I'll ask you, if you will, to
turn with me tonight to Psalm 146. Psalm 146. Praise ye the
Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. This is not the first Psalm in
which we find the Psalmist speaking to his soul, exhorting his soul
to praise the Lord. Remember in Psalm 103, he said,
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless
his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases. This reminds us that all of us
have a responsibility to speak to our soul. When we grow lethargic
and somewhat cold in heart, we have a responsibility to speak
to our souls, to stir up our souls, to stir up the gift that
is within us as God's children. The Apostle Paul said, for it
is God who worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good
pleasure. And we should certainly pray
and ask the Lord to work in us, to work in us, give us the will. and the doing of praising and
blessing him. Praise ye the Lord. Praise the
Lord, O my soul. While I live, and none of us
know how long that shall be. The scripture tells us that our
life is like a shadow. It's like the vapor that appears
in the early morning, and then by noon, it's vanished away. Our life in this world is so
short, so brief. Shouldn't we spend our days praising
the Lord, those of us who know him, those of us to whom he has
revealed himself and revealed the gospel to us? David said,
well, I live. Well, I praise the Lord. I will
sing praises unto my God while I have any being. God's people
are a singing people. God's people love to sing his
praises and singing is a special part of our worship services. I think in our country now in
this pandemic. When. The civil rulers are laying
down certain guidelines and rules for those who come together to
worship the Lord. One pastor told me that in his
state, the governor has decreed that they shouldn't even sing
in their services. Well, God's people are worshiping
people, are praising people, are singing people, and we are
to sing and make melody in our hearts unto the Lord. David said,
I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being." We don't
have to sing publicly only. We do come together to worship
the Lord. Singing is a very important part
of our worship service. I think of Elisha. When he was
called upon to prophecy, he called for a minstrel to come and play
upon an instrument of music. Evidently, God spoke to him while
he was listening to that music. Music is a very important part
of our worship service. I'm so thankful for the ones
here who lead the singing, who play the instruments, and for
all of us who are enabled to sing and praise the Lord. Put not your trust in princes.
David was a prince. He was a king. And yet he knew
himself. And so he admonishes everyone,
put not your trust in princes. They may be lifted up. They may
have a high office. They may be rulers over man. But remember this, they're just
like every other man. His breath goeth forth. and he returneth to the earth. And in that very day, his thoughts
perish. Men have had all kinds of thoughts
about how we must approach unto God. But my friends, the thoughts
of men are foolishness. We need the word of God, don't
we? The scriptures, the written word
of God to teach us about God. Because I don't care how great
a man may be in this world, how great he may be lifted up as
a king, as a prince, as a preacher, whoever, whatever. The day he dies, his breath goeth
forth from him and all the thoughts are gone as well. And if those
thoughts are not thoughts based upon the word of God, nothing
but foolishness. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God,
which made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein
is, which keepeth truth forever, which executeth judgment for
the oppressed, which giveth food to the hungry. He opens his hand
and feeds all his creatures. He giveth food to the hungry.
You say, well, the Lord doesn't feed me. Who do you think feeds
you? Who do you think provides the
food that's upon your table? If God did not send the showers,
the rain, the sunshine, it wouldn't take long before there would
be no food on your table. Yes, God feeds the hungry, physical
hunger, but more importantly, spiritual hunger. The Lord looseth
the prisoners. The Lord openeth the eyes of
the blind. The Lord raiseth them that are
bowed down. The Lord loveth the righteous.
