Okay, let's go back to Psalm
65, and we'll try to look at the first five verses. Psalm
65, and I'm entitling the message from the words that are found
in verse 4. Blessings by God's choice. Blessed
is that man. Blessed is that sinner whom God
has chosen. Now that's a blessing. That's
a blessing to be chosen of God from all eternity and given to
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a blessing, isn't it?
Now, who determined that blessing? He did. God's sovereign choice. Blessed is that man whom God
has chosen. Blessings by God's choice and
causes him to approach unto God. not only to approach unto him,
but to dwell with him, to be one with him in his court, in
his presence. And in what that brings, we shall
be satisfied. You see that? We shall be satisfied. We're satisfied with not our
goodness, but we're satisfied with his goodness, aren't we?
the goodness of the Lord. You know, it's the goodness of
the Lord that leadeth us to repentance, isn't it? The goodness of the
Lord. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even
thy holy temple. That's where we abide, in Christ,
within the veil, in Him. So, we see the bountiful and
abundant eternal blessing that every believer enjoys comes from
the sovereign hand of our blessed Lord. When he opens his hand,
he satisfies the desire of his people. The bountiful, abundant,
eternal blessing that every believer enjoys comes from the sovereign
hand of our blessed God and Savior. And he freely gives us all things. We're justified freely by his
grace through the redeeming blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
all through the year, Look what it says in verse 11. He crowns
the year with his goodness. He crowns us all year long with
his goodness. Every day, every day he crowns
us with goodness. Every day we see the goodness
of the Lord in the land of the living. His blessings are given
unto us freely by his sovereign grace, not because we're deserving. The wages of sin is death. The
gift of God is eternal life. We're given blessings freely
by His grace, not because we're deserving, but rather because
our great Lord is abundantly gracious. He delights to show
mercy to such as we are. We are called His chosen people. We are called His jewels, His
elect. We're called His sheep. You remember
Psalm 95 said, we're the sheep of his hand and the people of
his pasture. We're the sheep of his hand.
God not in our hand, we're in his hand. We're in his hand. That's where I wanna be, in his
hand, in his hand. His hands are omnipotent hands,
aren't they? His hands are powerful, powerful
hands. Now, let's take a look at verse
one. Praise waiteth for thee, or praise is silent. Silently,
we silently wait upon the Lord. Praise is something that goes
on within the heart. We can praise the Lord and not
make a sound. We can praise the Lord and not,
matter of fact, it's better if we don't make a sound. because
prayer goes on and worship goes on within the heart. Praise is
silent or worship is silent. And our worship and our praise
is unto God, isn't it? Unto the true and living God.
And praise waited for thee, O God, in Zion. Now this is the gospel
Zion. We're gonna see that in chapter
12 of the book of Hebrews. This is the gospel Zion. This
is God's established church. He purchased with his own blood.
His own blood. And under these shall the vow,
the vow of worship be performed. Our worship is unto the Lord.
The Lord seeketh such to worship him in spirit and in truth. Every
believer's desire is to quietly wait upon the Lord and give Him
all the glory that's due unto His name. Let me read this to you. This is
familiar, you don't need to turn. You remember Psalm 27, I had
fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living. There's that goodness again,
isn't it? Christ is, He's our goodness in the land of the living. That being so, I believe to see
the goodness of the Lord. Wait on the Lord and be of good
courage. He shall strengthen thine heart.
Wait, I say, wait upon the Lord. He is worth waiting upon, isn't
he? Sure he is. Praise or worship waiteth upon
God. To God alone is due all reverential
stillness and submission unto him. We quietly wait in submission
upon the Lord's will to be done. He taught us to pray, not I will,
but thy will be done. He sent redemption unto his people,
holy and reverent is his name. We wait upon our sovereign God. Only looking to him to perform
all things that he has promised to do, In Psalm 46 verse 10,
you remember the word, be still and know that I am God. You remember in Exodus chapter
14 when they crossed over or crossed through the Red Sea? Be still and see the salvations
of the Lord. Be still and know that I am God.
