Psalm 99 is our study this evening. I'm entitling the message from
this psalm, Psalm 99, and I got this from someone else. Charles
Spurgeon called this psalm the Holy, Holy, Holy Psalm. The Holy, Holy, Holy Psalm. For that is mentioned three times
in this psalm. And truly it is the Lord our
God is one Lord But He is manifested in the Trinity of His sacred
person as the Father who chose us and He's called the Holy Father. He has chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. And then God the Son, the Blessed
Redeemer, being God, He is holy. He's the Holy Redeemer, the Holy
Son, because He's God the Son, and of course the Holy Spirit.
The Father choosing, the Son redeeming, and the Holy Spirit
calling and quickening, the Holy Trinity. No wonder it's mentioned
three times there, and I don't think it's any coincidence. The
same as it's recorded in Isaiah 6. When Isaiah saw the Lord high
and lifted up in those cherubims around the throne, they said,
holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty. We worship our God in the trinity
of his sacred person, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We read
this in scripture, 1 John 5, 7, for there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are One. One God manifested in three distinct
persons, yet one. Well how can that be? Through
faith we understand. We don't need to try to explain
these things because they're unexplainable. But we do believe
them because the Word of God teaches these things are so. Now this psalm tells us at least
four distinct Blessed truths about our God and Savior. Let me give you these four things
and we'll look through these verses here. The first thing
we see is this, in verse 1, the Lord our God is sovereign. The
Lord reigneth. You see that? The Lord reigneth.
Secondly, in verse 3, 5, and 9, it's mentioned three times
that the Lord our God is holy. Holy. And then the third thing
we see in verse five and verse nine, because he is sovereign,
because he is holy, because of who he is, he's to be worshiped. Worship at his footstool. Worship
the Lord our God. And then the fourth thing we
see in this Psalm is this. In verse eight, thou forgavest
them. Now what does that say about
our God? He's merciful. He is merciful. Thou forgavest them. Now, look at verse 1. The Lord
reigneth. Let the people tremble in reverence. He sitteth between the cherubims.
Let the earth be moved. The God of Scripture is the absolute
Lord, ruler, sovereign of heaven and earth. This book teaches
it so clearly. We've seen this recently turned
back to Psalm 93. But we've seen this all the way
through our study in the book of Psalm. Psalm 93 verse 1, the
Lord reigneth. He's clothed with majesty. The
Lord is clothed with strength power Where with he girded himself
the world also was established that it cannot be moved. His
throne is established of old thou art from everlasting to
everlasting thou art God Again in psalm 97 verse 1 the Lord
reigneth Let the earth rejoice Let the multitudes of the islands
be glad thereof The Lord is sovereign. Over here in Psalm 135, turn
over there. Whatsoever the Lord please, remember? 135, Psalm 135. For I know that the Lord our
God is great, and that our Lord is above all God. You see it,
verse five. Whatsoever the Lord please, that
did he in heaven and earth, sea, and all deep places. His pleasure
will be done. His pleasure will be done. Now when we talk about the sovereignty
of God, and we've said this so many times, but it bears repeating
because it's true. God is sovereign in creation.
He made all things exactly according to His will and purpose. He is
sovereign in providence. Known unto God are all of His
works from the beginning. Those things that unfold in time
are those things that God has decreed from the beginning. And
when we talk about the sovereignty of God, we also talk about the
sovereignty of God in salvation, don't we? He will have mercy
on whom He will have mercy. Our Lord prayed and said the
Father had given him power over all flesh that he should give
eternal life to as many as the Father had given to him. But
now, in just stating a doctrine like that, it is true, it is
according to the scripture. But here's my thought. What does
that really mean to me? What does that really mean to
the believer? How does it affect us that God
is sovereign? It means more to the believer
than just stating the fact. Just like we would talk about
election. That's the blessed truth. But
what does it mean and how is it relative and relevant to us? And we talk about the sovereignty
of God in Scripture. Well, how does that really apply
to us? How does that really relative
unto us? Now, to the believer, it's one
of the most comforting truths in all of Holy Scripture. The Lord we worship is in absolute
control of all things, of all things in our life. All things. Absolute control
of all things. Now, let's turn back over here
to Psalm 37. Psalm 37, now, see, it's more
than just stating a doctrine, and it's doctrinally true, but
what does it really mean, and how does it apply to us, and
how is it comforting to us and instructing to us? Well, look
what it says right here in Psalm 37, verse 23. The steps of a good man are ordered by
the Lord, and he delighteth in his way." Our steps are ordained
of God. Nothing comes to pass in our
life by accident. It's all according to the will
and purpose of God. We read this scripture all the
time, all things work together for good. All things. All things work together
for good to them who love God." Now it doesn't work together
for good for all people. That promise is not given to
all people. To them who love God. To them who are the called
according to His purpose. All things are of God. And these afflictions, these
light afflictions that God sends our way, these chastisements
that the Lord sends our way, they don't work against us. They
work for us. That's what the sovereignty of
God really means to a believer. It's our comfort. And we, as
believers, bow in submission to the Lord's will in these matters. I'm not saying that we understand
all these things, but we yet receive them from the hand of
our loving Father, and we bow in submission unto His will."
