Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the first psalm that we read,
Psalm 100, and reading for our text, verses four and five. These verses you will find on
the outside of the chapel, on the sign outside it, and also
on our website as well when you come to that. Verses four and
five. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving
and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless
his name. For the Lord is good, his mercy
is everlasting, and his truth endureth. to all generations. Psalm 100 and verses 4 and 5. And I felt it appropriate to
speak from these two verses as we again come into the Lord's
house and remind ourselves why we have felt to put these verses
on the chapel And as we come into the house to remember that
it is the Lord's house. It is a psalm most suitable to
the entrance into the Lord's house. We shouldn't just come
into the Lord's house without thinking whose house it really
is. Remarkably, it is the only psalm
that actually has a title over it, a psalm of praise. Of course,
many psalms are psalms of praise, especially the last psalms, but
here the title is a psalm of praise. However much we may be looking
at ourselves as we come into the house of God, however discouraged
and low, and we read in Psalm 102 of the prayer of the afflicted,
when he is overwhelmed, poureth out his complaint before God. And however low we may be, yet
these verses direct us out of ourselves, and to look up and
to have reason for gladness and praise. Enter into his gates
with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful
unto him and bless his name. What a reminder and it may be
this morning we may be filled with something that drags us
down, makes us despondent, discouraged, heavy of heart. And yet when
we are faced with these verses, immediately we are given a reason
for a very different attitude and very different thoughts that
are within us. And it is in this way that we
are to enter into the courts of the Lord. When we are coming
to the house of God, how we come is important. That is what is
being set before us here. Not just enter into his gates,
but enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts
with praise. It does make a matter how we
actually come before the Lord. We are to remember in verse 3
the relationship that we actually have with the Lord, that He is
God, that it is He that has made us, not we ourselves, and that
we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. How easy it is
to come under that condemnation, thou thoughtest that I was altogether
one like unto thyself. But God is greatly to be feared
in the assembly of the saints, to be heard in reverence of all
them that are about him. And this psalm that speaks of
coming to the Lord's house, it reminds us as to who the Lord
is and what his relationship to us is and what ours is to
him. We are coming into the courts
of the Lord. The courts of the Lord are the
Lord's house. In the Old Testament, we were
given the types of the tabernacle, and then later the temple. We read a most solemn thing with
Manasseh, that wicked king of Israel. King of Judah, and how
that in the courts of the Lord's house, we read in chapter 21
and verse 5 of the second book of Kings, and he built altars
for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of
the Lord. And so we're told there, not
only of what Manasseh did, but when we read courts, as we do
here, enter into his courts. It is the house of the Lord. And what is emphasized as well,
in the tabernacle, the temple, there was two courts to that
house. Now there are many types and
shadows that are associated with that, but particularly in relation
to gathering in his courts here, We remember that there was the
veil that was between the sanctuary, which the priests, they went
in regularly, every day, accomplishing the service of God. But then
there was the veil, and then there was the holiest of all,
and there was the ark, and that was only entered once a year.
When our Lord died, that veil was rent in twain from the top
to the bottom, And the way into the holiest of all then was made
open and made known. And our Lord is in those heavenly
courts. We are in his earthly courts. Those who have gone before us,
they are in heaven. They are in those courts. But
it's a sacred thing to think that there is one house, there
is one Lord, and of course the tabernacle is a type of our Lord. The Lord said, destroy this temple
and I'll raise it up again in three days. But in the Lord Jesus
Christ, those that are here below in these earthly courts, and
those that are in heaven in his heavenly courts, are part of
that same building, the Lord's building, the Lord's temple. And we can gather with freeness
here below. When we shall be called above,
the Lord knows when that shall be. But it's a blessing to be
able to come and enter as the Old Testament type was, so freely
accomplishing the service of God in the earthly courts. And it is a privilege, it is
a blessing for us to be able to do so and to see each other
again, those of us able to be here and to gather in the Lord's
house. We have also set forth in this
psalm of the everlasting mercy of God, that which shall never
ever wear out. And if we truly know how undeserving
we are of anything from the Lord, then that will be a very precious
thing to us. We come into the Lord's house,
not with our good deeds, our works, our righteousnesses, but
we come seeking mercy, mercy through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the last verse here, in the
last clause of it, his truth endureth to all generations. Sometimes we have the young that
come past the chapel here, engage them in conversation, and their
thoughts are, well, this is the 21st century. These things don't
belong to us. Sadly, some of the chapels that
have closed have been turned into museums, and it almost then
would seem as if it be a message where this is something of the
past, this is a history thing, it doesn't belong to the present.
