Let us turn again to God's Word and the 90th Psalm that we read, and directing you to verses that we find here in the Psalm, Psalm 90 and reading verses 9 through 12. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath, We spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

We're turning to this portion in Psalm 90 verse 9 through 12 and you'll observe how in these verses three times we have mention of our days in verse 9, for all our days are passed away in thy wrath and then again in verse 10, the days of our years, our three score years and 10 and then again in verse 12, so teach us to number our days and I want us to consider then man's days that is the theme I want to try to address for a little while this morning, man's days.

We also read Psalm 91. It is of course what we call Remembrance Sunday. It's that Sunday that is the nearest to Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, going back to the end of the First World War. In 1918 it was on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month that hostilities ceased and that great war, that awful war came to a conclusion. It was but an armistice. Alas, in a sense it began all over again of course in 1939 but I know this 90 verse psalm has been made precious to many of those who what knew what it was to live through those dreadful war years back in the last century.

I remember how my own mother-in-law found some comfort certainly in the words that we have there in Psalm 91 verse 5 following. Her husband, I never knew him, Annette lost her father when she was just 12 years of age but he I know he was at Dunkirk he'd never speak of that he was evacuated of course but then he saw service in North Africa but his wife at home did find comfort in the words of Psalm 91 thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night nor for the arrow that flyeth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday, a thousand shall fall at thy sight, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee."

And so he was, as we read in those verses, five, six, and seven, he was preserved through that war. And it's interesting, isn't it, because I myself tend to associate not so much Psalm 91 but Psalm 90 really with Remembrance Sunday. I suppose it's because it's always sung, isn't it, at the Cenotaph. Today and then again on Remembrance Day, on the 11th day of the month, and of course What they sing there is Isaac Watts' paraphrase of the first five verses of this psalm, hymn number 1139, in a hymn book. O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come.

We're going to sing that presently if the Lord will, but I was struck really by the title that we have at the head of that hymn as we find it there, 1139 in Gadsby's selection and the title says Man, Frail, God's Eternal Man, Frail, and God's Eternal so my thoughts turned then to these verses that I read just now as a text, verses 9 10 11 and 12 man's days and I want to deal with just two points first of all the importance of of numbering our days the end of the text there in verse 12 so teach us to number our days verse 9 all our days are passed away in thy wrath nor the days of a year, threescore year, and ten, if by reason of strength, fourscore years. Yet that strength is labour and sorrow. Man's days. Now we should be careful then to mark them, to number them. And yet, the multitude of course, men and women, they live their lives really as if they are going to be here in this world forever. But that's not so. They're numbered, and God has numbered them. God has numbered them. We need to remind, don't we? Remind ourselves of God's sovereignty, His absolute sovereignty.

i did wonder whether we should have sung the hymn 64 sovereign ruler of the skies ever gracious ever wise all my times are in thy hand all events at thy command obviously there in that That particular hymn, John Ryland was mindful of the language of the preacher in Ecclesiastes 3, to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die. all these things are decrees by God he is sovereign over all his creatures and we have that solemn word the end of Hebrews 9 it is appointed unto men once to die and then cometh the judgment

what do we read here in verse 11 who knoweth the power of thine anger Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. How we need to desire that we might know something of that fear of the Lord, a recognition of who He is, a contemplation upon His greatness, His glory, or to stand in awe before Him, that fear.

of God so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom says Moses the man of God that's the title that we have at the head of this psalm remember what we are told back in the opening chapters of scripture there in Genesis in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 3 God says my spirit shall not always strive with man for that he is flesh yet his days shall be 120 years what are we to make of that? well reading that verse I would say it's not that God is speaking of the term of man's life as 120 years in the context there it is that time that God determined that he would grant for repentance he saw that the wickedness of man was great in all the earth and every imagination and thought of his heart was only evil continually and God was going to judge the world and he judged it of course by the flood, the universal flood but there he apportions a period of time before that terrible judgment would fall. God determined that he would allow another 120 years before the flood came.

