Psalm 115:1-18

[0:00] And we'll read Psalm 115 starting at verse 1. It says, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathens say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever, he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not.

[0:30] Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not.

[0:42] Feet have they, but they walk not. Neither speak they through their throat. They that make them, or lock unto them. So is everyone that trusteth in them. Oh Israel, trust thou in the big Lord, He is their help and their shield. Oh House of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron.

[1:20] He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great. The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children. Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth hath he given to the children of man.

[1:39] The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence, but we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.

[1:50] Praise the Lord. So there's Psalm 115, all 18 verses of it, but as I said, this is a song that's given praise unto God and the Psalmist here is given specific instructions to specific people, indeed to praise God and why they should praise God. He says, O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their shield, and he speaks to the house of Aaron saying, trust in the Lord.

[2:23] He is their help and their shield, and he speaks to those that fear the Lord, saying, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Folks, the town that we live in now, fast forward to the New Testament Church, it is no different for us than it was the house of Aaron, than it was the house of Israel, or it is to those that now fear the Lord here in 2020, even so, these that fear the Lord a thousand years or better before Jesus Christ was ever born in that little manger in Bethlehem. There are people that fear the Lord then, there are people that fear the Lord now, and we need to give praise unto God because he has not cast us off, but because he is our shield, he is our buckler, he is our high tower, he is our strength, he's our wall, he's our rock, he is all these things that we read about within the scriptures that the Jews, they saw him as, and folks, the Lord God has not changed one bit just as he was for the house of

[3:40] Israel, the house of Aaron, and for those that feared him back in this day, he is for us as well, he is all of these things, he's our rock, he's our solace, he's our comfort, he's our shield, he is everything that we need him to be, everything that we need him to be in this hour now.

[4:03] I know that we live in a time right now where things seem a little rocky, things seem a little shaky, the world seems like it's gone, straight to hell, and a hand-masted as the saying goes, but folks, my God is still in control, he still sits upon his throne, he has not given up one ounce of his sovereignty, one ounce of the control, one ounce of anything, he is still all-powerful, he's still all-knowing, and for that we should give him praise, praise the Lord. Our God is all of these things, as I've already said, I know we live in a shaky time, I understand, and folks that gets under our skin, that gets in our mind, that gets in our heart, it weighs heavy on our shoulders, folks, I ain't just talking about the government, and I ain't just talking about some virus, I'm talking about everyday life that we live, everything or things have a way of seeping into our minds, and seeping into our hearts, and weighing us down as Christians, maybe causing us to lose just a little bit of faith, but folks, as I've already said, my God is still on his throne, there is no reason that we should doubt, there is no reason we should not have faith, we should have the same faith now, as we do the day that we got faith, and that faith should have grown if nothing else in that time, because he is still the same God, it's still the same blood that washes away my sin, it's still the same God, the same salvation, it's still the same promises, nothing has changed with my God, we have no reason to doubt that, we have no reason to not have faith in our God, can you imagine how differently some of the Bible stories that we know would read if God had changed, just imagine for a moment all the

[6:17] Bible stories you've heard throughout your life, Jonah and the Great Fish, Noah and the flood, Daniel and the lines then, think for just a moment if God had lost any bit of control that he had, but my God has not lost control, we can look out of the world, we can see the sin, we can see the evil, we can see despair, we can see all of these things within our world, but that does not mean that my God has lost control of the situation, my God still has complete control and he is still all sovereign, that's the God that I serve and I praise God that I do, I'd hate to think it was the other way around yeah, many years as I walked around without serving him, as many years as I walked around without that salvation, as many years as I walked around sometimes I prayed to lay my head on a pillow at night,

[7:21] I prayed I was gonna die, I prayed of this and I prayed of that post, I have no fear now because I know that my God's in control, I know that he is saved my soul and I know that if I don't wake up in the morning, I'll be in a better place, hallelujah!

[7:41] For that we, God deserves our praise, for that promise, for that promise that if we lay our head on our pillow tonight and we die at midnight, we die three, we die six, we don't open our eyes, come tomorrow morning, we oh God praise through the fact that there ain't nothing to worry about, we're gonna wake up on the other side of Jordan in that promised land where the land is flowing with milk and honey, we're gonna wake up over there with our Jesus, we'll wake up in the presence of peace, in the presence of life, and in the presence of life and life more abundantly, why do we doubt this when it's promised in the word that that's what we have to look forward to?

