Okay, this evening then we're
going to look at Psalm 135. And at verse 6, let's read verse
5 and 6. Psalm 135, look at verse 5. For I know, I know, we only know
that the Lord is great because He's revealed Himself unto us. I know. that the Lord is great. How great is He? There's none
greater. There's none greater. He said,
I'm the Lord. Beside me there is no other. That our Lord is
above. He's above you all and in you
all. The Lord is above all. All. Notice small g gods. He's above all idols. He's above
all creatures. He rules and reigns over all
things. Whatsoever, verse six, the Lord
is pleased to do, that did he in earth, seas, and all deep
places. You hold your place there and
turn back a few pages to Psalm 115. Psalm 115, and it repeats,
it repeats, Psalm 115, verse 1. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name. Give glory for thy mercy, for
thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? David said, our God is in the
heavens. He had done whatsoever he had pleased. Their idols are
silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths,
they speak not. They have eyes, they don't see.
They have ears, they don't hear. Noses, they don't smell. They
have hands, but they handle not feet. They do not walk, neither
speak they through their throat. They that make them are likened
to them, so is everyone that trusteth in them." So he repeats
and makes that comparison between the true and living God who works
all things according to his eternal purpose. I want us to consider
from the scripture this evening what the Lord our God, has revealed
in his word that he's pleased to do for us and in us. And of
course, it's always through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's always
through the Lord Jesus Christ, in him and by him and through
him. This Psalm is much like Psalm 115. The Lord draws a sharp
contrast between the true and living God, who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will, and the mere idols of men
that are dead, useless, and bring nothing but false hope
and false refuge." Now, you think, how would any person that has
any kind of understanding and knowledge and just any kind of
sense of being worship a dead, cold, stone idol? It just shows you how depraved
men are. have worshiped anything but the true and living God.
To be occupied with right thoughts about God as he's revealed in
the scripture will increase our faith, encourage our hope, inspire
our love, and the way to have strong and true faith is to trust
the almighty God as he's revealed in the scripture. Doesn't it
just encourage you when you read scripture Like our God is in
the heavens, he has done whatsoever he has pleased, our God's in
the heavens. He does according to his will
in the army of heaven and among the habitants of this earth and
none can stay his hand or say unto him, Lord God Almighty,
what are you doing? Our God had declared, and think
about this, he declared the end from the beginning, saying my
counsel shall stand. I'll do all my pleasure. He says,
I've spoken it, I'll bring it to pass. I've purposed it, I
will do it. And then Paul picks it up in
Romans chapter 11 and says, of him and through him, oh, the
depth of the riches both to the wisdom and knowledge of God,
how unsearchable are his judgment and his ways past finding out.
For of him and through him and to him are all things. to whom
be glory both now and forever and ever." And then he says,
amen. So be it. So be it. Abraham staggered
not as a promise of God to unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what God had promised,
he's able also to perform. Therefore, it was imputed to
him for righteousness. All those exceeding great and
precious promises, that we studied about there in 2 Peter, He's
able to perform all things for us. Because He's a truly living
God. Look at verse 1 and 2, we're
going to work our way down to verse 6. Praise ye the Lord.
Praise ye the name of the Lord. Praise Him. O ye servants of
the Lord. Believers, believers are the
servants of the Lord. Their desire and delight is to
honor Him and to glory only in Him. How many times have we read
in the psalm, praise ye the Lord. Now that's just not a simple,
silly, religious slogan like they had years ago, the PTL club,
praise the Lord club. This is not a simple, silly slogan. This is what the servants of
the Lord desire in their heart to do. He said, bless the Lord,
and David said, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless
His holy name. You cannot overdo worship. You cannot give too much honor,
glory, unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you? Can you give Him too
much honor? God forbid, Paul said, I should
glory, saving the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise the
name of the Lord. His name reveals who he is, his
character, his attributes, his character, his attributes, all
the attributes of God, his love, his mercy, his grace, his long
suffering, his sovereignty, his name, wonderful counselor, the
mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the government's
on his shoulder. This is God as he reveals himself
in the scripture. Now we see at least, And ye in
the house of the Lord, and in the courts of the house of our
God. And then it says, verse three, praise the Lord, for the
Lord is good. Sing praises unto his name, for
it is pleasant. For the Lord had chosen Jacob
unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure. He chose us to be his treasure.
I know the Lord is great and that our Lord is above. He's
above all. We see at least four reasons
why we should honor, praise, and worship the Lord Jesus Christ,
because the Lord is good. There's none good but God. The
Lord is good. Our Lord is gracious and holy.
And all that he does is good, and all that he does is right.
