Psalm 115 this morning, or this
evening, I'm going to tell you the message and the words found
in verse three. But our God, but our God, our
God is in the heavens. Our God is God, but our God is
in the heavens and he hath done. whatsoever he hath pleased. Our God is God and he rules and
reigns over all things. There is none like him. Remember
in Isaiah we read several times, Our Lord said, there is no God
else beside me, a just God and Savior. There is none, there
is none beside me, the only just God, the only Savior. Now what a contrast in this psalm
between the true, sovereign, almighty, living God and the
impotent, useless idols of ungodly man. What a contrast. Their God
is dead. Our God is living. He is a living
God. And that's the God we worship. Now let's go back to verse one.
Not unto us, it's not to us. Oh Lord, it's not, not unto us,
but unto thy name we give glory. We give you all the honor and
glory for your mercy, for your salvation, for your truth, for
the gospel of God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. There
was no glory due any man or any angel. All the glory is due to
God alone. To God be the glory, great things
he had done. This is a believer's motto, the
believer's desire, giving God all the honor and glory. I just
read a moment ago from Psalm 126, the Lord had done great
things for us whereof we are glad. Great things He's done
for us. He's purchased for us great redemption
with a great price. His own blood. He's given us
an everlasting righteousness. That's great, isn't it? He's
done great things for us. Our wise and infinite God has
so designed salvation that's in Jesus Christ that He must
have all the preeminence, not some of it, all the preeminence,
all the glory. That word preeminence is first
place, the right place. He deserves, the Lord Jesus alone
deserves all honor and glory, doesn't He? Isn't that the song
of the eternal ages? Worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive all honor, glory, blessings, and power, both now
and forever. Jeremiah put it this way, let
not the rich man glory in his riches, let not the wise man
glory in his wisdom, but he that glorieth, let him glory in this,
that he knows the true and living, the true and living God. Paul
put it this way, God forbid us your glory, Saved in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We glory in Christ and Him crucified. That's all of our salvation accomplished,
isn't it? Now, notice what it said. We
give glory for your mercy. We give you all the honor and
glory because you were merciful. and because you are the true
and living God. Both the Lord's mercy and the
Lord's truth both glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, do they not?
We read a moment ago in John chapter one, the word was made
flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace, full of
truth. He's full of grace, he's full
of mercy. He's full of truth. You remember
Psalm 85, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and
peace have kissed each other. That happened at the cross. Of
his fullness, and think about this, of his fullness have we
all received grace for grace. Grace upon grace. The only reason
for grace is God's grace. In him was all the fullness of
a Godhead bodily and we're complete in him. Now we give glory. for
his mercy and for his truth, but unto thy name. God giving
him a name which is above every name, that at that name every
knee's gonna bow, every tongue gonna confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord. Neither is there salvation in
any other name but our Lord Jesus Christ, that name which is above
every name. We give glory to his name, don't
we? His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. His name,
The Lord Jesus Christ. He's our God. He's our God. But
it's not unto us. We give glory unto His name. We give glory for His mercy.
We give glory for His truth. The apostle writes this, For
who maketh thee to differ from another? What hast thou that
thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why would you glory as if you did not receive it? Who made
you to differ? He did. He did. And we give him
all the glory. No praise is due to any man whatsoever. We have saving faith in Christ
as the gift of God, but it's not unto us. We didn't manufacture,
we didn't earn or merit, We have hope of glory in the Lord Jesus
Christ, but it's not according to our merit or work, not unto
us, not unto us, but unto thy name alone. We can say with the
Apostle Paul, I am what I am only by the grace of God. You
see, that gives all the honor and glory in salvation to Christ
alone. And that's really how you can
distinguish between that which is true the true gospel of God,
and that which is false, who gets the glory. If you read Ephesians
chapter one, it's all about his glory, isn't it? The Father choosing
us to the praise of the glory of his grace, the Son redeeming
us to the praise of the glory of his grace, the Holy Spirit
sealing us, quickening us, all to the praise of the glory of
his grace. It's all about His glory, isn't
it? I remember reading a book many years ago by Jonathan Edwards
entitled The History of Redemption, and me made the statement, I've
never forgotten it, the grand design of God in redemption is
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the grand design, that's
what it's all about, His glory. It's not unto us. It's not about
our glory, is it? It's about Him, it's about Christ
alone. Christ alone, Christ always,
not unto us. Now, look at verse two. Now here's
the contrast. And here's the mocking of the
ungodly reprobate. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? The ungodly reprobate, those
who worship worshipers of Baal, of those who will make gods out
of wood, stone, or gold, or silver, they can see where their god
is. Dagon, Baal, there was an idol. They could look at their,
our god is right here. We can look at our god. We can
move him from here to here to here. David, where's your god? We don't see him. Where is your
god? Where is your god? I love the
answer. I love the answer. Our God, He's
in the heavens, and He has done whatsoever He has pleased to
do. Our God is sovereign. Our God
is a living God. Our God is seated on the absolute,
sovereign, unchanging, undisputable throne forever and ever. He does according to His will
on the army of heaven and among the habitants of this earth,
and none can stay His hand or say unto Him. The Lord our God
is doing and working all things after the counsel of His own
will and purpose. Always, always. Turn over here
to another Psalm that says something similar. Psalm 135. Psalm 135. Verse five, I know that the Lord
is great, and that our Lord is above all gods, small g. Whatsoever the Lord please, that
did he in heaven, earth, seas, and all deep places. He causes
the vapor to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh
lightnings for the rain. He bringeth the wind out of his
treasury. Those tornadoes that are ravishing
parts of the Midwest, the Lord has his way in the whirlwind.
