I want you to open your Bibles
with me today to the book of Psalms. We're going to read a
verse of Scripture found in the 135th Psalm, Psalm 135, verses
5 and 6. I'll be speaking to you on this
subject, and I'm going to be quite plain in this message,
and I want you to listen carefully to what I believe God has laid
on my heart for you today. My subject, it pleased the Lord. It pleased the Lord. Now let's
read verses 5 and 6 of Psalm 135. For I know that the Lord
is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth and in the
sea and all deep places. Now I'm going to make three statements
that I am convinced are true. The first statement is this,
true worship, true worship is almost a thing of the past. It might be said of our generation
there's no fear of God before their eyes, there's no reverence,
there's no solemn awe and wonder before God's presence, no fear
of God before their eyes. With today's familiarity and
today's religious presumption before God, verses like these
have little or no meaning. The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent
before him. Let us, O come, let us bow down
and let us worship the Lord our God. like these have little or
no meaning at all today. There's so little true worship.
Listen to this verse in Ecclesiastes chapter 5. Keep thy foot when
thou goest into the house of God. Be not rash with thy mouth,
let not thy mouth be hasty to utter anything before the Lord.
For God is in the heavens and thou upon earth, therefore let
thy word be few. How long has it been since you've
been involved in a true worship service, when you felt the presence
of God, and you felt that presence with a deep fear, reverence,
awe, and solemn wonder? The Lord is in his holy temple,
and all the earth keeps silent before him. And here's the reason. Now this is the reason that true
worship is almost a thing of the past. Because true worship,
true reverence, is born of a true knowledge of God, of who God
is, his sovereignty, his majesty, his holiness, and his power. That's where true worship is
born. When a man comes to see, to understand,
and to know who God is, and what God's like, and the power, and
the wisdom, and the holiness, and the sovereignty of God. Job
said, Lord, I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but
now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I repent in sackcloth and ashes. John, on the Isle of Patmos,
saw the beauty and the glory and the power and the might of
the Lord Jesus, and he said, I fell at his feet as a dead
man. Isaiah said, In the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. And he said, and Daniel said,
when I saw the Lord, my comeliness melted into corruption. There's
only one place that a man will worship, and that's before the
throne of a sovereign, almighty God, who does as he pleases,
when he pleases, with whom he pleases. And this is the reason
that true worship and true reverence And awe and wonder and fear before
the throne of God is a thing of the past is because the sovereignty
and power and might of God is not being preached. They said,
David, where's your God? David replied, our God's in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever he pleased
in heaven, in earth, in the sea, and in all deep places. Now here's
the second statement. I want you to listen to this.
People are forever talking about comfort and peace. This is what
we're hearing a lot of talk about today. Finding comfort and finding
peace and finding happiness. Now, the reason for that is this.
Life is filled with trials. Everybody has trials and troubles
and sickness and death and sorrow, and we exhaust every means at
our disposal to try and comfort one another during these times
of trial and tribulation. But my friends, there's only
one true source of comfort. There's only one true foundation
for peace. And that is to know that whatever
happens in my life happens by God's power and providence for
God's glory and my good. That's the only way that I can
find any true comfort. I'm talking about when a real
trial visits your home or visits your family or visits your church
or visits your community. When a great trial, when trouble
and sorrow and great sickness comes, the only way that you
can find any real comfort or peace is to know that God sent
it for a purpose, for his glory and your good. That's what Paul
was writing in Romans 8, 28, when he said, and we know. that
all things work together for good to them who love God, to
them who are called according to God's purpose. Now when Job,
Job was a very wealthy man, a man who had property and possessions
and great holdings and a large family, he was told to Job that
everything he had was in a moment swept away and that all of his
children were dead. And instead of pulling his hair
and murmuring and complaining against the hand of God and the
providence of God, Job worshiped. And he said, naked, I came out
of my mother's womb and naked I shall return thither. And in
all of this, he didn't charge God with foolishness, nor did
he sin. Now, what was the foundation
of his comfort, the foundation of his peace? It's given right
there in verse 22. He said, the Lord gave and the
Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Now, he gave a reason for his comfort. He gave a reason for
his peace. That's the source of peace and
comfort. It's because God does it. That's
what Eli said when they told him that his sons would be killed. He said, well, it's the Lord.