[8:32] I don't doubt it a bit, I don't doubt it a bit and I don't think that the people in the Bible doubt it a bit, hey over in the New Testament when Jesus sent the disciples up to go amongst the regions and to go amongst the villages and into the cities and to preach the gospel, he said don't take what you purge, don't take what you script, don't you take silver, don't take gold, don't take brass, don't take anything along your way when you go into these cities and if the house is brown worldly, hey you do, you preach the gospel to those folks, you take care of them, they'll take care of you, but if the house is not brown worldly when you raise it, kick your shoes off at the door, get the dust off of you, and let it be a curse under those cities. Folks we live in the world now with the same principles, when we go out to the world, when we go to family, when we go to friends and we present the gospel to them, if they accept it, that's great, if they don't kick the dust off your shoes and let it be a curse to, hey folks, let it be a testimony against them, every sermon that's preached, it should be a help to the Christians or it should be a testimony against the laws, it should be a help to those that are saying and it should be a hindrance to those which are lost, it should grow the law and it should aid those that are gods. If not, if it's unaccepted, all I can do is kick the dust off my shoes, all I can do is let that be a curse, all I can do is let it be a testimony against those people, because folks I ain't turning back, the Bible says that he meant to put his hand in the plow and looks back, it's not fit for the kingdom of God, folks I'm glad that I'm fit, but it's nothing that I've done, it is nothing that I've preached, nothing that

[10:28] I've sung, nothing that I've said, it is in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross that Calvary that has deemed me fit for the kingdom of God and nothing but that, hallelujah, that's my God, that's the shield I have and that's the promise that I have, praise God. This Psalmist, he talks about these people's idols, in verse, certain in verse four again, he says their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands, they have mouths but they speak not, eyes have they but they see not, they have ears but they hear not, noses have they but they smell not, they have hands but they handle not, feet have they but they walk not, neither speak they through their throat, they that make them or lock under them, so is every man, so is every one that trusts in them, the folks who does he go into just after that, he goes in to give him praise under Jehovah God, he's talking about these idols that these pagan nations around the Israelites had built, had made of their own hands, they had refined silver and the fire, they had refined gold and the fire, they had shaped it and molded it, they had cut woods, they had wood, they had whittled, they had made idols that they could see, they could touch, they could feel with their own hands but my God, the Bible says is a spirit and those that worship him must do so in spirit and in truth, he is compared the gods of these people to the God of the love Israel, to Jehovah God, folks there is no comparison, the gods that are in this world right now cannot be compared with my God, and there's plenty of them out there, there's the God of money, there's the God of health, there's the God of material things, there's the God of self, there's the God of self-righteousness, there's a God of God of self-holiness, folks the only God, the only God is the true and living God of scripture, Jehovah God, that called Abraham, that called Abraham and sent him to the promised land, that called Isaac, that called Jacob, that eventually called the entire nation of Israel, gave them or promised them their own land to live in and that is the same God that manifests himself in the flesh, came here and suffered and bled and died on the cross of Calvary, Rome three days later is now seated at the right end of glory, making intercession and it's the same God that has promised to come back to punish all false gods but not only the false gods but those that worship and trust in those false gods, everyone of them will be punished, every one of them will be punished, why? Because the way has been made, the way has been made through Calvary's cross, the Bible says that the preaching of the cross is to them which perish, foolishness but to those who believe is the power of

[13:55] God, folks into the world out there, the preaching of this cross, the preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ and the preaching of Christ upon their cross taking the sin of the world upon himself, it is foolishness and it is silliness and it is just a joke to the world but folks to those who believe to me which believe in the blood that was shed for the remission of my sin, that is the power of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation, Hallelujah, it's foolishness to all those who perish, all those who are perishing and all those who will perish and all those who have perished, the the preaching of the cross is foolishness to any Israelite that heard this song being sung regardless of the time frame that it was, whether it was a thousand years before Christ, whether it was 500 years before Christ or whether it was

[15:00] Jesus sitting around the Last Supper with the 12 disciples singing this song if they did, regardless of what Jews sung it or heard it, if they did not believe what they were singing and they did not believe what the words of this song were saying, it was foolishness unto them to think that God would call Abraham out and would promise him to multiply and sing the way that he did, it was foolishness of God to promise a Messiah to deliver the Jews out of oppression to deliver the world out of sin and was foolishness to anyone who did not believe and it still is, but folks I believe, I do believe, I believe every word in song 115 and I believe every other word is scripture from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, I believe in all my God has saved me, my God deserves my praise, how does the song open up again, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake, not unto us give glory, folks God did not save you that you might have glory, God did not save you to receive the glory of man or that you might bask in your own glory, God saved you to bring him glory and him glory alone! That's why salvation was given to you, that's why it was given to me, that's why it was given to David in the Old Testament, that's why it was given to Daniel in the Old Testament, that's why it was given to Paul in the New

[16:47] Testament, that's why it was given to the other Disciples of Jesus Christ in the New Testament salvation was given unto every man, woman, boy, and girl that has received it for the same purpose to bring glory to God but too many people out there they won't glory for themselves they want the world to look at them and see what they have accomplished I have accomplished nothing in my life but Jesus has accomplished all. Every bit of it. He's the beginning and He's the end of this thing.