Now look at the second part of this, in Psalm 99 verse 1, the
Lord reigneth, let the people tremble, tremble. Now this is a sign of belief,
a sign of faith, that we reverence the sovereign Lord. we reverence
the sovereign Lord. Now, I guess we can make a distinction
between, and when we talk about sovereignty, it's really not
the acts of His sovereignty or the deeds of His sovereignty,
but rather it's our God who is sovereign, our God who is sovereign. We're not trusting the sovereignty
of God, We're trusting God who is sovereign. That's what I'm
trying to say. We trust God who is sovereign. It's like folks
say that in religion, I'm trusting the finished work of Christ.
Well, I'm not. I'm trusting the Lord Jesus Christ
who finished the work. And let the people tremble. Now, look what he says. Our God
is sovereign, but he's also merciful. He sits between the cherubims.
Let the earth be moved. Now we have to go back to Psalm
57. Turn over there. The Lord sits between the cherubim.
Now what was between the cherubim there in the tabernacle and in
the early temple? What was there between the cherubim?
the mercy seat, overshadowing the mercy seat, where atonement
was made, where blood was shed, covering the law that had been
broken. And that's all a picture of Christ,
who is merciful. Psalm 57 verse 1, Be merciful
unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee,
yea, in the shadow of thy wings. will I make my refuge until all
these calamities be overpassed. And again, he's talking about
the winged creatures that overshadow the mercy seat. The Lord our
God is sovereign and he is merciful. The mercy seat is where God meets
with men and where men meet with God. He has provided for us complete
atonement for all our sins. Turn one page to Psalm 103. One
page of Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Verse 1, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, forget not all of his benefits, who
forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. Look at verse eight, Psalm 103.
The Lord is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy.
He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgression
from us. That's mercy. That is mercy. God is merciful. He has separated. One time our sin separated us
from God in Adam, didn't it? Now he's separated our sin from
us. And now we have fellowship with
him. Back to Psalm 99, look at verse two. The Lord is great,
the Lord is great in Zion. That's his people, his church,
his gospel, Zion. He is high above all the people. In Zion, among his people, in
his church, this is known. The Lord is great in Zion. This
is known that He is great. This is known He is loved and
the Lord our Savior is highly esteemed. Turn back to Psalm
95 verse 3. The Lord is great and a great
king above all gods. Psalm 95 verse 3. The Lord is
great. Everything about Him is great.
