Okay, Psalm 111, Psalm 111. I'm entitling the message from
the theme of this psalm, and really it's the theme of the
whole Bible, from Genesis all the way through the Revelation.
It's all about the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We call that Christ our mediator, right? We call that his mediatorial
work, or his priestly work for us. It's all about his work,
what he's done for us. As we read down through this
psalm, and I'm entitling this psalm, Salvation by the Works
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The title of the message, Salvation
by the Works of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we read down through
this psalm, Psalm 111, at least five times he makes mention of
his work or his works for us. So we can really say that salvation
is by His works, His work, His doing, His done. Salvation as
it's revealed and made known to us through the pages of Holy
Scripture is all according to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
His faithfulness, honoring the law of God for us, putting away
our sin for us, saving us and calling us by His grace. It's
all He's doing, isn't it? I think of that Psalm. Yeah,
it's just one page over. Turn to Psalm 118. Look at verse
23. This is the Lord's doing. You
see that verse 23, Psalm 118? This is the Lord's doing. It's
marvelous in our eyes. This is a day which the Lord
hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it." This is the Lord's
doing. Salvation, as we've often said,
and I don't get tired of saying this, salvation's of the Lord.
All of the Lord. It's according to His purpose,
according to His grace, and His purpose and His grace is an eternal
purpose. Salvation is according to everything
the Lord has done for us. His coming, His dying, His obedience,
His faithfulness, which makes salvation that we enjoy in the
Lord Jesus Christ all of grace. All of grace. Of His fullness
have we all received grace for grace. All of grace, all of mercy,
not of works. Remember we studied Titus chapter
3, not by works of righteousness which we have done, But according
to his mercy, he saved us. You see, for the sinner, it's
impossible for us to do any work of righteousness before salvation
or after. Salvation is based upon his righteousness,
not ours. So thank God it's according to
his purpose and grace, not according to our works. Now, verse one. He begins with, Praise
ye the Lord, and as I said earlier, that phrase means Hallelujah. It's one of the Hallelujah Psalms,
Psalm 111, Psalm 112, and Psalm 113, Hallelujah. Because salvation
is of the Lord, and we enjoy the fullness of salvation in
the Lord Jesus Christ, what are you gonna say to that? But Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and in the Lord Jesus Christ we stand complete. Christ is all and in all in the
salvation of sinners. So those who are saved by the
grace of God, they say, where it says, praise ye the Lord,
then it says, I will. I will. That's the heart desire
of a believer. I will praise the Lord. And I'll
do it with my whole being. My whole heart. My will, my affection,
my understanding. I will. That's my desire with
all that is within me. David said it in another psalm. You remember? Turn just a couple
pages back. Psalm 103. Remember Psalm 103 verse 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His
holy name. All that is within me. Bless
His name. Now I know we're greatly hindered
because of this flesh. In our worship, in our praise,
in our faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. This old sinful flesh
just absolutely just gets in our way. One day when we have
a new body like unto His glorious body, we won't have that problem
anymore. And we'll worship God like we should, like we will
and should in that day. I will praise the Lord. He makes
us willing in the day of His power. This is not saying that
man has a free will. Man's will is not free. Man's
will is in bondage to his sin. But if God makes us willing in
the day of His power, we do say when the Lord said, When he commands
us to come and believe, the believer said, well, I will. Because he
makes us willing. And he gives us a new heart,
a new heart of faith, a new heart that loves him and looks to him. And he said, I'll do this, praise
ye the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright,
those who are believers. When we come together in the
congregation of the upright among God's people, what do we say?
Well, God saved us by his grace. God saved us by his grace. It
arouses the believer to worship him, to believe him wholeheartedly. Hallelujah the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth. You remember Revelation 19 6
and I heard as it were a voice of a great multitude as a voice
of many waters and the voice of Mighty thundering saying hallelujah
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth He reigns everywhere. He rules
and reigns over all things another Psalm Psalm 135 whatsoever the
Lord pleased that did he in heaven and Earth, sea, and all deep
places. He always does all of His pleasure
all the time. I will praise the Lord. I will. The Lord Jesus Christ is certainly
worthy. of all praise and honor and glory
that we can possibly acknowledge and give Him now and forever.
That's our whole heart desire now and it will be in that day
then when we sing worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive
all honor, glory, and power. Now when should we praise the
Lord? Look at Psalm 113. Verse 3, Psalm 113, verse 3. From the rising of the sun until
the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised.
When should we praise the Lord? All the time. Trust Him all the
time, ye people. Where should we praise the Lord?
