If you turn with me back to the
book of Acts, I would like to, if the Lord allows me to continue,
I'd like for us to look at Acts, this part of Acts that we just
read, in light of that remarkable verse. In verse 34 he says, the sure
mercies of David. I like to think about the sure
mercies of David. It can actually be also translated,
the holy things of David, the trustworthy things. It's a lovely
way to think about it, isn't it? The holy things of David,
the trustworthy things. The sure mercies of David. There is just so much as you
go on in life, that is a cause of disappointment, isn't it?
There are so many, so many of us have had expectations and
they are dashed. We find in all sorts of things
that we are let down in relationships, we are let down by politicians,
we feel let down by so much that's around us. We find that so much
of what we expect in and of ourselves is a disappointment to us. But
it's lovely, isn't it, to contemplate that in the Lord Jesus Christ
there are the sure mercies. I don't know about you, but do
you need mercy? God's children are mercy beggars. They are in need of mercy. We
are so thankful that there is in heaven, and seated on that
throne in heaven, there is that throne of grace. And we quote
those verses often, don't we? Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace in time of need. Mercy has been described as God
not giving us what we deserve, and grace as God giving us what
we haven't earned. It is a good description, but
it's a great picture of our God, isn't it? In so many areas of
life, We expect that when we get these things, and I don't
know about you, but I've sort of thought when I finally get
to this stage in life, then these things will unfold, and I'll
get to this stage in life and then these things will unfold.
And what I have found after my 65 years of expecting and expecting
and being disappointed, that I don't look very far any further. And in the mercy of the Lord,
if He would just cause us to look to the Lord Jesus and to
wait and find ourselves at rest on Him, then the expectations
of this world will be made much smaller. And the smaller they
are, the less likely they are to disappoint us. We do have
in our Lord Jesus Christ the sure mercies of David. The sure mercies of David. We look for things and find them.
We have a fuchsia bush that grows outside our kitchen window just
beside the sink, and I don't know if you ever noticed it,
but we always leave it grow sort of tall and scraggly because
it grows up above the window. And those little birds called
the eastern spinebill, they're just the cutest little birds.
They're the closest thing Australia has to a hummingbird. And it comes and they just, they
are nectar-drinking birds. That little bird, the fuchsia
bush, hasn't any flowers on it at the moment, but the stems
of the leaves and the young buds are actually red, so I was there
at the sink the other morning and there was this little honey-hooter
coming along and checking out all the red things on this bush,
and he went away disappointed. he'll come back soon enough and
there'll be flowers and he'll be there as our friend. They
know us so well that they're happy just to watch us watch
them. But so much of this life is meant by God to be disappointing
because we are meant by God, the children of God, to find
our all, to find our needs satisfied and met in the things of God
and not the things of this world. We do have to live here and live
before people in honesty and integrity But nevertheless, God's
children have their eyes fixed on heaven. Someone used to say,
didn't they, that someone is so heavenly minded that they
know earthly good. I haven't met anyone yet like
that. Let me know if you ever find one. But to be heavenly
minded is to be of enormous earthly good, isn't it? It's to look
to Him, to look to Him again and again. So if we go back to
our verses in chapter 13, before we get to the sure mercy of David
and look at it, we must remember that it comes as a result of
this work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sure mercies of David are
given to the Lord Jesus Christ, but they're not just given to
him. They're given to him and they're given to us. That's the
wonder of salvation, that everything that the Lord Jesus Christ earned,
he did it. He did it in conjunction with
his people. What he earns is ours as well. It's the remarkable wonder of
grace. We saw, Lord willing, last week
that the people in Israel, in Jerusalem, suffered that awful,
awful judgment of God, that they actually knew the Scriptures
off by heart, but didn't hear God, didn't hear God in them. And there are countless multitudes
in this world today that know the Scriptures, and seemingly
know them well, but if they don't know the Gospel and if they don't
know the Lord Jesus Christ of the Scriptures, they know nothing
of them. It's just words on a page. They can recite the history and
they can recite the verses. But without Him, there is no
life in them. Without Him, there is no spirit
in them. The words that the Lord Jesus
speaks to His people are spirit and life. And though they, verse
28, and though they found no cause of death in Him, They examined
him. They examined him as that lamb
to be slain. They examined him for three and
a half years. They even had one of his closest
associates to help them examine him. And they examined him up
and down. They examined everything he said.
