Okay, Psalm 47. I'm taking the title for the
message from what is said in verse five. God is gone up with
a shout. Christ the Lord Jesus Christ
descended in his humanity. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He accomplished all God's purpose
completing our salvation, and then when he finished his business,
he went back home. He ascended to glory. When he
by himself purged our sin, he sat down on the right hand of
the throne of God. This psalm, along with all the
psalms, and we can broaden that out to include all the word of
God, this psalm declares the victorious Lord Jesus Christ
to the eternal exalted throne of glory as the God-man mediator. God incarnate. Without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He came as God in the flesh,
accomplished our salvation, and then he ascended, the God-man
mediator, ascended to the throne of God. When he by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. We've seen that several times
in our study in the book of Hebrews, seeing that we have a great high
priest that is passed into the heavens. The Lord Jesus Christ
let us hold fast to our profession. The Lord right now ever lives
to intercede for us right now. What a blessing we have. The
Lord Jesus Christ not only successfully put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself, he obtained eternal redemption for us, but also rose
from the grave the third day, delivered for our offenses, raised
again for our justification, but also after the third day,
raised from the dead, and then he lived among men as the glorified
God-man for 40 days. Then after 40 days, he ascended,
bodily ascended, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrected
Lord, ascended to glory, and he's seated there right now.
There's a man in heaven. The God-man, what does his presence
there mean to me? It means we have salvation. It
means we have a mediator in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, if
I go away and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and
receive you to myself. He occupied the throne awaiting
the day when he shall return to gather his people unto himself. The Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and
the dead in Christ shall be raised up. And we which are alive shall
be caught up together with them in the cloud to be forever with
the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another
with these words." That is a great comforting. Now look at verse
one, clap your hands. Now often we see that in a public
meeting, a public assembly when maybe someone has a great singing
performance, or someone gives a great oration, a great speech,
and the people are all pleased, and sometimes they even stand
up, don't they? They get a standing ovation,
don't they? They clap their hands, don't they? Why do they do that? It's a sign of approval, isn't
it? It's a sign of rejoicing in what they've just looked at. And we can say as believers,
We give, and I hope I'm saying this in reverence, we give our
God a standing ovation. We approve of everything he has
done for us. Clap your hands. Clap your hands. All you people, and the people
of the Lord, they delight in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are
his people. He bought us with his own blood.
Call his name Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sins. And we have much to rejoice in
because of the victory we have in Christ. We can shout unto
our God. We can shout unto our God with
the voice of triumph. Triumph. No one who trusts the
Lord Jesus Christ is a loser. We're on the winning team. Everybody
wants to be on the winning team, don't they? In Christ, we had
the victory over all things. Hold your place there and find
Psalm 98, I believe it is, 98 verse one. He always causes us
to triumph in Christ Jesus. Paul said in 2 Corinthians, thanks
be unto God, who giveth us the victory in our blessed Savior,
the victory over sin, The victory over death, the victory over
the law. He's redeemed us from the curse
of the law. Psalm 98 verse one, oh, sing. Sing unto the Lord
a new song, for he hath done marvelous things. His right hand
and his holy arm have gotten him the victory. We are winners
in Christ Jesus. because the Lord Jesus Christ
has won the victory for us. He represents us because he has
won the victory over all our enemies. We are champions in
him, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing in this world is more
satisfying to the believer than rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ
and shout with a voice of triumph and victory in the gospel that
the power of God unto salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ meets our
every need according to his riches in glory. God, who is rich in
mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sin, hath quickened us together, for by grace are ye
saved. So clap your hands, all, all
the people, all God's people do. And he's talking about rejoicing
in the victory that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ with a
voice of triumph, with a voice of acclamation. Not ashamed of
what the Lord has done for us, nor ashamed of Him. Look at verse
2. We are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us, for the Lord Most High. Now how high is the
Lord? Well, there's none higher than
Him. There's none higher than the Most High God. The Lord Most
High, Jehovah Most High is terrible. Now, we often use that word terrible
in a negative way, don't we? He's a terrible man, or that
was a terrible tragedy. But the Lord Most High, and this
word here can be rightly given, He's tremendous. He's tremendous. He's a Most High God, and He
is tremendous because He is the Great King. We read in the Revelation,
remember, He's King of Kings, Lord of Lords. For he is the
great king and he's not only over Pike County, not only over
Kentucky, not only over the United States, but he's the king and
god of all the earth. All men are answerable and accountable
unto this great God and King, our blessed Savior. We rejoice
as His people who have been redeemed by His grace. We rejoice in the
universal reign and sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sovereign
in creation. Most people don't have a problem
with that. Sovereign in providence. Some people might kick at that.
but he's also sovereign salvation. And religious people hate that.
