lord Jesus Christ. It was very simple. The election is very
simple. The Father looked at His Son, in whom He was well
pleased, and He chose Him. And because the union between
the Son and His bride, His people, is so strong, when the Father
chose Christ, He got the rest of us too. He chose one man,
the rest of us came with him. That's the way it worked. Now,
where's glory for man in the election of God and the choosing
of God? Boasting is excluded. What justification? The Lord
Jesus Christ came to this world and he lived a perfect life.
He lived a perfect life. And he established the righteousness
for his people, so much so that it really is ours. We were in
him. And when he walked the paths
of righteousness, We walk them too in him. But understand, somebody
had to take the step. Somebody had to do it. Someone
had to accomplish righteousness. It was his hand. It was his foot
that accomplished it. What about the atonement for
the sins of his people? He hung on a cross. He was made the sins
of his people. He suffered his father's wrath
for those sins. And we hung there too in him.
But somebody had to do it. Somebody had to suffer. Somebody
had to die. He did it. Where's glory for man in that?
Where's boasting for man? It's excluded. What's sanctification,
regeneration, the giving of the new birth, a new man, the spiritual
mind in Christ? Here's a good illustration. You've
heard it several times. It's very applicable right now.
How much glory do you get in your physical birth? What credit
do you get in your physical birth? You were born to the actions
of someone else. and in your spiritual birth it
is no different. You were born, you were birthed into the kingdom
of God through the actions of someone else because Jesus Christ
agreed to be your surety before time began. Now I ask you, where
is boasting for man in the new birth? It is excluded. Well, faith. Somebody says, that's
it, right? If there's one place man gets glory, it's faith, right? I mean, you have to believe.
You stand up here all the time. You say, come to Christ. You have to believe.
Absolutely true. I'm not going to disagree with
you. But let's be very clear about this, because Paul was.
By grace are you saved, through faith, but in case there's any
question about where that came from, that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. And if
it's a gift, that means it was freely given. It wasn't earned.
It wasn't sought for. It was just freely given. Where's glory
for man in that? Where's boasting? It's excluded.
What perseverance? In my dying breath, in your dying
breath, I have to die trusting Christ alone. That's how I must
die. Is there any glory for man in
that? Let me read you a scripture. You don't have to turn there,
just let me read it. It says 1 Peter 1 verse 3. Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to His abundant mercy have forgotten us again until a lively hope
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation." Perseverance is preservation, preserved all
the way to the end. How are we kept? By the power of God. Where's
glory for man and all that? Where's boasting? It is excluded. God gets all the glory. And this
is the first place, this is where the enmity begins, right here.
Because the man says, if there's no glory in it for me, I will
have none of that. None of that. Also, look at verse
one again. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Now this is the voice of the
new man. This is the voice of the believer. And this is what
he desires, more than anything else, that the Lord Jesus Christ
would have all the glory in his salvation. Why? Our pastor has
given us two really good reasons of reason. Number one, because
if he doesn't get all the glory, that means there's something
I have to do. That means there's something that I have to do to
contribute to my salvation if some glory is due me. And that
means I won't be saved, because there's nothing I can come up
with. And here's the other reason. It's because he deserves it.
Look again, right there. It says, but unto thy name give
glory for thy mercy. Why was I saved? By mercy, for
mercy's sake. Because of the Lord Jesus Christ,
I was shown mercy. And here's the truth, mercy and
truth's sake. If he had to look in me to find
the reason to show that mercy, he would not find it. Now, this
is what's known as sovereign mercy. What does that look like?
Turn to Genesis chapter 19. I'm going to give you the back story here.
