Psalm 68, Psalm 68, I'm entitling
the message from the words found in verse 18. Christ has ascended,
ascended on high. He came and he died for our sin,
put away our sin by the sacrifice of himself. They took him down
from a tree and put him in the grave. Three days later, just
as he said, just as it says in Psalm 16, thou will not leave
his soul in the grave, and he will not see corruption, even
though three days in the grave, his body didn't corrupt because
he had no sin. But on the third day, he came
forth, and now on, he lived among men forty days, and then, as
we studied in Acts chapter 1, he led them out, and they watched
him ascend, and he ascended to glory. He ascended to glory,
and he's seated there right now. What's he doing? He's our mediator,
our advocate, our intercessor. He ever lived to intercede for
us right now. as we worship the Lord. He hath
ascended, he hath ascended on high. We're not left to our imagination
as to the subject and theme of this psalm. It's all about Christ,
the Lord Jesus. Here's another gospel psalm about
his glorious resurrection, his ascension, and his victory. He mentions several times here
all the victories he has over every enemy. God the Holy Spirit
takes these words found in Psalm 68 and applies them directly
to the Lord Jesus Christ in Ephesians chapter 4 just like Peter does. In that verse from Psalm 16,
Peter picks that up in Acts chapter 2 and said, Dave is not talking
about himself, Dave is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.
You remember from our study in Acts chapter 2. Therefore we
can be assured that both Old Testament believers and new like
David, Abraham, Moses, Paul, Peter, John, all had the victory
over sin, death, hell, and the grave through the blood sacrifice
and righteous obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's every
believer's hope. Every sinner that's ever been
saved since Adam's fall and Adam's ruin, their hope is all one hope.
They all had one faith. They all had one Lord, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our Lord said of Abraham, did
he rejoice to see his day? He saw it and was glad. Our Lord
said of Moses, all that Moses wrote, our Lord said, Moses wrote
about me. If you would have believed Moses,
you would have believed me because he wrote about me. We study in
Acts chapter 10, to him give all the prophets witness. I've
been studying what they call some of the minor prophets, Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi, Zephaniah, and they all speak about the
Lord Jesus Christ. So that was Abraham's hope, that
was Moses' hope, that's every prophet's hope, every believer's
hope. David the king said, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. David said, the Lord is my salvation
and my life. Now, think about this. Although
these words in Psalm 68 were written 1000 years before the
Lord Jesus Christ came into flesh, to fulfill them, it says in verse
18, did you notice what it says there? Thou hast ascended. Past tense. Already done. You
see, when God speaks it, it's done. When God decrees it, it's
done. Thou hast ascended on high. And
this was written a thousand years before the Lord even came, and
yet it declares that He has accomplished all of God's purpose. He ascended
up on high, and we know that He has, for when He by Himself
purged our sin, what happened? He sat down. on the right hand
of God, right hand of the throne of God. He sat down because the
work was done. He sat down of a place of love,
preeminence, and power. It's the right hand of God. And
what's the blessing? When He ascended, you know what?
We ascended in Him. When He sat down as our forerunner,
we sat down in Him, didn't we? That's the blessed truth. This psalm looks back to past
blessing of God's people in the wilderness, how He provided for
them, And it also looks forward to the coming victorious Lord
Jesus Christ. And we can look back and see
everything that He said, every promise He made, was fulfilled
exactly as God said it would be fulfilled. Now, look at verse
1, 2, 3, and 4. And I'll make just a few comments
here, then we'll move down to verse 18. Let God arise, and
He did. Let His enemies be scattered,
and they were. Let them also that hate Him flee
before Him, who can stand before the mighty holiness of God. As smoke is driven away, so drive
them away. And He did. As wax melts before
the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God, who shall
ascend to the hill of the Lord, who shall stand in His holy place.
You remember Psalm 24? But let the righteous be glad.
Let them rejoice before God. Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing unto God. Sing praises to
his name. His name is above every name.
God given him a name which is above every name. God highly
exalted him. No other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. Extol him that righteth
among the heavens by his name Jehovah. and rejoice. Rejoice always before Him. Isn't
that what the Apostle says in Philippians 4? Rejoice in the
Lord always. And again I say rejoice. We are
the true Israel which worship God in the Spirit. Rejoice in
the Lord Jesus Christ and we have no confidence in the flesh.
The Lord Jesus Christ is risen victorious from the dead, defeated
all of His enemies, and the wicked shall perish. But the righteous,
the redeemed ones, shall rejoice. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary and essential to our salvation.
If He's not raised from the dead, we are yet in our sin. You remember
from 1 Corinthians 15? He said, if Christ be not risen,
then we're not going to be raised. And if Christ be not raised,
our preaching is vain, and our faith is vain, and we are yet
in our sin. Boy, that's pretty important,
isn't it? His resurrection glory. This
was prophesied in Psalm 16, and we know that it came to pass.