The Lord preserveth the strangers. He relieveth the fatherless and
widow. But the way of the wicked, he
turneth upside down. The Lord shall reign forever,
even thy God, O Zion. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the church of the firstborn, Zion. The Lord shall reign forever,
even thy God, O Zion. You remember Thomas said, my
Lord and my God, speaking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy God,
O Zion. shall reign forever unto all
generations. Praise ye the Lord. This psalm, as we read through
it, we recognize it celebrates and speaks to us of many wonderful
and great truths. And it would be impossible in
one message to deal with all of them, but I've chosen two
truths. tonight from this psalm that
I want us to think about. I want us to think about the
happy man and the free man, the happy man. You know, the book
of Psalms actually begins declaring, blessed, happy is the man that
walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in
the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth
he meditate day and night. Men seek after happiness, and
very few people, in fact, none but those who know God as their
Savior, as their Lord tonight, would acknowledge what the psalmist
here tells us about the happy man, the man who is happy, who
is blessed, He is described in verse five in two ways. Notice
in verse five, happy, blessed is he that hath the God of Jacob
for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. The happy man
here is described two ways. He is the man who has the God
of Jacob as his help. I want us to think about that
term for just a moment, the God of Jacob. The God of Jacob is God who is
the creator of heaven and earth. We see that in the next verse,
verse six. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God,
which God, which made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that
therein is, which keepeth truth forever." The God of Jacob is
a creator of all things, reminding us, at least it should, that
there's nothing impossible for God. Just as Austin began the
service, reading from Jonah, and pointing out to us that God
prepared that great fish. Do we believe that Jonah was
in the belly of that fish? Absolutely. One man said, if
the scripture said that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would
believe that. Amen. I believe God's word. Don't you? I'm so thankful for his word. And yes, God of Jacob is a God
who is a creator of all things, and all men, without question,
all men are without excuse as we see God's creation, as we
live in God's creation, and see the heavens which declare the
glory of God, the firmament which showeth forth His handiwork. But not every man, listen, not
every man who acknowledges God as the creator of all things
is happy. We know that so. There are those
who would, yes, they would say, I believe God created everything,
that all things are made by him, but they're not necessarily happy. Happy is the man who has the
God of Jacob as his help. as his help. James, in his epistle, said,
Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. It's good. It's right. And it's
only logical to believe and to know there's only one God. There
can only be one God. There can only be one omnipotent,
one omniscient, one omnipresent being. There's not room for another
God. Thou believest that there is
one God, thou doest well. But listen, James said, the devils
believe and tremble. They tremble, but they don't
know God as Lord and Savior. God provided no Savior for them. God did not take upon him the
nature of angels, but he took upon him the nature of man, of
Abraham, that he might be our Redeemer. might be our Savior,
bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, our near kinsman. The second thing, the God of
Jacob is God of everlasting love. God declared, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. God's eternal love is the source
and the spring of every blessing of grace. Have you ever visited
a place where there's a spring, the water just comes bubbling
up out of the water out of the ground. You know, that always
amazes me. I don't know why, but it does.
We were several years ago up in in South Dakota. And we were
eating at an outside cafe. And across the street, there
was a pipe that came out of the out of the mountain. out of the
hill across the street there, and it was just flowing with
water. And it was being fed by a spring. And people thought
there was some healing power in that water, evidently, over
the years. People have wanted to drink that
water and bathe in that water. But the source, the spring of
every blessing of grace is the love of God. His everlasting
love for His people. Jacob have I loved. The God of
Jacob is a God of everlasting love. And I know we live in a
day and a time when religion would tell everyone, God loves
you and has a wonderful plan for your life. If that were true,
how could the words in John chapter 13 be true? When John said, having loved
his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. If God's love for everyone, every
individual that is born in this world, is the same, if he loved
Judas the same way he loved Peter, and Judas went to hell, and Peter
went to heaven, as one preacher said, then what difference does
the love of God make? No, God's love is eternal, it's
special. Jacob have I loved. The God of Jacob is God of distinguishing
grace. For the scripture says, for the
children be not yet born. Now listen, neither Jacob and
Esau, the children be not yet born in the same womb. neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. Grace does not run through our
blood, does it? Father does not pass grace down
to his children. We read of several in the scriptures
who were faithful men of God, and yet their sons were rebels,
hated God. Grace doesn't run through inheritance. It comes from God Almighty, and
he will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy, and he will
harden whom he hardens. God of Jacob. Happy is the man
who has the God of Jacob as his help. The God of Jacob is the
God of distinguishing grace. And the God of Jacob is the God
of the everlasting covenant. I want you to turn back with
me to Genesis chapter 28, just a moment. And here is Jacob. In this passage
of scripture, we're going to read Genesis chapter 28. And
he's running. He's running because he has deceived
his father, Isaac. And he has surplanted his brother,
Esau. And he's running, no doubt fearful
for his life. Verse 10, we read, Jacob went
out from Beersheba and went toward Haran, and he lighted upon a
certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was
set. And he took of the stones of
that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that
place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a
ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.