Let him do what he will. Now, my friends, you've got to
decide this issue right now. Our hands, our lives are either
in the hands of God All-wise, all-seeing, sovereign God, our
lives are in the hands of blind fate, chance, or luck. Now, it can't be both. And I'll
tell you, if your life is in the hands of luck or chance or
fate, you can't have any comfort. The only way you can have any
comfort is for your life to be controlled by the power of God
Almighty. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians
5, 18, In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning
you. Now here's the third statement.
The first statement I made is this. True worship is almost
a thing of the past. And the reason for that is that
the fear of God and the reverence and awe and wonder before the
presence of a sovereign God is not known. And then true comfort
and true peace is only found at the sovereign throne of God
who does everything for his glory and our good. Now, here's the
third statement. You may talk about assurance of salvation,
and everybody wants some assurance of their salvation. They want
to know that if they die, they'll go to heaven. They want to know
that they're saved. They want to know that their
sins are forgiven. They want to know that they're
a child of God. They want to have some confidence. They want
to have some assurance. They want to have a good hope.
of eternal life. But now let me tell you something.
If salvation is not totally and completely by the sovereign power
of God, if salvation, if the salvation of sinners, if the
forgiveness of sins, if this thing of redemption is not totally
and wholly and completely in the hands of God Almighty, there's
no such thing as a shul. There's no such thing as a good
hope. If salvation is what God does
and what I do, there's one thing certain I'm going to fail. There's
one thing certain about man. Now, you can put this down, about
man, woman, any creature, the creature under every kind of
environment, under every circumstance has eventually failed. So there's
no way for any of us to have any assurance or confidence Eternal
life or the forgiveness of sin based on what we have done what
we're doing or what we will do Because we know of one thing
we shall fail, but God shall not fail God cannot say God work
is all things after the counsel of his own will now. Here's the
basis of assurance Here is the only foundation of assurance
or a certain hope or confidence of eternal life whom he foreknew
He predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, and
whom He predestinated, He called, and whom He called, He justified,
and whom He justified, He glorified. What shall we say to these things?
Here's what we say. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. If
God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall He not freely with Him give us all things? Who is
he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather it is risen again who is even at the right hand of
God who maketh intercession for us. Moses said one day, Lord,
show me your glory. And God said, I'll make all my
glory pass before thee. I will be merciful to whom I
will be merciful, and I will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious. And my friends, those are three important things. The
only place that a man will truly worship, now he'll bargain with
an equal, he'll argue with an equal, he'll debate with an equal,
but a man before a sovereign God will bow down and worship. And that's the only place he'll
truly worship. And this thing of comfort and
peace, there's only one place you can find true comfort. In
the time of trial, in the darkest valley, in the great clouds,
when the clouds of sorrow roll over your soul, and that is to
know that whatever takes place, if you're a child of God, it
will be for your good and His glory. And that third thing,
assurance of eternal life, confidence, a certain hope of eternal happiness,
there's only one place you can find that, and that is if God
is pleased to give me the mercy of Christ and the righteousness
of Christ and blot out my sin according to his will." Now that's
the only foundation of a showing. He said, I am the Lord, therefore
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. That's the reason. And he said
again, the gifts and calling of God are without change. So
when the heathen boasted of their idols and their powerless gods,
they said, David, where is your God? Psalm 135. Where is your
God? Well, David said, our God's in
the heaven. And they said, well, David, what's your God like?
He said, well, our God does according to his will, and as he pleases,
and according to his purpose, in heaven, in earth, in the seas,
and all deep places. Now, here's the question. What
did it please God to do? David said, whatsoever the Lord
pleased, that did he, in heaven, in earth, in the seas, and all
deep places. What did it please God to do?
As you notice on this program, I try to follow the Word of God
and try to give you Scripture for what I'm saying, because
I want you to hear God's Word. I don't want you to just hear
me. I don't want your faith and confidence
to stand in the wisdom of any man, but in the power and in
the Word of God. What did it please God to do?
