Seeking the Lord's help and your
very prayerful attention, I direct your thoughts this afternoon
to Psalm number 71, and word you'll find in verse three. Thou
hast given commandment to save me. The whole verse reads, be
thou my strong habitation. well unto I may continue to resort. Thou hast given commandment to
save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress. Thou hast given commandment to
save me. I quite expect that God's servant
David must have wondered Why such a chequered path? Why so often it was with him
as it was with John Bunyan's pilgrim in the way? No sooner
was one troubled or another doth him seize. But dear friends,
out of the changes through which the dear psalmist's past have
come these precious psalms, the prayers, the praises, the admonitions,
the promises, friends, the ways God used by his blessed spirit
under divine inspiration, sanctifying David's path so that we have
the privilege of reading such words this afternoon, knowing
not only they are inspired by the blessed spirit, which they
are, but they are the experience of one of God's dear saints knowing
glory. And friend, if they are your
experience, then you too will one day be in glory. How soon, we do not know. That
is in higher hands than ours. But friend, nothing is more certain
than this. Where the Lord gives grace, the
Lord will give glory. You are joined together, Psalm
84 tells us. The Lord will not might, will,
give grace and glory. And my dear friend, what God
has joined together, neither man nor devil can rend asunder. So the background to our text
was no doubt a time of difficulty, trial. It seemed David's old
age. It may well have been the time
when Absalom usurped his throne. We are not certain, we do not
need to know because the Holy Ghost hasn't told us. And what
the Holy Ghost hasn't told us, dear friends, we don't need to
know. But all we do know is that here was a man with a retrospect
and a prospect and a present. Retrospectively, David could
look back on the many times God had delivered him. The many times
he'd proved that lovely word in Psalm 34, this poor man cried
and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. David could look back and he
could rejoice in a retrospect. Now how many of us this afternoon
have a retrospect of God's dealings? Looking back, as we read in Deuteronomy
8, thou shalt Remember all the way the Lord thy God led thee. There's a remembrance of the
Lord's goodness and mercy, yes, and of our follies and failings,
showing how unworthy we are of God's goodness and mercy. David
had a retrospect. And on the ground of that faithfulness
of God in the past, he believed he had a prospect. The God who
had given a commandment to save him in the past would manage
the other troubles and trials that lay before him, and not
just the prospect but also the present troubles in which he
was wading through. Friend, what a mercy then to
have a God like this, the same yesterday and today and forever. Thou hast given commandment to
save me, personal, and yet, oh, what a wonderful outpouring of
divine wisdom, strength, and grace is here, that the great
God of gods, King of kings, Lord of lords, should give a commandment
concerning the pathway of a sinner. Friends, it be a mercy if he
gives you a commandment this afternoon, especially this commandment,
to save you. Thou hast given commandment to
save me. I want to look at this word,
first of all, it may surprise you, but it is true, how this
concerns the dear Lord Jesus Christ himself. You say, in what
way does it concern the dear Redeemer? Well, we must go back
to the covenant of grace made between the three persons of
the glorious Trinity. In that covenant, God the Son
contracted us, perhaps the wrong word to use, you know, human
words can't really describe it, but enter into that blessed oath
and promise that he would be the servant of his Father. Now a servant, dear friends,
is one who receives commands, one who obeys. And thus the dear,
holy, harmless, undefiled Son of God, equal with his Father
and the Holy Ghost, no inferiority there, but he took upon himself
the form of a servant to do what his father bid him do, a commandment. And the commandment his father
gave him was this, of all that the Lord God the Father gave
him, he was to redeem them. And in a New Testament sense,
David would say, if he were here this afternoon, that he believed
in that great transaction between the Father and the Son and by
blessed inference the Spirit, a commandment went forth that
the Son of God should save Him. This is deep theology. It's not
just theology, dear friend, it's blessed eternal fact. Thou hast
given commandment to save me. And if you think of what our
Lord Jesus Christ said in John 17, that beautiful high priestly
prayer, you will see. These words by Jesus lifted up
his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son. Thy son also may glorify thee
as thou has given him power over all flesh. They should give eternal
life to as many as thou has given him. And this is life eternal. they might know the only true
God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. So you see here, dear
friends, a commandment given by the Father to the Son to redeem
a number that no man can number out of every kindred, nation,
tribe and tongue. Thou has given commandment to
save me. And you remember that when Joseph
and Mary received that mysterious babe, born so miraculously by
the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin
Mary, she being the true and proper mother of that babe, and
Joseph, the God-appointed guardian, it was not left to them to choose
the name. You know, when a babe is born,
it's one of the privileges of the parents to give a name to
the child. Well, my dear friends, they weren't
left to choose the name. God, the father, chose the name. And in choosing the name, there
was a commandment in it. And what was the commandment?