Be still, be silent, be submissive. He hath performed all things
He promised. He's performed all things for
us, and we declare, turn one page over here, Psalm 66, look
at verse 16. Psalm 66, verse 16. Come and hear all ye that fear
God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. We praise him and wait upon him
for all that he has done. Turn back a couple pages to Psalm
57. Psalm 57. Look at verse two. Psalm 57 verse two. This should
be familiar to you. I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send
from heaven and save me from the approach of him that would
swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy
and his truth. Wait upon the Lord. He's performed
all things for us. I'm persuaded, you remember the
persuasion of Jacob, remember what he said? I'm persuaded that
all that God has promised, he's able to perform, isn't he? Great
is thy faithfulness. That's why I chose that psalm.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord God, our Father. When mercy is
given, praise and worship to God is spontaneous. It's spontaneous. And it is delightful. It's not a burden to God's people
to worship the Lord, is it? Oh, it's a delight. We delight
in Him. We delight to worship Him. The
Father seeketh such to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Praise waited for thee, O God. He is the true and living God,
God who is God. Beside Him there is none other.
And in Zion, we wait. God's people, God's church. That's
the gospel Zion. They wait upon the Lord. They
worship the Lord. And unto thee shall the vow be
performed. Performed. Unto thee shall the
vow be performed. The Lord Jesus Christ in that
eternal covenant of grace vowed to be our surety, didn't he?
He's a surety of the everlasting covenant. He vowed in that covenant
of grace to take our sin unto himself and to put our sin away.
We'll see that again in just a minute. But every believer
has vowed in his heart and determined in his heart by the grace of
God to worship a true and living God and say as Jonah did out
of the belly of that great fish that swallowed him up but I will
sacrifice unto thee with a voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that
I have vowed, what is it? Salvation to the Lord. We have
vowed, haven't we? That salvation, we have declared
that our salvation is of the Lord. It's what he has done for
us. This is our privilege and this
is our delight to worship God. Turn back to Psalm 37 for just
a moment. Psalm 37, verse 39. Psalm 37 verse 39, but the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. Now that's all the way through
the scripture. The salvation of God's people
is of Him. It's of the Lord. He is their
strength. in a time of trouble, and the Lord shall help them
and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the
wicked and save them. They trust in Him because they
trust in Him. He will save us. So it's our
privilege to wait upon the Lord, to worship the Lord, and to commit
all of our salvation unto the Lord. As Paul said, I know whom
I have believed and persuaded He's able to do all that He promised
and I've committed all my salvation unto Him. All unto Him. Now look at verse 2. O thou that
hearest prayer. David doesn't say the Lord might
hear my prayer. He didn't say that. He said thou
hearest my prayer. God hears our prayers, does he?
Absolutely. Because he is a living God, he
hears our prayers. Often we read through the psalm
where David asked the Lord, Lord, hear our prayer. What good would
praying do if God didn't hear our crying? He said, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I'm gonna
call. I'm gonna cry. Because he hears
our prayers. Unto thee, shall all flesh come. Here's a fitting and proper name
for the Lord our God. Thou that hearest prayer. Thou
that hearest prayer. And we don't even need to speak
a word. You remember when Hannah went
to the temple and prayed to the Lord? And the old priest Eli
watched her? Her mouth was moving, but she
didn't utter a word. Prayer is a matter of the heart.
Prayer is a matter of the heart. But God hears the prayers of
His people. The Lord Jesus, when he came
to the grave of Lazarus, he said, I thank thee, O Father, that
thou hast heard me. And we give thanks that the Lord
has heard our prayers. Now, here's the proof. Here's
the proof of our all-sufficient God. He hears our prayers and
our cry and supplies our every need. But my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory through Christ Jesus
our Lord. Now I can give you many examples
of those in scripture that called upon the name of the Lord and
were blessed. But I think of the leper who
came before the Lord Jesus Christ, fell down and worshiped him and
said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And he said,
I will be thou clean. And then we read of the prayer
of the publican, God be merciful to me, the sinner. And the Lord
said, that man went down to his house justified. God justified
him. The Lord heard his prayer. The
Lord heard. That ought to encourage us to
call upon the Lord and to cry unto the Lord. Seek mercy where mercy is given.