Well, everywhere. But it says here in verse 1,
in the assembly of the upright. How should we praise the Lord?
with all our heart, with all our being, with the whole heart. Why? Turn back one page, Psalm
108. Why should we? Psalm 108, verse
one. Oh, God, my heart is fixed. I
will sing and give praise unto the Lord. Awake, sultry harp. I myself will wake early. I will
praise the Lord. O Lord among the people, I will
praise, sing praises unto thee among the nation. For thy mercy
is great above the heavens and thy truth reaches unto the clouds. Why? He's worthy of all honor
and praise. Worthy of it. Worthy of it. Now, there's another Psalm. Turn
back to Psalm 107. Turn over there. And this is a repeated statement
in Psalm 107. Look at verse 8. Psalm 107, verse 8. Oh, that
men would praise the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful
works to the children of men. But down at verse 15, Psalm 107. Psalm 107, verse 15. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful works to the children
of men. Same psalm, look at verse 21. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful works to the children
of men. And he's not done, look at verse 31. Psalm 107. Oh, that
men would praise the Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful
works. to the children of men. Sinners. Sinners. It's wonderful. The
Lord is good. Taste and see, the Lord is good. Now look back to our study Psalm,
Psalm 111, verse two. The works of the Lord. What are
you gonna say about the works of the Lord? They're great. The
works of sinful men are nothing but sin. The works of the Lord
are great, great, sought out of all them that have pleasure.
We have pleasure in His great work. We have pleasure, great
pleasure. The Lord our God is great. Everything about Him is great.
Everything He does is great and good. His works are great, whether
we consider His work of creation. Think of the work of creation.
God created all things by the word of his power. The heavens, the earth, the seas,
all the creatures, man. His works of creation are great.
How vast is his creation? The work of providence, what
unfolded in time, unfolded in time according to his good and
great providence. We see the Lord had decreed all
things from the beginning, and in time they unfold according
to his good providence, because his providence is great, sovereign
providence. And then his work of salvation,
what you're gonna say about that, it's great. In Hebrews chapter
two says, how shall we escape if we neglect so? Great salvation. You see, everything about his
work is great. Turn to this Psalm here, turn
to Psalm 40. Psalm 40. Verse five, Psalm 40, verse five. Many, O LORD my God, are thy
wonderful work which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, there are more than can be numbered." Oh, man. His wonderful works. More than
can be numbered. They're infinite, aren't they?
Oh, they're infinite. As great as God is God. In Revelation 15, those who were given the victory
over the beast, they sang the song of Moses, the servant of
God, the song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvelous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of the
saints. You remember that verse? Amazing
how fast we Let me rephrase that. It's amazing
how fast I forget things. You probably don't have the problem
that I do. But we've been studying through
the Revelation and studying it, studying it, and I mean I really
work at it. I look at it a long time and
read and reread and study and read and read others. Someone was asking me some questions
about the Euphrates River drying up, and that's mentioned twice,
the river Euphrates drying up. And I had to just go back and
pause a minute and think, now where is that, what did I say
about that? This person was saying that the
Euphrates River flows out of Turkey, the country Turkey, it's
north. of Iraq, Euphrates flowed down
through Iraq. And this person was saying that
Turkey's going to cut off the water flow and that Euphrates
is going to dry up. And the person was thinking,
well, this is going to be the fulfillment of Scripture. No,
it's not. We don't interpret the Scripture
in the light of the newspaper. We don't say, this is that. Because
remember, that river is symbolic of the wickedness that supplies
wicked people. And God's going to dry that up
when He comes again. God's going to dry that up. But sometimes we have to go back
and refresh ourselves. That's why it's so good to be
familiar with the Scripture. I mean, I've been looking at
this book pretty good for the last 40 years, 40 years at least,
longer. At least 40 years I've been studying.
I wish I could remember just a fraction of what I've read
and studied. And as you get older, it gets foggier. That's why I have to go and turn
and read it. I used to be able to quote it, now I've got to
turn and read it, but that's okay, that's okay. But great
and marvelous are thy works. Believers seek to know more of
his works. We have pleasure in his work.