God alone is the author and source of all goodness. Shall not the
judge of all the earth do right, do good? And he absolutely will. He's too wise to err, too strong
to fail. too holy to do unjustly. The
Lord is good. The psalmist said, you remember
Psalm 37? He says, oh, taste and see, the
Lord is good. Taste and see, the Lord is good.
So we praise the Lord and worship the Lord and glorify the Lord
because the Lord is good. And then it says there, sing
praises unto his name, for his name is pleasant. That's one
of his names, pleasant. Sweet, delightful. To you who
believe the Lord Jesus Christ, he is precious, right? Remember our study from the Song
of Solomon? He's altogether lovely. His name
is pleasant because he is a pleasant person. Turn a few pages over
to Psalm 147. Psalm 147. His person is pleasant. Look
at Psalm 147, verse one. Praise you, the Lord, for it
is good to sing praises unto our God. Excuse me. It is pleasant. It's pleasant. Praise is comely. For the Lord
does build up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcast
of Israel. He heals the broken in heart
and binds up their wounds. He tells the number of the stars.
He calleth them all by their names. Great is the Lord and
of great power. His understanding is infinite. Excuse me. I'm choking up. Here's the third thing we see
here. The Lord is good. His name is pleasant. For the Lord had chosen Jacob
unto himself. There's a sovereign right of
our God to choose whom he will. He'll have mercy on whom he will.
It's not of him that will it or of him that runs, but of God
that shows mercy. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. The Lord had chosen Jacob unto
himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure. We didn't choose him,
he chose us. You remember Psalm 65, blessed
is man whom the Lord chooses and causes to approach unto him.
Had the Lord not chosen us, goodness, Boy, I apologize, I'm choking
up on you. I'm gonna have to get a cough drop. Had the Lord not chosen us, we never would have chosen him.
Had the Lord not chosen us in that eternal covenant of grace,
we never would have believed the gospel. Never, never. Because the Lord is great and
he's above all gods. as it says in verse five. These are reasons to praise the
Lord. That's what the servants of the
Lord do. I know that the Lord is great. There's none greater. And that our Lord is above all. He's above all gods. He's our
great Savior, who gives us so great salvation. Call His name
Jesus. He shall save His people from
their sin. He is our great Redeemer. We are redeemed with His precious
blood. He obtained for us eternal redemption. He's our great mediator. There's one God, one mediator
between God and sinners, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our great advocate, isn't
He? We have an advocate with the Father. When you sin, He said, my little
children, these things I write unto you, that you sin not, but
when you do, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ.
He was our righteousness. We have a great Savior, a great
Redeemer, a great Mediator, a great Advocate. We have a great Intercessor. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make
intercession for us. We desire to praise Him for the
Lord our God. There's none like Him. There's
none like Him. We desire to praise Him. Turn
over here to Psalm 71. Psalm 71. Look at verse 19. Psalm
71 verse 19. There's none like Him. Psalm 71, 19. Thy righteousness
also, O God, is very high. Who has done great things, O
God? Who is like unto thee? There's
none like him. Salvation and no other but the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse six. Psalm 135 at verse six. Whatsoever, now that's a pretty
wide word, isn't it? That's a pretty big word, wide
ranging word. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven and in earth, in the seas and all deep
places. How great is our God in creation
and providence in salvation. Our great God and Savior does
as He pleases, when He pleases, with whom He pleases, and is
accountable to none but Himself. He works His sovereign will and
purpose everywhere, heaven, earth, seas, and all places. A God whose
purpose is frustrated whose will is resisted, whose decrees are
altered, is no God at all, a mere idol. Our God does all his pleasure,
all his purpose. Now, we'll ask this question.
What does the scriptures teach that the Lord is pleased to do? There's five of them. First of
all, it pleased the Lord to make you His people. Now turn over
here to 1 Samuel 12. It pleased the Lord to make you
His people. He chose us. 1 Samuel 12. Let's look at verse 20. 1 Samuel
12.20, page 393. And Samuel said unto the people,
fear not, ye have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside
from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your
heart, and turn ye not aside, for then should ye go after vain
things which cannot profit nor deliver for their vain. For the
Lord God will not forsake his people for his great namesake,
because it had pleased the Lord to make you his people. Now you
understand all them other nations. In Abraham's day, God chose Abraham. God chose to bless Abraham's
seed. And that's a picture, Israel
of old, is a picture of God's chosen spiritual Israel. Moreover, as for me, God forbid
I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. but
I'll teach you the good and right way of the Lord. So it pleased
the Lord to choose a people. Now, what are we talking about
here? We're talking about what we call the Bible doctrine of
election. It's all through the scripture. The Lord our God in sovereign
mercy has chosen a multitude of guilty sinners from the beginning
and determined to save them in Christ. We call that unconditional
election. Remember, we studied in 1 Peter
1, elect according to the foreknowledge of God. What does that mean? A lot of people think it means
that God looks down through the telescope of time and sees those
who would exercise faith in him and then elected them to salvation.