That he whose name it was, was to fulfill what the name meant. And what does the name mean?
Jesus shall save his people from their sins. And the very first
words we hear The dear Redeemer say, he must have spoken before
this was recorded, but the Holy Ghost has not seen fit to give
us any other word of his infancy and boyhood. But these, wish
ye not, I must be about my Father's business. I have a command resting
in my very spirit that my Father's given me to fulfil in my holy
humanity here below. Wish ye not, I must be about
it. And you go to the end of the
days of the dear Redeemer in His flesh here below. See Him
hanging on that cross. I'm finished. It is finished. What was finished? The commandment
given. And the only thing, I say, that's
most readily left for the dear Saviour to do then was to bow
His lovely head in submission, yield up His Holy Soul into the
bosom of His Father. And my dear friend, you read
in the book of the Proverbs, the rest of a laboring man is
sweet. No laboring man ever had a sweeter
rest than God's dearly beloved son did when he yielded up his
holy soul into the bosom of his father. No regrets, nothing to
be repented of, nothing had been left undone, finished. It is finished, cried the Lord
in his dying minute. Holy Ghost, repeat that word. Full salvation's in it. Oh, my dear friend, here's the
very foundation of the gospel, a commandment given by the Father
to the Son to save sinners. And now that dear Savior has
accomplished that work and on that life and on that death and
on that resurrection, every true believer is built. Upon a life
I did not live. Upon a death I did not die. Another's
life, another's death, I hang my whole eternity, said one of
the godly men of old. Thou hast given commandment to
save me. And while he was here below,
we could speak of one or two examples when he was doing his
father's will in this very way. In fact we read in John chapter
10 speaking about his death. I have power to lay it down and
take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. But on whose benefit was that
commandment? For his dear people. I lay down
my life for the sheep. For the sheep. We read in John
chapter 4 these words. He must needs go through Samaria. Why? Was it just because Sir
Mary lay between here, the place he wanted to go to, and where
he was at that time? It wasn't only that. It may well
have been geographically so, but we don't believe in chance. We don't believe in haphazard.
Friend, he'd received from his father that command. There was
a woman to be saved. It was no accident that meeting
at Jacob's well. He sits down weary, not of his
journey, note that, but in it. You may be weary of your journey
this afternoon, but not of it. He never regretted taking up
this burden his father gave him to do. He never regretted bearing
the load of his people's sins. He was often wearied in it. He
knew what real weariness is. And perhaps there's one here
this afternoon And you're not wearied of the journey. You know
the Lord put you in the journey. You know it's the Lord's will
you should be in the journey. But you don't say you're not
wearied in it. Well, there's one who understands. He being
wearied in his journey, sat thus on the well. And there's no coincidence
that woman of Samaria comes. Friends, it wasn't a divine appointment
of the Father. You know that because The dear
Saviour said later on to her, God is a spirit and they that
worship him must, note that, whose must was it? God's must,
must worship him in spirit and in truth. And the outcome of
that conversation was a true worshipper of God the Son was
brought into precious exercise for the first time. It was the
will of his father, he should be. doing that work. Similarly, dear friends, it was
when he went through Jericho and he stops at the foot of the
tree where Zacchaeus was sat. And he says, Zacchaeus, make
haste and come down. Now, who bid the dear son do
that? Well, of course, he had his own
sovereign will, don't mistake me, but he was always in precious
union with his father. There was one his father had
given him to redeem. Zacchaeus, make haste and come
down. And Zacchaeus made haste, and
he came down. And so will you, my dear friend,
when he calls you like that, if indeed he has. There'll be
a making haste. And what did the Lord say when
he was questioned about going to eat and drink with the publicans
and sinners? He said, the Son of Man has come
to seek and to save. That which is lost. I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So who is it God
has given commandment to save? It's sinners, isn't it? You read