Previously, of course, to those days of the flood the world must have been very different. And we know, don't we, that in that Antediluvian age, a period before the flood, men were living very long lives. We're told of Methuselah in Genesis 5, 27, who lived to the great age of 969. The world was very different. Adam had been born, Eve had been given to him, they transgressed, they'd sinned, the curse had come. And yet, for many years, men still lived long lives. But then, in time, God decreed what man's life should be, and we have it here in the 10th verse. Moses says, the days of our years are three school years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be four school years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off. and we fly away man's allotted span we should be aware of that mindful that our time really in this world is very short very short again the language of Job the words of that man there in the book of Job in chapter 14 it says man that is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass." Now Job there in that chapter recognizes, acknowledges that God is sovereign with regards to the lives of men. His days are determined. His bounds have been appointed by God.

And how true that was with regards to the children of Israel. They were God's people, weren't they? You only have I known of all the families of the earth. What does God say to them? There in Exodus 23, 26, the number of thy days I will fulfill. God has appointed these things.

We should be mindful then that each day is, as it were, a gift from the Lord. We're to acknowledge God's absolute sovereignty. It is God who has made us, not we ourselves. We are the creatures of His hand. It's in Him that we live and move and have our being. He holds our breath in His hand. The divine sovereignty.

And what should be the response of those who would acknowledge God? Well, surely We have it here in the psalm. Prayer should be our response. Prayer should be our response. The title of the psalm, a prayer of Moses, the man of God. Moses was a man of prayer. And we should be those who would follow that blessed pattern.

If Moses was a man of prayer, how much more was the Lord Jesus a man of prayer? We know that the law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Because we associate Moses with the law, we're not to forget that he was a gracious man. He was saved in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now the Lord Jesus Christ was a man of prayers. How in the days of His flesh He offered up prayer and supplication with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him. Although He was the Eternal Son of God yet He learned obedience by the life of faith that He lived as a real man here in this world.

And so we see here the importance of prayer. If we do believe in a God who is sovereign, we have to look to Him, call upon Him, and commit our ways to Him continually. And the Lord Himself teaches us the importance of prayer, doesn't He? He spoke a parable to this end. Much of His teaching was parabolic. And he speaks a parable to that very specific end that men ought always to pray and not to faint.

And so when we come to read the ministry of his apostles, how important we see prayer to be time and again in those epistles of Paul when we come to the practical part, the end of the epistles, how he's exhorting time and again He says to the Thessalonians, pray without ceasing. He says to the Colossians, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. He addresses the church at Philippi and tells them, be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.

and here is a particular petition in this prayer of Moses this opening part of the twelfth verse so teach us to number our days to number to number our days an interesting word this When we come to the New Testament, there's another word that's similar in some ways. I referred just now to the way in which the Apostle Paul gives an exhortation to the church at Philippi. You have to be careful for nothing but in everything. You have to be prayerful. But he says other things, doesn't he, in the final chapter of that epistle. And amongst them, we have those words at verse 8, Philippians 4.8, Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. and then he goes on those things which you have seen and heard in me but he says think on these things and the word to think is interesting it means literally to ponder to cogitate with the mind literally it means to count to reckon even to number. It's translated that way actually. The same word that we have there, think on these things in the Gospel at the end of Mark, Mark 15, 28 concerning the death of the Lord Jesus Christ which all the Scripture has fulfilled, He was numbered, He was counted, He was reckoned, with the transgressors interesting isn't it? to think is to is to count or to number we have the idea you see of revolving and going over and numbering things in our mind that's the sort of thinking that's being spoken of

are we those who who do think about these things, seriously think about these things. Our days, our days here, our lives really are, but mortal lives. We're told, aren't we, that lovely verse in the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, Malachi 3.16, concerning they that fear the Lord, and they speak often one to another. And the Lord hearkened and heard. I like that. He doesn't just hear, He hearkened and heard. He listened so carefully. Those that fear the Lord, they're speaking often one to another. The Lord hearkened and heard. A book of remembrance was written before Him for them that thought on His name. And again, that word thought, it's really the same word as we have here in verse 12 to number that's how we're to number these things, we're to revolve these things in our minds, go over them, numbering them not forgetting them mindful of God, of course