And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it,
And behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God
of Abraham thy father, the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou
liest. To thee will I give it, and to
thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the
dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and
to the east, and to the north, and to the south. Now notice,
And in thee, and in thy seed, Christ shall all the families
of the earth be blessed. The God of Jacob is a God of
the everlasting covenant and Jacob was included in that covenant,
the covenant of grace that God made first with Abraham and then
to Isaac and then to Jacob. The God of Jacob, here's another
thing, the God of Jacob is God who hath laid help upon one that
is mighty. Look with me in Psalm 89. In this Psalm, take the time
someday to read through it and read the covenant here that God
made with David and his son, his greater son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. But in this 89th Psalm, verse 19, God says, Then thou
spakest in vision to the Holy One and saidest, I have laid
help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. This speaks of the God-man, the
Lord Jesus Christ, upon whom God laid help, help for sinners,
help for needy sinners, help for chosen sinners. This man
in our text tonight, I believe it was David, when he said, happy
is the man that hath the God of Jacob for his help. He had
come to realize he needed help. He needed help with his sins. My sins, oh, this burden of sin,
what can I do with it? What shall I do with it? It weighs
me down. It will bring me down to hell.
I need help. Where will I find help? God hath
laid help upon one that's mighty, upon His Son, Jesus Christ. This
man had come to realize he needed help in being reconciled unto
God. Like you said a moment ago, David,
when a person is brought like Jonah in that darkness and realize
if he's going to be saved, God's going to have to do it. He can't
do it. I need help. And I don't need
just a little help. I need help from one who is mighty,
mighty to save. I need help to guide me as we
go through this world, all the bypass and the diversions that
we come across, Vanity Fair, this world. I need someone to
guide me. The God of Jacob is he who laid
help upon one that is mighty. Jesus, what a Savior. What a Savior. I need one to
guide me. I need one to keep me. I need
one to keep me. Every day, we need God's keeping
grace. When you read through the book
of Judges, You see this scene over and over and over again. The people fall into idolatry. They see their neighbors around
them whom God had told to extinguish, not only around them but among
them. And so they began to lust after
the false gods. And before long, they are worshiping
the false gods. And then next, they are in captivity. And God raises up a savior, raises
up a judge. And all of those judges are pictures
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no question about that.
But what we see here is this, or at least we should see, if
God doesn't keep us, we'll do the same thing that the Israelites
did. We read through those verses,
those chapters, and we're amazed. How could they do that? How could
they not do that if the Lord doesn't keep us? I need one who is mighty to guide
me. to keep me, and I need one who
is mighty to receive me into everlasting glory. The God of Jacob is God who promised
to be with all of his Jacobs. Look with me in Isaiah 43. Happy is the man that hath the
God of Jacob as his help. In Isaiah 43, very familiar passage
I know for all of us. But now, thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name, thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, And yes, you will pass through the water. You will in
this world have trials and struggles and temptations. Our Lord told
his disciples this the night before he went to the cross,
didn't he? In the world you shall have tribulation. And the apostle
Paul in the book of Acts encourage those early and young Christian
believers that they must, through much tribulation, enter into
the kingdom of God. Somehow we've come to the place,
it seems to me, in this country that most professing believers
think that this world is a friend of grace. that we're not going
to experience tribulations, we're not going to experience troubles
and problems in this world. Well, that's not so. When thou
passest through the waters, I will be with thee. You've seen that
statement by Martin Luther, I'm sure, many times, when he said,
smite, Lord, My sins are forgiven. What did he mean? He meant my
sins are forgiven. Now, Lord, smite me. Nothing can harm me now. Smite. You've forgiven my sins. Everything else is going to be
OK, no matter how deep the waters are, no matter how hot the fire
is. Smite, Lord, thou has forgiven
my sins. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Those three Hebrew men in Babylon,
when Nebuchadnezzar, that wicked king, cast them into that furnace
to fire. The scripture says they came
out, there wasn't even a smell of fire on them. Their head coverings
were not even singed. Why was it? Because Nebuchadnezzar
asked his men, didn't we throw three men into the furnace? Yeah, I see four there. I say four and one is like unto
the Son of God. When thou goest through the waters
and walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia, and Sheba for thee. And the Lord gave a whole lot
more for you than these three nations that are named here.
