May it please God to bless us
this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
book of Psalms, Psalm 31, and we'll read verse 19. The book of Psalms, chapter 31,
and reading verse 19. Oh, how great is thy goodness! which thou hast laid up for them
that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in
thee before the sons of men. This is really a very wonderful
statement. And clearly it was a statement
that was made by David, King David, as of course he was. And
it's interesting to read this psalm, as we have done together,
and to recognise how David tells us something of his own situation,
his own condition, and yet he's able to come down and to make
some wonderful statements. Because he tells us, for instance,
in the 12th verse, I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind. I'm like a broken vessel. Clearly that's a statement that
he felt he was really of no value and nothing at all. And yet,
and then, Perhaps the ninth verse where he says, have mercy upon
me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. Mine eye is consumed with grief,
yea, my soul and my belly, for my life is spent with grief,
and my years with sighing. My strength faileth because of
mine iniquity, because of his sin, and my bones are consumed. So we see there that David is
making a very honest confession of his situation and I often
think and I often say that it's a great blessing that David,
under the influence of the Spirit of God, is very honest in his
writings. He doesn't pretend to be what
he's not. And that's always a wonderful
blessing. If we can be honest and not be
deceitful, not to pretend that we're kind of a different person.
Here was David in this psalm explaining a little of what he
was and how he felt. But he comes down and also gives
us some great truths. The first verse tells us, in
thee, O Lord, do I trust. I put my trust. Let me never
be ashamed. He wants to put his trust in
the Lord. And then in verse 14 he said,
but I trusted in thee, O Lord, I said, thou art my God. Now what a blessing that is for
us today if we can come into that position and be able to
concur with what David said and say, I trusted in thee, O Lord. I said, thou art my God. Now
God knows whether we have trusted in God or not, whether we have
trusted in the glorious Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
it's a good thing if we have, And if we haven't, may we pray
that we might be able to truly trust in the Lord. Because the
blessing is that God is always alert. You and I can't imagine
that, can we? We get tired, we need sleep,
and we can't listen all the time. But we have a God who never sleeps,
never has slept. A God who is alive forevermore.
and a God who hears our prayers. And again, that's a wonderful
thing. And surely that leads us in to
this position in the 19th verse, how great is thy goodness. To
think that this God who rules over the whole universe and yet
hears every single prayer of the people. Think of it, how
wonderful that is. We might pray here, you might
pray here, there might be people praying in the Far East, there
might be people praying in Australia, New Zealand, and perhaps in Antarctica,
and the Lord hears all those prayers. He knows exactly what
they pray for, and also He knows exactly what their needs are. And that's a wonderful thought
to realise that here we have today, we have this God who knows
all about us. And so to be able to come then
and acknowledge again what David says, my times are in thy hand. From the very moment we were
born to the very moment when we die. Our times are in the
hand of God. What a mercy that is. What a
blessing that is. That should be a great comfort
to us to know that we have such a God who looks upon us to this
end and therefore to realise, yes, our times are in thy hand. And therefore, because of that,
he has confidence and is able to say, deliver me from the hand
of mine enemies and from them that persecute me. Make thy face
to shine upon thy servant. Save me for thy mercy's sake. So David clearly had a very high
view of his God and was very confident in the ability of his
God to be with and bless him. And so he says, Let me not be
ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be
ashamed and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips
be put to silence, which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously
against the righteous. And then he comes to this 19th
verse. Oh, how great is thy goodness. Well, that's David speaking there.
And it would be a great, wonderful thing if you and I can also make
such a statement. And that means that we need to
look back in our lives. That means we need to think of
what God has done for us. We want to consider the blessings
that we have had from God. And especially as we may realize
that we are not worthy of any favor from God. You may say,
well, why do you say that? Because the word of God tells
me my people have forgotten me days without number. We have
sometimes gone about forgetting God. Well, God hasn't dealt with
us as we deserve. He hasn't turned against us. He hasn't forgotten us. He hasn't
cast us off. And so how we see David exclaiming,
oh, oh, how great is thy goodness. So what a blessing it is for
us today if we can say that, can join with David and say,
Oh, how great is thy goodness. Now, David gives us reasons for
that, and we will need reasons as to why this statement is true. How great is thy goodness? Well,
he comes and he says this, which thou has laid up for them that
fear thee. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. And if God has granted to you
and me to fear God, it's His goodness and His mercy. People today, for the most part,
do not fear God. You can tell that by the many
blasphemes we hear almost continually. and the cursing and the swearing.