And even he could declare to them, which of you, who of you
can accuse me of any sin? He stood before them as a lamb
exposed, and they found, according to God the Holy Spirit, they
found no cause of death in him, yet desired they, Pilate, that
he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled in
their slaying of Him, when they had fulfilled all that was written
of Him, as they were crucifying the Lord Jesus Christ, He led
them. He led them to recite Psalm 22
with Him. And as they crucified Him and
divided up His garments and drove those nails in and hung Him up
on the cross and walked by mocking Him, they were repeating It was
as if they had the script before them in that time of the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they fulfilled every single word
of it. They fulfilled all. Do you see
that? They fulfilled all that was written
of him. They took him down from the tree
and laid him in a sepulcher. That's what man did to him. But
God raised him from the dead. Paul will go on in Romans 4,
won't he, to say that he was put to death because of our sins
and he was raised because of our justification. God raised
him from the dead. God had to raise him from the
dead because the debt had been paid. The sins of all of God's
people which were laid on the Lord Jesus Christ from before
the foundation of the world were laid on Him and He suffered the
infinite wrath of God. He suffered that punishment,
inflicted by men but yet inflicted most by God. What a wonder to
think, brothers and sisters, that before I ever came into
this world, all of my sins were forgiven. Gone. It was the sins, wasn't it? The
sins and the law that condemned him. And now no more can my sins
condemn me. God raised him from the dead.
And he was seen, verse 31, he was seen many days of them which
came up with him from Galilee. to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses
under the people. There are a particular group
of people who were chosen to be his witnesses. And he was
only ever seen, I remind you, he was only ever seen by believers. He only ever came to those who
were his own, those that he had died for on Calvary's tree, those
whom he now represents in heaven. And we declare, we declare unto
you, these people in this city of Antioch in the middle of Turkey,
we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was
made to the fathers, the promise that was made to the fathers,
the promises in Genesis chapter 12 that were made to Abraham,
those promises that began and continue in the eternal covenant
with the high wills of God. He says to Abraham, Get thee
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's
house, unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of
thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name
great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse him that curses thee. The promises made to the
fathers are reiterated to Isaac, they are reiterated to Jacob. If you turn with me just briefly
to Galatians chapter 3, we'll see that these promises actually
embody something much more, don't they? Abraham saw that land and
he went right through that land, and in Hebrew it says he was
looking for a city that had foundations. He'd seen a lot of cities there
that had some sort of foundation. He was looking for a city that
had a foundation. His builder and maker was God.
Abraham was looking way beyond the physical things of this world.
So Abraham believed God in Galatians 3.6. He believed God. And so, in the scripture, I'm
sorry, verse six, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to
him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. They whose
origin, that word of, means origin, doesn't it? They are the same
as the children of Abraham. And the scripture, for seeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before
the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all the nations
be blessed. So then, they which be of faith,
are blessed with faithful Abraham, for as many are as of the works
of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall
live by faith, and the law is not of faith. The man that doeth
them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. What's the promise? That we might
receive the promise of the Spirit. The promise is the promise of
the Holy Spirit coming and indwelling people and revealing the Lord
Jesus Christ to them. and it comes in a covenant. If
you just read on, Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though
it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disanulleth
or addeth thereunto. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, so all the promises
are wrapped up in one person. All the promises of God are yay
and amen in him. The promises are promises made
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I say this, that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law is not
going to disannul. If we go down to verse 26 of chapter
three, for ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptised into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. See, the promise,
the promise is to be a child of God. The promise is to be
like Abraham. God was his friend. God was his
friend. If you be Christ, if you belong
to him, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the
promise. Heirs according to the promise. We go down to verse 4 of the
next chapter, but when the fullness of time was come, which was just
read about in Acts 13, when the fullness of time was come, God
sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And I love this next verse, it
completely undoes all of, so much of modern theology, doesn't
it? And because ye are sons, because you are always sons,
God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Because you are sons, not because
you become sons, because you are sons, God sent forth the
Spirit of His Son into your hearts. Have you cried, Abba Father?
