I invite your attention back
to Psalm 138. This is a psalm of David. And at its core, it is a psalm
of thanksgiving. It is a psalm of praise. Therefore,
it is a psalm of thanksgiving. Praise is never without reason. and it is not seen as such in
Scripture. I know in the day in which we
live, the term praise the Lord is passed around like a punctuation
mark at the end of some religious prattle. But if men praise God,
there is a reason for it. When men praise God, they do
so because God has done something for them or because they see
His glory. And His glory, according to His
own words, is that He has done and will do what He wants to do with whom
He desires to do it. And He has done it for His people.
And they are all overwhelmed with thanksgiving because of
it. When men truly praise God, it
is never generic. It is never generic. It is particular
and it is always for some specific reason. And the reason for praise
is always thanksgiving. It is always thanksgiving. And that word means to be thankful
for what you have been given. That is what thanksgiving means.
It stands to reason then that the heart of thanksgiving is
the heart that attributes glory to God and God alone. Thanksgiving is singular in that
it is never and can never be toward God and toward self or
toward any other God at the same time. Those who believe that
God is the co-author of salvation Those who believe that he cannot
and does not act apart from man's affirmative vote, decision, or
will have no reason to thank God at all. Praise and thanksgiving are not
some glassy-eyed trance that men and women enter into where
they lose control or give themselves over to some ersat spirit that
eventuates in bringing attention to themselves and not to God. Praise is an act of the will
whereby men and women, in full possession of their mental and
emotional faculties, determine in their heart and mind to give
glory to God and to no one else. This is one of the reasons that
praise is called a sacrifice. If you look at Hebrews chapter
13 when it talks about praising God, it says in verse 15, ìFor by Him,
therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually,
that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.î Praise
is a sacrifice because it costs you you. That is what it costs you. You
cannot praise God if you hold out any praise or honor or glory
for yourself. So it is called a sacrifice.
It is called a sacrifice. And this is the language of this
psalm that David penned. In the first three verses, David
determines to praise God alone. He said, I will praise Thee with
my whole heart. Before the gods will I sing praise
unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy
temple and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy
truth. For thou hast magnified thy word
above all thy name. In the day when I cry, thou answerest
me and strengthen me with strength in my soul." The praise that
David determines to render to God, he renders out of his whole
heart. He said, I will praise God, and
I will praise God with my whole heart. And it is offered in the
face and in the midst of and in discounting of all that is
not God and is not worthy of praise. He said, I will praise
thee with the whole heart before the gods will I sing praise unto
thee. You notice the gods are little
g because they are man-made, man-invented deities. Praise is distinctive. It always
is. And in a sense, it is rendered
almost always in a militant posture. David says, I'm going to praise
God right in the middle or in the face of all false gods and
all false teachings. Those who have praised God singularly
have experienced that religion sees their praise often as fighting
words. Them is fighting words when you
praise God and God alone for your salvation. You see, the
gospel, the good news, the glad tidings of good things, according
to Isaiah, when that wonderful gospel of glad tidings of good
things is to be published, And salvation is to be published.
The first words out of the prophet's mouth are to be these. This is
how you declare the gospel. This is how it begins. Thy God reigneth. Thy God reigneth. What does that mean? That means
He is in control of all things. That means He holds the reins
of all things that go on in this universe. From the great and
mighty things to the the destiny of a fleck of dust flying across
a sunbeam, God controls all things. He does as He pleases, when He
pleases, with whom He pleases, wherever He pleases, because
He is God. He is God. And the gospel, the
gospel of God's sovereign grace, glorifies God alone, and at the
same time is a complete discounting of all other gods. At the same
time, the gospel is rarely spoken in the manner that openly disregards
other gods. It's not spoken, well, your god's
a fool. We don't say that. We say our god is the only god.
But that means if your god's not our god, your god's a fool.
That's what that means. It's rarely spoken in such terms,
or even mentioned, but it's always heard that way by the enemies
of the cross. That's what people hear when
you declare. I will praise God in the midst
of all other gods. And people say things, well,
that ain't my God. Well, I know, I just said that.
