Psalm 138 this evening. A psalm
of David. Of course, we know all Scripture
is given by the Lord. I'm entitling the message from
what is said in verse 1, where David said, I will praise Thee,
I will praise the true and living God with my whole heart. I will worship
God with my whole heart. Before the gods, I'll sing praise
unto thee. I will worship. I will. He makes
us willing in the day of his power. I will worship toward
thy holy, holy temple. Wholehearted praise unto God. Another blessed Psalm of David,
as all 150 Psalms are, Such a blessing and such an encouragement
to read and to meditate upon and to study. This psalm expresses
every believer's desire, as David says, I will praise thee, my
Lord. David said in another psalm that
we read quite often, Psalm 103, bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me, all that is within me, bless his holy
name. who forgiveth all thine iniquity, who healeth all thy
diseases. So let's look at verse one there,
and we'll work our way down through this Psalm, eight verses. I will praise thee with my whole
heart before the gods. I will sing. Will I sing? I will sing. I will worship."
Three times there he says, I will, I will, I will. Now, this doesn't
happen naturally. Man's left to himself has no
desire to worship God, no desire to praise God. It's only has
as he makes us new creatures in heart, in our new creatures
in Christ that he gives us a new heart a regenerated heart that
we might truly see him and worship him. I'll praise thee with my
whole being or all my heart. And when we see that in the scripture
talking about the heart, with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness, with the mouth confessions made unto salvation,
when we talk about the heart, we often think, we often even
say, we think about our heart. But when we read that in scripture,
we're talking about our will, our mind, our affections, our
thoughts, the whole being of our understanding and our will
and our thoughts, the thoughts of our heart, the thoughts of
our heart. Now, I will praise thee with
my whole heart, all my heart, all my being. That's the believer's
desire. What value would half-hearted
praise be? At what value would half-hearted
love and worship be? Or half-hearted faith? I want
to believe God with all my heart, don't you? That's our desire. Half-hearted praise is no praise
at all. Half-hearted worship is no worship
at all. Nothing but hypocrisy. Faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ is not half-hearted. Faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ is total commitment to him, sincere and wholehearted,
total submission, surrender and sell out. We sold out to the
Lord. Remember, we studied in 2 Timothy.
David said, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded he's
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day. We've committed the whole of our salvation. The whole of
our redemption, the whole of our regeneration and resurrection
and glory, we've committed it all to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the only one that can bring it to pass for us. We need a
broken heart to mourn over our sin. Psalm 34. We read recently, he's neither
of a broken heart, save as such as be of a contrite spirit, but
we need a whole heart, a new heart, given in regeneration
to praise him, to believe him, to love him, to worship him as
he ought to be worshiped. The only place a sinner will
worship is at the throne of a holy, sovereign God. The only place
we worship before the throne of God. While our worship here
in the flesh is not perfect, I would never say I perfectly
worship the Lord, not in and of ourselves, but believers'
worship is certainly sincere. We seek to worship him in spirit
and in truth. And know this, there is no spiritual
worship apart from the truth, is there? You can't worship God
in spirit. with the ideas of false doctrine. We worship God in spirit because
we see him as all the truth. He is the true and living God.
He said, beside me there is no other. So I will. How about you? Have you been
made willing? I will because he's made me so,
given me a new heart. I will praise thee with my whole
heart. And then he says this, before
the gods, Before the gods will I praise thee. Before the gods
will I praise thee. Before the idols of men I will
sing, praise and worship thee. Now hold your place there and
look over here at Psalm 115. You remember verse one, Psalm
115, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give
glory. For thy mercy, for thy truth's
sake, Psalm 115, verse one. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? Why should the heathen say that?
David said, our God is in the heavens. He done whatsoever he
is pleased. The idols, their idols are silver
and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they don't
speak. They have eyes, they don't see.
They have ears, they hear not. Noses have they, but they don't
smell. They have hands, they don't handle
feet. They don't work, they don't walk.
Neither speak they through their throat. You see, he's mocking
them, isn't he? Before the gods, I'll praise
thee. They that make them are like unto them. Look at verse
eight. So is everyone that trusteth them. What a powerful scripture,
isn't it? Our God is in the heavens. David
saying here before the gods, the idols of men, I'll sing.
I'll still sing praise unto the Lord before the idols of men.
David was not embarrassed or ashamed to declare and sing praise
to the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, in the face of all
opposition in the idols of men. As Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believes. David, while contending for the
truth, poured contempt on the idols of men and upon those that
trust them. We are to contend for the faith
once delivered unto the saints. We've been turned to God from
our idols to serve the living and true God. We've read that,
haven't we? We've been turned to God, the true and living God.
