May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in His Holy Word.
Let us turn to Psalm 89 and we'll read verses 18 and 19. Psalm
89 and reading verses 18 and 19. For the Lord is our defense
and the Holy One of Israel is our King. Then thou speakest in vision
to thy Holy One and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. This is really a very wonderful
psalm that we've been able to read together. It speaks of God's
covenant with David And there's many words of good and profitable
instruction in this psalm. And I hope that perhaps you young
people especially noted that when we commenced this psalm
in the very first verse, it was very relevant to us. And it reads
this, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. And with
my mouth will I make known my faithfulness to all generations. Well that was the desire and
concern of the psalmist. And it would be a great blessing
if you and I are able to look into our heart and look into
our lives and find the mercies of the Lord toward us. The Lord
has been merciful in so many ways without any doubt. because
we're all here this evening. We can all meet here freely and
we thank God for it. We have health and strength and
we're thankful for it. And what a great blessing it
is if also we have the evidence that our souls have been made
spiritually alive. What wonderful blessings these
things are. And so the psalmist says, I will
sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. And of course, if these things
are true in our lives, it will be forever. Because by the grace
of God, we shall find ourselves, when we pass out of time, in
glory there forever. And what a time that will be
where we shall be able to sing praises perpetually without any
sin, without anything to hinder us, complete freedom. And what a consideration and
meditation that should be. But nonetheless, you and I are
now on the earth. God has put us here. And God
puts his people on the earth for one purpose. I want to ask
you young people, do you know what that purpose is? What's
the purpose that you and I are here on the earth today if we
are God's people? It's to show forth his glory. It's to show forth his praise. to show forth, as we read, his
faithfulness. Well, I wonder if it's a concern
in each of our lives, a concern that we do sing of the mercies
of the Lord forever, and that with our mouth we make known
the faithfulness of God to all generations. You see, we live
on the earth now, don't we? Some of us are old, some of us
middle aged, some of us are young. We're all generations. It's a
great blessing to make known the faithfulness of God to all
generations. We owe a great debt if we are
called by the grace of God. It's a debt that you and I will
never be able to pay. having been redeemed with the
blood of Christ. My friends, if that is a precious
theme and a precious truth in our little lives, may it really
influence us in a day and age in which we live to speak forth
with our mouth the faithfulness of God to all generations, the
generations that you and I mix with and live with. We meet with
other people, don't we? So often, you see, the devil
is very skilled at shutting our mouth. But it's important to
realize that God has placed us and given us a mouth to declare
his great and glorious truths and his great and glorious promises. And it's a wonderful mercy, therefore,
if we are truly concerned to set forth his praise and his
mercy and his blessings, which he has done for us. It's important to remember that
we are on the earth for this very great and wonderful favor. In the 10th chapter of the Romans,
the Apostle Paul writes some very wonderful and great truths. And he says this, from verse seven, who shall descend
into the deep? That is to bring up Christ again
from the dead. But what saith it? The word is
nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is, the word
of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now, many people appear to have
this verse missing in their Bible. And yet, you see, it is that
which brings honour and glory to God. And what a blessing,
therefore, if the Holy Spirit moves us, and it's clear here,
to confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus. That means to confess
that our belief is in the Lord Jesus, and also to be blessed
with that true believing, not just in our head, but in our
heart. Shall believe in thine heart.