My God's not like that. I know, I just said that. Praising
God is singular, absolute, and militant, and militant. Praising God is the heart of
worship. We worship God by praising His
holy name. David said, I will worship toward
thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness,
and for thy truth, for thou hast magnified thy word above thy
name. Worship comes from the heart
of thanksgiving for the lovingkindness of God. God has loved His people
with an everlasting love, and because He has, He has drawn
them with the cords of love to Him. That's how love works. It's how it always works. I know
our love is puny. It's anemic, unrequited, and
sand, impotent. Our love can't do nothing. If
our love could do something, nobody we love would ever get
sick, would ever die, They just wouldn't. We'd just love them
right back to hell. We would. Love always accomplishes
for the loved one what it's designed, if it's God's love. Our love
can't do anything. But we worship God because in
our utter state of ruin, vileness of character, wicked and undone,
dead in trespasses and sin, doomed to an eternal damnation, and
rightfully so. He loved us. And because He loved
us, He sent His Son to die in the room instead of His people.
For in Jesus Christ took all the wrath of God. There was nothing
left for the people of God but mercy and grace. And he said this, ìIf God loves
you, He will save you.î Itís that simple. Love requires that. Read I John chapter 3, verses
16 through 19. Thatís how Godís love is described. Worship is praising God for His
loving kindness. Worship is praising God for the
truth. for the truth. What is truth? Well, it's that singular thing.
It's a singular thing. It's an absolute. It's an inalterable
thing. It's that majestic thing that
discloses every lie and puts all things in their proper place.
If there is such a thing as truth, everything else is a lie. It's
just that simple. It's an absolute. If I preach
the truth, you cannot render opinion on it. Because rendering
an opinion in light of the truth is heresy. In fact, the root
word for heresy in the Greek language is opinion. That's the root word for heresy. Worship is thanking God that
we do not have to flail about in this world looking for the
meaning of every rock and twig, or having to decide what's best
for us, or selecting one motto to live by amongst many possibilities. God says there is one way, one
truth, and one life, and the believer is thankful that the
matter is forever settled. Most people who despise the gospel
despise the fact that it's the only way. They want there to
be other ways. They want their way to be included.
But God says there's one way. Some people see that as a penalty.
Some people see that as exclusive. Some people see that as keeping
them out. That doesn't keep you out. It
takes everything out of the way. It takes all the rocks out of
the highway and paints clear signs to the eternal city. He says, this is the way. This
is the way. Well, I'm confused there's one
way. No, you're not confused if there's
one way. Nobody is. You might not like it. You might
say, I ain't going. I'm going to plow me another
path if I want to. God says there's one way. What
a mercy for these confused computers in our head that God would say,
there it is. Just one thing. Just one. Just one. One way, one truth,
and one life, and the believer is thankful that that is a matter
that is settled. And then the last phrase of verse
2 is an astounding sentence. Our Lord says, Thou hast magnified
Thy Word above all Thy Name. You can ponder that for the rest
of your existence, and I don't think you'll come up with a real
clue as to what that is. That's an amazing passage. Thou
hast magnified thy word above thy name. Whatever the meaning
is, it surely places a high and profound value upon the Word
of God. Personally, I think it refers
to Christ Himself. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. Peter at Pentecost said of Christ's
name, he said, There is no other name under heaven given among
men whereby we might be saved. That name is above every name,
he said. He said in another place that
we have a more sure word of prophecy than seeing Christ in person. Look over 2 Peter 1 just for
a moment. Now, Simon Peter was one of the
three who went with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration
when our Lord Jesus Christ's face did shine brighter than
the noonday sun, when His robes were glistering whiter than any
fuller could make them, when the brightness of His glory was
overwhelming, when Moses and Elijah came back and across the
time-space continuum and met with Christ on this mountain
and spoke with Him of the decease which He should accomplish in
Jerusalem. Peter was there. It was an astounding event. He
made a goof that day. He goofed up that day because
after he had seen it, he had seen Elijah and Moses and Christ,
he said, ìLetís build three tabernacles, one for Moses and one for Elijah
and one for you, Lord.î And God opened up heaven. and said, ìNo,
it ainít going to be. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased to hear you hear Him.î Why do they say that?
Because Moses and Elijah were the Law and the Prophets, and
they always gave witness to the Lord Jesus Christ according to
Scripture. Paul said, ìAfter the way which men call heresy,
thatís the way I worship God, believing all thatís written
in the Law and the Prophets concerning Jesus Christ.î Peter said in
Acts chapter 10 that all the prophets gave witness of Christ.
