May I please God to bless us
with his presence as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
book of Psalms and reading Psalm 89 and verse 34. The book of
Psalms, Psalm 89 and reading the 34th verse. My covenant will I not break,
nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. This is a wonderful word of comfort
and instruction to the Church of God, because it is a confirmation
that we deal with the Almighty God, the Ruler of the Universe,
who does not change. Indeed as we read in Malachi,
I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. And surely that is a comfort
and a strength to the people of God because we can therefore
rely 100% upon the Word of God. We can rely upon his truth, we
can rely upon his promises. And we can believe
that what the Lord says comes to pass. The promises that God
may give to us will come to pass. It comes to pass in the Lord's
time, in the Lord's way. The Lord has a divine purpose,
a divine way. He is a sovereign God and he
brings to pass all his work in the way he has ordained from
before the creation of the world and the universe. Now this is
the great God that we have to deal with and what a wonderful
thing it is and yet we should realize the solemnity of it because
he is not a God that you and I can trifle with. He's not a
God on our own level. He is high and lifted up as Isaiah
saw when he was blessed with that vision. And as the Lord
gives us faith to view the Lord high and lifted up, surely it
puts God in his place, in our heart, and puts us in our place
to realize how small, insignificant, sinful we are in the eyes of
Almighty God. And yet to realize here we have
a God who has told us with his own from his own mouth. My covenant
will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my
lips." And the picture we have here is something that cannot
break. It's good to have very simple
illustrations in the Word of God. I'm sure we understand how
things break. You children, no doubt, have
toys and things which break. And you're very sad when they
break, because you may have been enjoying them, and yet they're
broken. And you can perhaps mend them,
but they're never quite the same. Something which is broken. Well,
here we have what the Lord tells us, something that will not break. It won't break. It cannot break. Because it is that which God
has promised. So we have that which is It is
so certain, it cannot be destroyed, it will not break in the first
place. And then secondly, the Word of
God, that He's spoken, we have it here in these words, is gone
out of my lips. God speaks. Let us be very clear
about that. God speaks today. He speaks to
His people. He speaks to our hearts. And
He speaks with His lips. And those words which come from
the mouth of God cannot be altered. So we have these two conditions. They cannot be broken, the covenant. And the covenant is a promise.
The actual definition of a covenant is a sworn conditional promise. and it cannot be broken and the
word of the Lord also which has gone out of his lips cannot be
altered. Now may such tremendous truth
really strengthen us today because there are many things in our
lives in the world which discourage us and may cause us to be sad. But let us remember the Lord
God omnipotent reigns. Our God reigns. Our God does
not change. And what a blessing it is to
have such a God. And the psalmist commences this
psalm with these beautiful words when he says, I will sing of
the mercies of the Lord forever. Well that's a good expression,
it's a good desire and it's a good concern that you and I may also
be able to sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. Those mercies
which come from God because they come from this God who does not
change. They come from this God who will not break his covenant.
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. Well, this
morning, have we sung of the mercies of the Lord? Do we sing
of the mercies of the Lord? Are we thankful for the mercies
of the Lord? Do we acknowledge his mercies? It's very easy to complain. It's
very easy to say, well, I need this and I want this and I desire
this. But on the other side, let us
realize we have received mercies, many mercies, many, many mercies. We're favoured here today to
be found here, health and strength together, comfortable building
to be in, clothes to wear, food to eat, friends to gather with,
great mercies, the word of God to read, wonderful mercies. Do we say, with the psalmist? I will sing of the mercies of
the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known
thy faithfulness to all generations. Many times in the Word of God
there is the statement about telling it to the generation
following. We have an obligation as people
who are true believers to testify and to make known the faithfulness
of God to the future generation, the generations which follow
us, to make known God's faithfulness, to make known this great truth
that his covenant will not break. What a stabilizing truth that
is. And then he says, with my mouth
will I make known thy faithfulness to all Generations with his mouth
with our mouths to speak forth the praises of God to speak Speak
forth his wonderful Faithfulness for I have said mercy shall be
built up forever Thy faithfulness shall thou established in the
very heavens he goes on he says I've made a covenant with my
chosen God Almighty has made a covenant with his chosen, his
people. I have sworn unto David, my servant. Now to think that God has made
a covenant with his people. And what a blessing if you and
I are numbered amongst those who are under this covenant.