People do not fear God. But what a wonderful blessing
if you and I are amongst those who do fear God. Well, you know in your heart
whether you do possess the fear of God. The fear of God is grace
it's the unmerited favor which his people receive and it's not
something that you and I were born with it's something which
God grants to us and so what a blessing today if we can realize
that we are amongst those that fear God and if we do then this
promise applies to us and the promise is that which thou hast
laid up for them. What has God laid up for us? What's he laid up for you and
me? All individuals, but the Lord has laid up for us things
in this life. He's provided for our life, has
he not? Have you and I not been provided
for? If we analyse that carefully,
we would have to acknowledge that the Lord has provided for
us, perhaps in a very different way to what we expected, perhaps
in a different way to that which we wanted. But nonetheless, if
he has provided for us, it's because what he has laid up for
us. And then we need to look beyond
our life to that which God has laid up for us in heaven. See, our life here is but very
short, transient. The Bible describes it as a vapor,
which is but for a short time and then vanishes away. We're
only on this earth for a very short time. but to think that
this God has laid up for us an inheritance, a place reserved
in heaven, that when we have finished our life on this earth,
it will be to go and to be with Him and the Church of God forever
and ever. You see, we won't come to the
day of our death and no provision for us if we are amongst those
who fear Him. There is a provision. There is
a place reserved. There is a place laid up for
us in heaven. And that really is a wonderful
thought, isn't it? It's a wonderful truth. And it
should be something which strengthens us and helps us as we journey
on. Oh, how great is thy goodness
to think that God, and again, I do like to have a right view
of God, or at least try to have a right view of God, how great
and wonderful he is, that he, the almighty ruler of the universe,
the creator of all things, has condescended to lay up for you
and me, unworthy sinners, a place in glory. What a wonderful blessing
that surely is. And to think that this God has
therefore prepared an inheritance for all those that fear him. Surely we understand how necessary
therefore it is that you and I are amongst those that fear
him. It's not laid up for those who
don't fear God, but it is laid up for those who do fear God. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee. And then he goes
on to say, which thou hast wrought. Well, wrought perhaps is a word
we're not very familiar with. It really means to perform. So
look at it this way, which thou hast performed for them that
trust in thee before the sons of men. So this is a promise. A promise to the Church of God. Now, what God speaks, we should
always know is true. The Lord is not a liar. The devil is a liar. The devil will tell us many false
things. But God is true. God always has
been true. God always will be true. He is
the perfect God. There is no sin, there is no
evil with our God. And so, to think of this, how
great is thy goodness, which thou hast wrought, which thou
hast performed for them that trust in thee. Well, I wonder
this morning, if you and I can look into our lives and find
search out things that God has performed for us. We can look at this in two ways,
really. In our natural life, God has provided for us. Today
we've been provided with food, haven't we? We've been provided
with clothes. We've been provided somewhere
to live. God's provided us with health and strength to be here
this morning. All these things are the provision
of God, the things which God has performed for us. Not things that we deserve, not
things that we can say, well of course I have a right to that. We don't have a right to anything.