And in Acts chapter 2, Peter applies that to the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he's ascended on high. Now what does his resurrection
mean to us as believers? Everything. It all depends. The
success or failure of everything he said and did depends upon
his resurrection glory. His resurrection from the dead
is the essential declaration of all that he said was true
and all that he did was accepted of the Father. God is well pleased
for His righteousness sake. His resurrection is a manifest
token of our justification from our sin. You remember He was
delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification? His resurrection is a guarantee
of our resurrection, for He is the firstfruits. He's the firstfruit
from the dead. And because He's the firstfruit,
that guarantees that the whole harvest is coming in. through
him. Now look at verse 18. Thou hast
ascended on high, that is the Lord our God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, manifested in the flesh, accomplished our salvation, died
for our sin, raised the third day from the grave, and 40 days
later he ascended to glory on high. And he led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for
men, or in the man. Yea, for the rebellious also,
that the Lord God might dwell among them. He said, I'll never
leave you, I'll never forsake you. Look at verse 19. Blessed
be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits. He daily gives
us blessings. Even the God of our salvation.
And that word Selah, It's like a big period, stop sign. I say it's a stop sign. It means
to stop, think, and meditate upon this. He that is our God,
verse 20, he that is our God is a God of salvation. Unto God
belong the issues from death. from death. What abundant blessings
given to the elect through the victorious salvation the Lord
Jesus Christ accomplished for us. Our blessed Savior died for
our sin according to the Scripture, was buried and raised again the
third day according to the Scripture, ascended back to glory in His
resurrected body, in His glorified humanity, and He is seated right
now ruling all things in absolute supremacy. When He by Himself
purged our sin, He sat down. The God-man Mediator, the God-man,
He came forth that day in a real body. He said, the Spirit, behold
my hand and my feet, the Spirit doesn't have a body, flesh and
bones as you see me have. The Lord Jesus Christ, in His
glorified body, came forth the third day, and then one day,
forty days later, He ascended to the throne of glory. What
a blessing, what a blessing. What does his presence there
mean to me? It means everything. We have an advocate, we have
an intercessor, we have a mediator. There's a man in glory with nail
prints in his hands. What does his presence there
mean to the believer? Everything. Christ is all in
all. It means if one man ascended,
many more will also ascend because he represents a multitude of
sinners as the representative man. He's called the surety of
the eternal covenant, the sacrifice of the covenant. You remember
from Hebrews chapter 6 verse 20? where it said the forerunner
for us has entered in within the veil and occupied the throne
for us. Think about this. He didn't enter
in as a private person, as a private man, but as a public head, as
a representative federal head of his people. What he did, we
did. Where he went, we went in him. He is the head, we're the body. Where the head is, that's where
the body is. What's true of him is true of us. We're seated in
the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. Seeing we have a great
high priest that's passed into the heavens, who is it? The Lord
Jesus Christ. You remember from reading Ephesians
chapter 2, we studied that recently. But God who was rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath
seated us together in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers
right now, every one of God's elect right now are seated in
the heavenly in Christ Jesus. It's already done. One day we'll
realize it fully and completely, but in the purpose and decree
of God, it's already done. When He ascended on high, it
says there, Thou hast led captivity captive. You see that? The Lord
Jesus Christ has defeated every enemy. has given his people complete
and total deliverance from every enemy of our soul, sin, Satan,
death, hell, and the grave. The Lord said, I'm he that liveth
and was dead. Behold, I'm alive forevermore.
And he said, I've got the keys of hell and death. He owns it.
He's the owner of it. Let me read this scripture to
you. Don't turn. Let me just read it to you. In
Colossians 2, verse 13, And you, being dead, in your sin and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, have he quickened together with
him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the
handwriting of mortals that was against us, which is contrary
to us, he took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Having spoiled principalities
and power, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them himself. He did it by Himself, with Himself,
for His own glory. He led captivity captive. The next thing it says in verse
18, Thou hast received gifts for men, or in the man, that
is in the Lord Jesus Christ, yea, for the rebellious also,
that the Lord God might dwell among them. Thou hast received
gifts That is, blessings in the God-man mediator, the Lord Jesus
Christ. All fullness dwells in Him, right? And we are complete in Him. Thou
hast received gifts for men. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. For what kind of
men? For the rebellious also. What does that mean? That means
the Lord Jesus Christ is going to save a multitude of guilty
sinners for the rebellious sinners. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is for sinners. Good folk don't need a Savior.