And all you have to do is start with Genesis 1. with the word beginning, and
you're talking about Christ. The word light, let there be
light, you're talking about Christ, the light of the world. All the
way through, through every prophet of the Old Testament, through
all the Psalms, they all speak of the Lord Jesus Christ in one
manner or another. He's the messenger of the covenant
in Malachi. He's the Lamb of God in in Genesis chapter 4. He's the
angel of God. He's the prophet of God. He's
the priest of God. He's all these things. Throughout
every chapter in the Old Testament, it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so Simon Peter who saw Christ in a way that we've never seen
Him. But listen to me. If you see Him by God-given faith,
you see Him in a greater way than what Peter saw on that Mount
of Transfiguration. in a greater capacity. You understand
more than he saw. You understand the fact that
you canít raise two tabernacles, three tabernacles. You understand
the fact that all you have to do with Moses and Elijah is believe
what they said about the one person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And thatís what he says in 2 Peter chapter 1. He says, ìWe have
not,î in verse 16, ìfollowed cunningly devised fables, when
we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of the majesty." We were there.
So we ain't telling you no fable. We're not telling you, trying
to cunningly get you to believe I saw something that nobody else
saw. I was there. I was there. He said, For he
received from God the Father honor and glory when there came
such a voice to him from this excellent glory. This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. Look
at verse 19. We have a more sure word of prophecy. Sure than that? Sure than seeing
it first off, we have a more sure word of prophecy whereinto
we do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth
in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star, who is
Christ, arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy
of Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy
came not in old times by the will of man, but holy men of
God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Let's talk
about this blessed Word of God. Scripture says, God says, I have
magnified my Word above my name. God's Word is the instrument
of the realization of salvation accomplished by the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this phrase is one of those that simply stops you
in your track and causes you to ponder the preponderance of
riches that dwell therein. And in verse 3, it shows us that
praise and thanksgiving always has a basis. David thanks God
for hearing and answering his cries, and strengthening him
inwardly in his soul. In the day when I cried, he said,
Thou answerest me, and strengtheneth me with the strength in my soul. Verses 4 and 5 reveal that this
psalm is, as all psalms are, a messianic psalm. It speaks
of I took a class in Old Testament survey a long time ago. And they
divided up the psalms into historical psalms and imprecatory psalms,
which were prayer psalms of supplication and messianic psalms. And then
I found out that all the psalms were messianic psalms. All of
them are. They all speak of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verses 4 and 5 are words that
speak of salvation, the salvation of the Gentiles. through the
preaching of the gospel. It speaks of the coming of Christ,
the desire of all nations to save some out of every nation,
tongue, tribe, and people. All the kings of the earth shall
praise Thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of Thy mouth.
And everyone who hears the words of His mouth does praise Him.
Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord. They shall sing
in the ways of the Lord. for great is the glory of God. Let's look at a few passages
of Scripture. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 49. Verse 23 says, And kings shall
be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers. They
shall bow down to thee, for with their face toward the earth,
and lick up the dust at thy feet, and thou shalt know that I am
the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me."
He is speaking about bringing Gentiles in. That is us. We are the Gentiles of whom He
makes true Israel. Isaiah chapter 60, verse 3, And the Gentiles shall
come to thy light, and the kings to the brightness of thy rising."
So when he talks about the kings of the earth praising the Lord,
he is talking about that day when Jesus Christ came into this
world and brought the Gentiles into the flock. And the Gentiles
were the elect of God from all eternity. But until the time
when our Lord Jesus Christ came, the Jewish nation was the only
nation that God dealt with as a typification and a picture
of His true elect. Then he made up his church of
all Israel, and all Israel are those whose circumcision is not
of the flesh but of the heart, whose praise is of God and not
of men." They are Gentiles brought into the fold of Jesus Christ. In the remainder of this psalm,
the Lord declares the salvation of the elect. Verse 6 speaks
of His wondrous condescension, ìThough the Lord be high, Yet
he hath respect unto the lowly, though the Lord be high." We
have no idea what it is to lay aside glory because we don't
have any to start with. We don't have any place to really
judge what our Lord Jesus Christ did when He left the realm of
glory, when He set aside the ever-present praise of angels
that cried unto him, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, without
ceasing day and night they cried. We have no idea what it was for
God, behold, before whom all things are, by whom all things
consist, who made the earth and the universe in the span of His
hand. who measures the mountains in
the palm of His hand, who considers the nations of the earth as a
drop of the bucket and dust of the balance, who sits upon the
circle of the earth and imbues all its inhabitants as grasshoppers,
whose throne is the heavens and the earth is His footstool, we
have no concept of how God, the immense and great Almighty God, could make himself to be a human
being, to diminish, as it were, his person, to become a spermatozoa,
to unite with an ovum from a virgin named Mary, reside in a womb
for nine months, all the while in that womb, controlling all
things that moved and writhed and wriggled upon the earth,
even the mother who bore him life, and come forth from that
womb as a human being subject to all the frailties of the flesh. We can't imagine what condescension
that was. We can't imagine. Beyond our
imagination. David couldn't imagine. Though the Lord be high, high,
high and lifted up, who dwelleth in a light whereunto no man can
approach, high and holy, he left his glory to dwell among creatures
like us. Thou preparest a body for me,
he saith. He has come and He came into
this world to save His people from their sin. That's why they
named Him what they named Him. The angel said, Thou shalt call
His name Jesus. Not a particularly popular name
at the time. It didn't have a whole lot of
reference from the Old Testament except Joshua was the Old Testament
rendering. It meant deliverer. The Greek
rendering of it was Jesus. Now shall call his name Jesus.