Do you cry, Abba Father? It's the intimate expression
that the Lord Jesus Christ used in speaking of His Father. and
we can speak it to children of God. Wherefore thou art no more
a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. I was talking to Simon about
it yesterday. We are joint heirs with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything that the Lord Jesus
Christ inherits, we inherit together with him. What's his inheritance? Everything. A universe is his
inheritance. A people is his inheritance. A people that he will live with
forever in a new creation is his inheritance. And as we see,
these sure mercies of David that we come to look at, They are
the fulfilment of the promises, aren't they? They are the fulfilment
of the promises. They are the holy things of David,
the trustworthy things of David. It's receiving the Spirit by
faith. It's to have the Lord Jesus Christ
as a King. The king who has a dominion,
the kingdom of God. As we've seen in Acts, it is
sure. The king's dominion is sure. He does reign and rule over all
things. And he says again and again in
the scriptures, I will be a God to them and they shall be to
me a people. That's his inheritance, isn't
it? He will have a people. He will display the glories of
His holiness and the glories of His character, the very character
of God in the fulfilment of promises to be with His people. That was
Paul's longing, wasn't it? That I might know Him, that I
might be in relationship with Him, that I might be found in
Him. The great desire of the believers
is the great fulfilment of the sure mercies of David. You might have noticed there's
a pattern in these mercies being revealed to us as we go through
this sermon of Paul's. It's again and again, it's promises
and deliverance. God promises a shepherd, and
God's shepherds his sheep. And in the work of redemption
and in the work of salvation, The great glory of God is revealed
and his character is revealed in ways that could never ever
be known by Adam. The angels wonder at the things
that are revealed to God's children. His character, His faithfulness,
His righteousness, His justice, His loving kindness, His mercy,
His grace, His sovereignty, His salvation, His deliverance, His
forgiveness. It's all to do with His name,
isn't it? Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. That's a sure promise. It's a
sure promise. And all this focuses just on
one man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the kingdom so evidently
from all of the scriptures and from the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a spiritual kingdom. And he does reign. He reigns
in the lives of his people. He reigns over all the events
and circumstances of your life. And God's people love it that
way. I love the fact that he reigns. He was our great David, the Lord
Jesus Christ. David typified him in so many
remarkable ways. One of the great The great blessings
of God-given faith is that we are caused to look outside of
ourselves. All of salvation is seen outside
of us. All of it's done in the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we're continually
saying to people, cast your anchor outside of the boat. People are
looking for sure things inside themselves. But there's nothing
there, there's nothing there. We cast our anchor out of the
boat and we let it hold fast onto a rock. And then the waves
might come, the billows might roll over us, but we will actually
be there, secure. Secure upon a rock. As I said earlier, David typified
the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember the story well in
when Samuel came to that family. David was so little esteemed
by that family that they didn't even bother to bring him along.
He had so many other very, very impressive sons, did Jesse. This
one was just left as a young boy looking after the sheep.
He wasn't even worthy to be called. He wasn't even, at that stage,
esteemed by Samuel. Samuel looked at the others and
said, surely this one, look at that, look at that man, surely
that's the one. Look how handsome he is. But
David wasn't known, except by revelation. He wasn't known until he was
divinely called, as did, was the Lord Jesus Christ. His brothers
mocked him at the battle, didn't they, when he went down there
and said, is there not a cause? The glory of God's name was being
mocked by the Philistine. And that's what the spirit of
God stirred up in David to go and do battle with him. To have
our God mocked should stir the hearts of God's people. should stir us to have him proclaimed
as he really is. What did they say of the Lord
Jesus Christ? They declared him to be a Nazarene,
a Galilean, a Samaritan. They said that he was born in
fornication. They'd never forgotten all the
rumours that went around Nazareth in those early days. And David,
of course, was a worrier, and how could someone like the Lord
Jesus Christ, a carpenter's son, someone so poor, so meek, so
lowly, so seemingly humble, how could he be the promised Messiah? But he was a stone that was rejected
by the builders that has become the head of the corner. And this
is the Lord's doing. And it's marvellous in our eyes.
Of course, David is renowned for defeating that great enemy,
Goliath. And our Lord Jesus Christ has
both destroyed death. He's destroyed death, brothers
and sisters, for his people. And he's destroyed him who had
the power of death. And he's put On his cross, the
law of God that can accuse us of every sin and accuse us rightly
and justly, Satan never has to lie in accusations against you. David. Returned from his great victory,
didn't he? He took Goliath's sword and severed his head and
returned with that gory trophy. The Lord Jesus Christ went to
Calvary's tree and he had, as Colossians chapter
2 said, he had a triumph. He didn't go He didn't go as
a victim, our Lord Jesus Christ. He went as a triumph, triumphal
king. Having spoiled principalities
and powers, Colossians 2.15, he made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it. It was a triumph, wasn't it?