But the Lord is the same and his truth endureth to all generations,
to this generation, to the next generation, to our children and
their children's children, it doesn't wear out, it doesn't
change. And though there are few that
desire the ways of the Lord, the ways of the Lord are still
right, and they are still to be sought after. Man still has
a soul to be saved or lost. He still has heaven or hell before
him, We still have the Judgment Day before us and there's no
man ever that walked or came into this world that will escape
that Judgment Day. And so we have need of those
truths that are proclaimed here, those truths that are proclaimed
and set forth in the Word of God, for all generations and
as we gather into the house of God may we particularly remember
that it is his house and it is in this way I want to so much
dwell this morning in looking at this word because what is
emphasized throughout the psalm All the time it is His. The Lord is the one that is set
forth right through the psalm. Confining our remarks just to
the words of our text, we read, enter into His gates with thanksgiving
and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto him, and bless
his name. For the Lord is good, his mercy
is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations. And the Lord is central, and
we need not be surprised at this, because in all the scriptures,
is the Lord Jesus Christ. They are they that glorify him,
they show him forth in all the types, the shadows, in the gospels,
in the epistles, in the histories, everything is centers in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And especially when we come into
his house, we read that in his temple everyone shall speak of
his glory. If we go into the houses and
the places of this world, then we'll hardly find anyone, if
anyone, that will speak of the glory of the Lord. But when we
come amongst the people of the Lord, it is a pleasure when there
is that one accord in the glory of the Lord. It has struck us
recently in our family readings, in Acts, Whenever the assemblies
were spoken of as coming together, they came together with one accord. It was that one desire, unanimous
aim of glorifying the Lord and meeting in his name. And so with this sermon, with
these two verses here, It is the Lord himself, the Lord himself. Now I want then to look with
the Lord's help at three points in these two verses. Firstly,
where we are entering. We are entering into his gates
and his courts. And then secondly, how we are
to enter And we are set forth in the ways there with thanksgiving
and with praise. And then thirdly, the reasons
that are given for entry. We'll look at those as we come
to it. Now I do feel very much that
we are gathered together as a part congregation. And I don't want
those that have been unable to gather with us today to feel
that there is any pressure when you're not able to or fearful
in the present pandemic to come out to the house of God. We know where the love of the
house of God is. This is very much felt that you
cannot be in the house of God. But we are so thankful that when
we gather around the Word, and as we have been doing for the
last three or four months, we trust we've known the blessing
of the Lord in that way. And now we're in his house, we
look for that blessing too. So firstly though, we come to
this Word where? We are entering, we are entering
into his gates and into his courts. That is the Lord's. They do not belong unto man. It is the Lord's courts and the
Lord's gates. We think of the Old Testament
and the Lord's institution of the worship for the children
of Israel and the design of the tabernacle and the making of
that tabernacle and how those very specific directions were
given as to who was able to minister in each part and when of that
tabernacle. In one sense it was very restrictive
and really highlights the freeness with which we can gather and
do gather in a gospel day and though the Lord himself is of
no walls confined yet the Lord has been pleased to so bless
the gathering of the people together in his dear name. He's exhorted
us not to forsake that when we are healthy and strong and are
able to and He has given that as iron sharpeneth iron, so the
countenance of a man his friend. We bless the Lord that as the
New Testament church was formed and the apostles, they went firstly
to the synagogues on the Jewish Sabbath and then they preached
to them and they spoke to them the words of the Lord. And then
as those churches were established, we read then that they met together
on the first day of the week, the day when the Lord arose from
the dead, the day when he first appeared to the disciples who
were gathered in the upper room through fear of the Jews. And
Jesus came and stood in the midst and he spoke peace to them. They
were gathered in fearfulness, maybe, how we are feeling today
with some degree of fearfulness. They were fearful of the Jews. We may be fearful of the infection
and the virus, but the Lord came and he came into the midst of
them. Dear Thomas, who wasn't there that first time, he had
to wait for the next week before again the Lord met in their assemblies
and the Lord established the meeting on the first day of the
week and a gathering where they could meet together free from
the cumberance and free from the pressures that the world
has to offer. Come ye yourselves apart and
rest a while gathering around the word of the Lord. And so we have the gathering
