may please almighty God to bless
us together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us
turn to the book of Psalms and Psalm 115 and we'll read verse
16. The book of Psalms Psalm 115 and verse 16. The heaven,
even the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth hath he given to
the children of men. how often we fail to realise
the greatness of God. How little we appreciate of the
greatness of God and understand anything about Him really. And
yet we should realise that, as we know from the account in Genesis,
the Lord created all things There was nothing, and the Lord created
everything from nothing. This is the greatness of our
God, and as we have here, even the heavens are the Lord's. And
as we progress in the ages of the world, we find more and more
of this greatness of God in the heavens, how vast they are, far,
far beyond our natural understanding. We cannot really comprehend how
vast the heavens are, and yet to believe that God created everything. those things that are observable
perhaps those things in space which are not observable to natural
vision yet to realise nonetheless all things were created by God
and then also to recognise that the Lord also created the earth
And so we have this statement that the heaven, even the heavens
are the Lord's, but the earth hath he given to the children
of men. And so we find ourselves today
living on the earth. The earth that God created. The earth that man was born into. The earth, Adam and Eve, first
came as the first humans to live on this earth. And then they
increased down through time until the flood. And then there were
just those eight souls that then lived after the flood. And then
through them, all the world as we see it today exists. As we think of that, and of course
it's a fairly obvious position to consider, yet to realise that
every person that has ever been born, and ever will be born,
possesses a never-dying soul. A soul that will never die. And also to realise that when
In the Lord's time, time as we know it will be no more, then
there will be that eternal condition for everyone who is raised from
the dead. Some to everlasting life in glory
and some to everlasting perdition in hell. But no one, No one who
has been and is and will be born into this world is annihilated. Our souls live forever and one
day our bodies will be united to that soul to live forever. As I sometimes thought about
this, it's a great consideration, isn't it? And sometimes we may
perhaps wish even like Job, who wished he'd never been born.
Things were so difficult and so opposite for Job that he wished
he hadn't been born. Well, we see there his old nature
and perhaps sometimes we may see our old nature. We may find
sometimes things very difficult and trying and we may perhaps
think, well, I wish I hadn't been born. But we should look
beyond that. And we should look beyond that
to think that if we had never been born, we would never enjoy
the glory of heaven. And so to think that the Lord
therefore has caused this earth to be created as part of the
vast universe and in his wondrous plan to cause men, men and women,
men and women to be born and to live on this earth. And yet,
for some, there will be a glorious future, a future in heaven, a
future with the Saviour, a future with the whole Church of God. And if we had never been born,
we would therefore never be a partaker of that glorious inheritance
which the Lord has prepared and gone to prepare for all his people. So as we think of this, the earth
hath he given to the children of men. If there had been no
earth, there would have been no human race, and there would
have been no prospect of heaven. Well, I hope that we do have
a prospect of heaven. It'd be a sad thing if we are
only living for time. It'd be a great blessing if we're
living for eternity. And if we realise that our life
on this earth is just a very, very short time by comparison
with eternity. Again, how difficult it is for
us to understand eternity. In fact, it's impossible because
we are time orientated. We are time beings. Our minds
cannot comprehend the greatness of eternity, which ever has been
and ever will be. But what a favour it is if God
gives us faith to believe that there is eternity, past and in
the future. And we today are in what we call
time. Something which has occurred
and does occur and will occur for just a very small period
in eternity. And then when the Lord sees fit,
when the trumpet sounds, and time will be no more. And we're told the earth will
be burnt up What the future then holds, we're not clearly told,
but it may be that this earth will become the new earth, a
rejuvenated earth, because we know everything as we know it
today will be burnt up. Everything which is sinful will
be burnt up. Whether then this earth will
be that which the church of God will reside on, the word of God
is not clear, I don't believe. But nonetheless, we can trust
in the Lord that what he has gone to prepare, that wonderful
place for his church, will be something which will be so far
more glorious than this vain world. And the great blessing
will be to realise that there will be no sin, nothing to sadden
us, nothing else to cause us to repent, because everything
will be peace and joy and happiness. Again, really, Such a condition,