And what is the covenant? It's a covenant of his grace. It's a covenant of His free,
unmerited mercy toward us. That's the covenant the Lord
will not break to His chosen people. They will receive His
favour. They will receive instruction. They will have revealed to them
their need, and they will have revealed to them how that need
is to be satisfied. And of course, it is only satisfied
through what the Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Saviour, has done. So let us remember here, as David
comes and commences in these words, how relevant they are. The Lord says, I've made a covenant
with my chosen. I've sworn unto David my servant. Well, this morning then, can
we or do we desire to rest in these promises of God? We mentioned the word in Malachi
and there's also a word in the epistle of James in the first
chapter and in the 17th verse we have this confirmation. Every
good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down
from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning." You see, the Lord does not change. He
doesn't vary. He's always the same. And what is that? He's always
perfectly true. He is the same, yesterday, today
and forever. And so there is no variableness
that cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow turning." So this morning, perhaps you are thinking,
well, I was believing, I thought God had spoken a word, and now
it seems to be in doubt. Now it seems perhaps it was just
imagination. Perhaps it was just of the flesh.
Well, of course, it may have been. But let me test it in this
way. If the Lord has given a promise,
if the Lord has spoken a word of strength and encouragement,
what will it do? It will bring honour and glory to
God. That's what it would do. The
effect will be to bring honour and glory to God. If you are
perhaps resting on a word which you thought God had given, and
perhaps you're waiting for the performance of it, and it hasn't
occurred, you need to test whether it was from God, or whether it
is just from the flesh. Because the flesh, you see, wants
certain things to occur. And therefore, when a suitable
word appears, We grasp it and lay hold of it and think, well,
God has spoken this word. He may not have spoken this word.
It may have been just your imagination. But if the Lord has spoken, if
the Lord has directed us, if the Lord is encouraging us, then
it will be, the ultimate effect will be for His honour for his
glory and it's good therefore to sit down sometimes and Analyze
these things in our own mind and to see whether We are on
the right track or whether we are on the wrong track. It's
the devil Encourages us in false promises. You may say well, why
is that he wants to lull us to sleep? He wants us to forget
to pray. He wants to just relax and sit
down and and rest upon something that we thought God had done
when he had not. Well, was it for his honour and
glory? Or was it for our honour and
glory? That's really the dividing situation
and what you and I need to assess and to conclude whether the promises
of God are for his honour and glory. And if they are, then
without any doubt, this word is so, so true. my covenant,
his promise, will I not break? No, because it was established
in eternity past. It is that which cannot be broken,
cannot be broken. And so what a strength it is
then to us today as we look back in our lives, and I hope we can
look back in our lives. Perhaps you who are young, and
I know of course grace doesn't go in age, Perhaps we ought to
save any of us who can go back in our spiritual life. And I
hope we have a spiritual life, not just a spiritual state of
death, but a spiritual life. And the spiritual life is to
hope in the promises of God, to believe that God applies his
word to our souls for our eternal good, so that we know that we
have passed from death to life, that we are found walking in
the light and we are delivered from the power of darkness. Well, then here is this wonderful
statement. My covenant will I not break,
nor also the thing that has gone out of my lips. And the previous
verse tells us, nevertheless, my lovingkindness will I not
utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. And we need a word like that
because the previous words of course in this chapter we read
together speak about those situations where perhaps we are walked contrary
to God. And as the psalmist says, if
his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments.