Well, that makes election based upon something the creature does
rather than the decree of God. When it talks about elect according
to the foreknowledge of God, It's election according to God's
eternal decrees. We believe the gospel because
God has ordained us to eternal life in Christ. The Lord our God in sovereign
mercy has chosen, whom he would save, unconditionally elected
a people. No conditions put upon the sinner.
You remember Romans 9, the children having done neither good or evil,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand, Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. The miracle of that is, I could understand why God could
hate someone like Esau, but the miracle of that statement is
how could God love Jacob? Because Jacob was no different
than Esau. The difference wasn't in Jacob
or Esau, the difference was in God. God set his love upon Jacob. We bless God who had blessed
us with all spiritual blessings according as he chose us in him
before the foundation of the world. God elected a people unto
salvation and predestinated those people to be conformed to the
image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's what it pleased the
Lord to do. His servants bow to that. His servants believe
that. They don't rail against God's
truth, God's Word. We bow to it in submission. So,
first of all, it pleased the Lord to choose a people to salvation. Secondly, it pleased the Lord
our God to send our Savior in the fullness of time to put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Now, if you turn over here to
the book of Isaiah, here's the second thing we see that it pleased
the Lord to do. Isaiah 53, verse 10. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law. But sin must be punished, right?
Isaiah 53, 10. Here's what it pleased the Lord
to do. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him
to grief. When thou shalt make a soul an
offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his
days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see that the travail of his soul shall be satisfied.
By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for it
shall bear their iniquity. the atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ, he's called the Lamb of God. This is God's sacrifice
for sin. It pleased the Lord to send him. It pleased the Lord to lay on
him the iniquity of his people. And it pleased the Lord to punish
the Lord Jesus Christ who was bearing our sin. We often say
it pleased Pilate to put him to death. It pleased the Pharisees,
we studied that, how they connived and consulted how they might
put him to death. It pleased the Pharisees, didn't it? It
pleased the Romans, didn't it? To put him to death. But what
we must see, what we must know and understand, it pleased God
to bruise him. It pleased God to kill the Lord
Jesus Christ and to forsake him. Because he was forsaken, he'll
never forsake us. Because God punished our sin
in Christ, now there is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. The death of Christ was not generally
applied to all mankind everywhere. It was particular. It was definite. It was an effectual atonement
only for the elect. We don't compromise or budge
one inch on that. It's demonstrated on the Day
of Atonement, when the high priest went in, back in the wilderness,
in the tabernacle, when he went into the Holy of Holies on the
Day of Atonement, he went in there as a representative man
representing who? The Amalekites, the Hittites,
the Jebusites, all the other ites? They didn't have a high
priest. Who did he represent? Israel. That's a picture of what Christ
did for his spiritual Israel. He laid down his life for his
sheep. He purchased the church with
his own blood. So it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Here's the third thing I want
us to see. Now we turn over to the book of Colossians. The book
of Colossians chapter one, it pleased the Lord our God that
all fullness should dwell in him. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He's God. All the fullness of
God resides in the person of Christ. Why? Because it pleased
the Lord. Colossians chapter one, it says,
in whom we have redemption, verse 14, Through his blood, the forgiveness
of sin, sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature, for by him all things were created that
are in heaven, that are in the earth, visible, invisible, whether
it be thrones or dominions, principalities or powers, all things were created
by him and for him. He before all things and by him
all things consist. He is the head, the body, the
church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence, the glory. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell. Why does all the fullness of
a Godhead dwells in Christ? Look over just across the page,
Colossians chapter two, down to verse nine. For in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body, bodily. Who is the
Lord Jesus Christ? He's God. All the fullness of
God resides in him. Why? It pleased the Lord. Who
is the Lord? Jesus Christ, he's God, manifest
in the flesh. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him which is the
head of all principalities and powers. It pleased the Father
that in him should all fullness dwell. All the fullness of redemption,
all the fullness of salvation, all the fullness of grace, all
the fullness of pardon, everything we need, all the fullness of
it dwells in Christ. That's why the apostle said,
I want to win Christ and be found in him. Every blessing that our
Lord God has for his covenant people is found in Christ. Of
his fullness have we all received grace for grace. Here's the fourth one. It pleased
the Lord our God, through the preaching of the gospel, to call
out his elect, his sheep, who will hear his voice, and they
will follow him. I'll turn back a few pages to
the book of 1 Corinthians, and we will look at chapter one,
1 Corinthians chapter one. So God elected a people, right?
The Lord Jesus Christ died for those people. It pleased God
to bruise Him in our stead. All the fullness of salvation
dwells in Christ. How do we know anything about
the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation is in Him? Well, it pleased God. Look at verse 21, 1 Corinthians
1.21. Well, after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews
require a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews assembly box, unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God, Christ the wisdom of God. Aren't you glad?