I think most of you are familiar with this story. This is Lot in Sodom. What we know from the scriptures
is that Lot was a believer. The Lord saved Lot, refers to him
as a righteous man with a righteous soul. But he was also a very
contradictory man. And I'm thankful that the scriptures
put him in here because Lot gives me a lot of hope. Because if
there's hope for Lot, there's hope for me. This picks up two angels walking to
Sodom. And Lot's sitting at the gate. He recognizes them. He
says, come into our house. Come into my house. Angels don't
want to, but he says, come on. And they go, right? And through
a course of actions which display the true depravity of man and
also the inconsistencies in Lot, we end up here in verse 13. Look
here. This is the angel speaking to
Lot. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them
is waxing great before the face of the Lord. And the Lord has
sent us to destroy it. Now is there any, anybody misunderstanding
what they said? Like if an angel came to you
and said that, would you understand what was going to happen? He
said, we're going to destroy this place. We're going to level it.
We're going to wet lay waste to it. Right? Pick up in verse 15. And when
the morning arose, Then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise,
take thy wife and thy two daughters, which are here, lest thou be
consumed in the iniquity of the city. Now look at verse 16. And
while he lingered. Was there any confusion in that
statement? No. We're going to destroy this place,
Lot. Get your wife, get your kids, and get out of here. We're
going to destroy this place. We're going to level it to the ground. But he lingered.
He loved this place. This was a sinful and evil and
wicked place, but he loved being there. He loved it. When destruction
was looking him in the face, he still lingered. And folks,
that was us. That's every blood-bought son of God in the beginning right
there. Lingering, afar off from God, not seeking the Lord's face,
completely and utterly content to be wicked, to be evil, to
live in sin. He lingered. But this is sovereign mercy.
Verse 16, and while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand.
and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two
daughters, the Lord being merciful unto him. And they brought him
forth and set him without the city." Folks, that's sovereign mercy.
We lingered, happy in sin, happy being separated from God, just
content exactly where we were, but he came to us, he took us
by the hand, and he drug us out. That's sovereign mercy. Now, the first reason for the
enmity of the natural man, glory. The second reason found in verses
2 and 3 of Psalm 115. Look back there. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. What is the second reason
that the natural man stands in opposition to God, that he hates
Him? It's because of this, because he does what he pleases. He is
the absolute sovereign. He does what he wills, with whom
he wills, when he wills, at all times. Everything that is happening,
with every man, with every creature, is just his will coming about.
Where's your God? He's in the heavens. And right
now, presently, no matter what we're talking about, He is doing
His will. His will trumps your will. Every
single time. That's the second reason for
the enmity right there, especially in salvation. When a man hears
God is sovereign and the only way a man can be saved is if
God chooses him and he wills his salvation and there is nothing
you can do to manipulate him, this is where the enmity comes
out. No God, I will not have that man to rule over me. I find
this interesting. He hates the glory of God. He
hates the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ gets all the glory
in salvation. He wants nothing to do with salvation
by grace. And then he wars against the
sovereignty of God and then accuses his sovereignty of holding him
off. He says that's not fair. The sovereignty of God holds
off men who wish to be saved. That couldn't be further from
the truth. It includes men that would otherwise be damned. But
let me point this out. What if it did? What is wrong
with the Lord withholding from a man what he does not want and
what he kicks against in the first place? Absolutely nothing. God is sovereign. He's just. I'll also say this. Here's a
sidebar note on these two verses. In these two verses, presently,
right now, is every believer's reason to be of very good courage. Now, I want to give you the context
of this. If you'll notice when we started reading here, this psalm
is untitled. We don't know who the author
is, and we don't even know the context in which it was written. But
if you read most of the commentary on it, most of them believe this
was written during the Babylonian occupation of Israel or directly
after that. One of the two. So the writer here, the psalmist,
he is writing from the standpoint of being conquered. Right now
his enemy has the rule over him. Right now he is under the thumb
and the dominion of his enemy. And no doubt his enemy says this,
wherefore now is your God? Where is He? You sing these songs
about your mighty Jehovah. He led you out of Egypt. He's
your Almighty. He parted the Red Seas for you.
You talk about His sovereignty. You talk about His power. Right
now, my boot's on your neck. Where's your God right now? And
it takes special grace to see this. The Lord has to give this
to you in the moment. This was this man's reply. You know where
my God is? He's in the heavens. And right now, presently, even
under your dominion, in your occupation, He's doing exactly
what He is pleased to do. You think you have power? You
are under his thumb. You are his henchman. You are
doing exactly what he would have you to do. And you know what?