Now only you know whether you do believe in your heart. No one else knows. No one else
knows exactly what you believe. You may appear to be very good
and right and proper, But it may not be so. And we have that
very solemn character in the Bible, which we refer to as Judas
Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was with
the other disciples for at least three years, and they weren't
aware that he was not a believer. It's very sad, isn't it? And
very solemn. So here we have a statement here,
that if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe
in our heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. And surely, and I hope, our great
concern is that we are saved. And what that means is our soul
is saved from eternal wrath. And by the grace of God, and
the love of God, we shall be with the Saviour in eternity,
in heaven, for ever and ever. Well, surely if we can perhaps
understand then what the psalmist desired when this first verse
was written, under the influence of the blessed Spirit of God,
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. It's wonderful
to have a a riot and a godly determination. He says here,
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever and with my
mouth will I make known my faithfulness to all generations. Well, it's
just really an introduction this evening. It just, it struck me
as I was thinking on it this afternoon and I thought, well,
it's a wonderful statement that this psalm begins with and how
relevant It should be in all of our lives. You see, it's very
easy to ignore the Word of God when it doesn't suit us. It's
very easy to turn away from it. But it comes down to this, doesn't
it? We don't want God to deny us, do we? We don't want to come
before that judgment seat and those terrible words spoken,
depart from me, I never knew you. And yet so often as you
and I are on this earth, we do not hear the word of God speaking
to us as it does in this psalm and especially in this first
verse. So may the Lord graciously give
us a concern to read the word of God and to act upon it. You know, we're told Very clearly
by James, faith without works is dead. It's no good pretending
you have faith if it's not followed out. And again sometimes we just
pass over that. And the real reason is because
we're perhaps cowards. Perhaps we're worried how people
will reject us. How people will think against
us. We seem to forget. the great
issue of being rejected by Almighty God. Well, put it this way, we
read this, the love of Christ constrains us. And that's a moving
influence. And it would be a real blessing
if by the grace of God, you and I know God's love toward us,
unworthy as we are, and receiving any favor and that it moves us,
it constrains us. The love of Christ constrains
us. Well, I wonder tonight, if I
was to ask you the question, what do you know of the love
of Christ? Well, that's a pretty important
statement, isn't it? I remember reading, I expect
some of you have read it as well, I think it's in the life of John
Warburton, and he went to see William Huntington and William
Huntington of course was a very able preacher, he had a great
knowledge of the Word of God. I'm told that he knew the Word
of God from beginning to end off by heart and he never needed
in the pulpit, he could just read from memory the truth of
God's word. Well, that's a wonderful thing,
isn't it? Anyway, the fact was that William Huntington was there
and John Gadsby thought he would, sorry, Wilberton would go and
see him. And he went to see him and he
was a bit worried what would happen. And anyway, Huntington
started and asked him, he said, well, what do you know of the love of Christ? That was a very pointed, a very
important question. Well, thankfully, Warburton knew
plenty of the love of Christ. He was able to speak of it and
to honour his God And it had a good effect upon that learned
man. So we should never be afraid
to be asked that question. What do we know? What do you
know? What do I know of the love of Christ? Because if we know
nothing, be assured of this, you and I will never go to heaven.
We must know something of the love of Christ to us as unworthy
sinners. Well, may the Lord truly bless
us with this favour and therefore be willing to speak well of him
so that we may honour him in that which we do and say in the
word of God tells us. And again, it's a solemn word.
Those that honour me, I will honour. and those that despise
me shall be lightly esteemed. Well, it's a question which only
you can answer before God, whether you do desire truly to honour
him. and do so or are you amongst those who will be despised and
stand at their judgment seat and hear those dreadful words
depart from me I never knew you well now let's come to these
words in this 89th psalm in verses 18 and 19 for the lord is our
defense and the holy one of israel is Our King. Well, it's a blessing
if you and I can understand the great truth of such a statement
as this. We have in the next few, next
couple of weeks, the coronation of a natural king. But my friends,
by comparison, it is as nothing. when we think of the King of
Kings and the Lord of Lords. Many people will bow down to
King Charles, probably on the coronation day and at other times,
but the great blessing is if you and I bow down before the
King of Kings. Well, the Lord looks in our hearts
as to how and what we think of this great and glorious one,
the Holy One of Israel, who is our King. Do you worship the
Lord God as your King? Do you come to Him as your King? Do you honour Him as your King? Well, says the psalmist, for
the Lord is our defense. Well, if he is your defense,
then surely he will also be your king. We do need sometimes to
know the blessing of God being our defense. We live in a difficult
world. You young people live in a difficult
world with many people who will speak against the things of God.