If they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then
will I visit their transgression with a rod and their iniquity
with stripes." God is a just God. We should not forget that. He is a just God. And He deals
with us justly. And therefore, if we have walked
against God, if we walk contrary to him, if we have not kept his
commandments, if we have broken his statutes, and if we've followed
our own way, then if we are now perhaps suffering because God
is perhaps afflicting us, if God is bringing judgment upon
us, And we're told here, then will I visit their transgression
with a rod and their iniquity with stripes. We perhaps don't
like to read a word like that. We like to think, well, God of
course is a loving God and he only does that which is good
and right. He only does that which is good
and right. So true. But nonetheless, my friends,
he does correct us. He does correct us when we're
going in a wrong way. And what a mercy that is. You
see, if we're an unbeliever, we're left to wander on. If we're
one of those whom the Lord has loved with everlasting love,
he watches over us, and he corrects us, and it's not pleasant being
corrected. You know, the word is like this,
the flesh, words of a hymn, the flesh dislikes the way, but faith
approves it well. Sometimes we realise we have
walked in an opposite direction, and we're finding, therefore
the Lord is dealing with us, he's visiting us, not with beautiful
promises and lovely words, but with a rod and our iniquity with
stripes. And we then know the Lord is
dealing with us, he's correcting us. It's a very wonderful consideration
to realise that who the Lord loves, he corrects. It's a sign of being a child
of God. when the Lord corrects us, and
how wonderful when the Lord gives you and me grace then, to humble
ourselves under the mighty hand of God, to realise it is the
Lord that's dealing with us. And then we have this next verse
which I've read. Nevertheless, nevertheless, nevertheless, my
loving kindness, Will I not utterly take from Him? Sometimes it may
seem that the Lord is removing His loving-kindness. No, He's
not. That's why we have a word like this. Nevertheless, my loving-kindness
will I not utterly? It may appear that it's been
removed, that He will not remove it. Why will He not remove it? Because my covenant will I not
break. The Lord won't break His promises.
He won't break that which he's done for us, that which he's
spoken through his lips. It will not be taken away. What
the Lord has said will come to pass. Never forget that. What
God speaks comes to pass in his way and in his time. Nevertheless,
my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer
my faithfulness to fail because my covenant would I not break.
Now it's good to realise that we have a wonderful God and a
wonderful Saviour and the God's servant Jeremiah reminds us of
this in his prophecy a prophecy which we know was very instructive
and the words tells us in the 32nd chapter of Jeremiah he says
and he says behold I will gather them out of all countries whether
I have driven them in my anger and in my fury and in great wrath
and I will bring them again unto this place and I will cause them
to dwell safely and they shall be my people And I will be their
God. This is God's promises. This
is that which the Lord has said. And this will not be removed. It will not be broken. And they
shall be my people. And I will be their God. How
encouraging it is to know that we read in the blessed word of
God the certain shall. When the Lord says it shall,
it does. And when he says I will, It is
the truth that will come. I will. Shells and wills in the
Word of God are so strengthening and encouraging. And so here
we have this statement, and they shall be my people and I will
be their God. And I will give them one heart
and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them. and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do
them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts that they
shall not depart from me." You see, the Lord has said He will
put His fear and He will not turn away from them to do them
good. The Lord's goodness is not always
what we appreciate as goodness. Because the Lord knows all about
us and he knows what is before us. He knows what we will be
called to walk in, the path we'll have to engage in, the unknown
way. The Lord knows the way. You and I don't until we are
in it. God knows it. And therefore such a word of
this should be encouraging that I will not turn away from them
to do them good. He won't turn away from them.
And that's why we can thank God that here we have a confirmation
of that. My covenant will I not break? No, this is a word of
promise, a covenant. covenant of His grace toward
His people, to be strengthened by it in the day and age in which
you and I live, I will not turn away from them, to do them good. And remember that the goodness
of God goes before us to keep us, keep us from evil, keep us
in the right way, keep us in the narrow way. We may fancy
the broad way, we may think it looks attractive, we may think
I could go there, I could walk there. And because the Lord is
dealing with us in his goodness, we find that there are things
which stop us wandering into that broad way. And perhaps we're
irritated because of it. And we wish we didn't have this
problem to stop us doing what we wanted to do. Why is it occurring? It's because of this great truth.