He opens up the door of his treasure house and there the wind blows
according to his sovereign, sovereign will. The only place a sinner
will really truly worship is at the throne of the almighty,
sovereign, holy God. Those who bow before the idols
of men, there's no worship there. There's no worship there. So
what has it pleased the Lord to do? Our God is in the heavens,
he had done whatsoever he had pleased. So what has it pleased
the Lord to do? Well, we can find in scripture
five things it has pleased the Lord to do. First of all, in
1 Samuel 12, 22, don't turn to these, let me just quote them
to you. It says there, it pleased the
Lord to make you His people. It pleased the Lord in eternity
to choose a people unto salvation. So it pleased the Lord to choose
a people. In John chapter 15, our Lord
said, you didn't choose me, I've chosen you. He blessed us according
as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
So it pleased the Lord to make you His people. Why did He choose
you? I like what one preacher said,
I thank God he chose me before I was born, because he never
would have chosen me afterward. Thank God election is eternal.
Secondly, we know that it pleased the Lord, Jehovah Almighty, to
bruise his son. You remember Isaiah 53? The pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. It pleased the Lord
to bruise him on account of our sin being made his sin. God made
Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him as our substitute. We know it pleased Pilate to
put Him to death. It pleased the Pharisees to see
Him suffer and die. It pleased those Jews. But what
we must see, it wasn't what they did, it's what God was doing.
It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. Thirdly, we know it pleased the
Lord, Jehovah, God Almighty, that in the Lord Jesus Christ
should all fullness dwell. In Him, it pleased the Lord that
in Him, Colossians 119, it pleased the Lord that in Him should all
fullness dwell. The fullness of the Godhead dwells
in the Lord Jesus Christ because He's God. It pleased the Lord
to do so. What else did it please the Lord
to do? 1 Corinthians 1.21, it said, it pleased the Lord by
the foolishness of preaching to call out your people, His
people. It pleased the Lord. The Lord
has ordained the means to call out His people. We know that
God elected a people. We know that Christ died for
those people and He obtained eternal redemption for them.
But God has ordained the means to call them out. What is that? The preaching of the gospel.
That's why he said to go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. Why not just the elect? Well,
I don't know who they are. He does. We go preach the gospel
to everybody and he calls out his sheep. They hear his voice
and they follow him. Fourthly, we know it pleased
the Lord to save sinners according to his sovereign purpose. You
remember what Paul writes in Galatians chapter 1, when it
pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by His grace to reveal His Son in me, when will a sinner
be saved? When it pleases God. When it
pleases God. So that's what it pleased the
Lord to do. Our God's in the heavens. He's
on the sovereign throne. He never has vacated His throne. He never will vacate His throne,
and His throne's a throne of absolute, everlasting dominion. From everlasting to everlasting,
you remember? Thou art God. He rules and reigns
forever and ever and ever. Aren't you glad? He is our God. He's our God. You just think about that for
a minute. This One who is Almighty, Eternal, Infinite, Holy, Sovereign,
He's our God. He chose us, made us His people. Now, their idols, verse 4, down
through verse 7, their idols are the work of men's
hands, silver and gold. Silver and gold, I guess you
can make a fine looking idol out of silver and gold. And they can fashion a mouth,
but they can't speak. They can even fashion out some
eye sockets and put some eyeballs in there, but they don't see.
They can fashion some ears, but those ears of an idol cannot
hear. They can fashion noses. But they cannot smell. Verse
7, they have hands, but they can't handle. They don't work.