But when you and I think, and it's good to think, and to ponder
that, I like to think myself, all the things that we have,
all the things that we have, and I mean that, just think carefully,
everything that we have, God has given to us, naturally, God's
given them to us. And you may say, well, of course,
I've had ability to do this and do that, Well, let's remember
that God gives us our minds. God gives us the ability to do
things. It's not because our own skill,
our own acumen, our own cleverness. Because God's given all those
things to us. It's because of his great goodness. Oh, how great is thy goodness. So really everything that you
and I have, naturally, we receive because of His great goodness. And then we can move on. And
we can think of our spiritual life. Because all of us have
a spiritual life. We all possess a never-dying
soul. And we, when we were born, we
possessed that living soul. was put within us, that soul
which never dies. And to think here, which God
has performed for us, spiritual life in our soul. Well, we all have a soul. What a blessing if God has given
us spiritual life. And when I say that, I really
mean like Jesus spoke to Nicodemus all those many years ago. When
Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, he was too afraid to come by
day, but he came by night and he wanted to know certain things
from Jesus. And Jesus really brushed those
things away and told him very clearly this great statement. You must be born again. Well, Nicodemus couldn't really
understand what that meant. How could he be physically born
again? Well, Jesus told him very clearly
what it was to be born again. It means that he was to become
a new creature, a new being, that his soul would be Truly
born in the spirit of God, he would be a new creature. Whereas
spiritually, he would have been dead. Spiritually, he needed
to be made alive. And you see, if you and I are
to enjoy that which God has laid up for us in heaven, it will
be because We have been born again by the Spirit of God. And that means that the Holy
Spirit has come and touched our hearts. The Word of God has this
word and it's quickened. It means to be made alive. The Apostle Paul said when he
wrote to the Corinthians, and you, to the Ephesians, and you
hath he quickened, hath he made alive, who were dead, who were
dead, whereas in time past you walked according to this world. People who are spiritually dead
are only concerned really about their natural life. What a good
thing it is if you and I can testify that we now have a concern
about our spiritual life. And we now have a concern as
to whether it is well with our soul. And that we have a desire
that when we die, it will be to go and to be with Christ,
which is far better. Now if that is so, it's what
God has wrought in us or God has performed for us. I hope that's clear. A dead person
has no ability to do anything and therefore if God has made
us spiritually alive it's his work which has made us spiritually
alive it's his work which has caused us to think about our death you know, people often
think, oh I don't want to think about that, that's morbid well,
the reality is there's a one certain thing in our lives nothing is certain apart from
the truth that all of us one day must die unless we should
be on the earth when the Lord returns in all his glory. So that is one thing which is
certain and therefore it's not something which you and I should
dismiss from our minds and say well I don't want to think about
that, that's a morbid subject. If God has laid up for us those
blessings in heaven, it's not a morbid subject. It's a very
wonderful subject. It's a very wonderful thing to
contemplate because the things in heaven will be so wonderful. You know, the Apostle Paul, when
he wrote to the Corinthians, he just gave us a little insight
that we won't understand really how good it is this is what he
says in the first of Corinthians in the second chapter in the
ninth verse he says but it is written I have not seen nor ear
heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him Just think of that. It's such a glorious place that
you and I cannot actually think how wonderful it will be. It's not entered into the heart
of man. So therefore, it shouldn't be
a morbid thing, should it? It should be something that you
and I want to think upon and look forward to as the Apostle
Peter says, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and
that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. Oh, my friends,
what a blessing it is if you and I are a part of those you
who are kept by the power of God, through grace, under salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. Well, this morning, here
we have this statement here. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the
sons of men. Do we then this morning, my friends,
Trust in the Lord. Has God given us faith? We spoke about the fear. Has
he given us faith to believe the truth contained in the Bible? Many people today don't believe
the Bible. They don't want to believe the
Bible because the reality is They don't want to bow down before
God. Now, the truth is, every one
of us will bow down before God. All of those whom God has called,
all those for whom God has granted the new life, being born again,
they will bow down to the Lord God while on this earth, acknowledging
the Lord as our God and acknowledging he is great and he is our master
and we are his servants and that we do bow down and we do desire
to serve him, the great God. if we are not a believer, and
if we do not trust in the Lord, and we arrive at that date of
our death without knowing the Lord as our Saviour, without
knowing the glorious love of God in our hearts, then we shall
bow down before God at that judgment seat. Everyone will bow. What a blessing it is, therefore,
if you and I bow down before our God, while you and I are
on this earth, while we still possess our natural life. Well, this morning then, are
we amongst those who are able to come and say, oh, how great
is thy goodness, and just ponder what that means, so vast, so
inclusive, which thou hast laid up for them, that fear thee,
which thou hast wrought for them, that trust in thee before the
sons of men. Wouldn't it be a great blessing
today if we can come in with David? As I've said, David had
many difficulties, but he was given that wonderful blessing
to rejoice in God. And I pray today that all of
us here may rejoice in Christ, our Saviour. Rejoice. in His amazing mercy, in His
wonderful love, to realise He had laid down His life, that
you and I might possess life. What a gift that is. Why should
God do that? Why should He have died for us?
It's because He loved us with everlasting love. Well, this
morning, may we know in measure the love of Christ, which passeth
knowledge. Amen.