And the Lord Jesus Christ, like David, having won that victory,
having been anointed by the Lord, he gathered to himself a people. But he spent, he spent even though
openly victorious, he spent all that time, that 20 years at least
that David spent, before he could assume his throne. He had to
pass, as all of God's children do, he had to pass through persecution
on his way. The Lord Jesus Christ is still
a rejected saviour, isn't he? He's still a mocked king. May it not be on account of us
that our great saviour is mocked. You only have to proclaim Him
in His glory and His sovereignty, and you'll see the hearts of
men exposed in ways that will shock you. There is enmity against
Him. He will have the reign. He will rule. See, our salvation
rests in a rejected Saviour. Our salvation rests in a gospel
that's despised by men and despised by religious men. Our salvation
rests in a hunted Christ. But Israel looked, didn't they?
True Israel looked to David and not to Saul. He is, He was cast
out, but He is the one hope of our souls. David, like the Lord
Jesus Christ, was an anointed king. David, like the Lord Jesus
Christ, is in a covenantal relationship with the Father. We quote those
words often from his deathbed, didn't we? That the Lord has
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered and sure in every detail. 2 Samuel 23.5. They are beautiful
words. May they be the words that the
Lord would write upon our lips. As we contemplate meeting him,
he says, although my house be not so with God, yet he hath
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. So the sure mercies of David
are the covenant promises of God. God has made with me. He made the covenant. And it's
ordered in all things ensure, and this is all, this is all
my salvation and all my desire. Is it all your salvation and
all your desire? The sure mercies of David in
the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ is a living, breathing relationship
with him. The great desire of David, the
great desire of the children of God is to have him near, to
be in his company. to have Him put His arms around
you, and as Isaiah 40 says, to carry you, to carry you through
the storms of this world, to be with Him, to be in Him. The sure mercies of David are
the sure mercies of a relationship. When we look beyond all of our
doing and praying and giving and other things and we just
look to Him, we look to the Lord Jesus Christ, David's great son,
and we look to Him for everything. I love what someone said, if
you can't look to Him in faith, look to Him for faith. If you
can't look to Him for repentance, You can't look to Him in repentance,
look to Him for repentance. You can't look to Him in love,
look to Him for love. We love Him because He first
loved us. He is the found. Everything of
salvation, everything of our relationship with God is in Him
and found in Him. That's why we lean on Him. We rest the hope of our eternal
souls just in one person. One person alone is all my desire
and all my salvation. Simeon In Luke chapter 1, had
that little baby brought to him in the temple, didn't he? In Luke chapter 2, sorry. And he says, he took him up in
his arms, just a baby. He'd had a promise from God.
that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's
Christ. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
then took he him in his arms and blessed God, and said, Now
let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word,
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
Whatever comes in this life, if mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
I'll have the sure mercies of David. I'll have something that's
sure and certain, as sure as Simeon had. I'd just like us
briefly, sadly, to briefly look at some of the passages of scripture
that speak of these sure mercies of David. So if you turn with
me to Isaiah 55, because the verse is a quotation. from Isaiah
55 verse 3 and says, incline your ear and come unto me and
hear and your souls shall live and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. If we go back, just look at a
couple of verses in Isaiah 54, in 54.7 it says, for a small
moment I have forsaken thee, but with great mercies I will
gather thee. Part of the sure mercies of David
is that in the revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's a
revealing of him gathering people to himself. That's what church
is about, it's being gathered by God. Only church really happens
when God gathers his people. In verse 8, In little wrath I
hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness
will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord. So the mercies of David
are sure mercies. They are great mercies. They
are mercies that are attached to the everlasting kindness of
our God. When it comes to their righteousness,
I love Isaiah 54, 17, it says, no weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against
thee in judgment thou shall condemn. This is a heritage. This is the
heritage of the servants of the Lord. Their righteousness, the
servants of the Lord, their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. It's one of the great blessings
of the sure mercies of David, isn't it? Our righteousness.