I may not understand how this leads to his glory. I may not
understand how this is for my good. And I may not understand
how he's going to bring good out of this. But I don't have
to. My God's in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. So no matter what the circumstances
may be this present moment or any other time in your life,
here's comfort. Here's courage. Where's your
God? He's in the heavens, ruling and reigning and doing exactly
as He pleases. So, the natural man hates God.
Why? Because God gets all the glory
and salvation. Because He's sovereign. He rules sovereignly over men.
So what does He do? How does He respond? How does
the natural man respond because of this enmity? Look at verse
4 of your text. says their idols are silver and
gold, the work of men's hands. He does not like the God of the
Bible. He does not care for him. He doesn't care for the way he
saves sinners. So what does he do? He makes his own God. And notice here where it says,
the work of men's hands. The creator is always sovereign
over the created. He doesn't like the sovereignty
of God. He doesn't like the fact that Christ gets all the glory
and salvation, so he makes his own God, right? It's the work
of his hands, which means he has dominion over his own God. He
carved a little statue, he doesn't even have to do that. And he
sits him on a pedestal and he says, this is where he's at.
And he assigns him whatever attributes he wants, whatever he's comfortable
with. But the Creator, the man, is the one who is sovereign over
the Creator, the God. He says, here's what you're going
to do for me. You have these attributes, and you're going to do this for
me, and you're going to do that for me. I've assigned you these things, now go do it.
He is comfortable with that God. He loves that God, the one he
can control. And you say, I don't see a whole lot of totems around
here, little carved out statues. Yes, you do. They're preached
out of most pulpits around Lexington, Kentucky, every single week.
God loves you. He loves everybody. He wants
to save you. But you just have to let him,
allow him to. It's the idol a man makes right
there. He's a false god. What's his attributes? Look at
verse 5. 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 with any authority
whatsoever. What does he mean by this? He's
got eyes, but he can't see. He's got ears, but he can't hear.
He's saying your God is fictitious and made up. That means he is
weak and he is impotent and he is powerless. He can't do anything
for himself and he can't do anything for you. This is interesting. This psalmist has a great sense
of humor. I would like to met this guy. Look at verse 8. This
is hilarious. And they that make them are like unto them, so is
everyone that trusteth in them. Your God, He can't see anything,
and neither can you. You can't see the glory of God.
You can't see Him for who He really is. You can't see your
own sinfulness. Your God, He's got ears, but
He can't hear anything. You can't hear the gospel is good news.
You got hands just like your God, but you have unacceptable
works because you're not justified by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
Your feet are swift to shed blood. You have no power with God because
you have no savior and you have no mediator. As your God is weak
and powerless, so are you. I think it's funny. Everybody
who trusts in them, you're just like your God. Here's what I
want to do with the rest of our time. I think this is interesting. Through this, it shows us six
attributes that the idol lacks, right? Those are also attributes
that our God, the true and living God of the Bible, that He abounds
in. So we're going to talk about these things, the mouth, the
sight, the hearing, things of that nature. Keep this in mind.
When I started researching this and studying this, it turns out
half this book is written about these things. So I'm going to
give you just the tip of the iceberg. It's just, it's not
going to be enough. It's just going to be the tip of the iceberg,
but hopefully it will bless it and you get something out of
it. But here's the first one. The idol doesn't speak, but our
God does. Let me give you the scripture.
Psalm 33.6 says, By the word of the Lord were the heavens
made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. How
did the creation come about? How powerful is our God? How
omnipotent? It is simply this, to have something,
to create something, He speaks it. Your idol, he has no breath,
he has no speech, he can't create anything. Our God, Ken, just
speaks it and it comes about. He purposes it and it is. That's
who He is. But, that's the power of His
speech. But there's a graciousness to His speech, too, when He speaks
to His people. I want you to turn to this. Turn to Isaiah
chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. It shows the graciousness of
the Lord's wooing of His people. Now imagine who we're talking
about here. This is the Omnipotent One, the Absolute Sovereign,
and He's dealing with His creation, right? He can talk to us and
do with us whatever He wants, but listen to this. Listen to
this gracious language. Verse 18, Come now and let us
reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool." Now, how gracious is this call, this
wooing of our God? He says, come. Don't hold off.