Many people will mock you if you say you believe in the Word
of God. Well, it's better to be mocked
by ungodly people than to not enter into glory at last. It
matters not really what people say of us, what people think
of us. But it does matter what God thinks
of us. So is the Lord our defense? Have you proved God to be your
defense? In your time of need, perhaps
you've been asked a situation, you've given an answer and you're
mocked for it and you've been asked other questions and you're
not able really to answer them. Well, remember, God is our defense. He can give the answer. He can
give the words. The Word of God has this wonderful
statement, We go in the strength of the Lord God and we will make
mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. You see,
we must refer to the truth of God and the work of God and the
blessing of God. A few years ago, I was reading
about Muslims and how to speak to Muslims. And young people
might think, well, that's a difficult one. How do we speak to Muslims
who don't, of course, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and
can become very angry? Although, on the other hand,
sometimes they respect a true Christian's belief in the Lord
Jesus Christ, but they do expect a Christian to speak about the
things of God. So don't be timid if you're speaking
with Muslims. But again, he said, one thing
to do when you speak to a Muslim is not to speak against their
religion, but is to tell them what God has done for your soul. And that's a very interesting
and a very pertinent statement, isn't it? You see, you're not
criticising what they believe. What you're doing is telling
them what you believe and why you believe. And it's because
of what God has done for your soul. And often that is an accepted
position. And it's wonderful in that scene
to be amongst those who honour the Lord and find that He is
your defence. For the Lord is our defence. And the Holy One of Israel is
our King. And they, Muslims reverence the
Bible, they reverence the Quran of course, it's their holy book,
but they expect a Christian to reverence the Bible. They expect
a Christian to treat the Bible properly and well. And it's good
if you and I remember these things, and not be cowardly, but go in
the strength of the Lord God. I think of those words, I would
go In the strength of the Lord God, make mention of thy righteousness,
even of thine only. Remember to honour our great
and glorious God. So, for the Lord is our defence,
and the Holy One of Israel is our God. And if you prove it,
you will have much reason to thank God. You'll be strengthened
in your spiritual life. And you'll realise that our God
reigns and God is alive forevermore. My friends, he never sleeps.
He's alert. He's there to hear and to answer
our prayers in every time of need. Remember the Lord and look
unto him, cry unto him. What a blessing it is to have
such a kind and gracious God. I think those early verses in
the 12th chapter of the Hebrews are very instructive and very
gracious and should help you and strengthen us. And it starts
off by saying, wherefore seeing we also encompassed about with
so great a clan of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight
and the sin that does so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us. But there's a secret. Looking unto Jesus, looking unto
Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, remember this who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising
the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God, for consider him that endured such contradiction of
sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your
minds." Oh, it's a good first three verses in the 12th of Hebrews
to remember. Try and learn them off by heart
because they'll be a strength to you as you go on in life. And to come down to that great
statement to consider Him. In every time of need, if you
find yourself in a difficult situation, and if you find yourself
being persecuted and you find there's opposition, just drop
back to that verse. Consider Him. Think when the
Lord Jesus Christ endured to redeem you, to save your soul. What a blessing, what a great
and glorious saviour we have. For the Lord is our defence and
the Holy One of Israel is our King. Well, I hope all of us
can prove this, that he is our defence and that not only that,
the Holy One of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ is our King, the
one who we do really bow down to, and worship. Again, you're
the only one that can answer that, whether the Lord Jesus
Christ is your King, or whether the world is your King, and whether
you bow down to the world, to the trifling things of time,
which are passing away so quickly, and to realize the Lord God reigns
forever and ever. Verse 19 reads, then thou speakest
in vision to thy holy one and says, I have laid help upon one
that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. Well, it's a wonderful truth
to know that we have a mighty God and we do. We have a mighty God, one who
is kind and gracious and merciful, and one who remembers us in our
lowest state, for his mercy endureth forever. What a blessing it is. We read in Psalm 121 about the
help, help of God. And it's a very beautiful statement. He says, Psalm starts, I will
lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My
help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. That's a grand statement, isn't
it? And it's good, again, if you and I have faith to truly
believe such words as this. The Lord that made heaven and
earth. The Lord that spoke the universe
into being. What a God, my friends. Utterly
beyond our natural comprehension to realize that we have a God