Our righteousness is of me. I don't have any personal righteousness
to defend. I don't have any personal righteousness
to proclaim. God's children have the very
righteousness of God. That's sufficient. That's sufficient
for God's children. As I said earlier, God's children
are mercy beggars. 55 verse 1, ho, everyone that
thirsts us. Are you thirsty? God's children
are made to be thirsty, to hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Come ye to the waters. Buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine
and milk without money and without price. That without price means
without bartering. Don't barter your righteousness
and your good deeds before God. It'll come as a free and sovereign
gift from his hand, not on account of something that we do by our
activities. It is a grace gift. Why, wherefore, do you spend
money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which
satisfies not? Dear oh dear, how true that is,
there's so much that goes on in religion and in our lives,
sadly. Hearken diligently. unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me, hear, and your soul shall live. So proclaiming the gospel, we're
just continually saying to people, will you come and hear? Will
you come and hear? You never know when you come
and hear, you actually might hear the voice of God. And what
a wonderful voice it is. I will make, says our God, I
will make an everlasting covenant with you. Just as he said to
David, he'll make an everlasting covenant with David. He'll build
that house, you can read about it in second, 2 Samuel chapter
7. He will come to the God's people
and he will make these remarkable promises to them. The mercy beggars
are gathered, verse 5. The nations Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run
unto thee, because the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of
Israel, for he hath glorified thee. The nations, they'll run. They'll
run to him. You don't have to go flogging
the Lord Jesus as if it's a McDonald's hamburger that needs advertising.
The Lord Jesus Christ, in the proclamation of the Gospel, will
cause His people to run to Him. And what do the mercy beggars
do? They seek, seek ye the Lord while
he may be found. What a great promise from our
God. Call upon him while he is near. He comes near to people
in the preaching of the gospel, which is why Paul in Acts 13
warned those people. Call on him while he is near.
Verse seven, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man
his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord. Return, return,
brothers and sisters, return unto the Lord, and He will have
mercy on him and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."
So the mercies are great. The mercies are associated with
the everlasting kindness. The mercies come to those whose
righteousness is of Him. The mercies come to those who
are in an everlasting covenant. They are sure mercies because
they're God's mercies and they come by a covenant-making and
a covenant-keeping God. And they're blood-bought mercies.
Let's not forget that these mercies that are spoken of in Acts are
blood-bought mercies. And He works in the heart of
His people, doesn't He? He says, seek me. And God's children
seek him. He says, call upon him. And God's
children call upon him. He says, return. And God's children
call out on him to cause them to return. And he will have mercy
on them. And there is an abundant pardon. In verse Eight, there is a great
description of our God, isn't it? He's a sovereign, supreme,
superlative God and He's known by revelation. He says, for my
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down and
the snow from heaven and returneth thither, but watereth the earth
and maketh it bring forth bud. that it may give seed to the
sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word that goeth forth
from out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in a thing whereto I sent it. That's a description of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Word of God. He was
sent from God, the Father. He came down from heaven to accomplish
the Father's will, and He did it. He is a God who is beyond the
comprehension of mere man. Woe to us when we try and limit
him by our pathetic thoughts and the pathetic philosophies
of men. I'm getting more and more tired
as I spend time talking to people about those that want to talk
about philosophy. I walked away from a fellow in
the library yesterday. I was just so tired of him wanting
to bring philosophical notions of God, which are absolutely
wasted. Wasteful thoughts. What do the
children do? What do these mercy beggars,
these mercy beggars gathered do? What do they do when the
mercy beggar, when the mercy giver is revealed? Verse 12,
for they shall go out with joy and be led forth, led forth with
peace. The mountains and the hills shall
break forth before you into singing and all the trees of the field
shall clap their hands. I'll go out in peace. If you go back to 54 verse 10,
for the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but
my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy
on thee. It's good to remember where Isaiah
55 fits in. In those earlier chapters from
50 on especially, we have actually the great pictures of the Lord
Jesus Christ and his triumph and his march and his agonies
in Gethsemane and his agonies upon Calvary's tree. And there's
not a shadow of a doubt as you read Isaiah 53 that you can have
any doubt that this man is successful. God will see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. My righteous servant shall justify
many." They're the sure mercies of David, to be gathered, to
be gathered, to be joined with him, to have him as our God. Turn briefly with me to Psalm
89. The mercies of the Lord in the