They think every man has a chance. Salvation is not by chance, is
it? It's by grace. Someone asked
an old preacher one time who was preaching along the lines
of God's absolute sovereignty and salvation, that he'll have
mercy on whom he will have mercy. And some young wise person who
thought he was wise went up to the old preacher and said, well,
preacher, don't you think everybody should have a chance? Salvation is not by chance. Salvation
is by sovereign grace. We say, well, that's not fair.
None of us deserve one ounce of mercy. The wages of sin is
death. Thank God he's pleased. have
mercy on whom he will have mercy. So then it's not of him that
runneth or him that willeth or runneth, it's God who shows mercy.
Look down at verse seven for just a minute. For God is the
king of all the earth. He's king over all the earth.
Seems to kind of emphasize that point, doesn't it? Now, What
should we do about that? What should be our thoughts about
our God being the king of all the earth, reigning with the
absolute and everlasting dominion? Some people will say, well, I
don't like that. What do we say? Sing praises
to the Lord. The Lord God most high rules
and reigns over all things. He is the most high. Tremendous
God. He's to be feared and reverence.
He's to be had in reverence. Whatsoever the Lord please, that's
what he does in heaven, earth, sea, and all deep places. None
can stay his hand or say unto him, Lord God Almighty, what
doest thou? What doest thou? He strikes terror
in the hearts of his enemies, but he strikes reverence in the
hearts of his people. Holy and reverent is his name. There's no danger. in giving
too much honor and glory unto our blessed Savior, God our Savior. He's worthy of all honor and
praise and blessing, is he not? Worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive all honor, glory, blessing, and power, both now
and forever. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion. God has never not been the absolute
sovereign God over all things. over all things. Now look at
verse three. For he shall subdue the people
under us and the nation under our feet. He shall save his people
from their sin. That word there, subdue, means
that he conquers us. I wanna be conquered by the Lord
Jesus Christ. He shall conquer and save his
people by his grace through his blood, he shall lead us like
a good shepherd in bringing many into the fold. The Bible is not
ours, it's his. We can't subdue or conquer one
sin or one sinner. Why don't you just stop sinning?
Try it sometime. You can't even think one minute
without thinking something evil and sinful. We can't subdue one sin or one
sinner, but the Lord Jesus Christ has conquered all our enemies,
put away all our sin. The law that was against us,
that was contrary to us, cursing is everyone that continues not
in all things what's written in the book of law to do them,
The Lord redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a
curse for us. Isn't that good news? He conquered death. He conquered
sin. He conquered Satan. Crushed his
dominion. The seed of the woman did that.
Crushed his dominion. Crushed his power. Paul writes
this. Having spoiled principalities
and power, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them himself. Colossians chapter two. He's
won the victory for us. He said, I'm he that liveth and
was dead. Behold, I'm alive forevermore. I have the keys of hell and death.
He has the key, he is the key of life. He's the knowledge of
life, the knowledge of salvation. Look at verse four. So he shall
subdue us, he shall save us. All people, all nation shall
confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He shall
save us and then he shall choose our inheritance for us. A lot of people talking about,
well, you gotta make a choice for Jesus. He makes the choice
for us. Our Lord said to his disciples,
you didn't choose me, I chose you. I chose you. He shall choose our inheritance
for us. Who does the choosing in salvation?
He does. He decides who's saved and who's
lost. He does. He shall choose our
inheritance for us. He's given us an eternal inheritance. I love that word, inheritance.
We've been made heirs of God. and joint heirs with the Lord
Jesus Christ. We studied about that inheritance.
You remember in 1 Peter, we're begotten again to a living hope
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
that's incorruptible, that's undefiled, that fadeth not away,
that's reserved in heaven for you. That's the inheritance that
we have in Christ Jesus. And he has chosen this inheritance
for us. Let's look at a couple of scriptures.
Go back to Psalm 33. Psalm 33, verse 12. Psalm 33, verse 12. Let's read verse 11. To the counsel
of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to
all generations. Blessed is a nation whose God
is the Lord and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. We are his inheritance and he's
ours. Here's another scripture on that.