Everything about Him is great. he is highly esteemed in his
person. While the wicked may despise
him, while the atheists oppose him, the religious self-righteous
reject him, away with him, we have no king but Caesar. Among
his own people he is great beyond comparison." He's great. to you
who believe He is precious. He is altogether lovely. He is great in our esteem. He is great in the esteem of
His grace. He's great in His acts of mercy. He's really great in Himself. He is the great God. He's great
in mercy for His great love where He loved us. He's great in power. He's great in wisdom. Great in
justice. Great in glory. And He gives
us so great salvation. Everything about our Lord is
great. The Lord is great in Zion. And He is high above all the
people. God hath highly exalted him and
given him a name which is above every name, that at that name
every knee should bow, every tongue should confess that he
is Lord. He's high above. How high is he? I can't tell
you how high. Except to tell you this, he's
exalted to the right hand of the throne of God. That's pretty
high. I guess that's as high as it gets. That's as high as
it gets. He's as high as God because he is God. He's the most
high God. Look at verse 3. Now, that being
so, the Lord reigns, the Lord is merciful, the Lord is great,
the Lord is exalted. Let them praise thy great and
terrible name. It's holy. Let us praise Him,
rejoice in Him. Let us celebrate His great name. Let us bow before Him with reverence
and fear, for His name is holy." He is holy. Every aspect of His
whole person, all of His decrees, all of His acts, all of His actions
are holy. In Him our God is no flaw, no
fault, no deficiency. any error in his way, shall not
the God of all the earth do right, and whatever he does is right,
there's no iniquity in him, he is totally excellent, therefore
he is absolutely holy. Holy, holy Lord God Almighty. Holy in his words, for that Bible
we hold in our hand is called the Holy Bible. He's holy in
his thoughts, His acts, His revelations, as well as Himself. Our God is
holy. He is perfection itself. And the Lord Jesus Christ, what
is said of God the Father, is true of God the Son and God the
Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ, even in
His humanity, is holy. In His humanity. He married to
his deity, sinless humanity. Even though his humanity came
through a woman named Mary, his human nature had no earthly father. His divine nature had no mother,
and his earthly nature had no earthly father. His human nature
had no earthly father. That is, He's begotten of God,
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. When
the Lord Jesus Christ was manifest in the flesh as God the Son incarnate,
His humanity was... Did He change? Holy! Sinless
humanity. He's the spotless Lamb of God.
We read in Hebrews 7, such a high priest became us who was holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sin. Had not the Lord Jesus
Christ taken sinless humanity to His perfect deity, He could
not have made atonement for our sin. Now you think how important
it is. He is the spotless Lamb of God
in His humanity. He had no sin, knew no sin, and
did no sin, and yet the scripture said he was made sin for us.
He is holy. Let them praise thy great and
terrible name, for it is holy. Look at verse 4. Our God is the
king of all the earth. You see verse 4? The king's strength
loveth judgment. Thou dost establish iniquity. Thou executest judgment and righteousness
in Jacob. Our King, our Lord, who is holy,
is not king just in certain places. Turn back over here to Psalm
47, Psalm 47. I kept wanting to turn this scripture
around when I was hunting for it. Psalm, I kept wanting to
turn to Psalm 74, but it's 47. 47, look at verse six. 47, six. Sing praises to God. Sing praises unto our king. Sing praises. Verse seven, you
got it? For God is a king of all the
earth. Sing praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen,
God sits upon the throne of His holiness. Justice or judgment
are the habitation of His throne. You remember from Revelation,
He's called King of Kings and Lord of Lords, back to Psalm
99. He is the King of all the earth. The King's strength as a sovereign
holy king. He loves three things are mentioned
here. Three things. He loves judgment, he does establish
uprightness, and he does execute righteousness in Jacob. Now let's
look at those three things briefly. He loves judgment. He loves justice. He is the mighty God. But our
Lord is also the loving Father. He is our holy God and yet He
is our merciful Father. He is both a just God and Savior. He loves justice. but He's also a just God and
Savior. Secondly, He does establish uprightness
or righteousness, equity. The Lord Jesus Christ has prepared
for His people an everlasting righteousness by His, what? By His obedient life, and by
His obedient death. He established for us a blessed,
blessed righteousness." It's all He's doing, isn't it? He
established uprightness. He established righteousness
for us. God made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God, the righteousness of
God in Him. And this scripture that we often
quote talk about righteousness imputed. Blessed is the man whom
the Lord imputeth righteousness without works." You know, it's
sad. People are ignorant of this because
they've not been taught. They're ignorant of it because
they don't believe God's truth as it's revealed in Scripture.