They're their own Savior. Those who need a Savior are those
who are great sinners. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is for sinners, for the lost. He came to save the lost. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, right? The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save folks just like you and me. Rebels by nature. He came to save sinners. He didn't
come to call good folks. He came to call sinners to repentance.
Christ receiveth sinful men, even me, with all my sin. You remember Luke 15.2? Christ
receiveth sinners and eateth with them. Edith with him. Christ is called the friend of
sinners. They said this man's a friend
of sinners and publicans. They did say that in a way of
criticizing him, but that's the blessing of the gospel. He's
a friend of sinners. Joseph Hart, many years ago,
wrote this hymn, and I've quoted part of this hymn quite often.
But here's the whole stanza. Though all are sinners in God's
sight, there are few so in their own sight. To such as these our
Lord was sent, there are only sinners who repent. What comfort
can a Savior bring to those who never felt their woe, their sin?
Now here's a line you remember. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so. You only know you're a sinner
if God the Holy Spirit has convicted you of your sin. We know that
salvation is for sinners. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is made up of sinners redeemed by the precious blood
of our blessed Savior. That, he says, in the last part
of verse 18, Psalm 68, The Lord God might dwell among
His people. Now what a blessing. The Lord
God might dwell among His people. And God does dwell among His
redeemed. His blood bought church. Our
Lord said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. He was
forsaken at the cross, right? He cried, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? He was forsaken that we will
never be forsaken. He was forsaken because of our
sin, our guilt. And because he put away our sin,
we'll never be forsaken. He said, lo, I'm with you always.
where two or three are gathered together in my name." He said,
I'm in the midst of them. Christ in you is a very hope
of glory. Look at verse 19. I love this.
Blessed be the Lord. Boy, we've seen that all through
the Psalms, haven't we? Bless God who has blessed us.
Blessed be the Lord who daily, daily, right now, this day, today
is the day the Lord hath made, who daily loads us with benefits,
even the God of our salvation. We've received mercy today. We
might not even be aware of it or realize it, but all day this
day, and yesterday, and tomorrow, the Lord will be with us daily,
load us with His benefits now and forever. Remember Lamentations
chapter 3, it says there in Lamentations 3, it is of the Lord's mercies
that were not consumed, Because his compassion fail not, they're
new every morning. They're new every morning. Great
is our faithfulness. Believers do, it says they're
loaded. They're daily loaded. They're
carrying a heavy load. Not of sin, not now, but of grace. Grace upon grace. He daily loads
us down with grace. Grace for grace. He loads us
down with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. He daily loads us with benefits,
with blessings. And then it says, even the God
of our salvation. He's a God of salvation. He's
a God of all grace. He's a Father of all mercies.
And He's a God of our salvation. Who needs salvation? I tell you
what, great sinners need a great Savior. And that's what we have
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He that is our God, is also our
Savior. He that is our God is the God
of salvation, but we know that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord in His
planning. He's a lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
Salvation is of the Lord in His purchase. He bought us with His
own blood. Salvation is of the Lord in His
performance. You remember over here in Psalm
57. Don't turn, let me read it to you. He said, I will cry unto
God most high, unto God that performeth all things for me. Verse 2. I love that. He's performed
all things. Salvation of the Lord in His
performance. Salvation of the Lord in His perfection. We are
predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. Look at verse 20. He that is
our God is a God of salvation, and unto God The Lord belongeth
the issues from death. What a mercy, what great mercy
is this? The Lord, unto the Lord belongs
the issues or deliverance from death. That is to say, all the
fruits and benefit and blessing issuing from his death as our
substitute are his to give. And He will have mercy upon whom
He will have mercy. All righteousness is His to give. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without works. All the blessings of redemption
are His to give. We are redeemed with His precious
blood. All the blessings of reconciliation are His to give. We are reconciled
unto God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, I am the
door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, shall
go in and out, into Christ, out of death, and find, F-I-N-D,
find pasture. Plenty, plenty of grace to help
in time of need, for he's abundant in mercy and grace, and he's
plentiful in redemption, Psalm 130. He's plenteous in redemption. Salvation, as it's described
in the Word of God, is all of God. He alone accomplished it,
and He alone applies it to whom He will. We know that salvation
is by grace alone, right? By grace are you saved through
faith. Salvation is through faith alone. Salvation is in Christ
alone. He that hath son hath life. This
is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God.
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Now as we often have said from
this pulpit and other pulpits, salvation is in a person, in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is salvation. Simeon had it
right. He was waiting for the consolation
of the Lord. He was waiting for the fulfillment
of that scripture, Malachi 3.1, where the Lord will come suddenly
into his temple. He was waiting for the consolation
of the Lord. And the Lord revealed to Old
Simeon that he wouldn't die until he'd seen the Lord's Christ.