The Lord is called longsuffering unto us. He says many times in
scripture, because we have such a great high priest, you remember
he said, come boldly to the throne of grace. Why would you come
boldly to the throne of grace? That you may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in our time of need. You remember from Matthew
11, he said, all you that are laboring and heavy laden, come
to me and I'll give you rest. Look to Christ. Come to Christ.
As the old preacher said years and years ago, come to Christ,
don't move a muscle. Come to Christ, don't move a
muscle, a hand or a hair. Come to Christ by faith, looking,
looking. You remember Hebrews 2? Hebrews
12 verse 2, you remember? looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Now notice verse three, iniquities. Iniquities prevail against me.
Now this is the man after God's own heart, the sweet psalmist
of Israel. And here he's confessing that he's a sinner. You remember Psalm 51, against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil on thy side.
You know, I read of all of God's children in Scripture. We talk
about Isaiah. We talk about the Apostle Paul.
We talk about Job. We talk about all these saints
of old. They all confess that they are
sinners. They all confess. Oh, wretched man that I am. I'm
unclean. I'm a man of unclean lips. Isaiah
said, Iniquities do prevail against us. Our sin does charge us before
God. Iniquities do prevail against
us. As for our transgression, they
are iniquities, transgression, and sin, they do prevail against
us. And there's nothing we can do,
absolutely nothing we can do to take away our transgression,
to take away our iniquities, to take away our sin. We're helpless. We're helpless to put away sin. But look at the good news right
here. The last part of verse three. As for our transgressions,
our iniquities, and we can throw in there our sins, thou shalt
purge them away. Now who's gonna put away our
sin? My pastor used to say all the time, sin is pretty hard
to put away. The blood of bulls and goats that flowed on Jewish
altars for thousands of years could not put away one sin. How
has our sin purged? How has our sin taken away? You
know the answer, don't you? You remember Hebrews chapter
1 verse 3, when he had by himself, what's that next word? Purged
our sin, he sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. Now
how throughly and how thoroughly did he purge our sin? Did he
put away some of our sin? Or did he put away the biggest
part of our sin? Did he put away the big sins
and we gotta take care of the little sins? There is no such
thing as big or little sin because all sin's against God. But the
Lord Jesus Christ so throughly and perfectly took away our sin. Behold the Lamb of God that does
what? Taketh away our sin. He purged our sin away. So much so, and so completely
and thoroughly that he by the one sacrifice hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. God said their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. All the sin of God's people
are all put away by the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the only way that sin can be put away. Repentance doesn't
put away sin. Faith doesn't put away sin. True
repentance acknowledges Christ put away sin. Faith doesn't put
away sin, but true faith acknowledges that the Lord Jesus Christ put
away our sin. Baptism doesn't put away sin.
A lot of people think water baptism washes away our sin. Water baptism
doesn't. put away our sin. Baptism is
a confession that Christ put away our sin. Christ took away
our sin. That's our hope. That's our hope. Isaiah, in the book of Isaiah,
chapter 38, remember the confession of King Hezekiah? When he was laid up on his sickbed,
ready to die, and he said, God has cast all my sin behind his
back. Now, where is that? It's gone. It's gone. And then
in Isaiah 45, he says, our sins have been blotted out as a thick
cloud. Now, I love that scripture. It's found in Psalm 103, where
he said that I have separated you from your sin as far as the
east is from the west. In Adam, we were separated, our
sins separated us from God. In Adam, our sins separated us
from God. But now our sin has been put
away and we no longer have separation, we have reconciliation. He put
away our sin by the sacrifice of himself. Look over here at
Psalm 32. David many times through the
Psalm talks about the blessed man. Who is the blessed man?
Who is that blessed man? Look at Psalm 32, look at verse
one. Psalm 32, verse one. Blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven. Now that's the blessed
man. That's the blessed man whose
sin is covered. Transgression and sin. Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, in whose
spirit there is no guile." Now there's those three words. Transgression,
forgiven, sin, covered, iniquity, iniquity not charged to you. Who was iniquity charged to?