[17:23] He's the Alpha and He's the Omega. He's the first and He is the last. He is the one that is and was and is to come. Hey that's my Jesus that I'm talking about. It has nothing to do with me. My love has nothing to do with me. It has all to do with God's plan and God's purpose for my steps for my speech and for my actions. It is for God and nothing else.

[17:55] Give glory to God. Hallelujah. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us but under thy name give glory. And He says why? For thy mercy and for thy truth to say. This word is truth.

[18:11] What's the Bible say about Jesus in the beginning? What's the word? The word was with God. What does Jesus say in John 14? On the way the truth and the life. This word is truth.

[18:24] The written word of God is truth and the living word of God is truth and that's all it is. It's truth and that's why it is the way into salvation. That's why it is the laugh that is unto our feet and the life on our path. That's why it is able to cleanse us once we're saved. That's why it is able to convict us before we're saved. That's why this word is powerful because it is living.

[18:54] Amen. See, with the picture I've never seen legs and arms spread out of my Bible. I hope that's the idea you got. The living word of God. You got no comprehension whatsoever. This book is alive.

[19:09] This book is alive. It may not breathe. It may not eat. It may not do a lot of things that we consider things which have life in them to do but nevertheless the word of God is alive folks. It was spoken before you were created and before I was created the very word of God spoke the entire universe into existence and if it was alive then if it came from a living God who is eternal and who is immortal then then his words are still eternal and they are immortal.

[19:46] They cannot die. Hallelujah. What's the Bible say about all that? The grass wither and the flower fading but the word of our God will stand forever. The word of our God will stand forever folks. I can sit up here and I could recite recipes to you or I could recite poetry to you or I could recite any number of things to you and those things are going to fade out one of these days. Every one of them will fade out but the word of my God will stand forever wise because if the Bible says that the word of God is forever settled in heaven it tells me that his word is in heaven.

[20:29] It is with the very one that spoke it. It is with the very one that had it written. It is with the very one that thought it before you and I ever came to be.

[20:40] Therefore it is immortal and as eternal as the one who started who spoke it and who breathed it. Praise God that's my God that I'm talking about. Wherefore should the heathens say where is now their God but our God is in the heavens.

[21:00] He has done whatsoever. He is pleased. Well that rubs heathens the wrong way and unfortunately that rubs a lot of church members the wrong way. That God who is in the heavens my God who is in the heavens has done whatsoever he pleased.

[21:18] Anything that he pleases he can do. Why folks I preached about that probably the first five minutes I was up here tonight. My God is sovereign. He is sovereign over your life and he's sovereign over mine. Little Spencer if I wanted to right now I could get up out of my chair I could walk out of this church and I could walk up here in the middle of the road let the next Mack truck plow over top of me and God couldn't stop that. It ain't that God can't stop that. It's a matter of whether God would stop that or not. My God is sovereign and he is able to do anything that he wants to at any time that he wants to. Well Spencer what the Bible says.

[21:57] Hey it's not his will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Then why aren't we all saved? I'll tell you why we're not all saved. Because the heart of man is deceitful above all things it is desperately wicked.

[22:11] We are sinful creatures that's why we're not all saved but my sovereign God. He looked out. He had pity. He had compassion. And he made a way that we can get back to him.

[22:24] But we're not all there. There's a lot of people in hell right now. There's a lot of people in pain and in torments right now but it is not. It is not my God's fault.

[22:38] It is their own fault that they are there. Why would the heathen say? Wherefore should the heathen say? Where is their God? Where is now their God? A lot of the world looks at it like that. A lot of the world right now in the current political situation we're in and I refuse to preach politics from the full bit but in the current situation that we're in right now the entire world is laughing at the United States and those that are lost in the world, those that don't have Jesus Christ, they are saying where's their God now? Where's the God now that the Constitution was founded upon the Word of God? Where is this God now that they're in an uproar? Where is this God now that this turmoil has come upon the nation? Where is this God that they've been talking about and they've been preaching about and they've been saying about for the past 200 plus years? Where is this God? My God is still on the throne. My God still has all control.