together and the buildings like the tabernacle and like the temple
that were dedicated for worship they were as candlesticks. We see in the revelation that
John was given the vision of the seven golden candlesticks
and of the seven stars and the interpretation was given that
the candlesticks were the churches, the stars were the pastors, the
ministers, they were in the Lord's hand, and those candlesticks,
they were the seven churches, types of the one church, and
yet gathered in local churches and local gatherings together,
the Lord in the midst of them. It is his church, It is his gatherings
and it is his people and his servants. And the Lord institutes
those in the church, the deacons, the elders, the ministers, and
the Lord adds unto his church daily such as should be saved. And those that gather, then they
gather as one, a people that are brought together into one
place and a sacred thing where we can have a building that is
set apart for that. We think of the beginnings of
the building here and at first of course it was just two houses
and the church was formed up High Street in Cranbrook in Shepherd's
House. a house that then had a lot of
land and in it there was a pond, there still is a pond, that would
be possibly the pond that was used for the baptising the first
members of this church. It was formed on the 20th of
April 1780 and I am the 10th pastor. But in the summer of
1787, The congregation, the church,
moved from meeting in that house to the building that we have
here. It had been before purchased and changed from being two houses
into the building that it is today. Of course, we have added
on the porch, which is not original, and the kitchen and the toilet
areas. But the main sanctuary and the
pulpit, with its leaning, And all the quaint features are the
original. You still have the candlesticks
where the lighting was first and then the gas stops on the
side of the pulpit when we had gas. And now we have the electric. And many changes have been over
the years. But it's been a place that the
congregation, the church that was first formed in that house,
then were able to come and to meet together more or less uninterrupted
except for just a few years in its history for those years until
now. and we are thankful to the Lord
for that and to be able to have a place to gather in and we would
look upon it as the Lord's house, his gates and his courts. In the scriptures there's many
mentions concerning gates. In Psalm 107 we have mention
of the gates of death. How very solemn for each of us
at the moment those gates are shut but one day they will open
and we must go through them. We're thinking of when we have
been in our houses and those still worshipping in the homes
that the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings
of Jacob. And yes, many of us have been
so blessed in our homes and we're thankful for them. But when we
think of the gates of Zion, we think of the Lord's house. And
the Lord said he loves that. And he loves that gathering of
his people. We have in the Psalms that beautiful
picture of the Lord entering into glory and the lifting up
of those everlasting gates and doors. In Psalm 24, lift up your
heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory,
the Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle, lift up
your heads so ye gates even, lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in. And a beautiful
picture of the arising and ascending into heaven of our Lord having
finished the work that his father gave him to do, and the triumph
and the glory as the Lord came and took his throne in glory
as finishing that work. What a wonder, what a spectacle
as the angel has seen all that happened here below and then
to have the Lord return unto glory and there's this beautiful
picture of those gates all being opened up. And so we have many
different mention of gates we have in Psalm 107 again, the
gates of brass setting forth as the entrance into heaven by
prayer. It seems to be sometimes like
brass and iron and yet how different when those are opened and we
have that sweet access in prayer. And then in Psalm 118, the gates
of righteousness that opened up to the people of God. This
is the name wherewith he the Lord shall be called the Lord
our righteousness and this is the name wherewith she the church
of God shall be called the Lord our righteousness and that is
opened up unto a believer. The apostle delights to open
up in Romans 10 of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that
which his own countrymen were ignorant of and yet which had
been revealed to him that that is the righteousness we need,
not our own works, but Christ's. And when we have the idea here
then of gates, a gate is an entrance, a way into something, something
that shuts and something that opens. And the Lord is he that
shuts and no man can open and opens and no man can shut. And
the Lord himself in John 10, is set forth as the door, I am
the door. And if any man enter, he shall
come in and find pasture, the door to the sheepfold, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so when we have the house
of God, when we enter into his courts, they are his courts and
his gates. the place that he has instituted,
not man's design, and the place, really, where many a poor sinner
has been able to testify that which has been shut to them has
been opened to them. That which has been hidden has
been revealed. Christ has been shown. There's