in Isaiah chapter 60, 61, the commission given by the father
to his son. The spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, because the Lord anointed me to preach good tidings unto
the meek. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
livids of the captives and the opening of the prisons that are
bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the day of
vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn, to a point of
that morning's iron, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the
oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit
of heaviness. They might be called trees of
righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified. So, dear friends, who has God
the Father given commandment to His dear Son to save? The me. the broken-hearted, the
captives, yes, the mourners, those sitting in ashes and dust
on account of their fallen state, feelingly mourning over it. These
are the ones God has given commandment to save. Listen to the dear Redeemer's
own words, how encouraging they are. Come unto me, all ye that
labour and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And friend, that's
not only an invitation, It is. It's more than that. In the power
of the Spirit, dear friends, it becomes a command. It becomes
spirit and life, so that that command is obeyed. And that weary,
burdened, tempted, tried, devil-dragged one comes. And he comes to the
very feet of Jesus, where he finds a wonderful welcome. As if to say that you are the
very one, the very case I came to save. Yes, you go to Golgotha
and he's our dear saviour hung on Calvary's cross atoning for
the sins of the election of grace, a work that none of us can truly
fathom. It was his father's will he should
extend the arm of salvation to the dying thief. So when the
dying thief prayed, Lord, remember me when they come into thy kingdom.
If the answer was given, verily I say unto you today, shall thou
be with me in paradise. And the wonderful thing about
that, dear friends, the Savior knew he'd come through his sufferings
and he knew he'd bring the dying thief through too. And poor devil-dragged
soul, this afternoon, why not you? Why not you? It's free grace to such a sinner's
be. And if free grace, why not? Why not for me? Thou hast given commandment to
save me. So the first part of our text
is a blessed gospel word, isn't it? It's a word of encouragement
to hungering, thirsting, seeking, longing souls. A commandment's
gone forth by God the Father to his son. that by his Spirit
he will save such. All the Father giveth me shall
come to me. Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. And blessed be God, how the dear
Saviour has fulfilled that commandment for his dear people. So I've
lost none, he said, save the son of perdition, and he was
never given to the Saviour to redeem. Thou hast given commandment to
save me. You say, well, how do I know
it? I'm among the me of our text.
Well, dear friends, what is your view of salvation? You see, the
Pharisee in the parable didn't know, think he needed a savior.
He was so satisfied with his own reputation, his own prayers,
his own profession and the works he'd done and the things he hadn't
done. He was quite sure that He was favorable to God. Why
was he so sure? Because, dear friend, he'd never
come face to face with God. Had he come face to face with
God, all that would have been burnt up. Because the consuming
fire that God is burns up all that is flesh in our religion. Ah, but the publican had come
face to face with God. That's why he beat upon his breast.
That's where his guilt was. That's where his sin gnawed at
his conscience. That's where he felt, oh, so
out of the way. Was it possible that such a one
as he could find mercy? You see, he was the one, wasn't
he? He was the one who found mercy. God be merciful to me,
a sinner. And we read he went to his house
justified rather than the other. It's the poor who have the gospel
preached then. Are you poor enough for the gospel
this afternoon? You know what Hannah had to get
to be poor enough? And it wasn't a very pleasant
place, was it? A beggar on the dunghill. If you'd seen a beggar
on the dunghill, you'd have steered away, wouldn't you? You wouldn't
even wanted to look. That's how low Hannah felt. The
dunghill was what she felt about herself. all the follies of her
life, all the mistakes she'd made, all the arguments with
Peninnah, yes, and the provocation, all that was the downhill. And
she, a poor beggar, sat on it. If would anyone show mercy? Would
anyone hear her cry? We know the Lord did, do we not?