You ask the religious, average religious Joe about righteousness
imputed and they go, huh? They just don't know anything
about it. And it's because they've not been taught. And it's because
it's not been revealed. And it's because they don't believe
the Word of God. But imputed righteousness is
not, as some said, imputed nonsense. It's a blessed, blessed truth,
is it not? He has imputed to us a blessed,
justifying righteousness whereby we stand before God perfect in
His sight. Thirdly, He does execute righteousness. Look what it says there in verse
4. He does execute judgment and righteousness in Jacob. Now he's done a work for us and
he also does a work in us. He does execute righteousness
in Jacob. And Jacob here being a type and
picture of a believer, Jacob have I loved. And here we see
righteousness imparted unto us. A righteous nature imparted unto
us. Now turn over here to 2 Peter
chapter one. A righteous nature imparted unto
us. And that's what we get in the
new birth. We still have that old rotten Adam nature, but in
the new birth we have a new nature. that which is born of the flesh
is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. 2 Peter, look at 2 Peter chapter
one, verse four. Whereby are given to us exceeding
great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers
of a divine nature. Now if it's a divine nature,
and if it's a nature given of God, it cannot sin, because it's
born of God. So, in the believer now, we have
a new nature that cannot sin. That's what it says in 1 John
3, 9. We have that new nature that cannot sin. And we have
that old Adam nature that cannot not sin. That make sense? Cannot
not sin. Therefore, Peter or Paul talks
about that warfare. The flesh lusts against the spirit,
and the spirit against the flesh. These two are contrary one to
another, so that you cannot do what you really would like to
do. You know, I would like to never
sin again. in this flesh. Never have another
sinful thought. But I have that old wretched
nature that just dragged me down in the pit. But by His grace,
He's made us new creatures. He justified us in Christ Jesus. Now, let's look at verse 5 and
verse 9. Exalt you the Lord our God and
worship at his footstool, for he is holy. Again in verse 9,
exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill, for
the Lord our God is holy. Worship him, for he is holy.
Now, two things here I want to look at in verse 5 and verse
9. It says to exalt him. Exalt him. Exalt him, that is his person. esteem Him highly as God our
Savior, exalt Him in His office, remember His threefold office,
prophet, priest, and king, exalt Him as a prophet of God who gives
us the truth and will of God, exalt Him in His priestly office
in His redemptive work as prophet, priest, and king, and exalt Him
in His sovereign rule and reign over all things. Exalt Him in
your heart. Exalt Him in your thoughts. Think highly of Him. Set your
heart on things above. Thinking highly of Him, affectionately
loving Him. Exalt and extol Him in words
of praise, thoughts of admiration. Speak of His love, His loveliness,
and the great things that He has done Think of all the great
things He's done for us. Singing to the Lord, for He had
done marvelous things. His right hand, His holy arm,
had gotten Him the victory for us. Exalt Him, the great things
He has done for us. You remember the story of the
wild Gadarene? That man who was out there among the dead? dwelling
among the tombs, naked, wild, no one could tame him, touch
him, everybody was scared to death of him. And the Lord crossed
his path, put him in his right mind. He was found sitting at
the feet of the Lord, listening to the Lord's instructions. And
when the Lord got up to leave, to go on preaching other places,
the demoniac who was healed, clothed and sitting in his right
mind, wanted to follow the Lord. You remember? Remember what the
Lord told him, go home to your family, go home to your friend
and tell them how great things the Lord have done for you. Exalt him. Exalt the Lord our
God and then secondly worship him. Worship him. Worship him. Remember I asked you several
weeks ago when we had one of these psalms where it talked
a lot about worship. I asked the question, what's more important,
private worship or public? You remember that question? How
many of you got it right? Do you remember? What's more important?
I tell you, public worship. We're told in scripture, forsake
not the assembly of ourselves together. And I wouldn't minimize
private worship, that's important. But to habitually absent yourself
from the meeting together of God's people is inexcusable,
inexcusable. And if you can get by with it,
without being chastised severely of the Lord, what does it say? You're not a legitimate son. Now let's just be honest. Those
who habitually, willfully absent themselves from the place where
God's gospel is preached, where God's saints assemble, Desire
not our fellowship, desire not to hear a word of the Lord, inexcusable. Worship Him privately, publicly, internally in our heart, externally,
in spirit and in truth, at His footstool, at His throne. The Father seeketh such to worship
Him in spirit and in truth. Look at verse 6. Aaron and Samuel. Boy, what a trio. I mean, what
a trio. Moses, the faithful servant of
the Lord. The Lord spoke face to face,
as a man speaketh with his friend, Moses. Moses in the very presence
of God, and the Lord speaks out of that burning bush, take your
shoes off, you're on holy ground. Moses. Aaron, God's appointed priest. Samuel,
given to the Lord as a young boy. Hannah had that special
son, remember? She prayed and the Lord gave
Samuel. Among them call upon his name.