Why call him that? Because he's the deliverer. Now
shall call his name Jesus according to Matthew 121, for he shall
save his people from their sins. That's why you're going to call
him that. That's why you're going to name him that. He came into
this world to save His people. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I am chief, said Paul. And though He is no
respecter of persons, He is said here to respect the lowly. What
does that mean? Well, there is no contradiction
here. His respect for the lowly reveals that His salvation is
not about respectability. He respects the offscouring of
the universe. He respects the vile, the unclean,
the stupid, the ignorant, the base things of the earth. You
see your calling, brethren. Not many wise, not many noble.
God has chosen the stupid things of this world to confound the
wise. When it says he respects the
lowly, that simply means that salvation has nothing to do with
respectability whatsoever. Respect here does not mean that
the lowly have qualities that recommend them to God, but that
they have no qualities that would recommend them to God. Respecting
the lowly assures that salvation is for those who are without
hope and without help in this world. His respect of the lowly
is diametrically opposed to that which is highly esteemed of men.
He came not to call the righteous, but bring sinners to repentance.
And He didn't say that to just anybody. He said that to the
righteous. For the righteous saw Him eating and fellowshipping
with sinners. And they asked His disciples,
Why does your Master do that? What a spectacle! He says He
is the Lord. He said He is the Savior and
He sits down with the worst kind of people, whores, tax collectors,
the vilest of the vile. And they gather around Him and
He talks to them and He has fellowship with them. He is touching the
unclean thing. And our Lord looked at those
righteous men in their fine robes and their phylacteries who stood
in judgment of all other men. He said, you know, fellows, I
did not come for you. Well, he died for everybody.
He said, I didn't die for you. I didn't come for you. I'm leaving
you alone, leaving you right where you're at, where you think
you're okay. I didn't come to call the righteous but bring
sinners to repentance. The whole need not a physician
but them that are sick. I will have mercy and not your
sacrifice. You go home and learn what that
means. That's what he told those righteous folks. That's what
it means when he says he has respect for the lowly. This is declared in the last
phrase. Those who think themselves worthy
of any attention from Christ will receive no attention from
Christ but his anger. Though the Lord be high, yet
he hath respect unto the lowly, but the proud, he knows them
for long well. He doesn't have anything to do
with them. He ignores them. He ignores them. And in verse
7, it declares the repeated theme of the salvation of the elect.