And she went forth from that memorable prayer meeting, we
might say, in the temple, and bidded she believe the Lord had
given commandment, didn't she? She went in as a woman of a sorrowful
spirit. Oh, she poured out her heart
before the Lord. She told him her case and what
a case it was. She was a lonely sparrow. Her
husband didn't really understand her. Peninnah, it seemed, despised
her. Eli himself misunderstood her.
Oh, what a lone sparrow she was. There's only one to turn to.
Remember me, just two words seem to sum it all up. Remember me. And friends, then Eli was given
a word from the Lord, a command. For her, go in peace. The Lord grant thee thy petition.
Thou hast asked of him. She went away no more sad. Hannah,
where have your tears gone? What happened? Your face is enlightened. God's given commandment to save
me. He's given a commandment to hear
my prayer, to be answered. What faith she had. And friends,
you're the case, she has not yet got Samuel in her arms, has
she? She has in her arms of faith, though. Yes. It's a blessed thing
to hold the Lord and Lord Jesus Christ in the arms of faith.
Simeon did that, didn't he? He looked down at that little
babe and there wasn't a halo around his head, you know. I
don't believe there was at all, he was in that sense a perfect
human child, don't get me wrong, infinitely perfect, and yet he
was truly human. He held the little baby in his
arms and what did he say? Lord, now that is thou thy servant
depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. There's
a commandment gone forth through this dear baby. will grow up
to live for me, die for me, rise again for me, intercede for me,
a commandment to save me. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. And friends, if ever you've been
able to hold by living faith a precious Christ in your arms,
like Thomas did in another sense, my Lord, my God, my Jesus. Wonderful thing to be able to
say that, dear friends. Then you're right inside our
text that was given commandment to save me. Now look at it another way, because
a providential word here. Let me turn for a moment to David
and then we go to Elijah. David could look back. Yes, he'd
made his mistakes, like we all do. some of the troubles he brought
on himself. But you know, dear friends, two
things about David's troubles. One, he knew he never deserved
to be delivered out of them. And that's why he says in verse
two, deliver me in thy righteousness. Not mine, I've got none, Lord,
in thy righteousness. Now remember that. Have you ever
been in trouble, dear friend, you deserve to be brought out
of? I don't think you have, and nor have I. You say, well, right
was on my side. That may have been, but was your
spirit right? Were you always humble? Ah, friends,
it comes close, doesn't it? We have to learn this lesson.
If ever we are to be delivered, even in profit as well as in
grace, it's sheer mercy. We don't deserve it. We cannot
earn it. It's what God does of his free
sovereign will. Remember that. David could look
back though. He could look back to the Valley
of Elah, when the Lord appeared for him with Goliath. When he
went forth against Goliath, he believed the Lord had given the
commandment that he would come through that ordeal, and he did.
He told Saul, so the Lord delivered me from the mouth of the lion
and the paw of the bear. There was his retrospect. He
will deliver me. He will deliver, and he did.
And when, dear friends, he was down in Gath where he never ought
to have been, he never prayed about it, he walked straight
into the snare Satan set for him, and yet even then when he
came to his spiritual sense and cried out, this poor man, the
Lord heard him, brought him out. Ziklag, it was the same. Friends,
he had a wonderful retrospect. Thou hast given commandment to
save me. He could take you to spots and
places. And those spots and places were
confirming to his faith that he who has helped me hitherto
will help me all my journey through. Give me daily cause to raise
new Ebenezer's to his praise. What about Godly Elijah? The
man is God's mouthpiece in a dark day, isn't he? And he says that
there should be no more, no, neither dew nor rain these years,
but according to my word, speaking in the mouthpiece of the Lord
God of hosts. And no sooner he made that proclamation,
then the Lord said, go hide yourself at the brook Cherith. Listen
to this. I have commanded, I have commanded the ravens to feed
thee there, that there was where God meant him to be. And friend,
the ravens will feed you where God means you to be. Providence
will be so overruled that you'll be provided for as long as God's
worth you to be at Cherith. And they brought in bread and
flesh in the morning, bread and flesh in the evening at the command
of the God of our text. He could eat each meal and say,
this is God's command being fulfilled. And my dear friends, when we
sit down at a meal, we should feel the same. How thankful we
should be that God has kindly provided for us a meal to feed
upon. Yes, commandment to save me. Cherith dries up, what's going
to happen? Has the Lord forgotten his servant down beyond Jordan? No. Arise, go to Zarephath, beyond
Jordan. I have commanded, note that again,
I've commanded a widow woman to sustain thee there. God had commanded it. And on
the strength of that command, Elijah goes. And yes, the woman's
there outside the city gate, gathering sticks to light a fire
to make what she thought was her last cake. But the command
of the Lord had gone forth. He made her willing. And just
notice what Elijah said, how he put the matter to the test.