been opened up to them things that they never knew existed,
never knew, at all. You know in nature's darkness
we know nothing of the treasures and glories and beauties of the
Lord. But when the Lord opens that
to a poor sinner and opens those gates and shows them what we're
in, how precious and lovely that is, even in a day of grace, even
here below, to see the beauties of the Lord. Our Lord spoke of
Those that found the pearl of great price, that sold everything
so that they could buy it, or the treasure in the field. Those
that have seen something of the glory and the beauty of the treasure
of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the word of God. They love
it and they love the Lord and they desire to know him more
and to have him revealed to their souls. Their heart, as those
two on the way to Emmaus found, burns within them. while Jesus
talks with them by the way. And then we think of what Bunyan,
in his Pilgrim's Progress, he pictures when Christian and hopeful,
they entered into those gates of heaven. And Bunyan, in his
quaint way, he says that as they went in, He looked in and he
had a little glimpse of the glory of that place. And he said, I
wish myself among them. Well, now he is among them. But
may we see the glory of the Lord here below, as in the glass darkly
and as in the shadows, and then have the blessed prospect of
seeing him face to face The Apostle says, we see now through a glass
darkly, but then face to face, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him. And absent from the body, present
with the Lord, and to behold the glory of the Lord, where
the Lord gives grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. And when we come then into his
earthly courts we come into the courts here below that are his
courts and where we love those courts and where in those courts
there are the gates that open to us the precious truths of
Emmanuel the Lord Jesus Christ then we may have a sweet token
and a sweet hope that one day those courts above shall be open
to us and we enter into them No more sin, no more going out,
no more virus, no more Satan to keep us from those courts,
but forever with them and forever with the Lord. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving
and into his courts with praise. How we are to enter then is our
second point. with thanksgiving and with praise. A psalm like this of course is
looking forward and is looking forward to gospel days. What a testimony to what our
Lord declared upon the cross, that it is finished. That the
work of our Lord Jesus Christ is a finished work. And therefore
we can sing and praise and give thanksgiving for what the Lord
has done. We said at the beginning how
low we might be, how discouraged because of sin and working in
our members. But the Lord came and he came
to deliver and to save his people from their sins. and the empty
tomb that gives assurance of that. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, and we know that we are all under that sentence. Every one of us shall die. It
was said to Adam, in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou
shalt surely die. In dying thou shalt die. And
a little later on there in the first chapters of Genesis, we
had the long list of those that live for 900, 800 years or more. And then again and again we read,
and he died, and he died. Rehearsing the most solemn fact
a sentence executed by God, a sentence brought about, and there's not
one of the human race that shall not die. Yes, we have Enoch and
we have Elijah that were types of those that shall be on the
earth when the Lord returns, that shall not die in the sense
that we shall die, but They shall be changed, caught up with the
Lord in the air. And like Enoch and like Elijah,
were changed. Their bodies weren't left on
the earth. They were brought to heaven. But our Lord is the only one
that by his own power and by his own might, he raised from
the dead. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. this commandment have I received
of my father.' And so what our Lord did was to die in the place
of his people. He himself did not need to die
and therefore could willingly offer himself as a substitute
for others. He says, I lay down my life for
the sheep. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, there more so I must bring. There is the
fold of the Jews, the fold of the Gentiles. They are each of
his sheep, his pasture. He says, most solemnly, the scribes
and the Pharisees, ye are not of my sheep, therefore ye hear
not my word. And there we have a mark of the
people of God, the sheep of God. My sheep, they hear my voice
and they follow me. And it is the voice of the gospel
the proclaiming of what Christ has done, that the Lord commissioned
his disciples to go and 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 the message of the
good news of salvation through Christ Jesus the Lamb, that he
himself has made atonement on the cross for the sins of his
people. And whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but should have everlasting life. And it is in view of that that
we are to come into the courts of the Lord with thanksgiving
and with praise. In one sense, we are to look
out of self and out of ourselves and unto the Lord, We are coming
into the place where the good news of salvation is set forth. Our Lord said, I am come, not
to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And as it were, that
could be written right across the doors of the house of God.