Turn back over here to Psalm 65, I believe it is. Yeah, Psalm
65. Here's another. Psalm 65, look
at verse four. Blessed is a man whom thou, chooses
and causes to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts,
we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of
thy holy temple." So he saved us, he subdued us, he conquered
us, and then he chooses our inheritance for us. What is our inheritance? I'm not looking for a mansion
in the sky. I'm looking for the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our inheritance. He is our reward. The excellency,
now watch this, the second part of verse four. The excellency
of Jacob, whom he loved. What's that scripture in the
book of Romans? Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. The excellency of Jacob whom
he loved. Now, why would he love Jacob
and hate Esau? The reason's found in him. The
reason wasn't found in those two boys. They were twin boys,
born at the same time. Same father, same mother. And
God, distinguishing grace, set his love on Jacob and his anger
toward Esau. That's the excellency of his
love, which is sovereign love, is it not? Sovereign love. Our beauty, our boast, our best
treasure lies in having such a God to trust, such a God to
love us eternally in Christ and to save us with so great salvation. Think about this. When did God
start loving his people? He loved us with an everlasting
love. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, and He did so in love. The Excellency of Jacob. Jacob, sons of Jacob. We are
sons of Jacob. Fear not thy worm, Jacob. I will
help thee, saith thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. He's
gonna save every Jacob, covenant child in Christ Jesus. Now look at verse five, the Lord
having accomplished all salvation for us, Psalm 47 verse five,
he's gone up with a shout. It's a shout of victory. We must
never think of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ as a defeat.
It's not a defeat, it's a victory. It's a victory. And because he
has won the victory over sin, over death, over hell, over the
devil, God has gone up with a shout. The Lord with a sound, the Lord
with a sound of a trumpet, the victory trumpet. Now sing praises
to God. Sing praises unto our King. Oh, sing praises to Him. When Christ came in the flesh
to accomplish our salvation, He came with a shout of victory.
You remember the angels say, glory to God in the highest.
Unto you this day is born in the city of David a Savior, Christ
the Lord. Glory to God in the highest.
On earth, peace and goodwill toward not mankind, but men in
Christ. mediator and when he ascended
as a forerunner we studied in the book of Hebrews Christ had
entered in for us remember our forerunner when the Lord ascended
as the forerunner of his covenant people having accomplished all
our salvation can you imagine the shouts of all those in glory all the angel and the heavenly
host when the mediator of the Lord Jesus Christ came back to
glory. You imagine the shouting that
went on among the angels and the glorified saints in Christ
Jesus. Oh, what a day that must have
been. He descended with a shout of victory and he ascended to
glory. with the shout of victory. He
descended as the representative man, the federal head for us,
and he ascends as our representative man. He came as a representative
man, he represented us, fulfilled the law of God for us, and we
ascended to heaven He ascended as a representative man for us. We're already, we've read this
several times, haven't we? We're already, believers are
already seated in the heavenly in the Lord Jesus Christ right
now. In my head, in my representative,
I'm in Him. We have union with Him. I'm already
seated in the heavenly in Christ. One day I'm going to experience
that personally But right now, every believer is seated in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's our representative man.
He's gone up with a shout of victory. The Lord with the sound
of a trumpet. Now sing praises, sing praises
to our God. You can't, you can't overdo this. You can't think too highly of
him. We think low thoughts of ourself. Oh, wretched man that
I am. As Isaiah said, woe is me, I'm
undone. I'm a man of an unclean lips.
I dwell among a people of unclean lips. We cannot have too low
a thoughts of us, but we cannot think too highly of him. And
that causes us to sing praises unto our king, unto our king. unto our God. Now look at verse
seven again. For God is the King of all the
earth. Now sing praises. Don't we sing,
we sing praises unto our God, but we sing praises with understanding. We do not worship God ignorantly. Now that's where he found us
in ignorance and blindness and death. But when he saves us,
when he subdues us, when he chooses us, when he loves us, he gives
us an understanding. and understanding. We know the
Son of God has come, John writes, and has given us an understanding
that we might know Him that is true, and that we're in Him that
is true. Even in His Son, Jesus Christ,
this is the true God, and this is eternal life. He's given us
an understanding that we might know Him. By nature, we have no understanding.
the carnal-minded enmity against God, the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, he must give us an understanding. He must give us right knowledge
of who he is, the true God, the eternal God. Sing praises with
understanding, understanding that's been enlightened by God
the Holy Spirit. Look at verse eight. Our God, our King, reigneth,
reigneth. Now, I've told you this before,
but you know the word that we often say, we use the word sovereignty
and sovereign, and that word is actually, that word sovereignty,
if you look up in your concordance, the word sovereignty is not actually
a word that's in the Bible. But what's the root word of sovereign? God reigneth. You see it there? God reigneth. That means that
he's in control, in absolute control, that he rules and reigns
over everything on top side of this earth. He reigns over all
things. Oh, the depths and the riches,
the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgment
and His ways past finding out. He reigns and rules over everyone,
every heathen. And that's all of us by nature,
we're heathen. God sitteth upon the throne of
His holiness. He sits in absolute splendor,
not upset, not worried, not worried about whether his decree is going
to be carried out. He said, I've spoken it, I've
purposed it, I'll do it, say it to the Lord. In a Psalm over
here, don't turn, let me see if I can find this. This popped
in my head here a minute ago. Psalm 33 again, verse nine, it
said, he spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. He reigns over all things. And that's what we understand.