We've turned to God from our idols because he turned us. Remember
that Psalm 80 where it says, Lord, turn us, cause thy face
to shine upon us and turn us to worship thee. This word praise
also has the meaning of confession. Our confession of the gospel
of Christ is wholehearted confession. We own all that he is, all that
he does before this ungodly world. God is God. We're not ashamed
to own it, to confess it, to worship God as he's revealed
in the word. How important is public worship? How important is publicly owning
and praising and confessing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ?
He doesn't have any secret disciples. His disciples are open, bold,
and public. Our Lord did this in Matthew
10. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him I'll
confess before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall
deny me before men, Him will I also deny before my Father,
which is in heaven. We own him, confess him, and
worship him publicly. When the enemies of the gospel
rail against us, we should not be silent, but rather plainly
declare the truth of God. God is God. Beside him, there
is no other. We've read that how many times
in the book of Isaiah, where he said, I am God. Beside me,
there is no other. I'm the only, the only just God
and Savior. In Arthur Pink's book on the
sovereignty of God, he made this statement. The doctrine of sovereignty,
that is the sovereignty of God, lies at the foundation of all
Christian theology. You got to start out right. God
is God, beside him there is no other. What you believe, now
think about this, what you believe is determined by who you believe. What you believe is determined
by who you believe. Either God is God over all the
earth, over all men, over all things, all things are of the
Lord, of Him, through Him, and to Him. God is either God over
all things, over all the universe, over all men, or He's not God
at all. There's no middle ground. He is either the absolute God
of all things, or He's not God at all. And the book that we
read, that we hold, The Bible declares it, I am God beside
me, there is no other. Remember that scripture, turn
a weird Isaiah 45 for just a moment, Isaiah 45. Look at verse five,
Isaiah 45, verse five, I am the Lord, Isaiah 45, five, I am the
Lord, verse five. I am the Lord, Jehovah, there
is none else. There is no God beside me. I
girded thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know
from the rising of the sun from the west that there is none beside
me. I am the Lord, there is none
else. That's pretty clear, isn't it? Look at the next verse. I form the light. I create darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. God is God over all things. He even uses the wicked deeds
of men to accomplish his eternal purpose. We see that so vividly
at the cross, don't we? Remember Acts chapter 4? Wicked
man, Pilate, Herod, the Jews, and the Gentiles are gathered
together for to do against the Lord's Christ whatsoever God
determined before to be done. That's exactly what they did.
God even uses the wicked deeds of men to accomplish His purpose. That's the God we worship. That's
the God we sing unto, sing praises, wholehearted praises unto the
Lord. Isn't that our desire? We're
so hindered here, aren't we? I was talking to a brother on
the phone yesterday, a preacher friend of mine, and
we were talking about having a resurrected body, a new body
to enjoy the new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
And I said, what will it be like to worship God without any hindrance
of this flesh? To worship him like we ought
to, like we should, like we will one day. That's gonna be something,
isn't it? To worship the Lord as he ought
to be worshiped. We desire that now though, don't
we? Look at verse two. Again, he says, I will. I will. I will worship. Now, that's only
by the sovereign grace of God. I will worship. God said, I shall,
I will, and you shall. I will worship toward thy holy
temple. David said, I'm gonna approach
God in a prescribed manner. I'm not going to come some rogue
way. I'm not going to come some my
own way. I'm going to come unto God and
worship God in a prescribed manner toward thy holy temple. Now the temple and tabernacle
both were pictures of what? Of who? The Lord Jesus Christ. And at the center of that temple
and tabernacle was the holy of holies and the mercy seat and
the blood of the Day of Atonement was put on that mercy seat, picturing
Christ our sacrifice for our sin, that covers our sin. I worship toward thy holy temple. In that day, in David's day,
he had to have a prescribed anointed priest with a designated sacrifice
go under the veil into the Holy of Holies to put the blood on
the mercy seat. And I'll praise thy name for
thy lovingkindness and for thy truth, for thou hast magnified
thy word above all thy name. We worship toward the holy temple,
for the holy tabernacle, and that is a picture of Christ.