that the Lord was pleased to send you a gospel preacher with
the message of truth. That's how God calls out his
people. He said, my sheep will hear my voice and they'll follow
me. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by what? The word of the Lord. That's how faith comes. Paul
writes about it, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God.
For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but in power
and the Holy Ghost and much assurance. So it pleased the Lord through
the preaching of the gospel to call out his people. To call
out his people. We believe in evangelism. We
believe in what the Lord said, go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. We believe that, we support that. We preach on the radio, we preach
on the internet, we preach through our bulletins, we preach in the
pulpit. We preach all over this world, through the internet,
over 1.7 million sermons. We believe in evangelism. Why? God has ordained the preacher
in the gospel to call out his people. I'm gonna be busy about about
preaching the Word. Preaching the Word. Preaching
the Word. Now here's the last one. Turn to the book of Galatians. First, second Corinthians, then
Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1. I'll put
all these in the bulletin for you on Sunday. So you can preach
this message to your family. What did it please the Lord to
do? In Galatians chapter 1, Paul
is defending the gospel of God's saving grace. He said in verse
11, I certify you, Galatians 1 verse 11, I certify, I guarantee
you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not
after man. Ten years ago, I went to a place
called Irwin, Tennessee. Someone contacted me who had
been listening to our sermon. They wanted me to come to that
church and preach the gospel. And I did, 10 years ago. And
I preached from this text, and I entitled the message, The Certified
Gospel. I certify you, brethren, that
the gospel which was preached to me is not after man. Well,
I had scheduled five preachers to preach there. Me, Todd Nybert,
Paul Mahan, Marvin Stoniker, and Gabe Donaker. Well, I went
there the first Sunday and preached, and went home with the family
who invited us, and he said, I believe this message. And I
said, OK, well, Brother Marvin's coming next week, and he'll preach
the same message I preached and Brother Marvin preached. And
the next week, I got a phone call, and they said, don't come
anymore. Don't send any more preachers here. We've heard enough.
We've heard enough. We don't want to hear anymore.
I told Marvin, I said, Marvin, what'd you do to those people?
What'd you tell those people? But there was one family in that
congregation. It was a large congregation.
It was a large congregation. There was one family in that
congregation who heard the message. They were one of God's elect.
And they've been with Gabe Stoniker now for 10 years, Brother William
Watts and his wife. And you can hear, he's actually
been preaching for Brother Gabe. I think he's actually preaching
tonight. William Watts, Brother Watts. Every time I run into
him, he said, you still preaching that certified gospel? I said,
yep. He said, I certify you brethren
of the gospel that was preached of me, not after man. I neither
received it of man, neither was I taught it of man, but by the
revelation of Jesus Christ. For you've heard of my conversation
in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God. This is Saul of Tarsus, the self-righteous
Pharisee. persecuting the church of God
unto death, and profited in the Jews' religion above many my
equals in my own nation, being more exceeding zealous of the
tradition of my father's, but, verse 15, when it pleased God. who separated me from my mother's
womb, called me by his grace to reveal his son in me, that
I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood." When will a sinner be saved? It's
not when he walks in the aisle, it's not when he makes a decision,
it's not when he turns over a new leaf, it's not when he gets baptized,
it's not when he makes a reformation or a confession. When will a
sinner be saved? When it pleases God. He's hid
these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto
babe, even so father, it seemed good in your sight. So it pleased
the Lord to reveal the gospel unto his people. I've often told you over the
years, it takes God to reveal God. It takes God to reveal God. Thanks be unto our great God
who is pleased to save sinners in Christ. He is that unspeakable
gift of God. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven, earth, sea, and all deep places. Aren't
you thankful? God is God. He's never not been
God. He's always been God. From everlasting
to everlasting, thou art God. I've been working on proofreading
the book that I'm working on. And I did the final proofread
the last two days. And I ordered 25 more copies. and hopefully it'll be a little
bit better than the first one, it was pretty rough. But there's
an article in that index, and I was thinking about that article,
but the title of that article was, What Pleases God, Pleases
His People. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that
did he. Whatsoever pleases God, pleases
his people. Amen.