Well, first of all, turn to 1 Samuel 12, 22. It pleased God to make
you His people. 1st Samuel 12 22 listen to it
for the Lord will not forsake his people For his great namesake
Because it has pleased the Lord to make you his people. I Didn't choose God. He chose
me Christ said that to his disciples. He said you didn't choose me
I chose you none of us this preacher anybody else can claim any worthiness
can claim any merit can claim any righteousness left to ourselves,
we would have continued in our rebellion. But God was pleased
to make us his people. In 1 Corinthians 1.26, Paul wrote
these words, You see, your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty men, not many noble are
called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the
world to confound the things which are mighty, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. And Paul wrote in Romans 9, 16,
It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. It pleased God to make you his
people. The reason is not found in me.
The reason is not found in you. The reason that you are a child
of God is found in God. And he hath been pleased to choose
a people out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue unto
heaven." That's what John wrote in Revelation 5-9. It pleased
God to make you his people. And it pleased God to have a
people that number as the stars of the sky and as the sands of
the seashore. It pleased the Lord. If it had
not pleased God to do that, none of us would have come. None of
us would have sought him. But he saw that it pleased him.
All right? Secondly, they said, David, where's
your God? He said, our God's in the heavens. He hath done
whatsoever he pleased. And the writer of the Old Testament
said, please God to make you his people. Now, secondly, in
Colossians 1.19, here's something else it pleased God to do. It
pleased the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell. Everything's in Christ. Everything's
in Christ. It's all been vested in Christ. It pleased God to put everything,
all fullness, in Christ. Now, the people whom God chose
to save, the people whom God Almighty was pleased to make
his own, were a sinful people. That's right. God committed his
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. We were hopelessly sinners. There
was no righteousness, no merit, no goodness, and we were under
the sentence of death by the law of God and the justice of
God. So it pleased God to make Christ
our surety. It pleased the Father to make
Christ our representative. It pleased the Father to make
Christ our substitute and our Savior. And in Christ dwelleth
all that God expects of us, all that God commands of us, all
that God Almighty requires of us is met in Christ. God put
it in Christ. because it pleased him to do
so. It was according to his purpose and according to his wisdom that
everything should be in Christ, not in the church, not in the
preacher, not in the priest, in Christ. That's where it all
is. All fullness is in Christ. If any man sin against a man,
who shall judge him? The judge. He'll come before
the judge, and the judge will take care of the matter. But
if a man sin against God, who's going to stand There's only one
and he's the designated one. He's the appointed one. He's
the ordained one. He's Christ the Son of God Yes,
we have a high priest it's Jesus Christ Yes, we have a heretic
a representative. It's Jesus Christ Yes, we have
a righteousness not in ourselves not in our work in Christ Jesus
Yes, we have a Mediator. It is Jesus Christ, our Lord.
1 Timothy 2.5 says there's one God and one Mediator between
God and men, and that's the man, Christ Jesus. It pleased God
to put everything in Christ. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. He that hath the
Son hath righteousness. He that hath not the Son of God,
it dies in his sins. He that hath the Son hath redemption. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not redemption. He that hath the Son of God hath
sanctification, hath the Spirit of God, hath eternal life. He
hath everything because it's all in Christ. It pleased God
that in him should all fulness dwell. It's all in Christ. All
right, let's move on. Isaiah 53, verse 10. It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. Please God to make you his people.
David said he identifies the Lord of heaven. He said whatever
God pleased that did he in heaven earth and the seas and all deep
places and it pleased God to make you his people and it pleased
God to put everything that his people need in Christ and Everything
his law requires and everything his justice requires and it pleased
God to booze him Now the cross of Calvary is God's doings That's
right. The death of Christ was no accident
The death of Christ was not the pitiful failure of a defeated
reformer. The death of Christ was not the
example of a martyr. But the death of Christ was God's
lamb being slain. God's sacrificial lamb, God's
sin offering being made right there on Golgotha's hill. Look
at Acts 4, verse 26 through 28. It says, The kings of the earth
stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the
Lord and against his Christ. Pontius Pilate, and Annas, and
Caiaphas, and the Jews, and the Gentiles were all gathered together
to do what they wanted to do, and what they will to do, and
what they determined to do, and what their wicked hands and minds
devised to do. But that's not what it said.