Just come here. Come, like a father would. Come.
Let us reason together. The path you're on right now
is unreasonable. You stand in opposition to me. You stand in
opposition to the way I say. This is unreasonable. It'll lead
to your death. Come. I'm going to reason with you.
I'm going to sit you down. It is unreasonable. You're trying
to approach me based on something you have done and I'm holy and
I'm absolutely just. I can't accept that. This is
unreasonable. Sit down. And you don't know
the half of the matter. Though your sins be like crimson, they're
much, much worse than you ever thought it would be. This is
him speaking to his people every single time. They shall be white
as snow. Not I'm going to make a way for
you to make them white as snow. They shall be. I've already done
it. Now sit down. Sit down. I'm going to reason
with you. You're in a path of opposition. Stop. Go down to
the next verse. If ye be willing and obedient,
ye shall eat the good of the land. Now somebody says there's
some glory for man, right? You have to be willing, right?
Free will, right there. You have to be obedient. You have to keep
the law. Here's what this means. Willing. Let me ask a question
to everybody in this room. Is this the way you want to be
saved? Are you willing to be saved by a God who will have
all the glory for Himself? Are you willing to be saved by
the Lord? Then you have been. That is not natural. The natural
man does not want that. If you are willing right now,
it is simply because you have been made willing. My people will
be willing in the day of my power. Obedience! What is this talking
about? Obedience to the law? We can't keep the law. We don't
have to. The Lord Jesus Christ kept the law for us. It's over.
This is the obedience of faith. Do you trust Him? Even weak faith. This is for you. The idol can't see, but our God
can. Turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4 and pick up
at verse 12. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints
and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest
in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes
of him with whom we have to do." That statement, with whom we
have to do what, that means with whom we are accountable to. He
has eyes and he sees, folks, and here's what he sees. Everything
is naked and open to him. The heart of every man is open
to him. He peers right through it. As much as a man might try
to clean himself up, he peers through it and he sees what's
actually inside there. I have two thoughts on this.
Number one, this is the reality of justification. The reality
of it. There's nothing hid from him.
Everything is naked and open. What is really there is exactly
what he sees. And when He looks at His people,
if you're a believer right now, you're His people. Do you understand
that? Here's what He sees. He sees perfection. You're blameless
in His sight. There's not a speck of sin there.
Because when He's looking at you, He sees His Son, Jesus Christ,
in whom He's well pleased. That's the reality of justification.
He sees things as they really are. And this is how effectual
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ was. When He looks at us, He
sees nothing but perfection. Here's my second thought on that.
How foolish it is to lie to the Lord and come proclaiming your
own works. How foolish. That is, he sees
through it. He sees what's inside there. He sees the motives. He
sees the intentions. He sees what is really there.
Folks, you can't be too bad to come to him, but you can certainly
be too good. Why would you ever try to clean yourself up? You
can clean up the outside of the cup as much as you want, but
you can't clean up the inside of the cup. Don't clean yourself
up, that's what the world says. You have to have this laundry
list of reformations you've made. I've cleaned myself up, I'm done
better. These are the reasons you should have mercy on me.
Don't do that. He sees in the heart. Come naked
and come exposed. Come with your sin. The idol can't hear, but our
God can. I want you to turn to Hebrews
chapter four again. I think you're there. Let me
read you this verse of scripture first though. This is Psalm 18,
verse 6. David says, in my distress, I
called upon the Lord and cried unto my God. He heard my voice
out of his temple. And my cry came before him, even
to his ears. Take a minute to soak that in.