Feet have they, but they can't walk. Neither speak they through
their throat. They that make them are like
unto them, so is everyone that trusteth them. Remember when
Elijah was on Mount Carmel? against those 750 prophets of
Baal. And there was a contest. The
God who answered by fire demonstrated He is God. And those prophets
of Baal, they cried and they weeped and they wailed and wailed
and cut themselves and did all this thing. And what did Elijah
do? He mocked them. Why don't you
call a little bit louder? Maybe your God's sleeping or
maybe your God's on vacation. Why don't you cry a little bit
louder? Baal never answered because Baal was dead. The true and living
God answered by fire. He is God, the true and living
God. What a description, the idols
of men, the gods of men who want to and can't, who have tried
and failed. What a contrast between life and death, darkness and
light. Their God is impotent, our God is omnipotent, sovereign. This illustrates for us just
how depraved sinners really are. Now you think about that. This is a monument to man's depravity,
isn't it? They make a God out of wood,
gold, and silver and think that God can do something for them.
Now that, you talk about a Depravity. That's depravity, isn't it? This
illustrates how depraved sinners really are. They think they can
whittle out their own God and bow down to a dead idol and hope
for some kind of salvation. Now, that's just insanity, isn't
it? Turn over here to Isaiah 45 for just a minute. Isaiah
45. Look at verse 20. Isaiah 45, verse 20. Assemble yourselves, come, and
come. Draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nation. They have no knowledge, yet set
up wood of their graven image and pray unto a God that cannot
save. But our God Tell ye, and bring
them near, yea, let them take counsel, verse 21. Who hath declared
it from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I, the Lord? There is no God else beside me,
a just God and Savior. There is none beside me. Look
unto me, and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, I
am God, and there is none other. They pray unto a God that cannot
save. That's sad, isn't it? Aren't
you glad the Almighty Lord turned you from your dead, impotent
idols of self to the true and living God? We've been turned
to God from our idol to serve and worship the true and living
God. The Lord, our God, has eyes to
see our need, doesn't He? And to meet all our needs according
to His riches in glory. Our great God has ears to hear
our cry. He hears our cry. How many times
have we read in the psalm where David said, Lord, hear my cry?
Because he's a living God, he can hear our cry. The Lord our
God has mouths to speak the words of life unto us and tell us how
he's provided salvation for us. He said, I am the Lord that will
provide. The Lord our God has feet. to
tread the winepress of the wrath of God alone. The Lord our God
has feet as our forerunner, who's entered into the heavens, and
he's seated on the throne of God. He is the true and living
God. This is our God. That's their
God. You remember that scripture over
Deuteronomy says, their rock is not like our rock. They have
a rock, but not like our rock. Our rock is a rock of ages. Look
at verse 8. They that make them are like
unto them. So is everyone that trusteth
them. They that make them are like
unto them. The idols of men are impotent
and lifeless, and those who trust in the idols of men are dead
in their sins. They have no spiritual life.
That's what it says in verse 17. The dead praise not the Lord. The dead don't. Those who are
dead in sin, they don't praise the Lord. They don't believe
the Lord. Paul writes about it. He said at that time, you're
without Christ, being alien from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in
the world. Idol makers are likened to the
idols they worship. Dead. Dead. Graveyard. How dead? Graveyard dead. Graveyard
dead. They don't see His glory. They don't speak of His glory.
Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. These who are
idol makers, they don't have eyes to see His glory, do they?
They don't have ears to hear His word. They do not speak about
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember we studied in Matthew
13, blessed are your eyes for they see, blessed are your ears
for they hear. They don't have, idol worshipers
don't have a nose to smell the sweet savor of Christ's satisfying
sacrifice. Idle worshipers don't have hands
of faith to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as all of our salvation. Their hands are defiled with
blood. They don't have feet to run to the Lord Jesus Christ
and seek mercy in him. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Cursed is everyone that trusteth in the flesh. Jeremiah
says that, and then Isaiah writes this, the whole head is sick,
the whole heart is faint, from the sole of her foot unto the
top of their head, no soundness, no goodness, no righteousness,
wound, bruises, and ulcerated sores. Cursed is everyone that
trusteth in the flesh. They that make them are like
unto them. So is everyone that trusteth in them. Now, O Israel,
trust thou in the Lord. He's our God. Trust thou, trust
thou, O Israel. And that's talking about his
covenant people, talking about his spiritual Israel, the elect
of God, the believers. Trust thou in the Lord. He is
their help. He is their shield. Oh, house
of Aaron. Aaron was the priestly tribe,
the Levitical tribe. He's made as king and priest
unto our God. Trust in the Lord. He is their
help and He is their shield. You that fear the Lord, verse
11. Trust in the Lord. He keeps saying this over and
over again. He is their help. He is their shield. Trust in
the Lord. Now, here's good instruction
for us. Because the Lord our God is true and living, because
He's seated in the heavens, the heavenlies, doing all His will
and pleasure, what are we to do? Trust Him at all times. Trust
Him at all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before Him.