who just spoke And the world and the universe was created. And the psalmist says that his
help comes from this God. This God, you see, who is our
helper. Well, have you proved God is
your helper? You proved it naturally. You
proved it spiritually. You proved it that the Lord has
been mindful of you. He's been your helper. He's helped
you perhaps to Pray, he's helped you to come and to cast all your
care upon him. What a God we have. See, God
knows how to deal with us. You and I don't know how to deal
with each other. But my friend, God knows how to deal with us. And to think, this is very humbling,
he deals with us in love to our souls. He doesn't afflict willingly
to make us cast down. He afflicts us if necessary to
draw us to himself. Yes, we have a kind and gracious
God. And let us not forget that God
is leading his people, and God is directing his people, and
God is preparing his people for their eternal home. And therefore
sometimes we'll find that things don't perhaps work out as we
want, work out as we expect, and it's because if the Lord
did grant us certain things which we may have prayed for, and they
haven't come to pass, and as we meditate on it afterwards
we realise, if the Lord had given me that, had granted me that,
what would I have done? Well the scripture tells us,
we would have consumed it. upon our lusts. It wouldn't have
been for our soul's eternal good. It wouldn't have been for the
honour and glory of our God. So we need to be very careful
how we approach these things and to come with a right desire
and a right concern that all that we do and say and ask for
may be to this end for God's honour and glory and our soul's
eternal good. Never pass away from the thought
that your soul is the most valuable thing you possess, by a long,
long way. If you owned the world, which
of course you don't, if you owned the world, it would be as nothing
in comparison with the value of your soul. And you might say,
young people might say, well, why do you say that? Well, it's
quite easy really. Because the world and your life
will finish. However old you may live to,
you may live to over 100 years of age. In comparison with eternity,
it is nothing. So if you own the whole world,
could travel wherever you wanted to, Eat whatever food you wanted
to, dress in whatever clothes you wanted to, live in whatever
house you wanted to. You'd have to leave it all behind.
It would be gone. Whereas the eternal home in glory
is forever and ever. Now you can't really put a value
on that, can you? But see the vast difference.
And what a mercy then. if God gives us grace to seek
for these things which are heavenly and to remember that they have
been provided by a kind and gracious and merciful and loving God. A God who in this life helps
his people and he helps us to turn away from the poor things
of time. The devil wants you and me to
concentrate on the trivial things of this world. Remember King
Solomon, and I know you had a Bible study, Paul gave you a Bible
study recently on Ecclesiastes and the conclusion that he came
to, having had ability to enjoy anything in this world, he came
to this conclusion, all is vanity of vanity and vexation of spirit. No real lasting happiness in
the things of time. But the difference is in eternal
realities. To be in glory with Christ forever
and ever is an eternal blessing, which will never disappear, will
never be taken away. And that will be endless happiness,
no sin. no difficulty, no trials, no
aches, no pains and also no night eternal light what a prospect
it is well may you young people sometimes just sit down and meditate
and think about the difference between eternal reality and glory
and the poor poverty things of time and then may that thought
directs you to the mighty God the mighty God it's a good meditation
my friends to think upon the mighty God start at the beginning
start at creation think how God spoke the world into being think
how that occurred in those six days amazing isn't it? and then we see the old devil
comes along and seduces Eve to eat the forbidden fruit Eve knew
that she was doing wrong she told the devil she wasn't allowed
to but nonetheless the temptation was so great and she disobeyed
God and listened to Satan and what was the result? the result
was sin came into the world Before that, there was no sin. But with
that disobedience to God, sin entered into the world. And the
hymn writer has a very good line on that. He says, O thou hideous
monster, sin! What a curse hast thou brought
in! You see, don't we? Aches and
pains and troubles. It's all brought in because of
sin. It all commenced in the Garden
of Eden. Well, it's a tragic situation. But here we have a wonderful
statement. I have laid help upon one that
is mighty. And that mighty one is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And my friends, he knew how wicked
man would be. He knew what was needed to redeem
our souls. That means to bring us back to
Christ. He knew he had to suffer upon
that cross at Calvary in order to redeem our souls. Unless Christ
had redeemed our soul, your soul and my soul, there'll be no hope
for us because the Word of God tells us all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. They don't count anything in
the sight of God because sin is mixed with all we do. What
a blessing it is, then, to be able to look at this mighty one. I have laid help upon one that
is mighty, the great and glorious Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is indeed mighty. He is indeed all-powerful. And what a great blessing it
is to have such a God as that. We read in the prophecy of Isaiah,
chapter 63, in the first verse, it speaks about the Saviour.