You come into the house of God, where God came not to destroy
men's lives, but to save them. And there is only one name given
among men, whereby we must be saved. Our Lord said, if you
believe not that I am he, you shall perish in your sins. Whereas in the Lord's courts,
in what the Lord has done, there is salvation out of Christ. God is a devouring fire. Out of Christ there is only death. We think of the type of Noah's
ark and the way God saved Noah and all that were with him in
the ark. Inside that ark of which they
were shut in by God, they were safe. Outside of it, everything
perished, everything died. The world then was destroyed
by water. The world at the end of the world
shall be destroyed by fire. And those that are found in Christ
will be as safe as Noah was in the ark, safe in him. We think of those that the Lord
has already taken home. The righteous perisheth, no man
layeth it to heart, but they are taken from the wrath to come. The very taking of the Lord,
of his people to be with him, they are kept safe. They are
free from being harmed from anything here below. The Lord said, fear
not them which kill the body, and after that there is nothing
more they can do. But fear him that after he hath
killed hath power to cast both body and soul into hell. Yea, fear him. And so with the
message of salvation, it has, like in Noah's day, two sides
to it. On one side in the Lord Jesus
Christ there is safety, there is salvation, there's deliverance.
On the other side there is death, there's destruction. There is
no hope for a soul outside of Christ. There is one name given
among men whereby we must be saved. Now I draw your attention
to how this is set forth in this verse here. It is not, be thankful
for something, but in verse four it is, be thankful unto him. Be thankful unto him. In our
last point, there are things that we'll look at that we are
to be thankful for, but the emphasis in this second point, and which
is found here in verse four, is be thankful unto him. If someone gives us a gift, we
can be thankful for the gift, but not be thankful unto the
person who gave us the gift. We think of the ten lepers that
were healed, there was only one returned to give glory unto God,
that returned giving thanks unto God. And yet there were ten healed,
where are the nine? And so the emphasis is coming
into the Lord's courts, rather than thinking in the first place
of what it is that we are giving thanks for. that we are giving
thanks unto him, that our eyes are up unto the Lord, and especially
in its wide sense, we give thanks unto the God of salvation. Unto that great provision, thanks
be unto God for his unspeakable gift, and that unspeakable gift
is the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we join it with this,
be thankful unto him, in one sense it is to him as well and
for him. God has provided his only begotten
son and that greatest of gifts and of blessings when we come
into his earthly courts may we never ever forget that we desired
in our first hymn that we might have the Lord's presence, known
and felt, in the house of God. We know the Lord has promised
it, we expect it, but we desire to feel it. The dear disciples
had to tarry at Jerusalem until they were endued with power from
on high. And when they went forth then,
when the Holy Spirit had fallen, and the spirit he shall receive
of mine, and shall show it unto you. He made the Lord Jesus Christ
precious to thousands in that early church. Three thousand
at first, and then five thousand at another time. It is then to
be thankful unto him. And then it is to bless, bless
his name, We are to enter into his courts with thanksgiving
and praise, and in doing that, be thankful unto him, but to
bless his name. In these Old Testament times,
the name of Jesus was hidden as a secret. The times that our
Lord in pre-incarnation appearances appeared to Jacob, Gideon, and
others, Manoah and his wife, they asked after his name. And
it was said, why askest thou after my name, seeing it is secret? And yes, we have the names of
Emmanuel, the Eternal Father, the Prince of Peace. We have
the names that are given us there in Isaiah and throughout the
scriptures. But the name of Jesus is not
known until we come to the New Testament, we come to Matthew. Yes, we have his type in Joshua,
meaning the same as the one that brought them into the promised
land. But his name shall be called
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And if we are left in any doubt,
Paul, when he writes to the Philippians, says that he has given him a
name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow. And so when we have in our psalm
here and bless his name, we bless the name of Jesus. Paul says when he writes to the
Hebrews, We see not yet all things put unto him that is under man.