Our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. He bear our sin in His
own body on the truth. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. That's the blessed man. Now look
back at Psalm 65, look at verse 4. David describes this blessed
man in verse 4. Blessed is the man. Blessed is
the man. Now here's a blessed person,
chosen by God. Chosen by God. And then because
his people have been chosen in Christ, now what are we talking
about here? We're talking about the Bible
doctrine of election, aren't we? God choosing a people unto
salvation. Blessed is that man whom God
has elected. He elected a people unto salvation. And those who are elected unto
salvation, he causes us to approach unto him. that we may dwell with him forever,
and we shall be satisfied with the goodness of his house, even
thy holy temple." What's the goodness of the house of God?
Christ. Christ is our goodness. The Lord
is good. The Lord is good. We often quote this verse. It's
loaded down with good news. Who is that blessed man? And
that word blessed also means happy. Who is that happy man? That happy man is that happy
man that's been chosen and blessed of God. That happy man is that
man who's been called out of darkness into God's marvelous
light. Who is that blessed happy man? Those who are found in Christ. The world of unbelievers has
a totally different idea as to who the blessed man is. The world
would say the rich and famous, that they are blessed. David
said, the blessed man are those who are poor and needy. That's
the blessed man. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
you remember? Theirs is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
They shall be filled. That's the blessed man. You remember
Psalm 40? David said, I'm poor and needy,
yet the Lord thinks upon me. You see in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have all spiritual blessing given to us in Christ. That's
the blessed man. That's the blessed man. Now here
we see four things, at least four things given to us in verse
four. The first thing we see is this,
God's sovereign electing love. The Bible doctrine of election.
Election is God being God. God being God. Now you remember
Ephesians chapter 1 talks about God has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. According as He has chosen
us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy, unblameable before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of sons. Now that's a blessed man. How
do we know anything about this? eternal election of God. How
do we know anything about it? Remember what we read here just
a moment ago? Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. Knowing, beloved, how do you
know if God chose you into salvation? Because our gospel came not to
you in word only, but in power and in the Holy Spirit with much
assurance. We have the assurance of salvation
in Christ. See, God's electing love causes
us to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said to those
fishermen he called, James and John, Peter and Andrew, he said,
come follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. And he said to
them, John 15 is recorded. He said, you didn't choose me,
I chose you. And I ordained you unto eternal
life. And that's true not only of the
apostles, but that's true of every sinner saved by the grace
of God. He chose us unto salvation. We
call that, you remember the T-U-L-I-P, total depravity. The U stands
for what? Unconditional election. God chose
us, not because he foresaw something good in us. God chose us because
he would. Now here's the thing about election. The first time that word is used
in scripture, Isaiah 42.1, it says, Behold my servant, my elect,
in whom I delighted. Christ is the elect. We are chosen
in him. You see that? We're chosen in
Him. You can't preach election without
preaching Christ because He's the elect. Sovereign electing
is an unconditional election. We are chosen of God according
to His good pleasure. Over in 2 Thessalonians chapter
2 verse 13, Where it says, Paul said, we are bound to give thanks
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit. What is that? That's the new
birth, which leads to belief of the truth, or until he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So we see sovereign election.
And then we see the irresistible calling of God. You see the next
part of verse 4? He causes us to approach unto
Him. Remember John chapter 6, our
Lord said, No person can come to me except
the Father which sent me. Draw him, and I'll raise him
up at the last day. All those who have heard and
learned of the Father, they come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's
that sovereign, irresistible, effectual call. Since we cannot
and will not come to God of ourselves because we love darkness, not
light, because of carnal-minded enmity against God, he graciously
works in us and attracts us powerfully unto himself. He subdues our
unwillingness and makes us willing in the day of his power. Psalm
110 verse three, you remember? He makes us willing to come to
Christ in the day of his power. So, Peter writes, you are our
chosen generation First Peter 2.9, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises
of him who called you out of darkness in his marvelous light. We've been called out of darkness.