They called upon the Lord and he answered them. He spake unto
them. Exodus 33. You can read about it out of
that cloudy pillar. They kept his testimony and the
ordinance that he gave them. Verse 8, He answered them, O
LORD our God, thou wast a God that forgave us them, though
thou took vengeance upon their inventions, their thoughts of
sin. Three special men, men just like
us. with like fallen sinful passions. Sinners like us who found all
of their salvation in Christ Jesus. They did exalt Him. They did worship Him. They did
call upon Him. And the Lord being true to His
character, He did answer them in mercy as He does all of His
people sooner or later in one way or the other. which ought
to be a great encouragement unto us to pray unto the Lord, to
call upon Him and to worship Him. We're told in scripture
to make our requests known unto God. Verse seven, He spake to
them. God spake in times past unto
our fathers by the prophets. He has in His last days spoken
unto us by His Son. It says that in Hebrews chapter
three. He spake unto them. in this cloudy
pillar. And this cloudy pillar here is
a type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only through
the mediator that men have access to God only in Christ. Our Lord said, no man can come
unto me except the Father which sent me. Draw him. Now what is
said of Moses and Samuel is true of all the Lord's people where
it says in verse 7, they kept his testimonies Now it's not
saying here that they perfectly kept the law, but they received
God's Word and reverenced His Word and believed His Word. And
they kept the ordinance, the Passover, all the feast days,
the sacrifices. They kept the ordinances that
God gave unto them. They kept the testimonies. And
believers today do receive God's Word. They observe the ordinances
that the Lord has given unto his New Testament church, the
Lord's table, believers' baptism, but not to produce any kind of
righteousness by our obedience. Our righteousness is by Christ's
obedience, not ours. Now, the point I'm driving at
is verse 8. God answered them. They called
in prayer. They called upon the Lord. He
answered them. Thou wast a God that forgave us them, though
thou tookest vengeance. upon their inventions. All believers
like this trio are totally and eternally forgiven only through
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. It wasn't the blood of bulls
and goats that put away their sin. The only cause of their
acceptance is the only cause of our acceptance. We're accepted
in the Beloved. Turn over here to Psalm 130.
Psalm 130. Out of the depths, verse 1. Out
of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplication. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared. But Israel hope in the
Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous
redemption. Now back to the text. God forgave
them. Moses sinned against the Lord.
Aaron sinned against the Lord in a very gross way of idolatry. And then he said, you remember
what he said when they stripped off all their gold and all their
jewelry and cast it into a fire, and when Moses came down and
confronted them, He said, you know, we just throw these things
into the fire and this golden calf popped out. God forgave
Moses. You know it says that Moses didn't
sanctify the Lord? God told him the first time to
speak to the rock, or rather, God told him the first time to
strike the rock and water came out. The second time God told
him to speak to the rock And he got angry at those people
who rebelled. He said, must I fetch you water
again out of this rock? And he took that rod and hit
the rock. God forgave that sin too. And Eli, or rather Samuel,
refused to deliver God's message to Eli about the death of his
two rebel boys. And God said, you better tell
him, I'm going to kill you. He forgave us that sin too. The point I'm making is this.
The best of men are only men at best. All of us are sinners. All are in need of forgiveness.
Our only hope of salvation is found in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. John said, when we sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He
is our intercessor who continually forgives our inventions. These are our inventions. Thoughts
and attitudes and actions of sin. These are our inventions. I never read any prayer in scripture
when any believer ever prayed, Lord forgive me for Adam's sin.
No, it's my sin. It's my, I have sinned against
the Lord. Now let me close with this, concerning
divine chastisement of the Lord. The corrections we receive, as
Moses did, as Aaron did, and as Samuel, and as David did.
David, man after God's own heart. Yet, boy, he had some invention,
didn't he? Murdered his best friend, stole
his wife, That's some kind of invention. Yet, you remember
what Nathan told David? God put away your sin. God put
away your sin. The correction we receive from
the loving hands of our Father are not to satisfy God's justice,
is it? Christ did that for us, but rather
for a display of His love toward us, and it's for our good. Among
all our sinfulness, God's love and mercy and grace does not
change, nor is it in any way diminished. His love toward us
is covenant love, everlasting love, and it's in Christ Jesus. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses, Aaron, and Samuel, they
received the word of the Lord, they observed the ordinances,
and yet they were sinners saved by God's grace. Exactly the same
way, they were never separated from the love of God, Not at
all. It's to have an everlasting love.
And it's always in the Lord Jesus Christ.