We worship God only in Christ. We come to God. You remember
our Lord said, I'm the way, the truth, the life? I'm the way,
the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father but
by and through me. David in his day approached God
by the prescribed manner of the appointed anointed priest, with
the appointed sacrifice, the blood on the mercy seat. We know
that the Lord Jesus Christ, all that is a picture and a fulfillment
in Christ. He is our great high priest,
right? He is the Christ of God, the
Messiah, right? Call his name Jesus, he is the
Savior, right? Seeing we have such a great high
priest that has passed into the heavens, he said, let us come
boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, find
grace to help in time of need. We have a great high priest that
does not bring the typical animal blood sacrifice, does he? He brought his own blood. and
he obtained for us eternal redemption with his own blood. So we can
say with David, I will worship God in Christ. That's what he's saying there.
And I'll praise thy name. I'll praise thy name. I'll worship
your name. God has given him a name which is above every name
that at that name, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord. His name, I'll praise His name
for who He is. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor of the Mighty, Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Call His name Emmanuel,
God with us. I'll praise Thy name. We praise
Him for who He is. His name declares who He is,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll praise Him for His
loving kindness. His love and kindness, that's his tender mercies
toward us. God's love toward his people
is an everlasting love. His love has no beginning. His
love has no end. He's loved us with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with love and kindness,
he does draw us to himself. God so loved his own that he
gave himself for our sins. That's love and kindness. Remember
he said, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay
down his life for his friends. The Lord gave his life for us,
didn't he? That's loving kindness. I praise
his name for his loving kindness toward God who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us. When we were dead
in sin, quicken us together with Christ. I will worship toward
thy holy temple, I'll praise thy name. nor the name of the
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Your loving
kindness. And I'll praise your name, not
only for your everlasting mercies unto us, your eternal mercies
to us, but for your truth. Your truth. For thou has magnified
thy word, thy truth. His word is his truth. for thy truth, for thou hast
magnified thy word. You remember John 17, 17, sanctify
them through thy truth, thy word is truth, John 17, 17. Thy word is truth, thou hast
magnified thy name, thy word above thy name. His name, who He is, what He's
done. Our salvation is of the Lord. We also confess and own
and celebrate His attributes. His love and kindness. And that's
His sovereign love. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. His sovereign mercy, sovereign
love. And His truth. The Lord Jesus Christ is described
as the truth. 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 and truth, full of grace and
truth. And it's of His fullness of grace
and truth that we have all fullness in Christ, all spiritual blessings
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you love and kindness for
your truth? For thou has magnified thy name, thy word above thy
name. Here's the reason why. Because
the word of the Lord is magnified above or rather over all his
name, all that he does and all that he is is truth. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? And whatever he does is right. This word here includes his written
word, which is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword. He has magnified his written word over all his name. All the promises of God in the
Lord Jesus Christ are certain and sure, yes and amen. He's
given us the exceeding great and precious promises that by
these we might be partakers of a divine nature in Christ Jesus. Not only his written word, but
his incarnate word, that is God manifest in the flesh, is magnified
or glorified over all his name. God's glory is manifested in
all that he is and all that he does. In his incarnation, what
did the angel sing? Glory to God in the highest,
on earth peace, goodwill toward men, not mankind, men. In his crucifixion, Paul said,
God forbid I should glory save in the cross of Christ, the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And his resurrection declares
his glory, doesn't it? Thou hath magnified thy word
over all thy name. His name, Emmanuel, God with
us. Now look at verse three, in the
day when I cried, this is a cry of prayer, as a mercy beggar,
Lord have mercy on me, thee sinner. In the day when I cried, you
answered me. You answered me and you strengthened
me with strength in my soul, my soul. Here's one of the many
distinguishing characteristics of a true and living God. He
hears our prayers. Every prayer that we've ever
prayed, that's why He says, pray without ceasing. That's why He
said, let your requests be made known unto God. Here's the many
distinguishing characteristics of a true and living God. He
hears our prayers and He answers them, everyone, according to
His eternal Will and purpose. He answers our prayers. We pray,
Lord, not my will, thy will be done. Because he's a living God,
he hears our prayers, our cries. Because he's the almighty God,
he answers our prayers in a way that he seems fit. And we pray unto the Lord, Lord
have mercy on us. We pray for our friends who are
in trouble. We pray for our friends who are
sick. We have to leave it in the hands of God's sovereign
purpose, don't we? Lord, if it's your will, heal
our brother. Lord, if it's your will, have
mercy upon us. Now look at verse four. All the kings of the earth shall
praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words
of thy mouth. Now, when it comes right down
to the end of all things, after the great white throne judgment,
when all will be judged, either judged and blessed in Christ
or judged and eternally condemned, every knee will bow and every
tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. All the kings of the earth will
be made to worship him and honor him and own him in that day. And then in mercy, when any man,
whether he be king or a nobody, when they hear the word of the
Lord, they will praise thee. When a man hears the word of
the Lord, as it is in truth. I think of that Psalm 27. When
thou saidest to my heart, seek ye my face, I sought the Lord. All the kings of the earth will
bow and worship him, O Lord. And in the day of mercy, when
they hear thy words of thy mouth, they will praise thee. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The way of salvation for a prince
or for a pauper A king or a convict is the same. By grace are you
saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it's
a gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. Notice verse 5, Yea, they shall
sing when they hear the words of thy mouth, when they hear
thy truth, when they hear thy gospel truth, how God can be
just and justify the ungodly in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
When they hear of his redeeming blood, when they hear of his
righteousness provided in Christ, when they hear the words of thy
mouth, yea, he says, verse 5, they shall sing in the ways of
the Lord. All those who have heard and learned. of the Father,
they come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yea, they shall sing in the ways
of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord." Everything
about the Lord is great. His mercies are great. They're
new every morning. His person is great. His salvation
is great. Everything about Him is great.