We have pleasure in what he has done. Now, turn to Psalm 92 and
look at this, Psalm 92. Look at Psalm 92 verse 4. For
thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work. I will triumph
in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works,
and thy thoughts are very deep. I will triumph in the work of
his hands. Thanks be unto God who has given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father
is well pleased with the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
well pleased. He said, this is my beloved son
and I'm well pleased to hear him. Isaiah 42, you remember,
the Lord said he's well pleased for his righteousness sake, he'll
magnify the law and make it honorable. We have pleasure. God has pleasure
in what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. And we have
pleasure in what He has done for us. Aren't you thankful that
the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished all of our salvation? That brings
me pleasure. Salvation is not dependent upon
me. Him. He's our surety. Now look at verse 3. His work
All of his redeeming work is honorable and glorious, and his
righteousness endures forever, ever and ever. His work, the
work of salvation, his mediatorial work as our Redeemer is honorable. In saving sinners, the Lord Jesus
Christ honored every attribute of God, his justice, His mercy. God's love. Mercy and truth are
met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Where is that? Psalm 85 verse
10. Psalm 85 verse 10. And then it
says His work is not only honorable, but His work is glorious. You
see that in verse 3? His work is glorious. Glorious. You remember Ephesians chapter
1, where it talks three times about the praise of the glory
of His grace. The Father choosing us according
to the praise of the glory of His grace. The Son redeeming
us according to the praise of the glory of His grace. And the
Holy Spirit calling us according to the praise of the glory of
His grace. His work is honorable and is
glorious. It's glorious. to the praise
of His glory. And then it says His righteousness
endures forever. The righteousness that He gives
us, as Scott Richardson used to say, the righteousness the
believers have is not something pasted on. I put on this shirt
to come over here. The righteousness God gives to
His people is imputed unto them. Blessed is that man to whom the
Lord imputes righteousness without words. It's not pasted on. He's
made us the righteousness of God in Christ. He is the Lord
our righteousness. Now, we have none of our own,
do we? There's none righteous, none that want. Isaiah calls
all our righteousness is filthy rag, but his righteousness, which
is absolutely perfect, satisfying unto God, it endures forever. He clothed us with the garments
of salvation and the robe of righteousness. How long is it
gonna last? Will it ever wear out? Never. Never. We're clothed eternally
in his righteousness As Daniel says, He's brought in for us
an everlasting righteousness. Now I like that. His work is honorable. His work
is glorious. Boy, His righteousness endures
forever. We're not going about to establish a righteousness
of our own, are we? We're resting in the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the Lord our righteousness before God. Now look at verse 4. He has made, He has made His
wonderful works to be remembered. What's His name? Child is born, a son is given,
His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. You see, His works,
He made His wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious. The Lord is full. He's full of
graciousness. He's full of compassion. Compassion. His name is wonderful. His works are wonderful. God
has purpose for his people to remember his wonderful salvation
that he has wrought for us. God who has begun a good work
in you, he will perform it, perfect it. His covenant people will
never forget his wonderful works, will we? Not now. We'll sing unto Him who loved
us and washed us from our sin in His own blood. We will remember
His wonderful works. Wonderful works. He's written
about His wonderful works in the scripture. He's written His
wonderful works upon our heart. He's given us the Holy Spirit
to reveal those wonderful works unto us. The Lord has given His
church the Lord's table to do what? He says, it's off that
you eat this bread and drink this cup. This do in remembrance
of me." Remember who He is and what He's done for us. And then
it says in the last part of verse 4, the Lord, the Lord is gracious. The Lord is full. He's gracious
and full of compassion. Oh, taste and see, the Lord is
good. The Lord is full of compassion. Hearing His love, not that we
love God, but He loved us. He sent His Son to be the sacrifice
for our sin. No greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. And that's
exactly what the Lord did. Full of compassion. Full of compassion
for us. Now look at verse 5. Psalm 111
verse 5. He had given meat unto them that
fear Him. He's given us, and that meat
there I think is symbolic. You know, we can't live without
food. We have to have food. Have to have water. The Lord has given himself as
the bread of life. He is the meat of the word. He
has given meat unto them that fear Him, that love Him, that
believe Him. He will ever be mindful of His
covenant. What is this covenant? God hath
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and is
sure. That is the eternal covenant
of God's love. saving grace. None of His covenant
promises can fail. Our God has provided all things
for us. He is called Jehovah Jireh, remember? Genesis 22, the Lord will provide. My God shall supply all your
needs according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness and all these things will be added
unto you. All these other things that to sustain us here. His covenant mercies are forever
and ever and ever. He will ever be mindful of His
covenant. It's ordered in all things, and
it's sure. It'll never be overturned, never
be changed, never be disannulled. It's the eternal covenant of
grace. The God of peace, who brought again from the dead the
Lord Jesus Christ through the blood of the everlasting covenant. at the everlasting covenant of
grace. Look at verse six. He showed his people, he revealed
unto his people the power of his work. We only believe according
to the working of his mighty power. To some, Christ crucified
is foolishness, but them are saved. Christ is the wisdom of
God and Christ is the power of God. He has showed His people,
He has revealed unto His people the power of His work. You remember
Paul said in Romans 1.16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ. It's the power of God in the salvation. Unto everyone
that believes, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed.
He showed His people the power of His doing, the power of His
works, that He may give them. He's given them meat, the bread
of life. He's given them the heritage,
the heritage of the heathen. I'm not sure exactly what is
meant there, but the point I would emphasize is this. He has given
us everything, and we are heathens that deserve nothing, and yet
he's given us everything. He's made us heirs of God and
joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse seven.