He gave his only begotten son. Here is a happy man, he who has
the God of Jacob for his help. The psalmist in another place
said, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh
my help. My help cometh from the Lord,
which made heaven and earth. The second way this man is described
in this verse, back in our text, Psalm 146 and verse five, happy
is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help. What about you
tonight? Have you come to recognize you
need help? You need a mediator. You need
a high priest. You need a sacrifice. You need
a Savior. Have you been brought to know
that and realize that? Happy is the man that hath the
God of Jacob for his help. The second way this happy man
is described is the happy man has hope in the Lord his God. The word hope obviously has changed
its meaning over the years for most people. The word hope, as
it is used in the scriptures, we would better understand by
the word expectation. His expectation, whose expectation
is in the Lord, his God. Because the word hope brings
the thought of uncertainty. I just hope it's so. I just trust
it's so. I just believe it's so. And maybe
have no foundation at all for hope or expectation. There was a time before he was
called and brought to know the Lord Jesus Christ, when no doubt
his expectation was in this world, like most men. what the world
could give him, what the world promised him. But he learned,
this man, the psalmist, he learned what Solomon later would write.
His son would later write vanity of vanities. All is vanity. All that the world has to offer
is vanity. The Lord Jesus Christ said, what
shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? Most of you know that my wife
and I and our children lived in Mexico for ten years. Nine of those years we were in
Yucatan, Mexico. And I encourage all of us to
continue to pray for Brother Groover as he goes through the
sickness that the Lord has brought upon him. mentioned the fact
that while we were there, we would have visitors from time
to time, come from the states, pastors and other members of
churches. And it never failed, we always
went, carried them out to the ruins at Chichen Itza, Chichen
Itza. And I don't think that I ever
visited them without this scripture coming into my mind. It's found
in 1 John, chapter 2, verses 15 through 17. Love not the world. As we saw those pyramids and
observatory and ball court and all of those things that those
Mayan Indians had labored to build. And that was a feat, no
doubt a great feat. Without bulldozers and backhoes
and cranes just physical labor, cutting those stones and building
those buildings there. And yet in the early 1900s, it
was all grown over. It was a jungle area. And an
American ambassador, I believe it is, is the man who found that
place. And now it's a great tourist
attraction. People come from Europe, come
from the U.S. and Canada to visit there. But at one time, it was a metropolis,
a great thriving place. No doubt how many hundreds of
thousands of Mayan Indians lived there and worked there and served
someone, the high priest, they believe, whoever he was. And
they worshiped various gods, the wind god, the rain god, all
kinds of gods, as most people who are ignorant of the truth
do. But this scripture always came to my mind. Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world. For all that
is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is
of the world. And the world passeth away, and
the lusts thereof, but he that doeth the will of the Father
abideth forever. All of that had passed away.
And it had its days of glory. And it had all passed away. It
was all gone. And that's the way it is all
over the world. But notice, He that doeth the
will of the Father abideth forever. And what is the will of the Father? That you believe on Him whom
He hath sent. That's the will of the Father,
that you believe on Him and love one another. My expectation,
this happy man said, is in the Lord my God. I'm not going to
continue with the second man here, but I'll save that for
another time. The free man in verse seven. The Lord looseth the prisoners.
The happy man is a man who has been loosed. He's been set free
from his bondage. He's been delivered. I was reading
an article on redemption this past week, and that's scripture
in Job 33 in verse 18. Let me read it to us. It says,
then he is gracious unto him and says, deliver him from going
down to the pit. I have found a ransom. And I
read the custom at that time was that slaves and servants
At nighttime they were put down into a pit so they couldn't escape
and then brought back out the next day to do their service,
to do their work. And then I thought about a man
as he was probably been put down there many times and brought
back out and put down there many times and brought back out. And
then one night, one evening when he was about to be put down there
again, there came the word. Deliver him from going down to
the pit. I have found a ransom. And of
course, God is speaking. He provided the ransom. And this
man who was a slave, who was in debtor's prison, his debt
has been paid. Been paid by another. He couldn't
pay it. Deliver him. from going down
to the pit. Don't you know when a man heard
those words, the joy that flooded his soul? My debt is paid. He paid a debt
he did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay. Amen? May the Lord bless these words.
We're going to sing a hymn before we're dismissed. Hymn number
329, Sitting at the Feet of Jesus, number 329.