Those who are blessed to hear shall worship, praise, and sing
of the ways of the Lord and His great glory. Turn back to Psalm,
turn back a few pages, look at Psalm 98. The ways of the Lord, the way of
His salvation. Psalm 98 verse 1, O sing unto
the Lord a new song. For he hath done marvelous things,
his right hand, his holy arm hath gotten him the victory.
The Lord hath made known his salvation, his righteousness
hath he openly shown in the sight of the heathen. He remembereth
his mercy toward and his truth toward the house of Israel. All
the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. They
shall sing of the ways of the Lord. For great is his glory. That's the bottom line in salvation,
is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how you can distinguish
between that which is a false gospel and that which is a true
gospel. Who gets the glory? In a false
gospel, the creature tries to get the glory. In the true gospel,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who gets the glory? To God be the glory. Great things He hath done for
us. Now look at verse 6. Though the
Lord be high. Now just how high is He? Tell
me. Tell me just how high is the Lord? He's high. That means He's holy. That means
He's sovereign in all His way. Though the Lord be high above
all, holy above all, yet He hath respect unto the lowly,
but the proud he knows afar off. I want you to turn and look at
this with me. Turn to Psalm, excuse me, Isaiah 57. Isaiah
57. There was an old brother in the
church in Ashland years and years ago. He would always find a certain
scripture verse that he would like and he would type it out
on pieces of paper. And when we come in for worship,
he would always, he said, I was looking at this verse this week
and I want to give you a copy of it. And he would pass that
out to all the brethren. And I remember one of the verses
he passed out was this right here. Isaiah 57 verse 15. Thus saith the High and Lofty
One. The High and Lofty One, Isaiah
57 verse 15. that inhabit eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in
the high and holy place with him that is of a contrite and
humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive
the heart of the contrite ones. He is high and holy, yet he humbles
himself to behold those who are of contrite broken heart. Though the Lord be high, look
back at the text. He's high and lofty, isn't he?
Yet he hath respect unto the lowly. He's nigh them of a broken
heart. He saveth such as be of a contrite
spirit, as I said earlier. But the proud, God hates a proud heart. He hates
a proud heart. Those who are humbled by his
grace. but the proud he knoweth afar
off." The Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners, broken-hearted
sinners. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, the Lord Jesus Christ came to save
sinners. But the proud, the Lord knows
them, but he knows them at a distance. He's not intimate in love with
them as he is the elect. He said to those proud men in
Matthew chapter seven, who bragged on everything they thought they
had done. We read that Sunday, didn't we? Lord, we preached
in your name. We've done these many wonderful works in your
name. And the Lord said, I never knew you. Depart from me, you
workers of iniquity. I never knew you. I never loved
you. Now look at verse seven, Psalm
138 verse seven. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, That's just where we live. As
the old boy said, that's where the rubber hits the road, right
there. That's where we live, right there. Though I walk in
the midst of trouble, even as we walk by faith, not
by sight, it's a walk of trouble. We live in this land of trouble.
Man is born of woman, few days and full of trouble. Though I
walk in the midst of trouble, we walk in the As David said
in Psalm 23, in the valley of darkness, the valley of death,
though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou will revive me. Thou will stretch forth thy hand
against the wrath of my enemies. Thy right hand shall save us.