Remember what happened when he picked up the 40-day-old baby
in his arms? He said, Now, Lord, let your
servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have
seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face
of all people alike to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of
thy people Israel. Salvation is done in Christ Jesus. Most of you know Brother Marvin
Stoniker, pastor up at Katy Baptist Church. And I opened up his bulletin. I think I got his bulletin on
Saturday, I'm not sure. But he had an article in there,
and I'm going to read it to you. He said, a few days ago, I came
across a card entitled, Heaven's Checklist. I called him on Monday,
and he said he'd been traveling somewhere, and you know how sometimes
when you go to a rest area, and you go in the bathroom, they'll
have them different tracks and signs. Somebody pasted this on
the wall, he told me. He said, I knew that it was left
by someone who thought they were witnessing for the Lord. Heaven's
checklist. The card had nine boxes to be
checked, telling everyone that would stop and read, that when
these nine things were checked off, they would have eternal
life and salvation. It was a to-do list. They would
be for sure as heaven if they were already there. And here's
what the nine boxes said. Number one, do good things. Number
two, be baptized. Number three, go to church. Number
four, keep the Ten Commandments. Number five, love others. Give
to charity. Receive communion. Say your prayers.
Read the Bible. Do, do, do, do, do. not one word
about the Lord Jesus Christ. Marvin said in his article, I'm
going to have this in our bulletin Sunday, but no mention of Christ,
nothing concerning His work, His will, His pleasure, His gospel,
His purpose, His glory, or His sovereignty. The gospel of Christ,
Marvin said, does not set forth rules and regulations for men
to heed and do. And then he quotes one of my
favorite scriptures, not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. The scriptures
declare one glorious message to needy, guilty sinners, is
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now the religion, I told Marvin,
I said the theology of man is due. Due. Check this one off. Yep. Do this, do this, do this,
do this. You're okay. Salvation. Now this is back to my notes.
Salvation, as revealed in the Bible, does not say do. It says done. It's not D-O. It's D-O-N-E. Done. Well done. Finished by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now I love the way the Lord describes His salvation in the Word of
God. Let me give you a few scriptures. I'll quote them to you. I've
got them written down here. Isaiah 45, 17 says this, but
Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You remember Hebrews 2, 4, how
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? So it's an
everlasting salvation. It's a great salvation. Hebrews
9, 5, Hebrews 5 verse 9, And being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.
In Jude chapter 1 verse 3, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to
write unto you of your common salvation, every believer is
saved exactly the same way. And then turn one page over,
you remember from Psalm 70, Verse 4, "...let all those that
seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee, let such as love thy
salvation say continually, let God be magnified." So believers
love God's salvation, they say continually, let God be magnified,
let God be honored. I like those words, great salvation,
eternal salvation, all of salvation, common salvation. We love His
salvation. But in the book of Psalms, the
word most often used to describe God's salvation is a personal,
possessive pronoun, two little letters, my salvation. It's my salvation. Eighteen times
in the book of Psalms we read about my salvation. Thirty-eight
times in the Word of God we read about believers saying, it's
my salvation. Now let me give you an example.
I want you to turn with me and read these. Turn to Psalm 25,
Psalm 25, verse 5. I'll read a few of these and
I'll be done. Psalm 25, verse 5, Lead me in thy truth, and
teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I
wait all the day. Right across the page. Psalm
27, verse 1, The Lord is my light, and He's my salvation. Whom shall
I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
life. Of whom shall I be afraid? I'll turn over a few pages. Psalm
38, verse 22, Psalm 38, 22. I'm not going to read all 18
references, but a few of them here. Psalm 38, 22. Verse 21 says, Forsake me not,
O Lord, O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me,
O Lord. He's the Lord of my salvation.
He's my salvation. Psalm 51, turn over there. Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according
to the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Now look at verse 14. Psalm 51, 14. Deliver me from
bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation, and my tongue
shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness. He's a God of my salvation. He's
my Savior. Now, one of my favorite psalms.
Turn to the only psalm. The only psalm. You know what
psalm that is, right? Psalm 62, the only psalm. Psalm
62, look at verse 2. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is a God. He is my defense.
I shall not be greatly moved. Look down to verse 6. He only,
that's why I call this the only psalm. He only is my salvation,
my glory, the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Trust
in Him at all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before Him.
God is a refuge for us. The last one, turn to Psalm 89.
Psalm 89, verse 26. Psalm 89, verse 26. Psalm 89,
verse 26. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, my God, and
He's a rock. He's a rock of my salvation. Now, aren't you thankful and
glad? He that is our God is a God of salvation. We're all guilty
of our sinners. What do we need? Salvation. He
is Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is God our Savior. He's a Savior who really saves.
He shall save always people from their sin because He is the God
of salvation.