God is a refuge for us. Rely upon Him. Count upon Him. Depend upon Him. Have faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ at all times. At all times. Look across the page. It's Psalm
118 verse 8. Psalm 118 verse 8. It's better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in man. It's better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in princes. It's better, or is best, to trust
the Lord. Trust Him alone. You see, He
alone is our help. He alone is our help. Now, back
to the book of Isaiah. Turn back over there to Isaiah
41 this time. Isaiah 41 verse 10. He is our
help. Do we need help? Yeah, well,
we need help, don't we? Isaiah 41, look at verse 10.
Isaiah 41 verse 10. He is our help. Fear thou not,
for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness. Isaiah 41, look at verse 14.
Fear not thou worm Jacob, ye men of Israel. I will help thee,
saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. He's
our help. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in our time of need." Christ is our helper.
The Lord Jesus Christ helps the helpless. He's the hope of the
hopeless. Now, there's an old religious
saying that's been around a long time, and you've probably heard
this saying, and it's not true. This religious saying has been
around for a long time. It goes like this, God helps
those that help themselves. That's not true. You won't find
that language in the scripture. God helps those who are helpless,
who are hopeless. He gives us a good hope through
grace. Psalm 121, turn over there. Psalm 121, verse one. Psalm 121,
verse one. I will lift up my eyes to the
hill from which cometh my help, my help cometh from the Lord,
which made heaven and earth." He's our help. He's our help. And then it says there in the
text, He is their help, He is their shield. He is their help,
He is their shield. He is their help, He is their
shield. One, two, Three times. Why three times? Father, Son,
Holy Spirit. He is our help. It's not two
times. It's not four times. Three times. You reckon that's a coincidence? Absolutely not. And He is our shield. What is
a shield? A shield is a protection, isn't
it? Shield protects us. His truth
is our shield. He's given us the shield of faith. The sword of the Spirit and the
shield of faith. He is our protector. He is our
refuge. Grace to help in time of need.
Now, either fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help. He is their shield. Now look
at verse 12 and 13. The Lord, have been mindful," now think
about this, he's mindful of us. He thinks about us. The Lord
has been mindful of us. Now watch this, he will bless
us, he will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house
of Aaron, he will bless them that fear him, Both small and
great. Notice, He will, He will, He
will, He will. It's not He will if I will. He will bless us. And He has.
And He will. Because He's been mindful of
us. How long has God been mindful
of His people? He loved them with an everlasting
love. He told us in Christ before the
foundation of the world, the Lord had been mindful of us. All that the Father had given
to me, they will come to me, and those that come to me, I
will never cast them out. He had blessed us. He will bless
us. And He had blessed us. He will
bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great. We do bless His name. Look at
verse 14. He will bless us from all eternity
because He's been mindful of us as He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Verse 14, the Lord will increase. The Lord will increase. Verse
14, the Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children. The Lord's going to increase
us. He's given us all spiritual blessings. And I believe what
this is referring to is about growing in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The more we know of Him, the
more we love Him. The more we know of Him, the
more we trust Him. He causes us to grow in grace. and in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the cause of that. The Lord
must increase and bless His people. We are made to grow in grace
in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The more we grow,
the more we trust Him, and the more confidence we have in Him,
and we don't have any confidence in the flesh, do we? Verse 15
and 16, ye are blessed of the Lord. You are blessed. He will
bless us and we are blessed. We are blessed of the Lord. He
is the Lord who made heaven and earth. Now you think about that. The Lord made the heavens and
the earth. God who inhabits eternity made
the heavens and the earth. Now how vast is space? Infinite! The Lord created all things out
of nothing. He willed all things by the Word
of His power. He said, let there be light,
and there was light. The Lord created all things by
the Word of His power, didn't He? The heaven, even the heavens,
the heaven, even the heavens, the heaven of heavens are the
Lord's. But the earth, He's given that to us right now. That's
what we have. God created the world, the earth,
and He gave it to Adam. He said, you take care of this.
The Lord has given us this place to live, but one day this earth
as we know it is going to pass away and He's going to make a
new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Look at verse 17. The dead don't praise the Lord.
Those who are dead in sin, those who are trusting idols, the idols
of men, they don't praise the Lord. They bow down to a dead
idol, don't they? Neither any that go down in the
silence. They don't praise the Lord. But,
verse 18, There's that big word, but God, who is rich in mercy.
But we will bless the Lord. We bless Him who has blessed
us. We bless God who has blessed us. Ephesians chapter 1 verse
3. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me, bless His holy name. We will bless
the Lord from this time forth and forever. That'll be our eternal occupation. One eternal, one eternal, you
can't even use the language time and day because it's just eternal. One eternal presence of worship. And then it ends with praise
the Lord. We do praise the Lord, don't
we? Honor Him.