Poor fallen man who once was given dominion, but now does
not have dominion. And then he puts, but we see
Jesus. And that makes all the difference.
When we get a glimpse of him, when we see him, Joshua, and
when they came into the promised land, He had the angel of the
Lord, the Lord Jesus, stand up, drawn sword in his hand. Art
thou for us or for our adversaries as captain of the Lord's host?
And it was the Lord that went before them. And it is so with
the Church of God. Salvation, there is salvation,
says the apostles, in none other but in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when we enter into the
courts of the Lord, his gates and his courts, how are we to
enter? It is with thanksgiving and praise. How is the thanksgiving to be?
It's to be unto him, unto the Lord. And what is his praise
for? The praise is to be in the form
of blessing, his name, extolling his name and lifting up his name
on high. This is the name the father loves
to hear his children plead and all such pleading he approves
and blesses them indeed, says the hymn writer. Let us look
then at our third point, the reason that is given here in
verse 5. Whenever the Lord, through the
Word, exhorts to anything, He always gives reasons. If He gives
a fear not, He gives a reason why we should not fear. And each
time, He gives us that which backs it up, that faith may lay
hold upon it. And so we have three things,
three reasons that are given in this verse. Firstly, that
the Lord is good. For the Lord is good. Now we read that the Lord is
good to all, that tender mercies are over all his works. He is the saviour of all men,
especially of them that believe. And we are to remember that.
In this time of the pandemic, There's been many that have been
wonderfully healed. They've been spared from death. Some have had the virus so lightly
they've hardly known they've had it. Others, they've been very, very
ill. Others, they've been taken. The
Lord has been sovereign in how he has dealt with this. Some
of them have been the Lord's people that have asked for the
Lord's protection. The Lord has given it to them.
They've asked for his healing and he's healed them. But we
are never to think, well, for the Lord's people, it is the
Lord's goodness that has healed them. But for those that do not
ask and do not acknowledge the Lord or believe on him, there's
another force that's happening, the force of nature. and natural
forces, no. I am the Lord that healeth thee. And when our Lord was on earth,
he miraculously worked many healings. That power also was given to
the apostles. And that power of healing, whether
the Lord uses manes or whether he doesn't use manes, Who is
he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth
it not? And however much we might try
to fight against the Lord, we think of one of the kings that
sent to Elisha, I think it was, shall I come off this bed of
sickness? And he was told no, that he should
not come off that bed of sickness. The Lord knew what was to be
ordered there. And whether people will acknowledge
it or not, all that have been healed have been healed by the
goodness and mercy of God. And the Lord is sovereign. And
some of the Lord's dear people The Lord has used the virus to
take them home to himself, not out of anger, not out of wrath,
but in his providence, his goodness, to take them from this earthly
scene and to bring them to be with himself. But may we remember
this, that the Lord is good. He maketh the sun to shine upon
the just and unjust, him that serveth God, him that serveth
him not. He openeth his hand, he satisfieth
the desire of every living thing. The Lord says, we are to consider
the sparrows. They don't have storehouse, they
don't have barn, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. i.e. not much better than thy, and
all the time we have set before us a good God, he would be just
if he cut us all off, if he sent us all immediately to hell. Death
is what we are under the sentence of, that is our deserts. The
blessings of salvation are not because any deserve it at all,
it's all of mercy. And God is not under duty and
indebted to any, but in his goodness and kindness, he gives mercies
and goodness to mankind. Yes, sin is the root cause of
all the evil and all the sorrows, but the Lord has been pleased
to alleviate in many cases and in many places, use those very
sicknesses and sorrows to awaken people to their need of a Saviour
and bring them to seek Him and to turn unto Him. And in that
way, many of the Lord's people will bless the Lord for His goodness
in not preserving them from an evil or from a sickness, But