again, is impossible for us to really comprehend because we
live in a sinful world. We have a sinful body. We have a sinful mind. And these
things will not leave us while we are in time. while we are
on the earth, but one day, by his grace, we will be free from
all these things which cast us down, all these things which
shackle us. And it will be then, if we are
amongst the true Church of God, to be found with Christ eternally. So therefore, coming back to
the point that I made, if there had been no earth, There will
be no eternal glory for his people. Well, we should therefore be
thankful today that Lord has blessed us with natural life. And may we be so much more thankful
if God has blessed us with spiritual life. because then we can be
thankful the Lord has created the earth and that we do live
on the earth and that we have been born and to realize then
that one day by his grace we shall go to be with Christ which
is far better. Now, we read together that 19th
Psalm and the first verse in that Psalm tells us this, the
heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth
his handiwork. And as you and I may be able
to look up at night time and see the stars and the moon and
just have a little view of the vastness and the greatness and
to think, well, surely that does declare the glory of God. You see, God has given us the
earth to live upon. Man has devised means by way
they've been able to land on the moon and in the future they
may be able to land on Mars and perhaps other planets which are
relatively near. But nonetheless, the Earth has
He given to the children of men, not these other planets. They
are there for us to see, they are there for us to view, and
they declare the glory of God. And you may say, well why and
how? Well, again, if we have a little
view of the greatness of the universe, Again, that will expand
our natural understanding of the greatness of God, as we think
that he created the universe and every planet and every galaxy
that exists. Our God, the God that we today
are able to come to worship, our God, has created all these
things. Well, may it truly be then, as
we view these glorious sights to declare the glory of God. Well, the psalmist was blessed
with this vision The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord's. Yes, no one else owns them. No
one else created them. It is the Lord, the Lord God. And my friends, that Lord is
the Lord that you and I have to deal with. That God doesn't just vanish
away. That God is eternal. that God
ever lives and you and I my friends today on this earth which God
has created we have to deal with that God and to realize that
that God deals with us to recognize that that God has made us and
that God who has brought us into this world to live in this world
and then one day to die. Well, even the heavens are the
Lord's, but the earth hath he given to the children of men. And as we ponder this earth, to realize the Lord has created
the earth, made the earth, and all things that exist in it,
and all things that are born into it that God has made and
that God has created. And they were all created in
accordance with the plan of Almighty God. And that plan of Almighty
God was to bring glory to Himself. We so often fail to realise that
our lives are for the glory of God and to think that all things
that have been created are to this end. And yet how often people
do not realise it and do not want to realise it. And also,
of course, the Lord planned the wonderful blessing of salvation. Because in that glorious plan
of salvation, we see there the wonderful working of our God.
And again, to come back, right back to the beginning of the
creation of this world, not the beginning of time or the beginning
of the eternal situation, but the beginning when the Lord created
this world. And the Lord created this world
so that there would be a people that would be born that should
show forth his praise. Now today, as we think in terms
of the earth has been given to the children of men so that the
human race might be born and so that in that human race, the
Lord would call a people, a chosen people to show forth his praise. and to think of that today in
our lives, to look very carefully and to examine as to whether
our lives do bring forth glory to God. It really is a big test,
isn't it? A big test for us, because that's
why the world was created, for mankind to be born that should
bring forth glory to God. And so what a blessing it is
for us today if we're able to trace out in our lives the Lord
has a purpose for us. The Lord has created us that
we might be amongst those who are born for his praise and for
his glory. You know, the Psalmist David,
he recognised the importance of this. How many Psalms were
written by him? And we read, for example, in
Psalm 86. We read in Psalm 86, verses 12
to 13, this is what we read. David says, well, perhaps the
previous verse, verse 11, he says, teach me thy way. It's good, isn't it, to come
and desire the Lord would teach us, teach us his way. to teach us to understand his
dealings and his will. Teach me thy way, O Lord. I will walk in thy truth. Unite
my heart to fear thy name. And then he says, I will praise
thee, O Lord, my God, with all my heart. It's worth thinking about, isn't
it? Do we praise God with all our
hearts? Well, we might go right back.