That's why we sing praises with understanding. We understand
who He is, God Almighty. We understand what He's accomplished,
salvation for His people. And then He sits on the throne
of His holiness. Holiness. In Isaiah chapter six,
when Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, And the message
of those seraphims was what? Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Now what would you say is the
central character and attribute of our God? He's holy. That's his central character.
That's his central attribute is holiness. God is love, but
not apart from his holiness. God is merciful, but not apart
from his holiness. I look at it like a wheel. The
center of that wheel is his holiness. The spokes that go out from the
center of that wheel, all his different attributes, his justice,
his mercy, his love, his grace, but it's all based upon and flows
from that holy character of God. God sits upon the throne. It's
a throne of holiness. A throne of holiness. God Almighty
reigns upon the throne unmoved. He occupies an undisputed throne
whose decrees and acts and commands are holiness itself. He's never dismayed. He's never
in a dilemma. And what he does is always right.
Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? the throne of
holiness to be reverence by all, the throne of judgment to be
feared by all, justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne,
a throne of grace to be loved by his people, and a throne of
glory to be praised by all his creation. God is the king of
all the earth. Sing praises with understanding. We worship God in spirit and
in truth, not in ignorance. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. God reigneth over the heathen.
He reigns and rules everywhere. He sits upon the throne of his
holiness with an undisputed dominion that's an everlasting dominion.
And the princes of the people, verse 9, his elect, He's chosen,
they're gathered together. He gathers us. He's a good shepherd. The good shepherd laid down his
life for his sheep. He gathers us. You remember we
studied in 1 Peter chapter 3. Christ suffered once for our
sin, the just for the unjust, that he might do what? Bring
us to God. He said, no man can come to me
except the Father which sent me. Draw him and I'll raise him
up. The last day, he has gathered
us together. Psalm, or rather Isaiah 43 says,
from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south,
God has a people out of every kindred, tribe, nation, tongue
under heaven that's been redeemed with his blood and he's gathering
them out. And when the last of God's elect
is gathered out through the preaching of the gospel, then cometh the
end. Remember we studied in Matthew
24, the gospel shall be preached in all the world, then cometh
the end. I was looking at sermon audio
the other day, and the bulletin that I prepare for you each week
and printed it and put it out there on the table. I also posted
on Sermon Audio. And a lot of times we'll get
two, three hundred people that will view that bulletin each
week I post it. Well, I was looking through them. bulletins the other day just
to see how many people had looked at it. And I noticed the bulletin
that I posted for January 5th, 2025, when I looked at it the
other day, had 4,040 views. 4,000. I said, what's going on? But 4,000 people read the bulletin
that you read on January 5th. What's the Lord doing? He's gathering
out His people. That goes all over the world.
That sermon audience is all over the world. You get the download
report every month. Usually more than a thousand
sermons a week go out of here, and usually in all 50 states,
and usually 60 to 65 different foreign countries. God's gathering
His people out through the means that he has chosen to do so through
the preaching of the gospel, please God to do so. The princes
of the people, God's elect, he's gathering them. All that the
father give it to me, they'll come to me and those that come
to me, I'll never cast them out. Even the people of the God of
Abraham, the people, the God of Abraham were called sons of
Abraham. And again, that's referring to
his elect. His elect, His chosen, sons of
Abraham. Covenant children. For the shields,
the last part of verse nine, for the shields of the earth. Who do they belong to? They belong
to God. The shields of the earth. The
shields of the earth. Christ is our shield. Christ
is our security. Christ is our salvation. He is
to be greatly exalted for salvation to the Lord. He is the exalted
Prince and Savior to give repentance unto Israel. God has gone up
with the shout, He is greatly exalted. Paul said he went to
the third heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ, wherever
that is, He's there on the throne of His holiness Exalted. And that's gonna be our eternal
occupation as believers. To worship the Lamb of God. Never get tired of it. We'll
worship Him there like we want to, like we will someday, without
any sin. Think about that. To worship
God as He ought to be with no sin. What a blessing that will
be. He's greatly exalted and we're
exalted in Him.