Right now, every believer has full access to God. at any given time, you can sit
down and pray and speak to this One that is absolutely sovereign,
the Almighty, that controls everything and everyone, and you have an
audience with Him because of who your Mediator is. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now look down at verse 14 of
Hebrews chapter 4. It says, seeing then that we have
a great High Priest that is passed in the heavens, Jesus the Son
of God, Let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a
high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
This is our great high priest. This is our mediator. Here's
what it says about him, that he understands and he is empathetic
to everything that we bring before him. When you groan to him about
your sin and how bad you are, you know what? He empathizes
that because he was made your sin. Whatever you are experiencing,
whatever you are bringing before Him, whatever trouble you have,
He has experienced it all the more acutely and ten times more. And He is empathetic to our cause.
And this is the power He has with His Father. He takes those
prayers. He delivers it to His Father. And because of who brings
it, because if it's His Son, this One in whom He's well-pleased,
He lends that a tent of ears to those prayers. And He grants
the requests for Christ's sake. Now look at this. This is our
confidence. Verse 16, let us therefore come boldly unto the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to
help in time of need. So we should be timid about this
thing of coming to the Lord. He lends the attentive ear. Come
boldly now to the throne of grace. You have full access to God. He says here, find mercy. This is a prayer that is never
turned away. This is something that is sought for, that is never
turned away. If you need mercy, You'll have it, and you'll find
grace to help in time of need. But our God hears, and even right
now you have an audience with him because of who your mediator
is, the Lord Jesus Christ. The idol can't smell, but our
God can. Turn to Genesis 8. Genesis 8 and look at verse 20.
This is the very first thing Noah did when he got off the
boat. And Noah built an altar unto
the Lord and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl
and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled
a sweet savor. And the Lord said in his heart,
I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake. For the
imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, neither
will I again smite any more every living as I have done." Now,
what happened? What did Noah do? He came off
and he offered a sacrifice. And this is a God who smells.
And this sacrifice had a sweet-smelling savor. And because of this sacrifice,
his hand of wrath was then stayed. You know what this is talking
about? This is talking about the satisfaction the Lord Jesus Christ
finds in the death of His Son. Make no mistake, that this is
where all God's satisfaction is found. It is at the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That sacrifice had a sweet smelling
savor to him. And because of that sacrifice,
he says for everyone for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died, my
hand of wrath is stayed. And how can his hand of wrath
be stayed? It is simply because of this, because he already dealt
it out on his son. And God won't punish sin twice.
He's a just God. And that means that sin is gone.
What is the one thing that God is pleased with? What is the
one thing that satisfied God? It was the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. I think we make a mistake sometimes of compartmentalizing
the gospel and saying, well, this is righteousness and this
is the atonement and this is sanctification. Let me make this
as clear as I can possibly be. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ
is your salvation. And everything else passes through
that door. This entire reality, this entire creation was built
for that one moment of time that he would hang on the cross and
he would say, it is finished. Proclaiming the work is done. Everything else passes through
that door. Everything else is because of that moment in time
that he died. But that's your satisfaction
with God. You know what that means? That means there's nothing left
to do. It's done. God has smelled a
sweet-smelling savor, and He is appeased. Our God has hands. Isaiah 49,
turn there. Isaiah 49, look in verse 14. But Zion said, the Lord hath
forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. I've felt like
that before, haven't you? Verse 15, can a woman forget
her suckling child, that she should not have compassion on
the sum of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget
thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before
me." Everyone in the elect, every child of God chosen before
the foundation of the world, their names are etched on the
palms of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does that look like? It looks like a scar where a
nail used to be. For this reason, because of the
substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is true,
I'll never leave you, and I'll never forsake you. And you can't
take that too far. In things concerning this earth,
wherever your circumstances may be, wherever you may find yourself,
you have this promise. I'll never leave you, I'll never
forsake you. You want to see the evidence? It's right here.