My covenant will I not break, nor alter a thing that has gone
out of my lips. Let's say the Lord's goodness
to us. We should always realise, we
should desire to ponder, ponder the path of our feet. It's good
you know to do that, to sit back sometimes and just perhaps stand
still and consider the way we're walking. If it's the right way,
is it the way that leads to nearness to Christ? Or is it a way that
takes us away from Christ? That's quite an easy exercise,
isn't it, to work out. Just stop for a moment, ponder
the path of your feet, see which way it's taking you, Is it bringing
you nearer to Christ? Is it in a narrow way? Oh, it
won't be easy. But it's the right way? It's
a way that leads to eternal life? Or is it a broad way which leads
to destruction? We don't want to be found there,
do we? Wandering on, wandering on in this poor old world and
at last falling into hell at last. What a terrible, terrible
awakening that would be. I was thinking recently, what
a terrible thing it must be to wake up in hell, wake up in hell,
and then to face the devil. And the devil then comes and
gloats over us, saying, ah, I've got you, I've got you. There's
no escape. Just to think, you see, that
terrible situation. You see there are millions who
find themselves in that way, especially and how solemn those
who perhaps have heard the Gospel but have never received it. They've
never heard in their hearts the good word of God. They've never
desired to have the promises of God applied to their soul.
They've been led astray. They've gone into the broad way
and they've perished. in their sins. What a solemn,
solemn consideration. What a terrible thought it is.
Well, we're thankful indeed for the Word of God and for the truth
of God. And again, another promise in
Jeremiah, 50th chapter, in those days and in that time, saith
the Lord, the children of Israel shall come. They and the children
of Judah together, going and weeping, they shall go. and seek
the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion
with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join
ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten. Promises of God. The covenant
here referred to, my covenant will I not break, nor aught of
thine is gone out of my mouth." This is the words which have
gone out of the mouth of God. It is His covenant and what an
encouragement to us to seek, to pray, to weep. This is the path of the true,
concerned and exercised Church of God. Here it is explained
to us, we're told, they shall come, Israel, true Israel, the
Church of God, the living in Jerusalem, shall come, and how
will they come? Weeping, and they shall go, and
where will they go? Weeping to seek the Lord their
God. Now what a wonderful evidence
that is to encourage us if we're found in that way. And we might
look into our hearts this morning, whether we have wept before God
because of our sins, and whether we have sought the Lord God,
we've seeked him, And what will be the object, what will be the
result? They shall, again others shall,
ask the way to Zion. Yes, the city of God, with our
faces thitherward. We'll be facing the right way. We won't be facing the wrong
way. Are we facing the right way today?
Are we facing the city of God? Are we facing the things of God? Are we longing for the things
of God? or is our heart in the world, in the broad way that
leads to destruction? Well, what a mercy then if we
are found asking the way to Zion, seeking to God. He would direct
us with our faces, in other words, saying, come and let us join
ourselves to the Lord as a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. Really the question is, do we
want to join ourselves to the Lord, or do we want to join ourselves
to the devil? What's the result? What's the
answer to such a question today? Are you seeking, are you desiring,
are you longing to join yourself to the Lord? Or are you happy
to continue to be joined to the devil? The devil will do all
he can to allure you into the ways of sin, and into the ways
which just please the flesh, but the ways which will finish
when you come to die. Well, it would be a great blessing
if the Holy Spirit allures you to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
when the Holy Spirit works in our hearts and shows to us our
lost condition, our hopeless condition, then it is to direct
us to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only one that
can deliver our souls from the wrath to come, the only one that
can save us, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way of salvation
is through his death, through his sin atoning death, through
his shed blood upon the cross at Calvary. There's no other
way. Oh, then that you and I may be found looking unto Jesus,
as the apostle tells us in the 12th of Hebrews, that you and
I may be looking unto Jesus. No one else. Jesus. the author,
the one that begins, and the finisher of our faith. Well,
today, are we looking unto Him? Are we looking unto His promises?
Those promises which will not be broken? You see, you and I
can rely upon God's promises for time and for eternity. That's a great issue, isn't it?