Here in the book of Psalms, we're reminded time and again of the importance of meditation, and I suppose that's what I'm trying to emphasize really. We should be meditating in the things of God, and there are two particular words that are repeatedly used in the book of Psalms, and more often than not, they're translated by the word to meditate.

but literally the one word means to mutter and the other means to muse for example in psalm 77 and verse 12 we have these words I will meditate of all thy work and talk of all thy doings now there the word that's meditate in our authorised version is more literally the word mutter I will mutter of all thy work and talk of all thy doings you see the parallel muttering talking and sometimes it's good isn't it for us to talk to ourselves to address ourselves the psalmist certainly does that in psalms 42 and 43 where we have those verses that I repeat it some three times really. Slight variations, yes, but they're much the same, aren't they? Those verses Psalm 42, 5 and 11, and then 43, verse 5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? The psalmist addresses himself, hope in God. Hope thou in God, he says. I will yet praise him. for the health of his countenance. Or he says on another occasion, who is the health of my countenance? It's interesting. But there's a place to, as it were, mutter to ourselves, to talk to ourselves, to meditate in that sense.

But there's another word that's used, and it's used quite often in the 119th Psalm. Time and again there, of course, the psalmist speaks of the importance of meditation. In verses 15 and 23 and 48 and so on, you can go through the psalm. It's a long, long psalm, Psalm 119. But what does he say? I will meditate in thy precepts. And the word there is a different word, not to mutter now, to muse. to ponder, to reflect. That's what it really means to be musing.

Of course, we often use the word amusement. You go down to the front at South Sea and there's the amusement arcade. Well, what obvious words to amuse? Well, it's the word to muse with a negative in front of it. It literally means not to think. If muse means to think and to think seriously, to ponder seriously, and to reflect, to amuse is not to think. In the Oxford English Dictionary it says, as a definition of the word, it's to Divert from serious business with trifles. That's what amusement is.

How we need to recognize the solemnity of it, to waste our days, to waste our thoughts really. Gatsby says, pause my soul and ask the question, aren't they ready to meet God? Am I made a real Christian? washed in the Redeemer's blood? Do we pause? Do we ask that question? Here at verse 9, For all our days are passed away in thy wrath. We spend our years as a tale that is told. Oh God, help us then to stop and to think and to consider. We have to learn something of our own mortality. It is God who must teach us what we are.

Again in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 20 it says all are of the dust and all turn to dust again. And that remarkable word in the book of the prophet Jeremiah when he addresses men and says oh earth, earth, earth hear the word of the Lord. We need then to recognize the shortness of time, that our days are fleeting, they pass away so quickly. And then what are we to do then? Well again, look at the end of the 12th verse where to apply our hearts it says, unto wisdom. So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

But then we ask the question, well, what is wisdom? Or rather, who is wisdom? Well, of course, we have the wisdom literature, don't we? The writings of King Solomon, who was the wisest man on the face of the earth. And there in Proverbs chapter 8, does not wisdom cry? And understanding put forth her voice, wisdom speaks but who is this wisdom that speaks? well surely wisdom wisdom is the Lord Jesus Christ we know that and we certainly see Christ in that 8th chapter of the book of Proverbs and the language that he employs there at verse 22 he says the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning wherever the earth was Christ is eternal wisdom and he is that one of course who is the eternal son of God and that is his essential glory He says, when there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills, was I brought forth, He was brought forth. He is eternally generated, the eternal Son of the eternal Father.

And it's interesting, the language that we have here in the Psalm at verse 2, before the mountains were brought forth, Whatever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. And oh, how we see those same truths in those words we just referred to in Proverbs 8, 24 and 25. Christ says, as wisdom before the mountains was settled, before the hills was I brought forth, the essential glories of the Lord Jesus Christ as that One who is God's eternal Son whose goings forth have been from old from everlasting He is the Son of the Father the Son of the Father in truth and in love the Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us and John says we beheld His glory the glorious of the only begotten of the father that's Christ's essential glory really as wisdom the eternal son of God