for using that, the psalmist says, before I was afflicted,
I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. And the Lord using
those afflictions and trials for good. We know, says Paul,
writing to the Romans, that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them that are the called, according
to his purpose. So the first reason is given
is the Lord is good and he is good in a special sense to his
people in saving. David, at coming to the end of
Psalm 23, he says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. The second reason given is that
his mercy is everlasting. It lasts for time, it lasts from
one generation to another, and that mercy that is obtained here
below is a mercy that will endure for the countless ages of eternity. The Apostle, when he writes to
the Corinthians, that beautiful chapter on the resurrection and
He says in chapter 15 that if in this life only we have hope
in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. How is it possible
that we could have hope in Christ and it is just for this life?
Well there are those that this life is their home and they want
to get on in this life and they think And it used to be said
by some in past generations, well, it was good for business
if you went to the house of God on the Lord's Day. In generations
times when it was seen to be the right thing to do to the
house of God, well, if you're a businessman and you wanted
to keep in with people, you were seen to go to the house of God,
so people came to your shop. And people just served the Lord
for the loaves and the fishes, for what they could get in this
world. But they weren't seeking that for eternity, for that which
was to come. And the apostle says, for all
men most miserable, our Lord reproved those that came and
followed him for the loaves and the fishes, wonderful as that
miracle and that provision was. They were in the presence of
one who was able to give them eternal life, was able to show
them mercy unto the uttermost, blot out their sins, pardon their
iniquities, and bring them to be with him, clothed in a righteousness
not of their own, but of his provision. And so that mercy
that is everlasting, we are to remember that. It is for eternity. The Lord shows us mercy here. We know that he will never take
that mercy away. The Lord help us to count our
mercies and especially those mercies that have brought us
to see and value, believe in and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The last then reason is that
his truth endureth to all generations. To all generations. While the
earth remaineth, sea, time, and harvest, summer and winter, cold
and heat, the Lord's promise is with his people to all generations. How different our generations
are. We think of those who had with
horse and cart the pictures of outside this chapel when it was
first built. And we think of, well, the candlesticks
here, and the evidence of how people lived in other generations. And our generation, with the
computers, the means of transmission, the means of worship as we have
today and throughout this time, and yet the Lord is the same
in every generation. It makes no difference. Sinners
are the same. They still need a saviour. We
still have a soul. We still need the salvation of
the Lord, and that truth endures. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
and today, and forever. And it is a blessed thing to
realise that the promise is unto you and your children, even as
many. as the Lord thy God shall call. And as thy days, so shall thy
strength be, not just as thy number of days, but the days
in which we live, the times in which we live. And sometimes
the strength that we need today is not physical strength, but
mental strength. And there's different ways that
we need that help from the Lord. but we need above everything
that help laid on the Lord to save our souls from sin, to bring
us into sweet communion and fellowship with him, to believe in him,
to the saving of our souls. And that truth endureth to all
generations. May the Lord help us to tell
it. to the generation following.
How careful the Lord was when he gave the institutions of the
Passover, when he had these pillar of stones raised up by Jordan. When your children ask you in
days to come, what meaneth these stones, what meaneth this service,
that ye are to tell them. And may we be held to tell to
the generation following the wonderful works of God, And as
we gather into his courts, we gather with this desire of praise,
thanksgiving, and with this expectation, the Lord will be here and the
Lord will bless us. May the Lord then bless this
word. Amen.