Verse seven. Again, he keeps hammering this
thought about his works. Look at verse seven again. The
works of his hand, now his hands. Remember, none can stay His hands,
or say unto Him, What doest Thou? The work and doing of His hands
are truth. They are judgment. All His commandments
are absolutely certain. The work of His hand. The work
of His hand. All His judgments. Verse 8 says,
They stand fast forever. The works of His hands are truth
and they're justice. All His commandments are sure.
The word of the Lord is certain and sure. He said, Heaven and
earth is going to pass away. My word will never pass away.
Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. The works
of His hands are true and just, and His commandments are sure.
We have the sure word of prophecy. And verse 8, they stand fast. Notice the marginal reference
on the word stand fast, they're established forever. He said,
I've spoken it, I bring it to pass. I purposed it, I will do
it. They stand fast forever and ever, and they're done in truth.
It's impossible for God to change. It's impossible for God to lie.
They're done in truth. Everything he does, he does in
absolute truth and righteousness. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? Now look at verse 9. He sent redemption. Now who sent the Redeemer? Who sent the Lord Jesus Christ? Jehovah the Lord. He sent. We didn't send for Him. Jehovah
the Lord sent the Lord Jesus Christ. He showed His people
the power of His work. And then He sent a Redeemer to
deliver His people. Remember the messenger from heaven
told Joseph of Mary, call His name, not George, John. Call His name Jesus, Savior. He shall save His people from
their sin. Your redemption is deliverance. Israel was delivered from Egyptian
bondage after 400 years of slavery. They were delivered, weren't
they? Delivered. God has redeemed us. He has delivered us. And He delivered
us with His own blood. We have redemption through the
blood. He sent the Redeemer to redeem us. You reckon He got
it done? You reckon that there's anybody
whom he bought with his own blood, whom he redeemed and delivered,
that will perish, ultimately perish, because the poor sinful
creature didn't meet certain conditions? Absolutely not. None for whom
the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed can perish. None. If you read
Hebrews 2, the Lord said, Behold, here are all my children. All that the Father giveth to
me shall come to me. Those that come to me, I'll never
cast them out. He sent redemption to His people. His covenant people. He sent
the Redeemer. He commanded His covenant forever.
This is that same covenant. His covenant is an everlasting
covenant. Holy and reverent is His name. His name is holy. Holy, holy,
holy. That's what the messenger said
that Isaiah, when he saw the Lord high and lifted up, remember
Isaiah 6, what did they say? Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Holy and reverent, reverential
is His name. His name is holy and reverent. No sinful creature takes that
name to himself. We take the name servant or sinner,
but not reverend. Holy and reverend is his name. Now look at verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Now,
men by nature don't fear the true and living God. You remember
when it's described in Romans 3 of everything we are by nature,
none righteous, none at one, and it says there's no fear of
God before their eyes. But to fear the Lord as He is,
to worship the Lord as He is, that's the beginning of wisdom.
Wisdom that's God-given. Wisdom that's from above. Wisdom
that is from above. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. That's mentioned several times
in the Scripture. In Job 28, 28, it talks about
the fear of the Lord. That's the beginning of wisdom.
In Proverbs 1, verse 7, it's given us again the same
statement. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
is called wisdom. He is the only wise God. To fear Him, the Lord God Almighty,
is to have some understanding of who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. That's what it says in the next
statement, a good understanding. Have all they that do His praise endureth forever.
Now, they've had to do His commandments. And if we leave that in there,
a good understanding have all they that do His commandments.
Now, a lot of people will read that and say, well, look right
there. We've got to do the Big Ten. Everybody talks about the
Big Ten. Not the football conference,
but the Ten Commandments. Everybody talks about the Big
Ten. Used to be some years back, everybody had a sign, a lot of
religious people, they stuck a sign in their yard, they were
doing the Big Ten. And a lot of people read that
and think, well, we're doing the law, we're keeping the law. We've not kept one law one time.
All the law says is guilty, guilty. And the law of God is given to
drive us to the Lord Jesus Christ. All those that have a good understanding,
they see salvation accomplished in Christ, who has honored the
law of God for us. He is the one who's kept the
commandments of God. He is the one who's honored the
law of God. But the Lord has given us an
understanding that Christ has honored the law of God for us. Our Lord said, I didn't come
to destroy the law and the prophets, I came to honor the law. But
He's 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 a true God and this is
eternal life. His commandment to us is, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then His praise, praise ye
the Lord. His praise endures forever. Endures forever. Forever and
ever and ever. Eternal. He is eternal. He saves us with an everlasting
salvation. He is the eternal God. Beside
Him there is no other. And we will eternally praise
Him as God our Savior.