Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God. If you have the hymn sheets with
you, on the back is the reading. The reading is Psalm 132. Psalm 132, A Song of Degrees. Lord, remember David and all
his afflictions, how he swore unto the Lord and vowed unto
the mighty God of Jacob. Surely I will not come into the
tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed. I will not give
sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find
out a place for the Lord and habitation for the mighty God
of Jacob. Though we heard of it at Ephratah,
we found it in the fields of the wood. We will go into his
tabernacles, we will worship at his footstool. Arise, O Lord,
into Thy rest, Thou and the ark of Thy strength. Let Thy priests
be clothed with righteousness, and let Thy saints shout for
joy. For Thy servant David's sake
turn not away the face of Thine Anointed. The Lord hath sworn
in truth unto David, he will not turn from it. Of the fruit
of thy body will I sit upon thy throne. If thy children will
keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their
children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore. For
the Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever, here
will I dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her
provision, I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also
clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud
for joy. There will I make the horn of
David to Bard, I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with
shame, but upon himself shall his crown flourish. The word that I desire to bring
before you is found in verse 15. I will abundantly bless her
provision, I will satisfy her poor with bread. And this here is speaking of
the Church of God, Zion, in verse 13, for the Lord hath chosen
Zion, He hath desired it for His habitation. The people of
God, those that have been chosen in Christ, given by the Father
to Him to redeem, and the Church of God that is His inheritance,
and He is their inheritance, It is this church, this people,
that the Lord has said, I will abundantly bless her provision,
I will satisfy her poor with bread. So there are three points
I wish to bring before you this morning that you may meditate
upon throughout the day and the first one is the provision for
the church in the words of our text it says her provision the
church does have a provision and then secondly God's promise
blessing to be upon it I will abundantly bless her provision. And then thirdly, the Lord's
poor that are satisfied, I will satisfy her poor with bread or
with the provision or what's bound up within. Firstly, the
Church of God does have a provision. It is spoken of here as a provision
that is blessed, but for a provision to be blessed there must be that
provision first. And of course, the whole provision
for the Church of God, lost and ruined in the Fall, individual
members of that Church, sinners, their provision is Christ. And that is who is set forth
here in verse 8. Arise, O Lord, into thy rest,
thou and the ark of thy strength. That is Christ. The face of His
anointed is Christ. It is He whose children, if thy
children, it is Christ's children. That which is spoken in verse
11, The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David, who will not turn
from him, of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
That is Christ. This is what Abraham said when
Isaac asked him as they were going up the mount, He said,
my father, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt
offering? And Abraham answered and he said,
my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. He was to be the lamb. Christ
is the lamb. And our Lord said, Abraham, saw
my day and he rejoiced at it. And so we have this provision
for the Church in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, a Redeemer,
a Saviour, the Lord's provision. Well, it not only is a provision
in that way, but what is Christ? Christ, the Bread of Life, He
is the provision for His people in that way. that they might
eat his flesh and drink his blood by faith. And so the provision
that God has given, especially in these Gospel days, He has
given the Holy Word of God, and we think of the division in our
Bibles, and the most part is the Old Testament. We have the
New Testament, and nothing like the size and volume of writings
as the Old in the New. But the New so clearly, concisely
sets forth what is concealed in the Old, and is the key to
opening up the Old. And so the Old Testament, the
whole Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, is a wonderful
provision for the Church of God. It is a provision for us, the
same as the ministers are a provision, and the pastors, I will give
you pastors according to mine own heart. That is a provision
by God for the Church. But what shall they do? Preach
the Word, open up the Scriptures. What did our Lord do on the way
to Emmaus? Of course they didn't have the
New Testament then, but he takes in through all of the scriptures
from Moses, all the prophets, the things concerning himself,
and the same path did Philip take with the eunuch, beginning
at the same scripture, Isaiah 53, preached unto him Jesus.
And so this is a rich provision for the Church of God, is in
the holy, sacred Word of God given to us by inspiration of
God. The Lord gave the Word, great
was the company of them, that published in. And so we have
then the provision of the ordinances of the House of God. Now you
always remember it was our Lord that instituted baptism, our
Lord that instituted the Lord's Supper. They are given by God
to the Church of God and His commission to His servants go
into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature, He
that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, he that believeth
not shall be damned. And it is a provision for the
church of God, the ordinances of the Lord's house, as oft as
ye eat this bread, drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord's
death till he come. is the provision for the Church,
but it is all centering in Christ. The ordinances point to Christ,
the Word of God points to Christ, His servants point to Christ,
He is all in all. The Apostle says, when Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, then shall also we appear with
Him. So dear friends, that is something
to really ponder, meditate upon throughout this day. The Church
of God has a provision. Are we part of the Church of
God? Is this provision? Does it mean
something to us? Do we need that provision? The
world doesn't need it. They do need it, but they don't
feel the need of it. They don't value it. No doubt
Isaac greatly valued it, didn't he? Without that provision, it
would have been he that would have been slain on that altar.