It is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom. The life of the child of God
is no flowery bed of ease. It is not tripping the light
fantastic. It is not all of a sudden acquiring power to get wealth
and health and all those things. God's people struggle. They are
the only ones that do. They struggle with sin. They
struggle with sickness. Struggle with every trial imaginable
to human beings. Why? Because God is going to
fix it where you are not going to love this world, folks. It
is just that simple. If you are His, He is going to wean you
from this world one way or another, little by little, piece by piece,
line upon line, here a little and there a little. God is going
to wean you from this world. He is going to do it through
struggle, through struggle. We through much struggle and
tribulation enter into the Kingdom. The very concept of salvation,
have you thought about the word? The very concept of salvation
is deliverance from what? From ease? From happiness? From trouble? That is salvation. This lays the ax to the root
of salvation being an offer or an available commodity to
be taken at the whim of men. Such an ocean borders on the
ridiculous when you understand the word salvation. No one in
the prison of despair would ever reject being delivered. I've
been in jail, folks. I was glad when they turned the
key and let me out. And nobody, the jailer, didn't
stand at the door and said, now you have to decide whether you
want to leave or not. Get out of my way, I'm going home. Yet
people say that men are in prison and God offers them salvation. They say, no, we don't want to
get out of prison. We like it here. We like the chains and
fetters around our neck. That's utterly ridiculous. Salvation
presupposes an imprisonment. It presupposes being chained. It presupposes a slavery from
which men are delivered. Those who feel that they can
choose to deliver it or refuse it, they are not in trouble. They are just not. They are okay
in their own minds. They do not see themselves in
trouble. I will tell you what they do see. They see God in
trouble. They see God as in trouble of meeting His quota. And they
feel that it is within their power to give Him a break and
let Him save them. Tell you what, you find me a
lowly man, a lowly woman, a man or woman who is in trouble
in their soul, plagued and burdened with sin, and I will show you
someone whom God is going to save. Also in these words we find the
fact that salvation is a violent thing. Back at our text in verse
7, it says, Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt
revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the
wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. Thy
right hand shall save me. To deliver His elect, our Lord
must destroy the enemy of His people. In order to take them
from the strongman's house, He must bind the strongman and take
his spoils. Destroy his house. The wording
of the original. Very graphic. It suggests that
the Lord slaps the face of the enemies with His left hand while
He grabs His elect with the right. You ever been slapped? It's a
shameful thing, isn't it? It's a shameful thing. My dad
used to tell me, if you want to get in a fight, slap a person
real hard. Now, you'll take care of it. It's so shameful and so
embarrassing that they won't even fight back. It's a shock.
It's true. My dad used to slap me a lot.
And I'll tell you, it was never a pleasant experience. In fact,
I was sat at our dinner table. I was sat right at his left hand.
He sat at the head of the table and I was right there. Boy, I
kept my mouth shut. Because I knew if I went wrong
with... and here I go tumbling into the kitchen. This says our Lord, while saving
His elect, slaps the enemy. Backhands him. Slaps him. That's
the language of the original people. That's amazing, isn't
it? He embarrasses them, shames them, slaps them around. He destroys
the wrath of the enemies that He might gather His people unto
Himself. And this brings us to where I
wanted to get this morning, verse 8. That was a long introduction.
I'm sorry. But I believe I'll still finish
by twelve o'clock. Verse eight is a passage that
is full of glory. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the work of thine
own hand. of thine own hands. This psalm
has a prophetic tone to it. This verse has a prophetic tone
to it. And this may be applied to the
principle of what men call continuous growth of the believer, often
referred to as continual sanctification. It can be applied to the work
of the Holy Spirit within the believer as He weans the believer
from the breast of this world to the meat of the gospel. May
be applied to the promise of final glorification, as Paul
said in Philippians 1.6 when he said, Be confident of this
very thing, that God which began a work in you will perform it
to the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. May be applied to God
working in a person to will and to do of his good pleasure, as
Paul said. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God that worketh in you to will and to do of His
good pleasure. In Hebrews chapter 13 and verse
20 it says, Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in
every good work to do His will, working in you that which is
well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. It may mean all those things. But I see in this declaration,
this passage, a declaration that the saints of the Old Testament
were saved the same way the saints of the New Testament are saved.
They were given faith to look to Christ alone. There is but one dispensation
in Scripture. It is the dispensation of grace
that began when God formed this planet and will end when He destroys. this old ball in the sky. David is as much as saying that
Christ will come to this earth and by His work will perfect
His people. David's faith in Christ is assurance
that Christ will personally save him. The Lord will perfect that
which concerneth me. that which concerneth me." Well,
what concerns me? I've got some concerns. I've
got concerns. Now, a lot of people live in
this world without concern, but not the elect of God. They just seem
to have concerns early on, and they never seem to go away. What
concerns me? My sin concerns My inability to do anything about
my sin concerns me. My lack of righteousness concerns
me. My inability to produce an acceptable
righteousness concerns me. The wrath of God against sin