Make me a little cake first, the very cake she thought was
for herself and her son, for their last meal. Give it up,
sacrifice it to the Lord. That's what she was doing, really,
in one sense. Make me there a little cake first,
and after for them, for thy son. Listen. For thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste. The cruise
of oil shall not fail. for the day the Lord sends rain
upon the earth. And no, dear friends, why is
that? The Lord's commanded it. That's why it is. His command's
gone forth. And that barrel of meal is there,
day by day, for what's needed. Thou has given, given commandment
to save a poor wretch like me. Yes, even in Providence, we find
the Lord's will being done in our text. Thou has given commandment
to save me. And when the Lord puts his people
in a path at his command, he makes the provision. He doesn't
send you a war for your own charges. When he put forth his sheep,
he goeth before them. So when he said to Gideon, go
in this thy might, have not I sent thee? There was the command.
Gideon, I'll make the provision. The Lord did. The Lord did the
same with Joshua years before, as I was with Moses. So I'll
be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. Be strong and have a good courage.
Fear not, neither be thou dismayed. The commandment went forth. They
had the answer of a good conscience. They were where God had put them.
And friend of you, where God has put you, he'll provide for
you. You'll lack nothing. Sometimes you'll look over the
fence and think it might be smoother somewhere else. But dear friends,
you be careful. Be careful. While the fiery,
cloudy pillar is over you, the manor will fall and the rock
will be smitten and the Lord will provide. God has given commandment
to save me. Oh, it's a precious word, this,
dear friends, in providence as well as in grace, is it not? I was very struck in that hymn
you sung just now, ending every line, it is all for the best.
In my early years at Chippenham, I had a member transferred from
Cullen, and she was a godly lady, a very forthright lady, but that
is by the by. She knew well the truth, and
she told me that When she joined the church at Cullen, many, many
years ago, this was, there was no baptistry at Cullen, so they
baptized in the open river at West Kington. And the late Mr. May, I believe it was, was the
one who was going to baptize him. And the morning was totally
drenching rain. It was like thunder rain. And
Mr. May said, we'll start the service
with, it is all for the best. There must be a reason why the
Lord has sent this rain. Well, they went through the surface
and by the time they had to go down to the river, the clouds
had parted and the baptism went through orderly. But they learned
later on there was a group of youths who were going to disrupt
the baptism. They were going to make a noose
of themselves when it was being conducted. But this heavy rain
had kept them away. Friend, the Lord's in control.
That's what our text is saying. The Lord is in control. Do you
believe it? We say it, we sing about it,
we read of it. Friend, our life's minutest circumstance
is subject to God's eye. David believed that. And that's
why he had a blessed confidence in our text that was given commandment
to save me. Now, the next point I bring to
your attention is this. Why was David so confident? You
see, some people give a command and, well, it's useless, isn't
it? Some people promise things they never fulfill. But friends,
our text rests on the character of the God who commands. The
character. What is his character? Well,
first of all, dear friend, you take those three O's. omnipotent. There's nothing in your path,
dear friends, beyond the command of your God. With God, all things
are possible. You see, the Lord said to Abraham
that Sarah would bear a son. The years go on till it's way,
way past all human expectation. We know the folly of taking Hagar
into the tent and leave that to one side. But eventually,
the angel of the Lord visits the tent. Where is thy Her wife,
Sarah, is in the tent. She's got to bear a son by this
time next year. She laughs. It can't be so. And the angel of the Lord, who
was the incarnate God or the pre-incarnate God, one of those
theophanies, we would say, rebuked her. She said she didn't laugh,
she did laugh. He says, with God, all things
are possible. You read the next chapter, how
does it begin? The Lord visited Sarah as He
had said. There is faithfulness. There
is omnipotence. Friends with God, all things
are possible. He always does as He says. He will move heaven and earth
to do it. Sooner all nature shall change than one of God's promises
fail. Because He is who He is. Omnipotent. Secondly, dear friend, he's omniscient.