That's true. But they were gathered together
to do what God's hand and God's counsel determined before to
be done. Everything about the life of
Christ and the death of Christ and the betrayal of Christ and
the denial of Christ and the death of Christ and the resurrection
of Christ was written in the Old Testament hundreds of years
before Christ came. If you'll read the Old Testament,
you'll find the tribe through which he came, the family, the
place he was born, the life he lived, You'll find his betrayal,
his denial, the 30 pieces of silver, the potter's field. You'll
find the plucking of the beard. You'll find the piercing of his
hands and feet. You'll find the spittle upon
his face. You'll find the crowd walking
by, shooting out their lips and mocking him. You'll find the
very words that he cried from the cross in Psalm 22. The death
of Christ was determined by God. It pleased the Father to bruise
him. He was our Passover. He was our brazen serpent lifted
up. He is our perfect atonement offered. The cross is no failure on the
part of God. The cross is victory. God sent
his Son to die for his people. Jesus Christ, the appointed Savior,
died the appointed death at the appointed time for the appointed
people. That's what the Scripture teaches.
His death was no effort. It was a sacrifice. He justified
us. He reconciled us to God. He redeemed
us by his blood. It pleased God to bruise him.
God does what he pleases. It pleased God to bruise him.
All right. Fourthly, Galatians 115. It pleased God to reveal
his son in me. That's what Paul said. God who
separated me from my mother's womb. Called me by his grace
was pleased to reveal his son in me. They said now, where's
your God David? He said in the heavens. He's
a they said what's he like? He said whatever he pleases.
That's what he does and it pleased God To reveal his son in me Christ
how the blind dead Senseless lifeless rebels find out God. Well, he has to be revealed John
1 says, he came to his own things, and his own received him not,
but to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which
were born not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of
man, but of God. You see, this thing of salvation,
revelation, is of God. First Corinthians 2.9, it is
written, I have not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath
it entered the heart of man the things that God has prepared
for them that love him, but he hath revealed them unto us by
his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. How does a man come to know what
sin is? God reveals it to him using the
holy law. Paul said, I would not have known
sin had not the law said, thou shalt not covet. How does a man
come to know who Christ is? Well, let me give you an example.
Christ said to his disciples one day, whom do men say that
I am? And they said, well, some say you're John the Baptist,
some Elias, some one of the prophets. But whom do you say that I am,
Christ said? Peter said, thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Now listen. And our Lord said,
Peter, blessed are you. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. revealed it to
you. Who I am, what I did, and why I'm doing it, and where I'm
going, the Father reveals that. That's revealed, and that's not
found out by education, it's found out through revelation.
If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them who are blind, in whom
the God of this world has blinded their minds, lest the glorious
light of the gospel of Jesus Christ should shine unto them,
And they should be saved. But God has opened our hearts
and opened our minds and revealed Christ to us. How does a man
come to believe on Christ? It's the gift of God by divine
revelation. For by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. First Corinthians
4, 7 says, Who made you to differ? What do you have that you did
not receive? Well, here's the fifth thing. Now, how does God
reveal Christ? Listen to 1st Corinthians 121.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. That's right. Faith cometh by
hearing and hearing by the Word of God. By preaching, the Word
of God is revealed. By preaching, the hearts of men
are opened. By preaching, sin is revealed. By preaching, Christ is made
known. By preaching, men are born again.
By preaching, Christ is glorified. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. James 1.18 says, Of his own will
begat he us through the word of truth. 1 Peter 1.23 says,
We are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. God's on
the throne. Where's your God, David? He's
in the heaven. What's he like? Whatever he pleases,
that's what he does. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. What has it pleased him to do?
To make you his people, to make Christ your surety, to bruise
him in your stead, to stop you on your Damascus road to hell
and reveal Christ to you, and he did it by the preaching of
the gospel.