Do we praise God at all? Have we praised God? I hope we
have. We all have reason to praise
God for his goodness and mercy toward us. He hasn't cast us
off. He hasn't cut us off. We're here
today, all of us, with a measure of health and strength, some
more, some less, but God it is who's given us health and strength,
and God it is that has caused us to walk on the earth at this
time. We might say, for such a time
as this, and it would be really good If our life is for the praise
of God, and then we can believe it is for such a time as this,
to think of the wonder-working of our God. Well, the psalmist
goes on, he says, I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all
my heart. And I will glorify thy name for
evermore. You see, he looks now beyond
time to that eternal state. David had a good hope the Lord
was his God, that he was called by God. that he would one day
be found with God in glory. Well, these are words which we
often read perhaps, perhaps we're very familiar with, but what
a blessing it is if we really understand them. I will praise
thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify
thy name for evermore. And then he says, For great is
thy mercy toward me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the
lowest hell. Well this morning, is that true
in our lives? To realise that God has had mercy
upon us. And if he has, then this is true. God has delivered us from the
lowest hell. If we are those who are truly
blessed with his mercy, with his grace, then we shall be delivered
from ever entering into hell. We shall be eternally blessed
and eternally safe. And how relevant and how important
it is, therefore, that we today may be concerned, as David is
able to say, I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart. That's a tremendous statement,
isn't it? What a good thing it is if you and I have the same
true living desire to praise our God with all our heart, not
just for some odd thing. We may perhaps have been blessed
in our education, may have been blessed in our work, and we may
indeed have desired to praise God for that. But that's not
with all our heart. Because with all our heart must
have reference to our eternal soul. David could testify of
the God's goodness and mercy and favor toward him. Well that
surely is the great need that you and I have to be blessed
in that way and be able to come and say I would indeed praise
thee. Well he also David was really
full of praise. You know, if you read the Psalms,
I know we have many Psalms which testify of the difficulties and
the hardness of life and what David experienced in that life. But also there is much praise. And praise doesn't only exist
in those end psalms, we might say, the last few psalms, which
are really full of praise. They start in earlier psalms
indeed, really from the very beginning. And perhaps more particularly
in the ninth psalm we read, he says, I will praise thee, O Lord. We see there a gracious determination
to praise God. What a good thing, my friends,
if you and I have a gracious determination to praise Thee,
O Lord. Again, he says, with my whole
heart. How often our hearts are divided,
sadly. What a blessing if we know something
of the movement of the Spirit of God within us, the desire
to praise this God with our whole heart, not a divided heart. And then he says, I will show
forth all thy marvellous works. Well, surely here in this 115th
Psalm, there was a desire in these verses, even the heavens
are the Lord's, But the earth hath he given to the children
of men. There must be a desire there,
surely, to show forth all the Lord's marvellous works. You know, they are to be seen,
aren't they, in nature, all around us, whatever time of the year
it is. There are things to observe,
to praise God for, for his marvellous works. And then his marvellous
works in our lives, our little lives, our unworthy lives, to
think that God has been favourable toward us and has worked in our
hearts, has helped us in our natural life and has blessed
us with spiritual life. And he says, I will show forth
all thy marvellous works. It's something, isn't it, that
we are very negligent in, aren't we? To show forth God's marvellous
works in our natural life and in our spiritual life. to show
forth what God has done for us. Well, David had a good desire. And what a blessing if you and
I have a good desire. I will show forth all thy marvellous
works. We'll come on to some of those
works in a moment, but I will be glad and rejoice in thee. Well, this morning, do we rejoice
in the Lord? It's a theme which hopefully
is in our hearts. I will sing praise to thy name,
O thou most high. Well, David really desired, didn't
he, to rejoice. He really desired to praise the
Lord. What a good thing that is for
us in our little lives today. You know, we live on this earth
and may there be a really divine and blessed reason for your life
and my life on this earth. And it's not to just live and
to satisfy our own ego, just to please ourselves, but to realise
we have a God who has caused us to be born onto this earth,
And what a blessing that God has caused us to desire, to praise
Him for His marvellous works toward us in our natural life
and in our spiritual life. Now then, to ponder and to think,
God has given the earth to the children of men so that man might
be born on it. to show forth the praise of our
God, to have revealed to us the many attributes of Almighty God,
because these are for his praise, and to start really to think
of his greatness. The greater view we have of the
greatness of our God, It'll make us ever more and more humble
before that great God. How do we view today the greatness
of God? If we walk down the road, do
we think of the greatness of God? If we go to bed, do we think
of the greatness of God? As we get up, do we think of
the greatness of God? and to think that He hasn't dealt
with us as our sins deserve. Again, it's good to just think
upon this, to ponder it, to look into our heart and say, well,
Lord, what is there in my heart? What is in my heart? Is there
always praise to Thee? Is there always thankfulness
to Thee? Or is there sin? Is there wickedness? Is there
evil? Now this great God, He knows
all about us. He knows our every thought. every
good thought and every evil thought. Nothing is hidden from God. And how we fail often to realise
this, the greatness of God. What a mercy then, the Lord touches
our hearts to show us this. And then, moving on perhaps,
to think of the holiness of God. We can so easily treat God as
one of ourselves, very casually, very carelessly, very wrongly,
and yet to realise that God is a holy God, and to recognise
that God the Father cannot look upon sin it is not in his nature, sin. But then we can move on to see
the greatness and the glory in the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who therefore has been that One
who stands between us and the Holy God, and intercedes for
us before his father and our father, the holiness of God. It's good if you and I have an
appreciation of the holiness of God so that we don't just treat God
like ourselves. He is holy and righteous. And as Isaiah said, high and
lifted up. He is indeed majestic. He rules and reigns over all
things. He is a holy majesty, the king
of kings and lord of lords. What a blessing then if The Lord,
as we know, has made this earth, made this earth and given this
earth to the children of men that we might live on this earth.