but we also can remember or think upon his mediatorial glory his essential glory of course is his deity His mediatorial glory is that He is the mediator between God and man. He comes, doesn't He, in the fullness of the time and we see Him then as the Son of Man. Do you remember O'Daniel? O'Daniel speaks of the Lord Jesus. There in chapter 7 and verse 13, I saw in the night visions And behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

or the mediatorial glory that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and so it was that in the fullness of the time we see how God sends forth His Son and He's made of a woman and He's made under the law, He's a real man and yet He's God and He's never anything less than God, He's the God-man And what does he say in the course of all his ministry, the words that he employs? Never man spake like this man. And there in John chapter 6, for example, at verse 38 he says, I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing. but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day."

Oh, what a Saviour is this, who has come to do the will of the One who sent Him. and how determined he was to accomplish all that goodwill and pleasure. My meat, he says, is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. And you know, when all his work in that great economy of grace, the outworking of the eternal covenant of redemption, when all that is completed and every elect soul has come to salvation, What is the blessed object in view? It's the glory of God. It's the glory of God in the Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Those remarkable words really that we have in the 15th chapter. A great chapter on the resurrection in 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15. verse 24, Then cometh the end. He has spoken of Christ's resurrection. In Christ's resurrection you see the guarantee that there is going to be a general resurrection of the dead. Then cometh the end. When he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, for he hath put all things under his feet. For when he saith, All things I have put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him, that put all things unto him, that God may be all in all.

As the Eternal Son of God manifest in the flesh, ultimately all His work is for the glory of God. He never ceases to be the Eternal Son of God. He is equal with the Father. And yet in that great mediatorial work, it's all ultimately to that great end, the glory of the triune God. That's what salvation's for. Oh, it's for the good of sinners, but it's primarily for God's honor and God's glory. Even as we're taught to pray in the Lord's Prayer, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

" Here then at the end of the text we read of the application that we may apply our hearts onto wisdom. Christ is the wisdom. Christ is the wisdom. Christ in his essential glory, the eternal Son of God. Christ in his mediatorial glory. As the son of man, God manifests in the flesh.

But what of the application? What of the application? Well, it's interesting, this word that's employed. There's a marginal reading, isn't there? That we may cause our hearts to come unto wisdom. The Hebrew for reply, you see, is cause to come. Cause to come. It's not a local, a physical coming that's being spoken of here, it's something spiritual. The fear of the Lord, we're told, is the beginning of wisdom. It's those who have been taught the fear of the Lord who will come to the Lord. who will be made wise unto salvation.

James says, doesn't he, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally. Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. It's only God who can give wisdom. It's the only way we can get wisdom. We can't make ourselves wise unto salvation. It's all the work of God, it's all the gift of God. And what a wisdom is this? It comes from above. It comes from God, the wisdom that is from above.

James goes on to say that, doesn't he? In James 3 and verse 17, the wisdom that is from above is first pure and then peaceable and gentle and easy to be entreated and full of mercy and good fruits and without partiality and without hypocrisy. Where can such wisdom as that be found? It's only found in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where wisdom is. As we have it there at the end of 1 Corinthians 1, we read of Christ Jesus. At the end of verse 29, Christ Jesus, who of God, is made unto us wisdom. and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

All we have to remember, our days, our days here are so short. Our days are so short. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath. We spend our years as a tale that is told, The days of our years are threescore years and ten, if by reason of strength they be fourscore years. Yet is their strength labour and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. You knoweth the power of thine anger. Even according to thy fear so is thy wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

But what does God say? I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I suffered thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Oh, what a comfort it is, this very day. This very day is salvation to those who would look to God and pray to God and call upon God and this is what Moses does it's a prayer that we have here or that we might learn of Moses then and address our prayers to God and call upon his name and look to him and rest in him for all our salvation acknowledging his sovereignty and pleading with Him that He will yet deal with us in the ways of mercy and of grace.

Oh, the Lord then be pleased to grant such a gracious application of His Word to all our souls. Amen.

concluding hymn that hymn of Isaac Watts, the paraphrase of Psalm 91, or Psalm 90, I should say. O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal hope. The tune is Pans 89.