He's the cause of it. Why do we call upon the name
of the Lord? He's the cause. He's the reason. He's the first cause and the
last end of all our salvation. He elected us, and then he irresistibly
calls us to himself. He makes us willing. And then
thirdly, we see sovereign adoption and sonship, that we may dwell,
that we may dwell in thy courts. We dwell. We dwell with him. Turn, hold your place there,
and turn over here to Psalm. Turn back to Psalm. Well, I turn.
You haven't turned there yet. Psalm 27, turn over there. Psalm
27. I read Psalm 27, verse 14 a minute
ago. But Psalm 27, talking about dwelling
in the house of the Lord. Here we see the sovereign adoption
and sonship. Psalm 27, look at verse 4. One
thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
and to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. How do we dwell in the house
of the Lord in Christ? He's our dwelling place. We abide
in Him. In Him we abide. Behold what
manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should
be called sons of God. We dwell in His courts. We dwell
in His house. We are one with Him as sons of
God. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God.
We, by his divine drawing, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
We are adopted into his family. We are the household of God.
You are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and the household of God." That's good news, isn't
it? brought near by the Spirit of
God into an intimate union with Him so that we have access with
boldness and liberty unto the throne of God. We have boldness
to come to God in Christ Jesus. So we abide in his, we are chosen
in him, he causes us to approach in him, and then we abide in
his courts, we abide in his presence, in union with him, we dwell,
we abide, we're one with him. That leads to the fourth thing,
we shall be satisfied. You see that last part of that?
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of his house. The goodness
of his house. What blessedness to be satisfied
with Christ our goodness. Believers are content in him. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. Believers are satisfied completely
with the Lord Jesus Christ. We're satisfied with his person.
We're satisfied with his work. As our mediator and advocate,
we are satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ. He meets all our
need. But more importantly than that,
You know what it is? God is satisfied with Christ
Jesus. This is my well-beloved Son in
whom I am well-pleased. God is satisfied with the Lord
Jesus Christ. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in Christ. Now in closing, look at verse
5. By terrible things, tremendous things, in righteousness God
will answer us. God's not going to act contrary
to his holy character. Everything he does in saving
sinners must be glorifying to every attribute of God. things
in righteousness will thou answer us, O God of our salvation, who
art the competence of all the ends of the earth, and of them
that are far off, which by his strengths setteth fast the mountains
being girded with power. With power. God hears our prayer,
and his glory is that he answers in a fit manner, He always answered
in righteousness. That is, he blesses us according
to his strict standard of righteousness. He never lowers the bar to save
sinners. Grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Where is that found?
Roman chapter 5 verse 21. Grace reigns through righteousness. Righteousness established by
the Lord Jesus Christ who honored the law of God for us, satisfied
the law of God for us that he might be just and the justifier
of those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He indeed, because
righteousness has been established through his faithful obedience,
through his glorious sacrifice, the shedding of his blood, answered
the demand of God's law and justice, and because of that, he's a God
of our salvation. Remember, Paul writes about oftentimes
he's called God our savior. God our Savior, the one who is
able to save to the uttermost. He is God our Savior. You see
that? Oh, God of our salvation, who
art the competence. He's our competence. He is our
Savior. He indeed is the God of our salvation. It originates with Him, is executed
by Him, accomplished by Him, and applied by Him. All of it
by Him. He has secured salvation in the
covenant of grace for His people through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. He has promised it in His Word.
All the promises of God in Christ are yes and in Him, amen. He
sent the Lord Jesus Christ to obtain it for us and He gives
the Spirit in conviction of our sin and the revelation of Christ. He applies that to our heart.
God who has begun a good work in you will finish it. He indeed
is the God of our confidence. You see that? Who do you have
confidence in? We are the true Israel which
worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we have
no confidence in the flesh. He is the God of our confidence. He's the God of our security
and assurance. All who are called and redeemed
by his grace are extremely competent in him. Listen to scripture. According to the eternal purpose,
which he purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whom we have boldness
and access with competence by faith in him. You remember faith
is a substance of things hoped for. the evidence of things not
seen, substance, ground, or confidence. Faith is confident that Christ
is able to perform all that he promised in Christ Jesus.