But God did provide. And so then we have in the second
place, God's promised blessing upon it. What would it be to
have naturally a provision, a well-spread table, but we partake of the
food and it makes us sick? Or we eat and eat and we never
profit, we don't grow, our bodies are not strengthened. We're used
to having our meals, aren't we? And we ask the Lord's blessing
on that food. And we need that, we need that
in the Church of God. We need the Lord's blessing upon
it, and that is promised here. The Lord shall bless it, and
not only bless it, but I will abundantly bless her provision. How will the Lord bless it? Well,
He uses the provision in the Church of God to call His dear
people out of nature's darkness and into His marvellous light
The whole reason why they are called is because in the provision
of Christ, He has suffered for His people, bled for them, risen
again. He says, Father, I will, that
they whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they
may behold My glory. And those that are to be called
and brought to be to glory. They're firstborn again, they're
called and they're blessed through the Word. It hath pleased God
through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And
Paul says, I determine to know nothing among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Christ is preached. We read in
the early church, as Christ was preached, that some believed
the Word spoken and some believed not. And then we read, as many
as were ordained unto eternal life believed, and the Lord used
that ministry. that provision and His sovereign
blessing of it, to divide between those that were His and those
that were not. The true Church of God has the
provision blessed savingly, eternally, to their souls. Has the Word
been blessed to us? Has it been blessed abundantly
to us? And I'd put this thought for
you to meditate upon today as well. that the word blessed,
that provision, if it be blessed, say, in a way of feeding upon
the word. And the Lord's people, if we're
called 40 years ago, as I was, then all the way through our
life, we're to feed upon the word of God. We need that provision. But in that feeding, the Lord
can give many other things. We may be looking for a direction
and guidance, and the Lord blesses us through the ministry, feeds
our souls, but at the same time gives us guidance and direction. We may be sorrowful and low,
disheartened, cast down, troubled by sin, and the Lord, through
that same word, comforts our soul and helps us in the way. Very often there is a double
blessing, an abundantly blessing on it. Perhaps to give you a
couple of illustrations with the children of Israel, Jacob's
children going down into Egypt, they wanted provision of corn. They did get corn, they were
provided for in that way. But how God ordered it otherwise,
He used that need of the bread for their bodies to bring them
to where Joseph was. Joseph made sure he used the
provision as well to make them exercised in their soul. He put
double money in their sacks when they went home, opened their
provision. They didn't have only provision,
they had abundant provision to make them exercised and concerned
what has happened. And then the second time, They
have the cup, Joseph's cup, in the sack. They open their provision. They don't only find provision,
they find his cup. And so these things are used
by God, their provision, to bring us in again. It was with Joseph's
brethren to bring him back to Joseph again and again until
he made himself known to them. Very sweetly, blessedly, sacred
chapter, Genesis 45, when Joseph makes himself known to his brethren. And not only that, we think of
the beautiful account of Ruth, we have her going to Gleene,
and she did Gleene, But we read that Boaz, he commanded his young
men, and they gave those handfuls of purpose. When she came home,
nay, Amai noticed the amount that she cleaned. She said, Blessed
is he that has taken knowledge of thee. And then she told who
it was, the man is a near kinsman. So Ruth not only had the blessing
on the food, but it showed how Boaz's kind thoughts were toward
her. And this happened later on when
she came and presented her case on the corn floor, and he said
to leave it with him, go not empty to thy mother-in-law, he
gave those six measures of seed, and again it was to feed their
bodies but it was also a wonderful token a token of his love and
he got the matter in hand and so you notice that you may look
back over your lives and you can see this double provision
and how the Lord used the word and used the ministry and abundantly
blessed it. May it be a day today you meditate
and think upon that, what the Lord has done and what the Lord
has wrought, I will abundantly bless her provision. The last
thought is this, our point three, the Lord's poor satisfied. You know, the world creates in
the people of God an aching void, an aching void the world cannot
fill. It doesn't satisfy. Vanity of
vanity, saith the preacher, all is vanity. But what a different
language we get from the psalmist. My cup runneth over. What a different
message we get here. The Lord's promise, I will satisfy
a poor with bread. We know what it is. If we have
a meal, we've been very, very hungry, we partake of that meal,
we have that food, and we say we're satisfied. We don't want
any more. We might be offered more. We say, I've had sufficiency. I'm satisfied. It's a beautiful
token of whether we really have what we've prayed for, wanted,
and longed for. that we are satisfied. We don't
have to cry out for more because we have all that we have, and
all that we want, and all that we need. What a beautiful promise
this is. Can you go back over your life,
those times you've been so satisfied with the goodness of the Lord?
You could not want anything more. He's fulfilled your petitions. He's blessed your soul. He's
satisfied your longing desires. I will satisfy her poor." Yes,
God's people are poor. They have no righteousness of
their own, no strength of their own, no provision of their own,
but everything in Christ. May it be real encouragement
to those of you who feel so poor. poor Christians, poor prayers,
poor followers, but you have a rich Christ and a rich provision
for just such as you, the poor. Will the Lord bless these thoughts
to you and help you through the day to meditate upon them, the
provision for the Church of God, God's abundant blessing to be
upon it, and how that He satisfies His poor with bread. The Lord
add His blessing.