That is, he has a perfect knowledge of your case and mine. Far more
perfect than the knowledge you've got of your case. You think,
well, surely no one knows it better than me. What did you
sing in your opening hymn, Blind Unbelief? Sure to err and scan
his work in vain, and so it does. I tell you, my dear friend, God
knows your case better than mine, better than you do. Better than
I do. And dear Job came to that conclusion
in chapter 23, didn't he? He begins, oh, that I knew. And then it comes to this, he
knoweth. He knoweth the way that I take.
When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Friend, your security rests on
his knowledge. You say, I wish I knew more.
I think we all desire to know more. But you know, dear friends,
we are to trust Him where we cannot trace Him. As King George
VI said in 1943, I believe it was, when things were very ominous,
invasion on the doorstep of Britain, he quoted those well-known words.
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, give me
a light. I may tread safely into the unknown.
And he said to me, put your hand in the hand of God. that is better
than a light and safer than a known way. It's really a paraphrase
of that word in Isaiah. I will bring the blind by way
they knew not. I will make darkness light before
them, crooked things straight, rough places plain. These things
will do unto them and not forsake them. The third thing is omnipresent. Child of God, there's no place
where he bids you go. but he's there. And even when
you stray, and you do, and I do, when you're a Jonah in the belly
of the whale, even there, blessed be his holy name, the repenting
sinner finds that the Lord will hear his prayer. He's everywhere
present, belly of the whale, that horrible pit, that miry
clay, on a cross alongside the dear Redeemer, the dying thief
found it, everywhere present. There's nowhere where God is
not. Do you remember that? Nowhere.
If men go to Mars as they're planning to do, they'll find
God is there as well. They won't believe it, but He's
there. He's there. There's nowhere where
God is not. Thou God seest me is the motto,
should be, of every child of God. This is the one who's given
commandment. omnipresent one, this omniscient
one, this omnipotent one. Yes, there's something else there,
isn't there? We mustn't miss this out. There's
love in it. Why was Israel's God so concerned
about David's pathway? Why was he, as it were, so intimately
involved? I use that word most reverently.
He loved him. That was the reason. That was
the reason. distinguishing love to God's
servant, David, brought him into this blessed relationship with
his God. Here was a man who needed a God
and here was a God who loved the man who needed him. Are you
that man this afternoon, that woman, that child? Oh, you feel
you need this God. You need his commands. You need
his ability, his willingness. Ah, He's the very one you need. And what does He say to such
who feel their need of Him? My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Thou hast given commandment to
save me. And friends, right down to the
end of time, Thou days here below. And when that command goes forth
to call our soul, hence this text won't fail even then. No. When in death they bow their
head is precious on a dying bed. In glory, Lord, may I be found.
And with thy precious mercy crowned, join the glad song and there
adore a precious Christ forevermore. And one of the occupations of
the redeemed above is to trace out how good God is who brought
them where they are. What an occupation. Friends,
it'll take eternity to begin to understand the goodness of
God in commanding the way of a poor sinner, to pluck him as
a bran from the burning, to save him with everlasting salvation.
and manifest to him what he did to Jeremiah. Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. And one last thought. Friends,
may we lay his commandments to heart, this commanding God, or
may his commands be precious to us. If ye love me, Keep my
commandments, the Lord says. That's the proof. This is the
testimony of those on whom God has laid his saving hand. If you love me. And what reason
we have. Comes right back to it, Psalm
116. I love the Lord. Why? He's heard my voice and
my supplication. I was brought low. command went forth, He raised
me up. Yes, what a mercy. Thou hast
given commandment to save me. May God have His blessing. Amen.