And as we live on this earth, the Lord God may be revealed
to us as the great God. as the Holy God, as the King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. And then you see also, what do
we see? We see the graciousness of God,
His grace, His grace. It's a lovely word, isn't it? Grace. John Newton knew it, didn't
he? And he tells us, amazing grace. And it is. And you and I will
understand it to be amazing. The almighty God should have
looked upon us and not cast us aside as of no value. His graciousness. in looking
upon us, watching over us from the moment we were born and then to that great time when
he put forth his hand and caused us to hear his voice, caused us
to consider, caused us to realise are wretched, lost condition, direct us to
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace, isn't it? Grace. The Lord's graciousness. Well,
every true believer rejoices in the grace of God. And I hope
today, as we're on this earth, the Lord's caused us to live
on this earth, to experience his grace. And as we experience
his grace, to praise him. To praise him for that grace
which has come to us. That grace that found us He found
us just like he did Jacob so many years ago. We're told he
found him in the waste hounding wilderness. He led him about. He instructed him. He kept him
as the apple of his eye. How exceedingly humbling to think
that this great God has given us his grace, shown
it to us, revealed himself as a gracious God. And then this God caused us to
be found on this earth to show to us his compassion. Compassion, compassion of God. We don't deserve compassion because
we've offended God so much, so often. And yet this God hasn't
dealt with us as our sins deserve. He's been compassionate toward
us. Well, what does that compassion
incorporate? Well, my friends, that compassion
incorporates His love. His amazing love. He's loved us so much and it's
so hard to understand. He's loved us so much that He
came into this world, the earth, which the Lord has given to the
children of men, all part of the great plan of God. The Lord
Jesus Christ came into this earth because he loved us so much that
he would then live that perfect life in accordance to the will
of his Father and die that sin-atoning death in accordance with the
will of his Father to redeem our souls. Well, the earth hath
he given to the children men that we might be born and that
we might know the blessing of the Saviour dying on Calvary's
cross to redeem our soul. So is compassion. and His love
toward us so great, beyond again anything that we can really understand,
that someone should love such an unworthy sinner of the earth
so much they were willing to lay down their life as a sacrifice
acceptable to God that we might receive the gift of eternal life. The compassion of God in his
love. The compassion of God in his
mercy. Mercy. Wonderful, isn't it? God's mercy. Well, every true
believer is a recipient of the mercy of God. And so this morning,
can we be really thankful that we have received God's mercy? And we have received God's mercy
if we have heard his voice, if he has been gracious, if he has
been mindful of us, and he's looked upon us and said, in accordance
with those wonderful words in Leviticus, Live, live. God gives life. No one else. What a blessing
today then. If you and I have been born onto
this earth, which the Lord has given to the children of men,
for the great gift of eternal life, because if that is so,
then we can believe as we commence really this subject this morning
by saying that Therefore, we were born that one day we would
go to be in glory with Christ, to enjoy his presence and all
that he has prepared for us eternally. That is a wonderful consideration. Man is a wonderful thought and
therefore as you and I journey on it's good if our hearts and
minds are directed to the end of our life and have a good hope
then through grace that it is well with our soul and if it
is We have nothing to fear. Then
it is, as the hymn writer says, death is no more a frightful
foe, for I with Christ shall reign. To the unbeliever, death
is a frightful foe. But what a blessing it is if
we are possessors of the compassion of our God, to know His love
and His mercy, to realise, yes, by His grace, it's well with
my soul and I can look forward to the end of my life. It's not
a morbid consideration because I have a good hope through His
grace that it is well with my soul and I shall see His face
and then never, never sin throughout all eternity. Well, what a blessing
then that we have here a statement like this to realise the heaven,
the heaven where all the saints will one day be found are the
Lords. The heaven, even the heavens,
everything that we see are the Lords. But the earth hath he
given to the children of men, that therein he will show forth
his praise and glory. My friends, today, may we truly
understand the wonder of these things, rejoice in them, go on
our way rejoicing, and be able to say with the psalmist, I will
Praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify
thy name for evermore. Amen.