[23:39] If God decided to not to destroy this country he could have it done. He could do it himself in the blink of an eye. But my God is compassionate. My God is full of mercy and he is righteous and I believe that my God will have mercy on his window. Hallelujah. Does that mean we'll all be spared? No. No. There have been too many people martyred for the cause of this very book right here. Martyred to bring us an English version of the Bible. Martyred because they preached Jesus. Now long after he ascended where the first was the first martyr killed. Man named Stephen.

[24:25] The first man murdered for the cause of Jesus Christ but he was killed for preaching the name of Jesus Christ. He was killed for preaching truth under those people and he was murdered for that cause. There have been too many people martyred for the cause of Christ for me to believe for one second that God will absolutely spread my physical body. Hey I might suffer torment, I might suffer pain, I might be burned to the stake, I might be beheaded, I might be tortured. I don't know but my God will not lose one bit of his sovereignty. If all of that goes on, if it does happen, it's because that's the will of my God.

[25:09] And all over the world your preachers saying God wants you to be happy. Yeah. God wants you to have three million dollars. God wants me to have ten million dollars, send me your money. God wants me to have a yacht, 34 private jets and he wants you to help me get there. So your hundred fold blessing right now by sending me a check and folks are killing over for stuff like that. They eat it up when they see it on the television and folks that ain't nothing more than a one man deceiving many. One man has done deceives himself in believing that God wants him to have all those things. Folks I've heard it said that Jesus Christ suffered on the cross at Calvary that I could be healed of disease. That's a lie out of the pits of hell. He suffered on the cross at Calvary that I could be redeemed from my sin. That I can have a place in heaven that I can be reconciled back to the Father. That's why the man died. And for no other reason. Oh, healing will come. If God so wills it, healing will come. I thank God for that. And listen, I believe in the power of prayer.

[26:22] I believe in the gift of healing. I do, I read about it in the scriptures. I do not doubt the scriptures one bit, but I also believe in a sovereign God that no matter what faith healer, he lays his hands upon a man. They finish God's sovereign will. That man or woman not be healed. They will not be healed. Period.

[26:44] In the discussion, because man is not more powerful than God. Man is not more powerful than God. What are the heathens saying? What are the pagans saying? Where for? Where for? Should they, should they heathen say? Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens. My God ain't never left. He has never left his throne. He has never given up his power. He has never once done these things. He had done whatsoever. He has pleased the folks. He can do whatsoever. He places with the Israelites that were singing this song. And he did whatsoever. He pleased with the Israelites. More than once did we read about the Israelites being given over in the bondage, being given over into slavery, being given over in to other masters, into pagans, into heathens. Why? Because they went against what God had told them to. They went against the world of God. Went against the laws of God. And God did those things to teach them a lesson. He will do the same thing with his children now. God will chest us those whom he loves. That's me. That's you. That is every born again, child of God. He will punish us for our sin. I've heard it preached. I have more than once since I've been saved. I've heard it preached.

[28:06] God doesn't punish us while we're here. Punishments for the afterlife. My goodness. How much more contrary to the word of God can you give when the Bible says that without chastisements your sons or your bastards are not sons? How much more contrary can you get to the Scripture than to say something like that?

[28:30] I hope that's crazy talk. I think God, I think God that he is a father who will keep his children in line. I think God that he's promised me a land. And I think God that he's promised me salvation. And he's promised me life eternal. And he's also promised me that if I get out of line, if I start dragging his name through the dirt or the name of Jesus Christ through the dirt or his word through the dirt or my office as a pastor through the dirt, he will reach down, pick me up and can my backside. That's the God that I serve and I praise him for it.

[29:08] Amen. When God, God will use bad circumstances sometimes in a lost person's life. And those circumstances will multiply. And what's he doing?

[29:21] Sometimes it's God trying to get their attention. Sometimes it's God trying to wake them up, trying to shake them around just a little bit. But what will they do? It'll either draw them over to where God is, to where they can see the door of the fold, which is Jesus Christ where it'll push them way out of the wilderness, away from the fold. But it will do one of those two things. There is not a place where it can best tell me it'll either bring you to God or push you away from God.

[29:51] That's what this gospel does. It either brings you in or pushes you away. But our God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever. He has pleased who are we to question it. The one who Solomon said that the heaven of the heavens couldn't contain him. The one who the Bible refers to as the maker, as the master. Who are we to question him doing whatever he pleases? He is God and he is sovereign.

[30:26] And to him goes all honor, to him goes all glory, to him goes all praise. None to me and none to you. We're unworthy of it. We've done nothing for salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. We don't deserve praise. We don't need praise. God don't need praise. God don't need you to praise him. He don't need you to honor him. He don't need you to glorify him. But he yet commands you to do so. If you're a child of God, he commands that we give him his due glory. Amen. And we need to do that.

[31:02] We need to honor God like that.