lives of God's people are things, the sure mercies of David, are
on the songs of God's children, aren't they? I will sing, verse
not one, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my
mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For, or because, I have said,
mercy shall be built up for ever. Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish
in the very heavens. What's he say about the sure
mercies of David? I have made a covenant with my
chosen. I have sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed, the Lord Jesus Christ,
will I establish forever and build up thy throne to all generations. He goes on in the next 10 verses
to declare the heavens praising the wonders of our God. Verse
8 it says, Our Lord God of hosts, who is
strong? Who is a strong Lord like unto
Thee, or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee? Verse 7, God
is greatly befeared in the assembly of the saints, and be had in
reverence of all them that are about Him. And he sits on a throne, our
great God. In verse 14, justice and judgment
are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. The throne is a throne. that
is established, isn't it? A throne that is established
by justice. The salvation of God's people
is an act of divine justice. In fact, the very justice of
God is the great comfort of God's people, isn't it? That God has
punished his son and it's unjust of God. irreconcilable to any
of his revealed character for him to then punish those sins
a second time. He cannot punish them again. and be a holy and just God. It's the habitation of his throne. These are blood-bought mercies
that we speak of here. That's why we read that verse
at the beginning of our message. Blessed, verse 15, blessed is
the people that know the joyful sound. You've heard the declaration
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The joyful sound, they shall
walk See the great declaration to the gospel, I wills and they
shalls. Not, I might, if they do something. I will, and they shall. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice
all the day. In thy righteousness shall they
be exalted. These are the sure mercies of
David. He says in verse 19, that then thou spakest in a vision
to thy holy one, for the Lord Jesus Christ, and saidst, I have
laid help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. I have found David my servant,
and with my holy oil have I anointed him, with whom my hand shall
establish mine arm, also shall strengthen him. He is this anointed one. He's found David and he's anointed
him. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
sent one and the anointed one. And what does he cry? Verse 26,
he shall cry unto me, thou art my father, my God, the rock of
my salvation. Also will I make him my firstborn,
higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for
him forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His
seed also will I make to endure forever, and his thrones as the
days of heaven." It's an eternal throne. an eternal throne. It is a covenant-keeping God
who makes these promises and fulfills them in our Lord Jesus
Christ. We need God's children, need
a sure foundation. I don't know what lies before
any of us, And none of us do. But it's lovely, isn't it, to
think that we can look to a rock that is higher than us. We can
look to one who makes promises and keeps them. He will. He will as the great shepherd
of his sheep. He will shepherd his people.
He will guide them and direct them. He'll lose none of them. He'll draw them to himself. And
he'll draw them to himself because in his work on Calvary's tree,
he took all their sins away. And they are a perfectly fit
habitation for God. It's Christ. in you the hope of glory." It's
the Spirit revealing Christ to you and revealing Christ in you
is the great promise of the Father. Mercies, sure. Mercies, sure. The holy things
are dated, the trustworthy things Have you found him faithful?
Have you ever leant upon him and found him not to carry the
load? Cast all your burdens upon him,
says Peter, for he careth for you. Just keep casting them. There's
nowhere else for them. I'll finish with those words
that I mentioned earlier. What things were gains, says
Paul, to me, those I counted loss. for Christ, yea, doubtless
I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done that I may win Christ,
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. that I may know
Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I
had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow
after. if that I may apprehend that
for which I am also apprehended of Christ Jesus. I press towards the mark of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we pray that you'd cause us to hear the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ, declaring that it is finished, as glad tidings to
our souls, that our sins, the sins of all of his blood-born
children, are put away forever. And now, And now, Heavenly Father,
we walk in this world. We pray that you would grant
us the faith, the grace, to look to Him who is the author and
the finisher, the author and the perfecter of faith. Heavenly Father, we pray that
you would cause us to know Him, to long to know Him, to long
to be in relationship with Him. That when we take these elements
that remind us of the cost which we think so little of, Heavenly
Father, we might, in this bread and blood, be reminded and caused
to remember Him yet again. And may we be caused by simple
faith, Heavenly Father, to sing the songs of heaven with gladness
of heart, entrusting everything of this life to the Lord. and
our immortal souls into the hands of your dear and precious Son. Bless us, Heavenly Father, with
the simple faith and eyes that look to Him. For we pray in His
name. Amen.