concerns me. The exacting nature of the law
of God concerns me. The fact that it offers me no
help but only condemns me for my sin and places upon me the
just sentence of death, that concerns me. My want and lack
of love for God concerns me. My impotence to change concerns
me. My patent and blatant imperfection
concerns me. The requirement of faith concerns
me because I cannot produce it. Can't come up with it. Not born
with it. All men have it not. How in the
world does anybody get it? Yet God requires it. That concerns
me. My knowledge that God will accept
nothing that is in any degree less than perfect concerns me. And David said, The Lord will
perfect that which concerns me. the Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. In one fell swoop, all my concerns
are allayed, all my thirst is assuaged. It is the Lord that
does my bidding. I am not going to worry. If I
was doing it, everybody better worry. But it is the the LORD. And notice the capitalization
of all four letters of the LORD. L-O-R-D, capitalized, that's
Jehovah God. Jehovah Sidkenu, the LORD, my
righteousness. Jehovah Shammah, the LORD, my
peace. The LORD. The LORD has undertaken
my cause. Why should I fear? My concern is erased away because
he cannot fail. The Lord will perfect that which
concerns me. He will accomplish this magnificent
feat by his mercy. He will show mercy to whom he
will show mercy. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy. Having
shown mercy, he will never retract, because his mercy endureth forever. The believer understands and
gladly averts that all salvation, the entire process of his perfection,
is in no part accomplished by himself, for he declares and
pleads, Forsake not the works of thine own hands. If you started
this, Lord, don't quit it, because if you quit it, I'm a goner. I'm a goner. The Lord knows that if God would
forsake that work, that there is no hope. And as David in this
verse looked forward to the cross, we in this verse look back to
the cross where the Lord perfected that which concerns us. Look
at Hebrews chapter 10. When our Lord hung on the tree
in agonies and blood, having taken the worst that man could
do, having taken the full wrath of God and coming out on the
other side, owed one thing to God that must be in order for
us to be redeemed. He must pay the penalty that
is due us under God's law. The penalty that is due us under
God's law is death for sin. There are no mitigating circumstances
under which you may appeal this sentence. It is the judgment
of God from the bar of heaven. The gavel has come down. die. Someone must die. And Jesus Christ,
having taken the wrath of hell for His people, having given
Himself to humanity to show what humanity really thinks of God,
and now He says, Teleo, from the cross. With a loud voice,
He cries, Teleo! And we have it interpreted It
is finished. The Word is perfect. Teleo. Perfect. Accomplished. And then
He did the last thing that was necessary. He of His own volition
and own power gave up the ghost. He died. He died. And the law said, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. And if He died
in your room instead, the law is satisfied with you, because
there's a death on your account. His death was imputed or charged
to us, and we died when He died. And He perfected us. I know I
don't look like it. I know I don't act like it. But
I'm thankful that God don't see like you see. God's children are perfect. They're perfect. What does that
mean? No spot in them. No blemish. Unreprovable. Unblameable in
His sight. Without spot or wrinkle or any
such thing. They are perfect. How in the
world can a human being born of a woman, born of a few days
and full of troubles, whose own body, as it grows older, begins
to decay. I shook Ralph's hand this morning.
I said, how are you doing? He said, aches and pains. That's
what it is. Aches and pains. Deb got out
of the car the other day, was getting, going to the food line.
She went, uh. I said, you got to grunt, baby. You're getting
there. You're getting there. I grunt all the time. I like
to sit down and grunt when I sit down and grunt when I get up.
Why? I'm dying. Corrupted. falling apart at the
seams. Nothing works like it used to.
I'm dying. How can a person who is dying
and corrupted say, I'm perfect? How can that be? Well, my perfection
is not in me. It's in my Savior and what He
did for me. In Hebrews chapter 10, it says
this, verse 12, comparing his offering and his work to all
the old priesthood which worked day and night and could never
take away sin. But just the opposite is true of this man. But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat
down on the right hand of God. Why did he sit down? There was
nothing left to do. from henceforth waiting, or expecting,
until his enemies made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for how long? Forever. Who? Them that are sanctified. How are they sanctified? Ten,
by the which will, the same will that brought Christ to earth,
the will of God, we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. You will notice that the for
all is in italics. It is supposedly added for our
understanding. He was offered once. That fits the context because
it is in opposition to the many of lambs and sheep and goats
and bullocks that were offered that never took away He was offered
once, and He perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereon
the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, for He has put His Spirit
in us, whereafter that He said before in Jeremiah 31, This is
the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put My laws, and that is talking about the
entire Word of God, into their hearts, and in their minds will
I write them, and their sins, and their iniquities, Will I
remember no more? No more. God Almighty, because
of the value of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, can
look at His people. Look at Henry, Sylvester, Loretta,
Brown, Peggy, Bill, Look at you and say, sin? I don't remember
any sin in them. I don't remember any sin. Well,
you know, I live around them, Lord. I see what they are. Wait
a minute. I don't remember any sin. David said, looking to the cross
of Christ. The Lord will perfect that which
concerns me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine
hands. Father, bless us for our understanding.
We pray in Christ's name. Amen.