If I'm willing to do this, I'm willing to take care of everything
else too. Considering salvation, no matter circumstances you may
find yourself, as faithless as you may find yourself, as downtrodden
as you may find yourself, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake
you. It's all on me. Here's the proof. Your name's etched right here. Our God has feet. Last one, turn
to Luke chapter 7. Pick up in verse 36. And one of the Pharisees desired
him that he would eat with him. And he went in the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet. And behold, a woman in the city,
which was a sinner. I think it's interesting they
point that out. Everybody knew it. Everybody
knew this woman was a sinner. I'm not sure this woman's circumstance,
I don't know what she was into, but everybody in that city knew
she was a sinner. Everybody knew it in that room. And behold,
a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that
Jesus sat at meet in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box
of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and
began to wash his feet with tears, and to wipe them with the hairs
of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Now when the Pharisee, which had bidden him, saw this, he
spake within himself, saying, If he were a prophet, would have
known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him,
for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering, and I think it's interesting,
he just thought this, he didn't say anything, but he knew what that
man was thinking. And Jesus answering said unto
him, Simon, I have some what to say unto thee. He saith, Master,
say on. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors, the one owed 500 pence and the other
50. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them
both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most. Simon
answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most.
He said unto him, thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the
woman and said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into
thine house. Thou gavest me no water for my
feet, but she hath washed my feet with tears and wiped them
with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this
woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed
my feet. with ointment. Wherefore, I say
unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved
much. But to him who little is forgiven,
the same loveth little. And he said unto her, thy sins
are forgiven." I'm going to give you three quick things out of
this story. Number one, everybody wants something
to do, right? Give me something to do. Here's what we should
do. Let me give you something to do. Fall down at His feet. That's where this woman spent
her time. Washing His feet, kissing His feet. She worshipped Him
for who He was. You want something to do, folks?
And I'm afraid I spend most of my time, almost all of it, asking
the Lord for things. Asking Him for this, asking Him
for that. Maybe we just stop and fall down at His feet and
just worship Him for who He is. for His holiness, for His sovereignty,
for His mercies that never end, His covenant grace, His covenant
mercies, just sit down and outside of ourselves just worship this
One who is worthy of worship outside what He does with us.
This woman saw it. You notice she didn't say anything?
She didn't say a thing. She didn't ask for anything.
She just sat there and she cried. And she wiped his feet. That
was it. She didn't have to say anything. He knew exactly what she was
thinking. He knew exactly what she needed. She didn't have to say
anything. She just fell down at His feet. That's the best place
to be. Here's another thing I'm going
to tell you about this, all right? This woman was a sinner. She's probably
the greatest sinner in that city. She was the chiefest of sinners.
Everybody knew it. And she was very, very comfortable in the
Lord's presence. There is no chief of sinners that he will
ever turn away. Now, who is he upset with here?
Who would he have mocked in all this? The Pharisee, right? The
one he rebuked. The one who's thinking, if he
would have known who this woman is, he wouldn't let him near her.
That's the one he rebuked. Did he rebuke this woman at all?
Did he bring up her sin? Did he bring up her transgressions?
No. Didn't breathe a word of it. He just said, you're accepted. Folks, I think I said it earlier,
but I'm going to say it again. You can never be too bad. This man
receiveth sinners, and he eats with them. This is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into this
world to save whom? Sinners, of whom I am the chief. If you're the chief of sinners,
you come to him, you will not be turned away. The last thing I see is this.
We, the chiefs of sinners, he is worthy of our complete and
utter trust. He could have said a lot to this
woman. He could have brought up her past transgressions. He
could have kicked her out. He would have been just. He would
have been right. He's God. He can do whatever he wants. But he was the one who
received her. And he looked at her and he said,
your sins, which are many, they're forgiven. And every chief of
sinners that comes to him and falls down and worships him at
his feet, he says the same thing to them. I know what you need.
You need mercy. You have it. Your sins are forgiven. We're going to stop there. Let's
pray. Lord, we're thankful that you
sent your son to come to this world for the chiefest of sinners.
And we ask, Lord, like this woman, you'd cause us to just fall down
at your feet, that we would see something of your worthiness
of worship, Lord, and all your attributes. And cause us, Lord,
to shut our mouths and just cry before you. And we ask, Lord,
you would say the same thing to us as you always do to every
chief of sinners. Our sins are forgiven us. Lord,
thank you for this time. We ask that your son was magnified
and glorified in our midst. We ask these things in his name.
Amen.