Time and eternity. What a mercy then it is to realise
that we have a God like that, a God who preserves us and that
does not leave us and we shall not be lost if our confidence
and in our hope is indeed upon the Almighty God. We're thankful
indeed for His Word and in the little prophecy of Amos, and
never despise the smaller prophecies. There's wonderful words of instruction. And in the ninth chapter of Amos,
we're told, Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful
kingdom, and I would destroy it from off the face of the earth,
saying, saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of
Jacob, saith the Lord. For lo, I will command, and I
will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn
is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon
the earth.' I'm sure we know what The Prophet is illustrating
here a sieve. I guess you've all seen a sieve.
Perhaps you've seen it in a home in the kitchen where perhaps
you use it to sieve flour or things like that. But here is
really the illustration more of a farmer. And he's sifting. He's sifting the corn and he
wants to get rid of all the husk and everything else. And that
all blows away. And what is left is just the
grain. And here we're told this, the
Lord says, for I will command and I will sift the house of
Israel among all nations like as corn is sifted as a sieve,
yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. Nothing
will be lost. None of God's people will be
lost. None of God's promises will fail. So think of the illustration
like that and remember then that if you're one of the Lord's grains
of corn, then you won't be lost, you won't fall out. Because whom
he's loved, he never leaves and loves them to the end. my covenant or the promise God
will I not break nor alter the thing that has gone out of my
mouth. And then we can think of the promises of God with regards
to believing the truth of God. Believing the truth of God, how
important it is to remember his promises in the truth of God
and the concern that we may have and we remember the occasion
of Paul and Silas when they were in prison and the jailer came
and when the Lord came and brought an earthquake and all the prison
shook and the doors opened and at midnight there was this great
earthquake and the keeper of the prison waking out of his
sleep and seeing the prison doors open he drew out his sword and
would have killed himself supposing the prisoners had been fled but
Paul cried with a loud voice saying do thyself no harm for
we are all here and he called for a light and sprang in and
came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and brought
them out and he said, what must I do to be saved? And what did he say? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. What is this? A promise of God. It's gone out of his lips. It's
a covenant promise. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Now, do note, of course, that
before he said that, there was conviction and there was trembling. And that's why we are told here,
and he sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and
Silas and brought him out and he said, Sirs, what must I do
to be saved? He had a real need, a desperate
need. And then The Apostle directed
him to the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my friends today, may we have
been or may we be directed to none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ and the glorious promise which tells us here, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. And so it was this What a change
that occurred to this man. One minute unconcerned, the next
minute a converted man, a changed man. And he believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ and was saved. And another word, of course,
in Isaiah 45, verse 22, where the Lord tells us, look unto
me and be ye saved, or the ends of the earth, for I am God. and
there is none else. There are many glorious promises
to strengthen us and to encourage us in the Word of God as a fulfilment
of this Word. But my covenant will I not break,
will I not break, my friends, believe in the Word of God, the
truth of God, which stands forever, forever. When all this world
has vanished and finished and been burnt up, the Word of God
stands forever. My covenant will I not break,
nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. So today, may
we indeed be found looking under Jesus, trusting in him, looking
to his, the fulfilment that he completed on Calvary when he
kept the law, made it honourable, kept it on our behalf, kept it
so that we are saved with a great salvation if we come in that
right way, looking to Jesus, believing on him, committing
our souls unto the Lord Jesus Christ. My friends, let us not
trifle with the things of God. Let us not just forget the Word
of God. Let us not think it's an irrelevant
word, but may we lay hold of it and lay hold by faith of the
promises of God. and be blessed with confirmation
in our own hearts of what the Lord has said is true, what the
Lord has said will come to pass. The Lord has promised therefore
to our souls, may we be encouraged and strengthened and be able
to cast all our care upon him. believing He cares for us. How humbling it is to think that
Almighty God, the Great God, the One who rules and reigns,
looks upon us individually, personally, and comes and speaks to our souls
with the words of life, as perhaps in those words we read of in
Leviticus. when the Lord passed by and saw
us in our blood and said, live life, eternal life, my covenant
will I not break, nor alter the thing that has gone out of my
lips. Amen.