This is what it says. Who is this that cometh from
Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious
in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. Lovely words, aren't they? Mighty
to save. We have a mighty Saviour. We have a mighty Saviour. That's
why we have this statement, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. He can do anything and everything. So whatever your situation and
my situation is in our spiritual life, There is nothing too bad,
too terrible that cannot be forgiven because this mighty savior gave
his life to atone for our sins, to pay the price that was necessary
to cleanse us from all our sin. Don't forget, you young people,
there's no sin in heaven. Heaven is a holy place. No sin. And therefore, what you and I
might term a small sin has to be forgiven. Has to be forgiven. And how is it forgiven? The Blessed
Saviour paid the price required. The ransom price was paid. Do you know what that was? The
Apostle Peter tells us. Redeemed. with the precious blood
of Christ. When you read about the blood,
you think of the value of it to redeem your soul. You go back,
we go right back to the beginning in Genesis and we see there The
truth being fulfilled without shedding of blood, there's no
remission, there's no forgiveness, because there in the Garden of
Eden, the Lord Jesus very graciously and wonderfully slew those animals
and took their skins to clothe Adam and Eve. The blood was shed,
and right through the Old Testament, and you have that wonderful example
of substitution in the life of Abraham when he was told to go
and offer up Isaac. And he was willing to obey. Don't
underestimate that great act. He was willing to obey. And may
that be good in our lives. Whatever you and I may be asked
to do, it's in accordance with God's will and for God to remember
nothing is too costly. Abraham was willing to offer
up his son, that son of promise, in reality, all his religion,
was tied up in the life of his son but he was willing and you
see he was just about to obey that command and Slay his son
when the Lord spoke from heaven to him and said, now I know that
thou fearest God. And he was pointed to a ram caught
in its horns in the thicket. And he took that ram and offered
him up in the stead of Isaac. It's a beautiful picture of substitution. And what it refers to is this,
that Lord Jesus Christ was offered up in your and my place. He bore the punishment instead. I hope tonight as you might think
upon that, you come to this conclusion and you say, what a saviour. A saviour so kind, so gracious
that he should have given his life for such an unworthy person. And it's good, you know, when
we really feel before God to be unworthy, as the Apostle Paul
said, less than the least. Less than the least. The Apostle
was a gracious man, but he was brought to that position to be
able to say he was less than the least. and it would be a
wonderful thing. Therefore, if you and I are blessed
with faith to view the Lord Jesus Christ as he is described in
the ninth chapter of Isaiah and the sixth verse, it speaks about
his birth. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulder and his name shall be called. Now, it's good if
you and I can concur, agree, with these descriptive words
of the glorious Saviour. His name is called Wonderful,
Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. That's a tremendous description
of the glorious Saviour. And it would be a great mercy
and blessing if from our very hearts We could echo those words,
that it's our belief that he is to us, just as it's spoken
of there, this mighty God. I have laid help upon one that
is mighty. Well, tonight we have a mighty
saviour, a mighty and glorious God, who's able to do far more,
exceeding abundantly, than you and I can ask or even think. Never underestimate the power
of God. Never underestimate the greatness
of God. Never underestimate the might
of this God. Never underestimate the love
of this God. When you think of your own unworthiness,
to think that in eternity past, Father, Son and Holy Spirit covenanted
to save your soul. millions are passed by what a
mercy to know then that God has loved you with that everlasting
love and you see that means what it says it will never be taken
away never be taken away right through eternity it's not something
which just fades, no it's there forever and ever and it's a great
blessing if you and I know therefore as I spoke earlier something
of the love of Christ it's vital to your salvation you won't get
to heaven unless you've been touched with Christ's love to
you realizing how utterly unworthy
you were of any notice and to be thankful that Almighty God,
this mighty God, has looked down, touched your hearts, caused you
to consider your way, caused you to pray unto this mighty
God, believing that He is a God who hears and answers prayer,
which He is. May we rejoice tonight in the
greatness of God. The mighty God. It's a lovely
phrase, isn't it? That is mighty. I have exalted
one chosen out of the people. Well, we could go on. It's a
lovely chapter. Go home and meditate upon it.
And recognize that which is underneath. spoken to Joseph many, many years
ago in the blessing in the 33rd of Deuteronomy. It's spoken like
this, the deep that couches beneath. There is the surface. You and
I can read that which is on the surface, but underneath there's
a great and glorious depth in the love and mercy and grace
of God, which is really good to meditate upon because It brings glory to God and it
strengthens your soul. Amen.