The right hand of the Lord shall save us. Believers are no strangers
to trouble. Now this idea of Hollywood evangelism
and TV Christianity that said you trust Jesus and all your
troubles are over, they're liars. They're liars. Our Lord said,
these words have I spoken unto you that in me you might have
peace, in this world you shall have tribulation. Ah, be of good
cheer though, I've overcome. Think about that. He's saying
those words to those apostles right before he goes to the cross
to die for our sins. And every one of those apostles,
with the exception of John, and he was cast out to that desert
island, or that Alcatraz of his day, all of them died a martyr's
death. They knew something about trouble,
didn't they? The apostle Paul, we've studied about how many
times he was beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked. Well, Lord, do you
think you can keep your people out of trouble? No, he sends
the trouble that he might wean us and cause us to trust him. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, that will revive me. As my preacher
friend, Scott Richardson, used to say, we're either in trouble,
coming out of trouble, or going into trouble. We got trouble
all the time. Trouble, trouble, trouble. The
apostle said, we're troubled on every side, yet we're not
distressed. We're perplexed, but we're not in despair. We're
persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but we're not destroyed. Why? Thou will revive me. He revives us. He revives us
again and again. The trials we endure come from
the hand of our loving father. That's why they're called precious
trial. They're for our eternal good. There are light afflictions
that work for us, not against us. But believers do not despair
in a time of heartache and trouble because the Lord says he will
revive us. He says also he will defend us. If God be for us, who can be
against us? that will revive us, that will
stretch forth thy hand against the wrath of my enemies." And think about that. He defends
us. He defends us. When we need defending, he defends
us against accusations of Satan, against accusations of a law
against us, the law of God, and Satan says, guilty, guilty. The
Lord stretched forth his hand to defend us. And he stretched
forth his hand and gave his life for us to defend us. And then he says, the third reason
that we, though we walk in the midst of trouble, we don't need
to despair because he says, lastly, thy right hand shall save us.
The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The right hand of
the Lord doeth valiantly. I can't remember where that is
right now, but it's one of the Psalms. The right hand of the
Lord doeth valiantly. His right hand, none can stay
his hand or say unto him, Lord God, what doest thou? Now, not
that the right hand of the Lord is stronger than the left hand
of the Lord, but normally we use the right hand as a symbol
of what? Now my right hand used to be
stronger than my left. I think my left hand's stronger
now because I've got problems in this hand and this arm. But
when he uses the right hand in Scripture, it's signifying the
strength of the Lord. The strength of the Lord. I'm
thinking of, let me see if I've got this right. I'm thinking
of a Scripture. where he says, who hath believed
I report to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. That's his
power. The arm of the Lord, the hand
of the Lord is his power. His power. For thy right hand
shall save me. Now, who's the right hand of
the Lord in salvation? The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
right hand man. He's the right hand man of God
that saves His people. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sin. He gives us eternal life and
we shall never perish. Now, the last verse, verse 8. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Now, to stand before the Lord justified,
we must be perfect. We must have a perfect righteousness. We must have complete and total
perfect redemption. I mean, if he doesn't pay all
my sin debt, I don't have perfect redemption. If he's not all of
my righteousness, I don't have perfect righteousness. He is
all my redemption. He is all my righteousness. The
Lord will perfect that. And that word also means, as
the marginal reference has on that word perfect, Psalm 57 verse
2, where it says, He will perform all things for us. Our salvation
is based upon whose performance? Our salvation is based upon whose
performance? the Lord Jesus Christ. He's performed
all things for us. And the other reference there,
right below that, you see that on Psalm 8, verse 8, Psalm 138,
the other reference there is Philippians 1-6. You see that? Where it says Philippians 1-6,
it says there, being confident of this very thing, that He who
hath begun a good work in you will perform it. will perfect
it in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will perfect that
which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the works of thine
own hand." You reckon he would forsake the works of his own
hand? He's made us new creatures in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
not going to forsake us. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. And His mercy, like His love
and like His grace and His mercy, His mercy is just as good as
long as we hold out. My soul, what bondage is that? Look right across the page, Psalm
136, verse 1. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good. His mercy endures forever. Oh,
give thanks unto the Lord, unto the God of gods, for his mercy
endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of
lords, for his mercy endures forever. You got the idea? His mercy endures forever. And he will not forsake the works
of his own hand. His own hand accomplished our
salvation. Father, I glorify thee on the
earth. I finish the work you gave me
to do. He will not forsake the work
of his own hand. We are the work of his hands.
Isn't that a good psalm? He'll never leave us, never forsake
us.